Buy this book
Books N Bytes participates in affiliate programs including Amazon Associates and Bookshop.org. We may earn a commission when you purchase through our links at no extra cost to you.
Bone and Jewel Creatures is the Elizabeth Bear novella set in the same Eternal Sky universe as her later Range of Ghosts trilogy. Bijou is an aging Wizard of the city of Messaline (Bear's North African-inspired metropolis), and the child Emeraude is brought to her in the opening chapters in a condition that has been the result of recent dark magic. The book follows Bijou's slow work to understand what has been done to the child and to undo it before the source of the damage finds them.
Bear's strength is the careful sensory rendering of the Messaline setting. The city is alive on the page in the way settings rarely are in shorter SFF, with the specific kinds of food, the religious ceremonies, the particular textile work that defines specific neighborhoods. The magical system is interesting in its physical specificity.
The novella form means the closing chapters land quickly. Four stars. Recommended to readers of literary fantasy who want to see what Bear was doing before Range of Ghosts.
Related reads
If you liked Bone and Jewel Creatures
Karen Memory
by Elizabeth Bear
Elizabeth Bear's 2015 steampunk Western. A Pacific Northwest brothel, a young woman protagonist with the strongest first-person voice in recent SF, and one of the most enjoyable SF novels of its decade.
Book of Iron
by Elizabeth Bear
Book of Iron by Elizabeth Bear review. A 2013 Eternal Sky fantasy novella, the prequel to Bone and Jewel Creatures. Bijou the Wizard, a desert expedition, sharp North African-inspired worldbuilding.
Carnival
by Elizabeth Bear
Elizabeth Bear's 2006 SF novel. Diplomats on a matriarchal world, a planet of telepathically suspicious humanity, and the most interestingly compromised first contact in recent SF.
Steles of the Sky
by Elizabeth Bear
Steles of the Sky by Elizabeth Bear 2014 review. The final book of the Eternal Sky trilogy lands its Mongol-empire-inspired epic fantasy with rare grace.
The Chains That You Refuse
by Elizabeth Bear
The Chains That You Refuse by Elizabeth Bear 2006 review. The first collection of short fiction from a Hugo-and-Campbell-winning writer at her most generous.
More by this author