The Bone Witch, is a science and fantasy fiction book by Rin Chupeco. It was published in March of 2017 and is the first of a three book series, followed by The Heart Forger (March 2018), and The Shadowglass (expected in February 2019).
The main characters name is Tea, a 12-year-old girl. Her family lives in a small town in a time when people each have their own specific magical powers.
Each person is given a necklace called a "heartsglass" at birth. The necklace stays empty until their thirteenth birthday, when they partake in a ceremony that shows them what their magical power is, and depending on the power they have, their heartsglass will turn a certain color.
Tea's brother was sent to fight in a war, and was killed by a creature called a Daeva. His body is sent back home, where Tea and her family gather together for his burial. During the ceremony, Tea's emotions overwhelm her, and she feels as if her brother is speaking to her from underground, begging her to save him. She runs to his grave, and while she's digging up the earth surrounding the grave, her brothers hand comes up through the dirt. Soon after, she faints.
Tea's powers that were supposed to come during the ceremony on her thirteenth birthday came an entire year early, meaning that her powers were powerful enough to come before the ceremony.
After Tea raised her brother from the dead, she wakes up at home in her bed next to a strange woman. The woman is known as a Bone witch, or a Dark Asha. There are many different types of ashas throughout the book, but dark ashas deal with raising the dead and are very looked down upon by society for their dark powers. The woman tells Tea that she is now a Bone Witch, and explains to her the powers she possesses.
The Bone Witch and Tea leave together to take her to asha training, so she can learn to control her powers and make the right decisions.
Tea faces many challenges throughout her training with other jealous ashas, classes, and even having a crush on a famous prince.
The Bone Witch is an amazing book choice for someone who enjoys science and fantasy fiction. The book is well written and interesting: it's hard to put down!