The King of Bones and Ashes

Witches of New Orleans, Book 1

By: J. D. Horn

Narrated by: Sophie Amoss

Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Witching Savannah series comes the story of a young witch's quest to uncover her family's terrifying history...

Magic is seeping out of the world, leaving the witches who've relied on it for countless centuries increasingly hopeless. While some see an inevitable end of their era, others are courting madness - willing to sacrifice former allies, friends, and family to retain the power they covet. While the other witches watch their reality unravel, young Alice Marin is using magic's waning days to delve into the mystery of numerous disappearances in the occult circles of New Orleans. Alice disappeared once, too - caged in an asylum by blood relatives. Recently freed, she fears her family may be more involved with the growing crisis than she ever dared imagine.

Yet the more she seeks the truth about her family's troubled history, the more she realizes her already-fragile psyche may be at risk. Discovering the cause of the vanishings, though, could be the only way to escape her mother's reach while determining the future of all witches.

©2018 Jack Douglas Horn (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Very mixed feelings

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I think the author is hugely talented and much of it was really good. However, at the end of the book I was not happy with it and am unsure I will bother with more of the series.

The good:
The language and the sense of place. He did a wonderful job of making me feel New Orleans.
SOME of the characters were very engaging.
The "world building" of the magical world.

The bad:
Too much of a good thing -- this book is almost all "world building" and very little actual plot. It reads like one very long
prologue to the next book. That annoyed me no end. Almost nothing actually happens plot-wise until the very end of this
book and is then just a set up for the next.
Much of the character building is too ambiguous for too long. I applaud subtlety and clever plotting, but having no idea who
the good guys and bad guys are for 4/5th's of the book was too much. I very nearly DNF'd this one.
The quality of the recording was not up to par. The places where edits had been patched in were obvious and distracting.

The Meh
Many of the characters are well drawn and fascinating, but not all of them. Some were just "meh" there and taking up space.
Since the book is all "hang on and wait for the next book!!" I am not sure they are important characters. I am also not sure I care enough to read the next book to find out.

Really draws you in

Interesting story that seems so simple in the beginning but goes off with a cluttered bang at the end. I can't wait to start part 2. I really enjoyed the narrator too, she read as men and women with equal charm and it didn't sound as if she were reading to a child.

Convoluted

This is an amazing story. The French part was a bit too confusing for me. French speaking listeners will enjoy more. The names of the characters left me listening hard for the exact phrasing so my head could assign the right name to the right character. The realignment of family got even more convoluted. All in all I liked the book enough to watch for the next part of the story. Going back to listen to this book before listening to "The Book of the Unwinding" was a good way to refresh the names and enjoy the story. Convoluted or not I am ensnared in the story. Waiting for the next one.

Good storyline!

Great story line. Just started the series, but looking forward to continuing. As a NOLA lover, I can appreciate all the New Orleans references.

Great Read

The crossing storylines finally intersect and it is a wonderful blend of New Orleans voodoo and myth with magic and mayhem.

I loved it!

The story and the characters and the mystery built up where fantastic! I loved the attention to the detail and the vibe of the city and all the magic.
But the ending was a bit flat to me, and I wasn't so impressed with the resolution because it left a lot of things hanging. Is there a second book? I hope so.

Avid listener

This was a jumbled mess. The plot had potential but just not written well. I'm guessing he didn't want this witch story to be the same as the other series. But I listened to the end, trying to get clarity of the story. The narrator was excellent.

a very interesting and good book with a very slow

Overall I think it was a very good book a very good story in continuation of TV horns witching traditions was a slow start getting through a number of chapters until it started to get very intense good epilogue 4 going into the next of his books under the witching line!

Could be better

Maybe I’m alone in this, but I was confused by some of the book. I felt like I walked into a movie half way through after explanations had been made already and I was trying to catch up and make the connections. The narrator was fantastic, but every so often the sound would change and the narrator would sound far away and flat. It was weird. Not the narrators fault but something in how it was recorded. I started the book knowing it was part of a trilogy, but the book seemed like it needed the trilogy because the author didn’t even try to fit everything into one book. Then the ending was sloppily patched together and I’m not sure I really understand what happened. Normally I’m good with these kinds of books, so my confusion with this one is really throwing me off. Luckily it was free to read/listen to.

Fantastic.

A bit serious. A bit dark. No goopy romance or orks or sexy, seductive vampires falling in love with mortal femme fatales. But those are all strengths. I was riveted from start to end and immediately started the second in the series.