Teen Tuesday: Blood Metal Bone by Lindsay Cummings

Image: HarperCollins Publishers

Blood Metal Bone by Lindsay Cummings. 482 p. HQ/ HarperCollins Publishers, June 28, 2022. 9780008292799. (Review of finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

Happy first day of summer break to my students and colleagues! I cross-post these book talks to my school's learning platform. In my post this morning, I asked my students, "What are your reading goals for the summer? Set yourself an attainable, realistic goal and choose the books you most enjoy! Not loving the book? Abandon it and try another." I admitted to them that I've been in a bit of a reading slump myself for the last year due to a variety of reasons. I've had to reduce my usual goal of a book-a-day to 300 for the year and Goodreads tells me I'm 30 books behind that goal. I might make it up over the summer break. I might not. But I will read with my eyes and with my ears every day.

Teen Tuesday features Blood Metal Bone by Lindsay Cummings. This sci-fi fantasy takes place in deep space on a dwarf planet named Dohrsar. Sonara is the illegitimate daughter of a queen, relegated to taming horses in the royal stable. Her brother is her best friend and confidant, but when an alien space ship lands and abducts him, no one believes her, least of all the queen, who condemns her and her beloved horse to death.

They return from the dead as Shadowbloods and join a ragtag group of outlaws. Sonara earns the nickname Devil of the Deadlands and the reputation that goes along with it. After a botched heist, the crew agrees to escort the escaped daughter of a king and she is bent on revenge. However, the crafty king has a hidden agenda, as kings do. When an alien ship lands and Sonara realizes that it looks just like the ship that abducted her brother, she's distracted from her mission. The ship contains two human brothers with secrets of their own who will join forces with the king to attempt to find a rock that is the heart of the planet and possesses great power.

The story is told from three third-person perspectives, Sonara and the human brothers, Karr and Cade. It flashes back and forth revealing history and motives slowly until the end. The characters are colorful. There is plenty of banter to enjoy as well as epic action. The world has a bleak, Wild West feel to it. This stand-alone novel is great for fans of twisty, sci-fi/ fantasy like Six of Crows, as the press release says. Blood Metal Bone releases in the U.S. next week. Happy early book birthday!