Bones and Runes

English language

Published Jan. 26, 2022 by Unknown Publisher.

ISBN:: 978-1-7397747-0-7
ASIN:: 1739774701

(1 review)

Three friends have their loyalty, beliefs and ancestral magic pushed to the limit.

Mlilo, a young isangoma, is forced to call on his friend Dan, a Druid apprentice, to help him retrieve his sacred amathambo (bones) from the clutches of evil. Taking us on an unprecedented journey through the magical realms of his ancestry and traditional beliefs, Mlilo's emerging skills are tested in life or death encounters with beings from the realm of Abaphansi. Amira, a close friend of Dan’s, has her own independent path to forge but will soon find that her personal quests are inextricably linked to the two men.

The three young adults, finding their way in the world, still have much to learn about themselves, their conflicting approaches, and their true callings. They must work together, combine their skills and find the talismans that make up Mlilo’s bag of bones, the key ingredient to an isangoma’s …

Three friends have their loyalty, beliefs and ancestral magic pushed to the limit.

Mlilo, a young isangoma, is forced to call on his friend Dan, a Druid apprentice, to help him retrieve his sacred amathambo (bones) from the clutches of evil. Taking us on an unprecedented journey through the magical realms of his ancestry and traditional beliefs, Mlilo's emerging skills are tested in life or death encounters with beings from the realm of Abaphansi. Amira, a close friend of Dan’s, has her own independent path to forge but will soon find that her personal quests are inextricably linked to the two men.

The three young adults, finding their way in the world, still have much to learn about themselves, their conflicting approaches, and their true callings. They must work together, combine their skills and find the talismans that make up Mlilo’s bag of bones, the key ingredient to an isangoma’s abilities and powers in this and the other worlds around us. While the gods, demigods, deities and shapeshifters, all with their own agendas, make navigating Abaphansi a deathly challenge.

The solitary isangoma, self-reliant to the extreme, will learn the importance of friendships, alliances and the meaning of living life in the real.

1 edition

enne📚 reviewed Bones and Runes by Stephen Embleton

3 stars

Bones & Runes was the #SFFBookClub January 2025 selection. It's a modern mythological quest of three friends trying to recover something stolen and grow as people and friends along the way. Overall it was a bit of a disappointment.

@eldang's thorough feelings after stopping reading sums up the majority of my thoughts. I'll try to get at a couple of other thoughts past that.

This book is attempting some interesting things by trying to mix together African, Irish, Hindu, and Greek mythology all at once. I can understand a story that is trying to stir together a variety of myths and methods of accessing the divine, but overall there's too many ingredients and everything is weaker for it.

Subjectively, I was disappointed by the writing. For a book that is so thoroughly rooted in South Africa and Durban in particular, I did not come away with much of a …

Bones & Runes was the #SFFBookClub January 2025 selection. It's a modern mythological quest of three friends trying to recover something stolen and grow as people and friends along the way. Overall it was a bit of a disappointment.

@eldang's thorough feelings after stopping reading sums up the majority of my thoughts. I'll try to get at a couple of other thoughts past that.

This book is attempting some interesting things by trying to mix together African, Irish, Hindu, and Greek mythology all at once. I can understand a story that is trying to stir together a variety of myths and methods of accessing the divine, but overall there's too many ingredients and everything is weaker for it.

Subjectively, I was disappointed by the writing. For a book that is so thoroughly rooted in South Africa and Durban in particular, I did not come away with much of a sense of place in most of the scenes. Part of this is that the characters are driven around by Ganesh from place to place in a way that makes it feel like the cast is teleporting between scenes.

But this isn't some seven stages of hell, Dante. These are African gods. The hero doesn't always survive. Forget heaven and hell. We've got no time for the devil here. Here, in this land, on this rock, we've got so many aspects of evil that one being doesn't suffice to hold its might; it's true strength. Maybe in your western worlds where everything is black and white, where you can afford one being to hurl your hatred at; one place that is good and one that is bad. This is Africa, baby. Here the good can be both bad and good at the same time.

I quoted this because this whole statement is repeated twice in the book almost word for word, but it feels all talk and no show. There is precious little ambiguity in this fantasy quest. There are a number of dangerous and neutral characters who deal in bargains or seem chaotically neutral, but the main players all seem fairly clear cut and shallow.

Subjects

English literature