Antonia Bernardin

The 40th book I read this year was A River of Golden Bones by A.K. Mulford, a new series by an author I am unabashedly a huge fan of, you will have heard me talk about her other books: The Five Crowns of Okrith and The Prickle Island zoo romance series.

A summary attempt

In a world where humans and werewolves are divided, with the wolves as the ruling class, Calla and her sister are the last remaining members of the golden wolves and the only way to save their country is by her sister marrying into the silver wolf kingdom. They have been raised in secret to protect them from the witch that killed their parents but the prince her sister is betrothed to has visited them all their lives and is Calla’s closest friend. There may have been a future where he could’ve been more but it was Calla’s destiny to protect her sister in the shadows instead.

When they finally arrive is the silver wolf kingdom to begin their destiny, it becomes clear that the king never intended to reveal Calla’s existence, just her sister so that their throne is uncontested. But the Goddess of the moon has other ideas and so does the witch who killed their parents.

What did I think?

I enjoyed this book, I liked the character’s journey, not just how she grows in confidence but how they discover their gender fluid identity. I liked that it has fated mates but it’s still somehow slow burn and that we wrap up our first big bad villain in book 1. This is part of a series so there was a lot of world building but it has great imagery and characters.