'Silver In The Bone' Book Club Readalong Day 1!

Welcome to the first day of our book club readalong for OwlCrate's April book, Silver In The Bone by Alexandra Bracken. 

This month I will be running our book club in tandem with our amazing Nest moderator, Amber, who is hosting our club readalong of Silver In The Bone on the Official OwlCrate Nest discussion group. You'll be able to chat with other readers there, access way more chapter by chapter questions, and get some  AMAZING fun extra activities to go along with the discussion! Check it out HERE.

Readers who participate in the Nest's readalong will be in the running to win an OwlCrate box and one randomly chosen blog discussion participant will win a shop gift card!

Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for the prologue and chapters 1-6 of Silver In The Bone , so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.

Find your discussion questions below!

Once Upon A Time...

Prologue:

We are introduced to Tamsin and her brother, Cabell as children. They are navigating a Sorceress's tomb with their guardian, Nash who we find out is a shadier than average 'Hollower', a magical treasure hunter. As Tamsin, Cabell and Nash break the curses within the tomb they are exploring, we find out that while Nash and Cabell can wield magic while Tamsin cannot. Instead she must rely on a Hand Of Glory in order to make it safely around the wards and curses within the tomb. 

Cabell also seems to be cursed in some way and must be distracted and calmed. Without it, he looks to be transforming. Eventually the three make it through a myriad of gruesome traps and find the item that they are looking for, a magical dagger that once belonged to none other than King Arthur. 

The three leave the tomb and travel toward Tintagel castle, to sell the dagger to another dangerous sorceress. Nash goes alone to meet her, leaving the children inside a tent. 

However, when Tamsin and Cabell awaken, Nash, the dagger and the sorceress are nowhere to be found. They have been left alone. 



Chapter 1: 

Chapter one opens with a time jump where Tamsin and Cabell are living in Boston, eking out a living. Both are working as Hollowers, as Nash's membership to the treasure hunting guild has passed to them. For additional money, Tamsin reads fortunes to tourists, which she does not enjoy. One patron in particular is Neve, who is a 'Cunningfolk', a person gifted with magic. Neve comes to Tamsin often to have her fortune read as she found out that Tamsin knows magic and Sorceresses to be real. 

Tamsin reads her cards and makes a small sum of money before Cabell shows up, reminding her that they have a meeting with a Sorceress to ready for. Tamsin and Cabell quarrel about their lives and work as Cabell still holds Nash in regard while Tamsin feels abandoned by him. 

Chapter 2:
Tamsin and Cabell go to the Library, the Hollower's guild meeting place to travel to their rendevous with a Sorceress they need to deliver an item to. On the way through the Library they notice that it's main patron and creepy sinister Hollower, Endymion Dye is there showing off his latest treasure, a Sorceress' tome. Tamsin notices here is no sign of Endymion's son, Emrys, whom they both call "Trust Fund" which seems to be unusual. 

Cabell goes to the job board to see if there are any work requests. They find three and use the Library's key travel system (any lock works!) to travel around. While they have no luck securing more work, they make it to New Orleans and to the Sorceress Madrigal's residence.

Tamsin leaves Cabell outside and enters the manse. With the help of the Sorceress' familiar, Dearie, she navigates it's dark and sinister rooms before coming to the dining room where she finds Sorceress Madrigal and none other than...

Emrys Dye. 



Chapter 3:

Tamsin provides the Sorceress Madrigal with the item she and Cabell acquired for her, a magic brooch.While Tamsin is frightened and really wants to leave, both she and Emrys end up exchanging barbs at each other. 

Tamsin ends up asking Emrys why he's there and the Sorceress lets her know that Emrys is actually there for a treasure hunting job to obtain something called "The Servant's Prize". Tamsin undercuts him and tells Madrigal that she will do it better and faster. Emrys scoffs but the Sorceress Madrigal finally concedes in amusement letting Tamsin know that if she beats Emrys, she will get one hundred times the payment that she's received in the past. 

As Tamsin leaves, Emrys tries to convince her not to get involved but Tamsin adamantly refuses. As servant drops a tray in distress, and Emrys is quick to assist, Tamsin sees her way out of the mansion. 



Chapter 4:

Tamsin tells Cabell about the offer and Emrys. Cabell is angry and believes that they should not take the job from the Sorceress. While Tamsin tries to convince him that it is an opportunity, Cabell starts to transform. Tamsin notices and uses the magic key to take them back to their shared apartment. 

She tries to calm Cabell down but nothing is working. His bones continue to snap and crack and he transforms into a kind of lycan. Tamsin gets bitten by him and narrowly avoids being killed by grabbing a silver tranquilizer dart and jamming it into Cabell's neck. 

Chapter 5:

Leaving their apartment and Cabell, Tamsin makes her way to the Library to see if she can find any information about what "The Servant's Prize" may be. She is bothered by other, older and creepy Harrowers while she works her way through "Immortality's", which are books of Sorceress' memories. While she reads we learn that Tamsin never forgets anything, she has an eidetic memory, except for this one phrase, The Servant's Prize and she continues to look for its mentions. 

While thinking about the word servant and Arthurian legend she remembers that Lancelot in French is L'ancelot, meaning "servant". 

Thus she deduces that the item they're searching for is a fabled ring that will remove all curses, The Ring Of Dispel.

The exact ring that Nash was trading Arthur's dagger for and Tamsin had been eager to find so that she could perhaps remove Cabell's curse. 

Knowing that her research may be being watched by the Darrowers that were bothering her, she instead grabs another tome and exclaims loudly about a random passage. As she leaves through a doorway, Tamsin lays down on the floorboards to see if her suspicions are correct. They are and she overhears the Harrowers discussing her potential discovery. 

Before exiting the library, she asks the Librarian, a golem like metal creature artificial intelligence crafted centuries prior about the Sorceress Myfanwy's Immortality, which she knows may have information about Lancelot's ring. 

The Librarian shares with her that it was ruined by water damage just yesterday, and was informed of this by none other than (you guessed it)

Emrys Dye. 



As she leaves, Tamsin pulls out a journal and uses the code "Myfanwy"  to unveil a portion of it. The journal is Nash's. A possession that was left to her and Cabell. It is revealed that Nash's last entry was about giving Myfanwy the Arthurian dagger in exchange for The Ring Of Dispel. 


Chapter 6:

Tamsin had bandaged Cabell and left him in his room. She returns to the apartment to update him with everything she has learned. Cabell feels awful about the attack and is ashamed. Tamsin tells him that she may have found a cure for his ailment as she's found clues leading to The Ring Of Dispel. Cabell tells Tamsin that he wants no part of any quest for it. They argue and Cabell leaves. 

Tamsin forms a plan and looks at a newspaper she finds on the floor about roads in Britain icing over. After finishing an exchange with a Sorceress' toad she pulls cards from her tarot deck which tell her to listen to her intuition. She pulls out her magic key, inserts it into the closet door, and leaves. 

 Questions:

1. 👑 I love King Author retellings. Do you have a favorite?
   

2. 💫 Would you want a magical body part for nefarious use?
   

3. 🚪 I thought the Always Door was neat. If you had access to it, where would you go?
   

4. 🎧 Neve loves listening to the Cocteau Twins. Who is your favorite band at the moment?
   

   
   

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