City of Bones

City of Bones
Martha Wells, 1995

Premise: Khat is just trying to make a living in a city where he is unwelcome when powerful people decide they need his skills judging and discovering ancient relics. Unlike the pricey fragments Khat and his partner usually deal in, could these relics actually hold real power?

This is the first book this year in a project called: "Read the unread books that are actually on my physical bookshelf because they were cheap at some point." I haven't bought physical books regularly in years, but I bought a bunch when we first moved to this coast. I recently decided I want to invest in hard copies of things I really love... and I also want to clean any random detritus off the shelves to make room. So, I need to read the books I've never read.

I actually started this last year, but I got almost 1/3 of the way through The Prince of Nothing and decided I hated it, so that book went straight in the donate/recycle box.

This book will likely end up there too, although it's not bad. It's just not great. 

The world is interesting enough, a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland with isolated cities, and at least the one the book takes place in has an extremely unequal society with a few elites and a lot of people being pushed into starvation at the edges. Khat is actually not human, he's part of a tribe who descend from some mysterious experiments that were intended to help people survive the apocalypse, and in fact the krismen are much more able to survive the desert than the city people. 

The story is fine, there are magic artifacts that are missing and have an unknown purpose. Some of the Warders (police force with some psychic/magic powers) believe that they can use the artifacts to augment their powers. Meanwhile, another faction of Warders whose extreme use of their powers has caused them to be mentally unstable is trying to stop the first. 

Khat just wants to get out of the whole situation in one piece. He befriends Elen, a young Warder who initially hires him in disguise. I liked that, even at the end, when a lesser book would have leaned into their light flirtation for a romantic resolution, she can't really see past her own privilege to understand how her society really works for someone like Khat, and he can't stay to explain it to her, instead moving on to a hopefully more peaceful live elsewhere. 

This is after plenty of death-defying action, physical and magical struggles, and the potential destruction of the world, of course.  

Content warning for one scene in which Khat is forced to have sex with another character. It's mostly covered by a brief aside, and he essentially sees it as the only way out of a bad situation, but still. Heads up for that.

It was a fine, fun read overall, but not something I liked enough that I'd want to revisit it. So I'll be passing on my copy at some point.

3 Stars - A Good Book

(Side Note: I found out after I read it that this book is being re-released later this year in a new edition revised by the author. Huh.)