Review: A Curse Carved in Bone by Danielle L. Jensen
“You are my home, Freya. Everywhere else is just a place to lay my head.”
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The Basics
Title: A Curse Carved in Bone (Saga of the Unfated #2)
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Published: 2025
Note: I received an advanced finished copy from Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.
Publisher: Del Rey — Penguin Random House
Pages: 398
Format: Hardcover
Genres: Fiction — Fantasy, Romance, Fantasy romance, Low fantasy, Mythology
Book Synopsis
For a brief moment, Freya tasted happiness and believed that a peaceful life might be possible, but now, betrayed by the man she loves and captured by the Nordeland king, she wonders if the Unfated are as bound by fate as everyone else. Only one person can provide answers: Saga, the seer who foretold that Freya would unite Skaland and unleash destruction upon the world – and who also happens to be Bjorn’s mother. To reach Saga’s remote cabin in the Nordeland wilderness, Freya begrudgingly accepts Bjorn’s help, but she is determined to keep him at arm’s length. He betrayed her and is her enemy, as are all Nordelanders, but as she spends more time with him in his homeland, she begins to question her convictions. Perhaps all is not as she thought, and perhaps it is not too late for her to weave her own fate.
My Review & Overall Thoughts
TLDR: A tiresome read and unsatisfying conclusion to the Saga of the Unfated series.
I went into A Curse Carved in Bone with tempered expectations, yet it still managed to disappoint. Many of the issues that plagued A Fate Inked in Blood have not only persisted but also worsened, devolving the story from tolerable to tedious. Worst of all, the book fails to close out the Saga of the Unfated series on a truly satisfying note.
A Curse Carved in Bone’s finale is one of the most egregious instances of deus ex machina that I have ever encountered. A number of challenges, including a seemingly insurmountable one, arise only to be miraculously solved in fairly quick succession. Before one can even begin to wonder how, or if, the characters will extricate themselves from the situation, a solution presents itself, effectively ending the conflict before it starts. Sadly, the epilogue offers no redress. If anything, it makes matters worse through its clichéd conclusion.
As for the rest of the book, it is equally flawed. Similar to its predecessor, A Curse Carved in Bone suffers from pacing issues. More specifically, the story is lopsided, with the bulk of action occurring in the latter half. The first half, which comprises the groundwork for the second half and an eye-rolling amount of drama between Freya and Bjorn, is slow going and a bit of a slog to get through. It is not until a bombshell revelation around the halfway point that things pick up, and the story becomes less tiresome and passably interesting.
I say passably, because the second half, while faster paced, has other faults, the most notable of which pertains to a subplot. To avoid spoiling anything, I will simply say that a group of people arrives, and their appearance feels momentous, as though everything is about to change. Their actual impact, however, is underwhelmingly minimal.
The plot and pacing are not the only things lacking; the protagonist, Freya, also leaves a lot to be desired. While frustrating at times in A Fate Inked in Blood, she is at least mostly tolerable, but for the first half of this book, she teeters on insufferable. Governed by hurt and anger, she condemns Bjorn for his dishonesty and refuses to hear his explanation for why he hid his true intentions from her. In her mind, he wronged her, and that is that. It is an overly simplistic view of morality, and her inability to consider his perspective is frustratingly childish. If this were a YA novel, I might excuse such behavior, but it isn’t.
Lastly, the inclusion of Bjorn’s point of view is more of a detraction than an addition. Any value gained from the dual point of view is negated by its disruption to the story’s flow as well as its unexpected, jarring nature. A Fate Inked in Blood is written entirely from Freya’s perspective, and A Curse Carved in Bone should have been too.
The Good
A Curse Carved in Bone is not without merit. It features some world-building, albeit not a substantial amount. We travel beyond the bounds of Skaland to Nordeland, exploring its forests and primary fortress. We even journey to another realm.
Additionally, the story’s first-person narrative creates an immersive reading experience, allowing us to experience everything through Freya and/or Bjorn’s eyes. It also imbues the story with a degree of suspense, as it limits our knowledge to that of the given narrator.
Overall
A Curse Carved in Bone is disappointing, both as an individual book and as the conclusion to the Saga of the Unfated series. Had I not been reviewing it, I likely would have shelved it after 100 pages.
Have you read A Curse Carved in Bone? If so, let me know what you thought of it in the comments section below!
-Julia
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