Fi is a bookish treasure hunter who loves solving riddles and has a knack for finding the treasure. However, within the hunter’s ring, rumours have gone around. Rumours about Fi, about her ex-partner … and about what went down between them. Shane is a tough as nails girl from the north with a gleaming axe, an attitude issue and an unknown past. She likes doing things her way and no other way. If a problem can’t be solved with her axe, or there is no treasure involved, then don’t go to her. Briar Rose is a prince, who has light magic, under a dreadful sleep curse. For 100 years he has been waiting for a true love’s kiss to wake him and his kingdom. To save his kingdom. When Shane and Fi team up for a single treasure heist, things don’t go as planned for either of them. Fi now has to save Briar Rose’s kingdom by giving him a ‘true love’s kiss’ for fate and magic has left them intertwined, and Shane gets stuck helping Fi.

But there are two problems. No one knows how to reach The Kingdom of Andar. And Fi doesn’t believe in true love.

The Bone Spindle is an interesting read. Leslie Vedder has expertly taken the fairytale, ‘Sleeping Beauty’, and gender-flipped it, adding a hint of Indiana Jones in there too. While many people in the reading community have loved this book, I didn’t feel quite the same. I found the book a little slow paced in parts, and I even put it down for a few weeks. But, then I thought that with the climactic scene at the end that too much happened in too short a time.

Despite this, I found that the book had strong characters and most of its themes were conveyed really well. I especially liked the concept of Briar Rose’s light magic, with his ghost visiting Fi and the two of them actually building a relationship, not just ‘love at first sight’. This created more realistic characters, strengthened by the interchanging points of view that were exciting and well written, allowing me to dive deeper into the characters feelings and history.

Reviewed by Lillian, Year 11, Cerdon College
Merrylands NSW
Age Guide 14+