Jenn's Review: Bones to Ashes

Summary: From Publishers WeeklyIn bestseller Reichs's entertaining 10th Temperance Brennan forensic thriller (after Break No Bones), Brennan, her relationship with Det. Andrew Ryan on the rocks, welcomes the distraction of an unidentified New Brunswick skeleton from Québec's cold case unit. But when the bones are determined to be that of an adolescent girl, Brennan is convinced they belong to her childhood friend, Évangéline Landry, who disappeared at age 15. Now Brennan must come to terms with Évangéline's possible death, while trying to ignore her feelings for Ryan as they investigate a series of teenage abduction murders that could be tied to the mysterious bones. With her usual blend of cutting-edge forensic science, nail-biting suspense and characters that pop off the page, Reichs, who's vice president of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists and the producer of Fox's Bones, has produced another winner in one of the genre's most satisfying series. (Aug.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review:
Although there are many good things to be said regarding this novel, Bones to Ashes, it is not among my favorites in the series. It's not even due to the romantic (or lack of) situation that Brennan finds herself in; I was far more dissatisfied with where Reichs left us in Tempe's love life at the end of her last Bones adventure.

Reichs loves to champion a cause in her books and this time the subject is that of Arcadian culture and the struggles of the Arcadian peoples. I found this thoroughly interesting, but not as well connected as some of her prior themes. It felt like she was stretching the book a little too thin to get all the details in, with little of the character development I've grown to love in her books. Everything tied together in the end, but it seemed a little... forced to me

The book had the wit but not the charm. ~ But even my least favorite Reichs book outshines most other authors any day!

Overall Rating: 4.6/5

SIDEBAR: As Julie mentioned in an earlier review, yes, this is the series that the hit TV show Bones comes from, but the characters differ greatly from the books to the TV version, not only in location but in character background and personality. I love both the TV series and the novels, but don't expect to pick up the novel and be immersed in the world of Booth and Brennan and vice versa don't jump into the TV show wondering where Andrew and Pete are... both stand on their own merits and deserve to be started from the beginning - and judged separately.