Bone and Jewel Creatures

Lotus Kingdoms #0.5

by Elizabeth Bear

Dark magic is afoot in the City of Jackals...

Eighty years Bijou the Artificer has been a Wizard of Messaline, building her servants from precious scraps, living with the memory of a great love that betrayed her. She is ready to rest.

But now her former apprentice, Brazen the Enchanter, has brought her a speechless feral child poisoned by a sorcerous infection. Now, Messaline is swept by a mysterious plague. Now the seeping corpses of the dead stalk the streets.

Now, finally, Bijou's old nemesis--Bijou's old love--Kaulas the Necromancer is unleashing a reeking half-death on Bijou's people. And only Bijou and her creatures wrought of bone and jewels can save the City of Jackals from his final revenge.

Genres: Fantasy, Novella, Fiction, Steampunk, High Fantasy, Short Stories, Science Fiction

133 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 2010

About the author

What Goodreads really needs is a "currently WRITING" option for its default bookshelves...

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Text with pictures at my blog: http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2014/1...

A jewel of a novella.

“Bijou’s fingers angled from her palms as if someone had bent them aside under great heat and pressure. She shuffled about her cavernous, shadowed workshop in parody of a bride’s hesitation step. Eighty years a Wizard of Messaline–the city of jackals, the empire of markets–had left their wear.“

How often do you find an elderly, arthritic heroine in fantasy? From the first sentence, Bear had my attention. Her enjoyable, vivid writing kept it.

The story begins with Enchanter Bijou in her workshop where she has been building creatures for herself and others out of bone, metals and found objects. She’s finishing a creation when her former apprentice Brazen brings her a mute, wild street urchin. Examination reveals the child has a necrotic growth in her arm, and even closer examination identifies a foreign object as cause. From there, the plot moves quickly, although somewhat predictably. I was glad that Bear choose to limit involvement of politics in the story, as there wasn’t enough time to adequately broaden focus of the lives of the main characters. Personally, I let the glittering enchantments of the workshop entertain me, wandering around the menagerie of Bijous’ creations.

The writing is vivid, the creations delightful, and I have a whole set of images in my head of her servants that I can’t seem to find on the web, although I’m sure I’ve seen them. I imagine Bijou’s creations look a lot like this, only with more rubies:


This little novella has definitely sold me on trying more Elizabeth Bear, including the stand-alone prequel, Book of Iron. I highly recommend it, particularly to fans of Valente.

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb and very imaginative novella, with a 96(!!) year-old arthritic heroine - I don't think this was done before, at least not if the 96 years meant really old and not just some vampire-or-something years :) - that has a unique (I think) talent to design creatures from bones and metal and jewels and give them life.
It would have been nice to find out more about the magic system, the castes, the political and social environement; the idea of the known name and the secret power-name I read in some other works too, but I like it.

"We claim the dignity of age, she thought, but the truth is, age leaves us without any dignity at all."

After some research to find images that resemble Bijou's creations, I was very surprised to find there are many 'Artificers' out there - just take a look below (I couldn't help but display many of the pictures I liked)

Andrew Chase's gorilla, which I think could fit Lucy in lack of other not-so-complex model:


Jessica Joslin's bone and brass animals can stand for several of Bijou's menagerie:






Mike Libby's steampunk insects or Edouard Martinet's metal insects could be the myriad of little bugs on Bijou's floor:






Or some snake robots, anybody?

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bone and Jewel Creatures has an interesting setting, which I’d love to explore more – it barely scratches the surface of the potential magic, and the political situation seems fairly sketched in – and an interesting character. How often do you get a 96 year old protagonist with arthritis? Although being a stubborn old lady isn’t unique, the fact that the effects on her work are touched on and the concern other characters have for her is quite cool.

Because it’s a novella, there’s a lot of stuff that would be fun to explore and go further into, and there’s a lot of suggestion and doing your own legwork, but it has a satisfying story arc of its own, and works well as a standalone piece. I didn’t actually know of, or feel the lack of, anything else set in the same universe. You have all the details you need.

The writing is good too, with some lovely moments of description – the wariness of the child, the glitter of the titular bone and jewel creatures. Overall, I found it pretty satisfying, which is rare in a novella; normally I just want more of it.

Originaly posted here.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the reasons I love novellas, is that authors will often be a little experimental, more daring. In one sitting, you can be drawn into a well crafted and imaginative piece, that offers something a novel cannot. It's almost as if novellas are our adult fairy tales - they use a strange and simple story to give a moral lesson, like an old fable.

I realize that my description is vague. I do not wish to spoil the story. Rather, to express my appreciation of a good old adventure tale, with genuine characters mixed in. Great story!

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bone and Jewel Creatures is set in the same world as the Eternal Sky trilogy, but other than the shared setting they are unrelated. This novella focuses on the 96-year-old wizard Bijou, who also appeared in the prequel novella Book of Iron. Although it's not absolutely necessary to do so, I am glad I read the prequel first since it provided more background on the conflict in this story.

This isn't a book to read for the plot, which is slow moving, but one to read for the lovely writing, the imagination that went into Bijou's menagerie of bone and jewel creatures, and the two major characters. Bijou herself is a wonderful, and it's also partially told from the perspective of a feral child who's been living with jackals that is very different from viewpoints I've encountered in my reading before.

Full Review: http://www.fantasybookcafe.com/2016/0...

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I usually prefer Bear's science fiction to her fantasy -- but this novella is right up there with the best of her SF. I can't do better than the review that follows, and will also call out the beautiful production and artwork that Subterranean gave Bear's masterful tale. Bravo! 4.4 stars, highly recommended.

https://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/...
"The world-building here is very good, but even better is the characterization of the two viewpoint characters. The first is of Bijou, who is one of the most believable portraits of an aging artisan I've ever read. She's set in her ways, frustrated at the failings of her body, and taciturn, but also wise in how to interact with others and able to be decisive. Bear shows in her relationship with her creations all the time-worn rhythms and silent comfort of a working relationship that's based on deep mutual trust and respect, and which has been exercised so much that it can be relied on without requiring analysis. "

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short novel set in the world of Bear's Eternal Sky trilogy, although essentially unrelated. In the city of Messaline, the sorcerer Bijou, whose specialty is creating intricate animated constructs of bone & jewel, takes in a street orphan, a feral girl sent to her as the opening gambit in a war between wizards. Intricate and delicate and beautifully written.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good example of why there are novellas.

I'm sure Bear must have thought, "Suppose there was a place where someone can make weird prosthetics, and that place had a necromancer. They'd have to be in conflict, of course. How might that work?" Too much for a short story, not enough for a novel. Maybe the setting is a tad too weird for a novel; we have to get the story over with before we dig too deep into the details.

If books are meals, this is a delicious lunch from an expert cook/chef. The two female leads are very good ideas, and the language is excellent.

[Amrita Goswami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I guess I was in the right frame of mind for this novlella. I thought it was magnificent and I devoured it in one sitting. I had read the prequel, Book of Iron, before this and it greatly enriched my enjoyment of the story.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little novella is probably one of my favorite things Elizabeth Bear has ever written.

Bijou the Artificer is a wizard of Messaline, and she has remained such for over eighty years. Now, near the end of her life when she only wants to create her fantastical metal animals in peace, a former apprentice has brought her a feral child, poisoned by a sorcerous spell. It is the clear work of Kaulas the Necromancer, Bijou’s old enemy. He has plans afoot, and both Bijou and the unnamed child will find themselves being swept into them.

Bone and Jewel Creatures is set in the same world as several of Bear’s other fantasy stories. Most notably, this is the home of Range of Ghosts, the first book in her epic fantasy trilogy, and The Stone in the Skull, a new novel and the start of a swords and sorcery series. While it is a second world setting, it draws heavily on our own world, specifically Central Asia. The cultural analogs range from Nepal to Mongolia to India to Arabia. Messaline is a trading city, similar to our own Silk Road cities. However, you don’t really need to know this or need to have read any of her prior work to make sense of Bone and Jewel Creatures. But the world building is wonderous and gorgeously wrought!

Bijou rends down dead animals for their bones, then refashions the skeletons into fantastical animals, embedded with jewels. She brings these creations to life with her magic, and they serve as friends and companions. Hence, the title. Still, there’s a large difference between Bijou’s bone and jewel creatures and the still-living child she’s given to raise. The interactions between the two are one of my favorite parts.

The child in question is mute and doesn’t consider herself human. She was raised by the jackals that haunt the city’s shadows, and those jackals are her family. Yet, she has capabilities that surpass them, as she is beginning to realize. I love how Elizabeth Bear always creates such vibrant female characters, and she again achieves this in Bone and Jewel Creatures. How often have you read about a girl raised by jackals and a ninety-something-year-old female wizard?

So what makes Bone and Jewel Creatures stand out from Bear’s other work? Why is it one of my favorite? Simply put, I think it’s stronger in plot than many of her other stories, even if it is shorter. The other stories in this world I’ve read are always beautifully imagined and full of interesting characters, but the plots tend to feel fairly standard. Bone and Jewel Creatures might have had a necromancer for a villain (not an unusual choice), but it never felt stale, boring, or trope ladened.

I loved Bone and Jewel Creatures, and I’d love more about these characters! It’s a truly gorgeous novella with a bit of a fairytale feel. I recommend it to anyone looking for an enchanting story.

Review from The Illustrated Page.

[heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with Elizabeth Bear's writing is that she sets herself a really high bar. I have nothing to fault in the execution or construction of this story, just that it didn't tug at my heartstrings or explode my mind.

The best part of the book was the world, and the magical creations that exist in it, the bone and jewel creatures of the title. Those shimmer against the dusty city. The least compelling part is probably the plot, which hits predictable emotional notes. It's possible I actually yelled "NOT THE MOMMY ISSUES" at my ebook.

Read if: You'd like a viewpoint character who is old, one who really feels the weight of years. If you'd like a viewpoint character who is nonverbal but not unintelligent.

Skip if: You are really not up to reading about maggots, necrosis, or necromancers.

Also read: Love in the Time of Cholera for an older viewpoint character struggling with age, and meditating on love, patience, and creepy stalker lovers.

[Stefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Bone and Jewel Creatures, a beautiful new novella by Elizabeth Bear, Bijou the Artificer creates her own servants and companions by animating bones. When her former apprentice, Brazen the Enchanter, brings her a feral, mute child, she is presented with the challenge of fixing its misshapen arm... which is also infected by a mysterious disease that soon turns out be the first sign of a sorcerous plague.

At just under 140 pages, Bone and Jewel Creatures packs a strong punch. Bijou is a fascinating main character — an aging wizard surrounded by her own wondrous creatures, some of which, by themselves, make this book worth reading. The arrival of the feral child sets off a complex plot involving Bijou's past, the political history of the land, an intriguing religion, and three distinct modes of magic. There's quite a lot more material packed into this short novella than you'd initially expect — and as with all the best novellas, you'll be satisfied with the ending while at the same time hoping for future stories set in the same world.

The story is told in gorgeous prose, frequently very lyrical and on a few occasions even surprisingly funny. The combination of the poetic style and the main character's occupation at times made me think of Bijou as an older version of Casimira from Catherynne M. Valente's Palimpsest — and readers who enjoyed that excellent novel may well enjoy Bone and Jewel Creatures. Recommended.

(This review was also published on the Fantasy Literature website: www.fantasyliterature.com --- come check us out!)

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another novella, but it really draws you in to the center of the story very quickly. While it can be read as a stand alone novella, I feel like that reading The Book of Iron first made a more cohesive story. Elizabeth Bear has a masterful grasp of language and knows exactly how to design a simple phrase to have the most emotional impact.

In this story a 90+ Bijou the Artificer is pitted in a last battle against her former lover Kaulas the Necromancer. With the help of Kaulas' own son and mute street child, Bijou must figure out Kaulas' plan before he overruns the city with his army of the dead.

While most of the story follows Bijou, some passages are from the perspective of the child, Emeraude. Since Emeraude is mute and was raised by jackels she has an interesting perspective on how people communicate and what it means to trust. She is probably the one most affected by the battle because it threatens the lives of Bijou, who has nursed her back to health, and her family of jackels, who have tentatively joined forces with the humans.

This novella was able to affect a wide range of emotions on me in only a short number of pages. It starts almost as a mystery to interest and engage the reader, but it slowly turns into a heartrending story of lost loves, burning hatred, and deep sorrow. By the end of the story I was holding back tears for characters that I felt I had only just met before they were snatched away from me.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aged wizard Bijou is living a fairly quiet life creating golems for the locals and herself (the bone and jewel creatures of the title), until her once-apprentice Brazen brings an injured feral child to her doorstep. A growing number of necrosis-plagued creatures begin arriving at her workshop after that, bringing Bijou closer to her past, and Messaline, city of jackals, closer to an uncertain future.

This writing in this novella is very pretty, polished to a shine. The golems are fascinating, wonderfully described, and just enough of Messaline and its residents was revealed to make me interested in seeing more of it.

Unfortunately, I never got a reader's buzz from the novella and it took way too long to read, even more so than my normal. It's hard to say why; maybe because it felt lacking in warmth, like it was more engaged in its level of performance than developing a bond with me, the reader. Maybe because the plotting felt rote, hints early on leading to predictable conflicts and resolutions later on, a disappointment in comparison to Bijou's workshop's gorgeous, unsettling menagerie.

Bone and Jewel Creatures has a lot going for it, but it wasn't a satisfactory read for me. This was the first Bear I've read, and I'm willing to give another one a try and see if we get along better.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first work by Elizabeth Bear, but it absolutely will not be the last.

Being a fantasy reader, I had made the unthinking assumption that "bone and jewel creatures" was a metaphor for ... something. No. The book opens with literal creatures made of bone and jewels, and I was immediately drawn in.

The characters and world are sketched incredibly vividly. It may take awhile to fully grasp the reality of the world , but once it settles in, it's a remarkable place. The backstory between the two main characters fell a little flat for me, and the conflict was not as fleshed out as I would have liked, but I absolutely did not care. I read for the sheer delight of reading. Bear has a facile touch with language and viewpoint which make the characters and setting glow.

[Crystal Hilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Elizabeth Bear's writing and I've read so many of her stories, but this is the story I come back to again and again. Such an interesting take on magic practitioners and the various disciplines. Such a fascinating depiction of necromancy in several different shades and moralities.

My deep, abiding joy for this story reminds me of an anecdote of Maurice Sendak's, where he sent a little boy a drawing of a Wild Thing and the boy's mother wrote him to say, "Jim loved your card so much he ate it."

I love this story so much, I'd happily eat it.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book kind of plodded along, despite being a quick read. I felt like nothing really happened, and there was too much description for my taste. It wasn't a bad story, just kind of boring and slow. The concept of wizards and such is interesting, but it was never fully explained. Like you had this character called the Bey, who is referred to as important, but in the end he barely serves a purpose.

[Brook · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing little read. The world and characters were rich and innovative, truly delightful. I would love to explore more of it, though I don't believe this particular novella should have been any longer. In fact, I did feel it dragged a bit in the first half; it may have been better served as a short story. Still, an enjoyable read with interesting concepts and memorable characters.

[Vintagebooklvr · Rating 3 out of 5]

The novel has decent world building and an interesting plot but it's not fully developed, maybe because of the length. It's kind of steam-punk. It is the type of book that begs for a few illustrations.

[Michelle Sonnier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is profoundly disturbing, but well told, and I will be chewing over the themes and philosophy for quite some time.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A novella glittering and interesting as Bijou's enchanted constructs. Just the right length to get where it’s going, without sacrificing pathos and development.

[Olga Godim]

DNF
Too much death: necromancy, rotting flesh, skeletons, maggots. Not my cup of tea.

[Andrew Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Battle of wizards! Cool! Nuff said!

[erforscherin · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely discovery! I'd heard so many good things about Bear's Eternal Sky trilogy that I finally took a look at her author page on Amazon - and spotting this novella at a bargain-bin price, decided to see if I enjoyed her writing style in a shoter-form piece first.

I'm very glad I did! "Bone and Jewel Creatures" is everything a good novella should be: roomy enough to give you a feel for the universe, but self-contained enough to cover exactly as much story as it needs. Bijou alone is a fabulous character - aged and achy and slow, but wonderfully tough and compassionate in turns, with hidden layers of wisdom and experience peeking out here and there. (And how wonderful in itself, to see a 90+ year old woman as the central hero for a change!) And the descriptions are lush and gorgeous, and the worldbuilding is fascinating, and I am so curious to see what happens to Emeraude next... and what was the full backstory behind all the little historical scraps dropped along the way. So many questions!

Call me a new believer: I'm convinced that Bear is brilliant. I will definitely be trying her other works soon.

[David Gillon · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Messaline, the city of Jackals, Brazen the Enchanter brings Bijou the Wizard an injured feral child, and as Bijou and the constructs she builds of bone and jewel examine the child, she realises it is the first move in a war against her and Brazen by Kaulas the Necromancer, the three of them bound by old ties of family.

As Kaulas’ plan plays out and death walks Messaline, Bijou fights corruption with artifice, replacing diseased flesh with bone and jewel, and Brazen joins her, adding his skill with pistons and levers. And all the while the child, the Cub as it thinks of itself, watches and tries to understand.

I love Bear’s writing, and this is a novella to read for the prose as much as the plot. Point of view wanders between the aging Bijou – how many stories feature a 96yo heroine? – and the Cub, showing us two sides of the story, one full of wisdom, the other struggling to understand the war into which it has been drafted, but able to see opportunity and hope for the pack it left behind.

It’s a very unusual story, a very unusual setting, but a marvellous one.

[Glennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've sat on this novella for a while. I tend to do that with novellas and I just wait until I want to read an entire story in one sitting but don't want to commit a lot of time to it. I'm happy to say that I can read more about this universe since it is set in the same world as the Eternal Sky series. Now this means I will have to start reading it in my spare time.

The story is set in a world of magic and the beginning of a wizard war in the city. The necromancer is making a bid for power over the other wizards. Bijou is brought a feral child by her old apprentice and she creates a hand out of bone and jewels to replace the infected one that had to be removed. Her home is filled with the magical bone creatures that serve her and she creates more of them for her customers. In the space of a few pages you find out how the city politics work and a lot of history between the wizards. A good read and I'm glad there is more for me to read as well.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novella was terrific. The story and characters all intrigued me -- even while part of my brain stood back in admiration for how Elizabeth Bear drew me so quickly into her story. She managed to plug my emotions into the fate of her characters -- including those created from bones, jewels and the skill of her wizard Bijou.

As soon as I finished the book, I wanted to re-read it and figure out how she did it.

Elizabeth Bear is shaping up to be one of my favorite authors. Earlier this year I read her Range of Ghosts and loved it so much I did a search to find out what else she'd written. Happily, I found a number of interesting titles. I'm going to return to that search and find book #3.

[Jacqie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Bear novella. Another world that I'd love to spend more time in.
The plot was predictable, but the setting and main character were amazing. The bone and jewel creatures of the title are the creations of a wizard named Bijou, now at the end of her life. Her talent is to animate skeletons with the addition of metal and precious stones. Her animations include Ambrosius, with the head of a ferret and a centipede-like body made from a long spine with the ribs of cats for legs, a mirrored sloth whose glass cuts those who touch named Lazybones, an elephant with a python-skeleton trunk called Hawti, Lucy the gorilla, Lupe the wolf with special eyes, and Catharine the vulture with feather and silk wings. Beautiful, eerie imagery. The feral child storyline I could take or leave, although I did have a lump in my throat by the end.

[Abby Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another winner from Subterranean Press

Wonderful descriptions, and I was totally enchanted by the setting and the mechanical creatures Bijou created from bits of bone, jewels, metal, and fabric.

What I also found enjoyable was the head-hopping that took place between Bijour, Emeraude, and even Brazen. Through the three points of view the story unfolds of this beautiful, although brutal desert city.

I only gave it four stars due to the fact that I had trouble with the plot and charactes. I was unsure at times of their motivation. Why for instance, did the ruler distance himself from the Wizard war going on right under his nose? Didn't he feel the threat to his own people? Or wasn't it? Puzzling, at least to me.

[Jeremy Preacher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bone and Jewel Creatures is a lovely little novella, but long on inventiveness and full of delightful, mostly non-human characters. (The feral child who thinks she's a jackal is excellent.) The plot is a little oblique, as what's primarily of interest to the characters is Bijou's advancing age and Emeraude's immediate jackal-ish concerns. The machinations of the Necromancer, while creepy, seem almost like background. It's not really clear what his motivations are up until the end, and he's not particularly understandable as a villain, but the relationship between Brazen and Bijou, and Bijou and all of her creations, more than make up for