City of Bones: Updated and Revised Edition

By Martha Wells

Book Overview

Before Martha Wells captured the hearts of MILLIONS with her Murderbot series, there was Khat, Sagai, and Elen, and a city risen out of death and decay...

The city of Charisat, a tiered monolith of the Ancients' design, sits on the edge of the vast desert known as the Waste. Khat, a member of a humanoid race created by the Ancients to survive in the Waste, and Sagai, his human partner, are relic dealers working in the bottom tiers of society, trying to stay one step ahead of the Trade Inspectors.

When Khat is hired by the all-powerful Warders to find relics believed to be part of one of the Ancients' arcane engines, he, and his party, begin unravelling the mysteries of an age-old technology.

This they expected.

They soon find themselves as the last line of defense between the suffering masses of Charisat and a fanatical cult, bent on unleashing an evil upon the city with an undying thirst for bone.

That, they did not expect.

This updated and revised edition is the author's preferred text.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1250861675
• ISBN13: 9781250861672
• Release Date: September 2023
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Another winner from Ms. Wells

Martha Wells has done it again. CITY OF BONES is very reminiscent of vintage Leigh Brackett--the hard-boiled hero,plucky heroine, exotic locale, menace lurking around every corner--but with her own unique flavor. Like her great first novel, ELEMENT OF FIRE, this is hard to put down.

Thoughtful Adventure Story set in a unique segmented society

A thoroughly enjoyable, page turner, with a unique atmosphere that somehow reminded me of the excitement I felt when as a youngster I first discovered the Arabian Nights. The book is unique, quite unlike any other sf book with a detailed development of a striated society with its concomitant problems and injustices. Far more focus on characters and their interrelationships than most sf books. I could not put this book down once I started it. I look forward to more really original imaginative works from this talented author.

Wonderful variation of a fantasy adventure

Martha Wells does a wonderful job of shifting the typical/boring setting of fantasy novels to a massive isolated city of harsh social distinctions, and a history that is largely unknown due to a holocaust on this as yet unexplored world. Wonderful characters. Wells even graced my sci-fi lit class here at Texas A & M. She's quite impressive as an artist. I can't wait for the sequel to this novel and a chance to see more of this world that's hinted at but never explored. :) :)

Exciting from the beginning through to the end!

The story of a thief trying to survive in a citywhere everyone sees him as a non-human with morevalue dead than alive.An exciting story with great descriptions ofthis new fantasy world.

Tired of Tolkien wanna-be's? Read this instead.

There are no elves or dwarves here; no naive adolescent heroes who realize long after the reader does that _they_ are destined to fulfill some prophecy. Instead, Ms. Wells gives us a gritty, fully-textured world uniquely her own and a refreshingly intelligent pair of protagonists caught up in a plot that has NOT been done a hundred times over.In a household of readers that demand the very best in fantasy, City of Bones was passed from person-to-person and read cover-to-cover by all of us