California Bones

By: Greg van Eekhout

Narrated by: Jonathan Todd Ross

Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

When Daniel Blackland was six, he ingested his first bone fragment, a bit of kraken spine plucked out of the sand during a visit with his demanding, brilliant, and powerful magician father, Sebastian. When Daniel was 12, he watched Sebastian die at the hands of the Hierarch of Southern California, devoured for the heightened magic layered deep within his bones.

Now, years later, Daniel is a petty thief with a forged identity. Hiding amid the crowds in Los Angeles - the capital of the Kingdom of Southern California - Daniel is trying to go straight. But his crime-boss uncle has a heist he wants Daniel to perform: break into the Hierarch's storehouse of magical artifacts and retrieve Sebastian's sword, an object of untold power.

For this dangerous mission, Daniel will need a team he can rely on, so he brings in his closest friends from his years in the criminal world. There's Moth, who can take a bullet and heal in mere minutes. Jo Alverado, illusionist. The multitalented Cassandra, Daniel's ex. And, new to them all, the enigmatic, knowledgeable Emma, with her British accent and her own grudge against the powers that be. The stakes are high, and the stage is set for a showdown that might just break the magic that protects a long-corrupt regime.

Extravagant yet moving, Greg van Eekhout's California Bones is an epic adventure set in a city of canals and secrets and casual brutality - different from the world we know yet familiar and true.

©2014 Greg van Eekhout (P)2015 Recorded Books

Thank-you Sword & Laser Podcast

Thank-you Sword & Laser Podcast for turning me onto this series! I'm on to the next 2 in the series...

interesting characters, good story.

good story about an interesting band of thieves. Magical storyline was new and fresh, and the author achieved a really amazing blend of darker elements and lighter moments

pretty linear and predictable.

pretty linear and predictable, I was honestly hoping for some plot twists. cool magic system though

an other great read thanks to Sword & Laser.

Easy read, great audio book. can't wait for the next book in this universe to come out.

amazingly written

I think I have found my new favorite author. story line was strong and easy to follow along with and kept me engaged start to finish.

New world with great potential

What made the experience of listening to California Bones the most enjoyable?

The new magic world, it's creative and incredibly interesting. Also who doesn't love a heist story?

What was one of the most memorable moments of California Bones?

The beginning was very captivating, immediately have to know what the hell is going on and why the Dad is doing that.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, and it was worth the time spent. I'm looking forward to listening to the rest of the series. I do hope there is more character depth, the narrative is a little too distant and I wish it went more into first person narrative and motivations. However this allows for more intrigue so while I miss the depth, the style does add something new to the book.

Any additional comments?

It reminded me of Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn and Reckoner series. Most likely because it's a completely new world and magic system, but it has a few qualities that I love when reading Sanderson.

Visiral magic and captivating story

You can almost taste the spells. Great discriptions of a magic system that is closer to cooking or potion brewing and warging into the creatures you eat rather than waving a wand and saying hokus pokus. It feels alive. Great performance too. The story is a heist story, similar to that of "The Lies of Lok Lamora", but with less focus on con-jobs. A few personal nitpick and pet peves here and there, but overall good other than a really dumb deus ex machina moment at the end that made no sense. Also, the main villain was rather boring. Still worth a read.