The Bone Witch, written by Rin Chupeco, is a captivating fantasy novel that takes readers on a journey into a world of dark magic, powerful witches, and ancient traditions. The story follows the life of a young girl named Tea who discovers she possesses the rare ability to raise the dead. From the very beginning, the novel treats readers to a unique and enthralling storyline that combines elements of fantasy, adventure, and mystery. Tea's journey begins when she accidentally resurrects her brother, Fox, after he dies. This event leads to her discovery by an experienced bone witch named Lady Mykaela, who takes Tea under her wing and trains her in the art of necromancy. As Tea hones her skills, she becomes a powerful and feared bone witch, able to control dark forces and raise an army of undead creatures.
All done. See how I haven’t slid the tinfoil down to the end of the hair? That’s to keep the foil from slipping off when I’m wrapping the rest of the sections.
Bratzillaz all have inset acrylic eyes, but Fianna s are very different from the other Bratzillaz ; theirs are all mostly like human eyes, with a round pupil and iris. I don t like to do this when the hair is dry because the spray won t go on clear unless you use really nice hair spray but I refuse to use my nice hair spray on a doll I found in a thrift store.
As Tea hones her skills, she becomes a powerful and feared bone witch, able to control dark forces and raise an army of undead creatures. The narrative is intricately woven and takes place in a vividly depicted world filled with magical creatures, ancient rituals, and complex political landscapes. Chupeco's writing style is both poetic and descriptive, immersing readers in a world where darkness and beauty collide.
Doll Nerd
Fianna Fins is part of the Bratzillaz “Midnight Beach” line of dolls. This was the second Bratzillaz line released, and it’s a more budget line than the signature or “Magic Night Out” dolls, with simpler outfits & hair and no stands. The character line-up is the same as the core dolls, with the addition of Fianna; they seem to be adding a new character or two every time they put out a new line. The Midnight Beach dolls all have bathing suits, sunglasses, and glow-in-the-dark skin (because apparently the Bratzillaz characters “glow in the moonlight.” Ok).
I’m really not into the Bratzillaz marketing and characterizations, but for the sake of it, Fianna Fins’ profile on the back of the box says that her magic power is controlling the weather (apparently in the webisode she has mind control powers!), her “witchmark” is a mermaid’s tail, her favorite class is meteorology, and she has a pet named Ripple. The box art looks absolutely nothing like the doll or the webisode character; the drawing is actually kind of ugly. Underneath Fianna’s profile, there are pictures of the other dolls in the line with their ugly-ass pets and an exhortation to “Collect us all!”
Speaking of collecting, Fianna is my sixth Bratzillaz doll, and it’s one I’ve been coveting for a while, as she’s very hard to find. She seems to have been short-packed in all the cases, and the only reason I was able to get her at all is because I had a credit on amazon.com, and happened to catch her while she was in stock. My other Braztillaz are signature Yasmina Clairvoya, signature Jade J’Adore, one of the 2-doll Switch-A-Witch sets, and Midnight Beach Sashabella Paws.
Despite having a handful of the dolls, I’m not a huge fan of the franchise overall (the sigs were purchased only because they were on deep clearance), but there is something compelling about them. The inset eyes give them a spark of life that most fashion dolls are sorely lacking and they have a bit of a mischievous look to them that tickles me, and an almost twee kind of charm. It’s also nice that somehow the Bratzillaz dolls all have quite different looks despite the fact that they are all the same head mold.
Unfortunately, the sculpting in this line leaves a lot to be desired. The Bratzillaz head sculpt is pretty cute from the front (even if they are still a little too reminiscent of the puffy-lipped porn star look of the original Bratz for my taste); however, their profiles are really strange and inhuman.
The body shape is ok, and I love that Bratzillaz have jointed waists! However, the limbs aren’t much more than tapered cylinders and the hands are oddly flat and awkward-looking. These dolls look much better fully clothed than they do nude.
The functioning of the Bratzillaz’ joints is definitely adequate, but it’s far from perfect. They have a good range of motion, almost comparable to Monster High dolls, but some of the Bratzillaz just feel a little cheap when you hold and pose them; this seems to be an issue with the Midnight Beach line in particular, probably because they are literally cheaper.
Fianna’s joints are ok, and she can bend a little more than 90 degrees on most of them and do the splits pretty well, but some of the joints do have messy plastic – particularly the wrists, which makes them rather stiff – and the legs certainly leave a little to be desired since the knees don’t have any rotation, just a hinge joint, and they don’t bend as much as I’d like them to. As fashion dolls go though, Bratzillaz are still one of the most poseable, and I’d probably be pretty thrilled with them if Monster High didn’t set the bar so high.
Fianna’s hair looked a little iffy in the box and it’s still iffy now that she’s out, not smooth and pretty at all; the front section is (badly) crimped, and the rest of the hair is just thick and coarse. I’m eager to see how it feels after a washing and straigtening; despite the fact that Fianna has no hairstyle to speak of, there’s a bunch of stiff gel that’s contributing to the hair’s ratty look.
Her hair looks and feels thick at first glance, but the rooting is similar to a doll that has a factory ponytail – thick around the hairline and thin pretty much everywhere else, though there is a thicker-rooted strip at the crown of Fianna’s head. Overall, the rooting is of middling quality; she looks just fine with her hair in the out-of-box style, but it may be slightly challenging to style her hair in other ways without exposing her scalp a bit.
This doll comes with a metallic turquoise bikini top with a fish-scale print, and a matching 2-piece skirt that’s made to look like a mermaid tail. Both top and skirt are accented with a red plastic starfish. She also has sandals, a red bracelet, dark blue sunglasses, silver chandelier earrings, and the requisite tiny plastic witch hat. She also has molded panties that are painted metallic turquoise to match the strapless top; when her skirt is off she looks like she’s wearing a bikini – that was a great decision, because it makes her outfit so much more versatile.
The cross-hatched design on the hat actually seems appropriate for Fianna – it kinda looks like fishnet and she is supposed to be a mermaid and all. I really wish they didn’t keep making the damn hats the exact color of the dolls’ hair though; it blends together too much, visually.
Despite the overall budget nature of this doll, some of her accessories are beautifully detailed. The red bracelet and the starfishes on her clothes have wonderful texture and sculpted detail. I will probably do a paint wash on them eventually, to made the detail stand out a bit more; it’s mostly lost on such tiny single-color items, especially in photos.
Fianna also has sculpted toenails that are just begging for a little polish. Bratz/zillaz definitely cut corners on a lot of their sculpts, but there’s just enough cute little details to make me want to keep buying these particular dolls.
One of the gimmicks with the Midnight Beach line is that their skirts all convert into capes, because for some reason the Bratzillaz can’t go anywhere without a cape and a witch hat, hurr hurr. It is only the white bottom part of Fianna’s skirt that turns into a cape; it’s attached to the blue skirt with plastic tabs, but if you cut those off it just secures around the doll’s legs (or neck, if you’re doing the cape thing) with velcro.
Personally, I hate this piece and will probably be throwing it away; the fabric feels cheap and gross, I think it looks dumb as a cape, and I hate how it restricts pretty much all movement of her legs (which, admittedly the blue skirt does too, but not as bad and at least that one looks cool). It does kinda complete the mermaid look though, since it pretty effectively hides her feet and makes the skirt look more like a fish tail.
They should have packed the sunglasses separately instead of putting them on the doll in the box, because they hide the absolute best thing about this doll – her eyes! Bratzillaz all have inset acrylic eyes, but Fianna’s are very different from the other Bratzillaz’; theirs are all mostly like human eyes, with a round pupil and iris. But Fianna has night sky eyes – they’re glittery dark blue with a yellow star and crescent moon instead of pupil and iris; and they’re gorgeous. They give her a really lovely, mysterious look, and they’re almost luminescent – they glimmer even in dim light.
Something else I love about this doll is the colors; Fianna really does have a mermaid-y look to her with the Caribbean-colored long hair and lips, and she is one of the few Midnight Beach dolls that actually looks good with the glow-in-the-dark skin. Her light blue hair and the yellow in her eyes & shoes nicely complement the greenish cast of the gitd plastic instead of clashing with it, like some of the other characters. The red accessories also give a nice contrast to the overall blueblueblue of the doll.
Glow in the dark skin is a feature you don’t often see on fashion dolls, and I think it’s pretty nifty. When I tested out Fianna’s glow, I stuck her in a sunny window for maybe five minutes and when I brought her back into the room, she was visibly glowing already, even though the overhead light was on! Very cool.
Not all of her was glowing the same amount; these dolls are made with two different kinds of plastic, and the parts of Fianna that are the softer material – head, lower legs, and hands – glow a lot more than the rest of her. If she’s fully dressed though, the difference is much less apparent; in fact, the only place it really looks odd when she’s nude is at her knees.
It would be nice if at least some of her hair glowed, as well, ’cause she looks bald in the dark, but considering this is both Bratz and a budget line… oh well. The glow also seems to fade quickly, but I didn’t sun her very long so that probably has a lot to do with how long she’ll glow. I don’t have the patience to wait and test it. I’m actually quite impressed with how much Fianna’s face, in particular, glows; it doesn’t show up well with my crappy camera, but it’s really bright!
All in all, I am very happy to own this doll. Her eyes are absolutely gorgeous, and the gimmicks that just seem kinda dumb on the other dolls in the line actually come together in a fantastic way on Fianna. She’s a very unique and lovely doll overall, with a few overlookable flaws, and I’m so glad I had that Amazon credit at the right time to get her!
It shouldn’t be drenched, but wet hair is a bit easier to work with than dry hair because wet hair will stick together and isn’t affected by static.
The author expertly explores themes of power, family, and identity, as Tea grapples with her new abilities and struggles to find her place in a society that fears and misunderstands the magic she wields. One of the standout elements of The Bone Witch is its well-developed and relatable characters. Tea is a compelling protagonist, driven by her desire to protect her family and find her own path. Her growth and transformation throughout the novel are beautifully portrayed, as she navigates the world of the bone witches and learns to embrace her unique powers. The secondary characters, such as Lady Mykaela and Tea's brother Fox, are equally well-drawn and play crucial roles in Tea's journey. Overall, The Bone Witch is an engrossing read that will appeal to fans of fantasy and dark magic. Rin Chupeco's vivid world-building and compelling characters create an atmospheric and immersive experience that will keep readers turning the pages. Whether you're a fan of spellbinding tales of magic or simply love a good adventure, this novel is not to be missed..
Reviews for "The Bone Witch: A Conversation on Friendship and Betrayal in Rin Chupeco's Novel"
- Karen - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "The bone witch". I had heard so many good things about it, but I found it incredibly slow and boring. The world-building was interesting, but it lacked depth and didn't make up for the lackluster plot. I struggled to connect with the characters and found their development to be lacking. Overall, I felt that the book was overhyped and didn't live up to my expectations.
- Tom - 1 star - "The bone witch" was one of the most disappointing books I've read in a long time. The writing style was confusing and disjointed, which made it hard to understand what was happening at times. The pacing was incredibly slow, and I found myself losing interest in the story. The main character, Tea, was supposed to be a powerful witch, but she was portrayed as weak and indecisive. The plot twists were predictable and didn't offer any excitement. I was really hoping to enjoy this book, but unfortunately, it fell flat for me.
- Sarah - 2 stars - I had high hopes for "The bone witch", but it turned out to be a letdown. The story had potential, but it was poorly executed. The pacing was uneven, with long stretches of nothing happening followed by rushed and confusing plot developments. The world-building was interesting, but it felt like the author didn't fully explore it. The characters were one-dimensional and lacked depth. Overall, I found this book to be a frustrating and unsatisfying read.