Assessment:
Plot: Delivering excellent detail to create an alluring environment, McQueen’s coming-of-age myth is as compelling as it is creative. While offering exceptional descriptions, the plot is paced quickly.
Prose/Style: Following a semi-traditional mythic formula, The Blood of Bones is an engaging narrative. The narrator is omniscient and skillfully takes the reader into the mind of Tesfashun, the novel’s hero. Stylistically, dialogue is not indicated with quotation marks, which takes the reader a slight adjustment to get used to.
Originality: Readers of myth and fantasy will find familiar patterns, but McQueen breaks the mold by using his knowledge of tribal practices. As an outsider to the Omo Valley region, McQueen displays reverence as an outsider writing about traditional practices and the experience of colonization.
Character Development/Execution: Young Tesfahun, his wise teacher (aptly named “old man”), and the relationship they build are the stars of this novel. Tesfashun’s actions naturally mirror his internal thought processes and what he is learning from his sage. Tesfashun learns quickly and the pace of the novel moves with his growth.
Date Submitted: August 11, 2021
"The best fictions are not simply an escape from our world; rather, the best fictions are escape into our world. A vivid continuous dream that forces us to look into our own belief systems as we explore an imaginary world that, on the surface, appears so different from ours. N. T. McQueen accomplishes this in the tale of Tesfahun in his novel The Cry of Dry Bones. Curses, whispers, rumors, and mysteries riddle the world of McQueen's novel in ways that give birth to a desire for a new mythology. The novel is haunted by one central quest: What is life without sacrifice? The novel brims with insights into the idea of sacrifice, the notion of the tribal community, and heroism. A timely novel from another time."
