In a post-apocalyptic metropolis, a mechanical virtuoso is pursued by hoodoo priestesses, mind-hopping Special Forces, and higher powers. Bone Dance is tart and dense: its opening portrait of the protagonist's urban fantasia is thick with fabulous details. The plot builds and builds and then goes through a series of abortive climaxes, which parallels other books by the author that I've read (War for the Oaks and Falcon), but as in those other books, the weird structure diminishes in comparison with the characters. The book's strength is not in their development, but in their relationships: Bull's novels always present a perfect, static snapshot of a social network (a band in War for the Oaks; a family in Falcon; friends in Bone Dance) and all the fumbling affection, implicit hostility, and imperfect communication inherent in any group of people. ( )

América se ha sumido en el caos. Controlada por unos pocos poderosos, está poblada por vagabundos, soñadores y traficantes de tecnología. Antes de la guerra, el gobierno trabajó con una terrible arma: los Jinetes, seres humanos dotados de la habilidad de controlar y manejar psicológicamente a otros hombres, que fueron utilizados como espías y asesinos. Fruto del violento encuentro con dos de esos telépatas supervivientes, Sparrow, el andrógino protagonista, descubre que él es fruto de esos experimentos. Para descubrir el misterio que rige su vida, tendrá que revelar su secreto a los demás. El problema, es que no confía en nadie.

Voodoo meets cyberpunk in this post-apocalyptic urban fantasy....
A bit of a similar feel to the stories she did for Bordertown/Borderlands... but these characters are playing for higher stakes.... our protagonist is Sparrow, an androgynous character with a love for old movies and a talent for electronic tinkering; her friends include a young tarot card reader and a nightclub DJ/VJ... but when old legends of mysterious individuals who have the ability to switch bodies at will start surfacing, the average citizens of this decaying version of Minneapolis (?) are out of their depth....

good stuff! ( )

Bone Dance is a strange but enjoyable mixture of the post-apocalyptic with the supernatural. Sparrow is a trader of old videos and discs from before the nuclear missiles were set off by a group of psychics known as the Horsemen. But Sparrow’s been blacking out and losing memories. What’s going on?

Sparrow is an agender protagonist who’s never given pronouns. Sparrow’s only comment on the matter is this:

“You wouldn’t have so much trouble,” I muttered, straightening up carefully, “if you didn’t talk about me in the third person.”

While this is fitting with Sparrow’s somewhat prickly personality, it’s not helpful for writing this review. Therefore for the remainder of the review I will be referring to Sparrow with the singular “they/them” pronouns. Sparrow’s physical sex or gender is not discussed until about a hundred pages in, about where a number of different pieces of the book start coming together. There’s not a lot about this element I can say without running into spoilers (although I think there is a key point worth noting), but this article on Sparrow’s gender is worth reading if you’re willing to brave the spoilers.

“We’re all born nameless, aren’t we? And the name we end up with has only peripherally to do with our family tree.”

Sparrow was easily my favorite part about Bone Dance. When you first meet Sparrow, they are keeping themself permanently isolated and aloof from others. A large part of Bone Dance is diving into Sparrow’s concept of themself, as they learn to accept who they are and to open up to other people and form connections. Sparrow’s confident and snarky, but also in over their head with the current situation. They go through some real difficulties, and I was feeling for them the entire time.

The post-apocalyptic world of Bone Dance isn’t the lawless mad lands you tend to see in fiction. Sparrow lives in a city (clues point towards it being Minneapolis) that still has electricity, even if it’s controlled by the one man who rules the city government. There’s markets and nightclubs and people running theaters of salvaged televisions. In short, there’s some form of civilization, even though it’s only been fifty years since the nuclear missiles went off.

As I mentioned in the first paragraph, Bone Dance is a mixture of science fiction and fantasy. The fantasy mainly comes in through the use of the psychics, tarot, and what the book calls hoodoo (I’ve got no idea if this is the same thing as voodoo, but it seems similar). These supernatural elements all play a large role in the plot. At times this can result in a mystical element that accounts for a large part of why I found the book strange.

I liked the prose of Bone Dance. Emma Bull really has a way with words, and I probably should have been marking pages for quotes as I read. Unfortunately, the pacing of Bone Dance is all over the place. The beginning is slow. Then there’s bits of action interspersed with large periods of reflection. While I think the reflection periods were important for Sparrow’s character growth, it did a number on the pacing.

I would recommend Bone Dance, though I’d want to note the poor pacing and strangeness of the plot. Still, I really love the lead character and there’s some interesting thematic material going on. I in no way regret reading it.

Originally posted at The Illustrated Page. ( )

Reread newly available as an ebook. A little weirder than I remember, but in a good way. Some of the plot points (videotapes in a post apocalyptic world) are somewhat dated, but not in any way that bothered me. Still a brilliant book. ( )