Review of ‘Ivory and Bone’

Ivory and Bone is a prehistoric YA fantasy with allusions to Pride and Prejudice.

Interesting Storytelling

One of the things about Ivory and Bone that makes it astonishing is the use of you as it tells the story. It’s a little jarring at first, but it’s unique in the way it uses both first-person and second-person perspectives to tell the story in a rich setting. There’s also something very poetic and compelling about it. This novel doesn’t just suck the reader in it inserts the reader into the story.

The second-person perspective is always challenging to pull off because most of the time it comes off as cheap or cliché, but Eshbaugh was able to pull it off effortlessly. She used those challenges to make the story and the characters come alive for the reader. As a heavily narrative piece of storytelling, this story focuses on the connection Kol has with Mya, whether it’s reciprocated or not, and it has a history to it which is developed through the story in the way it hints at a past tension between the two clans. In that history alone there is so much vitality in the storytelling, in the narrative, and it makes the story very compelling and realistic.

Interesting Narrative

Now, while the narrative was great, the characters themselves lacked some fire in them. Kol often seems docile, and Mya isn’t really likable for most of the book. Sure the prejudices are there, and they are easy to understand, and the conflict between them leads to tension, but for the most part, it still leaves Mya quite unlikeable. So getting past her and her attitude is just frustrating for the reader.

Despite that, the narrative is truly magnificent not only because it’s so focused on telling the story, but with any historical piece of fiction the realism needs to be effortless. The construction of the world here is excellent. The tension between clans for the struggle to survive is a powerful way to tell the story. This is a world that readers don’t often see outside of movies and for Eshbaugh to take the risk and create a time often misunderstood is a risk in itself. But the imagination is there and so is the wonder. At times, it seems so simple, but there is a complexity to how these clans must navigate the world around them. It’s both breathtaking and beautiful

Admittedly there is some hesitance in getting into Ivory and Bone because it’s unclear whether this story is going to be more realistic or fantasy and what the idea behind the story is going to be. So it takes some time to get into the story. But once the story moves on it captures the readers’ attention and then develops into something unexpected.

Final Thoughts

Ivory and Bone is just a thoughtful story that makes the reader think about the past by inserting them into it. The challenges the characters have to endure aren’t out of place because they still have to endure what people today still have to endure. Sure, the circumstances have changed, but the connection isn’t lost on the readers. That’s just another reason the second person works so well in the story. And in the world of YA fiction, this novel is truly a breath of fresh air that doesn’t fall into any of the tropes that litter YA fiction.