The Bone Bearer

The Bone Bearer – Lani Wendt Young

The third book of the telesa trilogy culminates in an even less normal life than the one Leila was already struggling with. After her adventures in Tonga, Leila finds herself possessed by Pele, the original fire goddess. Pele was spurned by the telesa after stealing the gifts of other women in the sisterhood, and ultimately gathered too much power to be contained in one body and suffered for centuries as a tormented spirit. Now Leila finds herself “hosting” Pele, and neither she nor her friends are happy about that. Unrecognizable in every way but appearance, Pele behaves in ways that drive Leila crazy, infuriate her boyfriend Daniel, and confuse her rag-tag band of telesa friends. While Leila’s friends are concerned about Pele’s behavior, they are not the only ones to notice the change. Telesa covenants from around the Pacific have gathered in Samoa to try to band together in an effort to finally deal with Pele. Between Leila, Pele, her friends, and the telesa traditions, the stakes are high and tensions higher as different parties work with and against the greatest threat the telesa have faced in a millennium.

“The Bone Bearer” by Lani Wendt Young is a continuation of the telesa trilogy in every way. It expands the mythology of telesa by deepening the understanding of the Samoan legend and incorporating traditions from Fiji and Hawaii. As in her other books, Young’s descriptions of restaurants, locations, and places are as relevant as ever because they all exist in Samoa. Her attention to detail gives legitimacy to a reality that is so often passed over in pop culture because Samoa is so small it hardly registers anywhere outside its borders. However, as in her other books, Young’s writing hastily recreates pop culture and mixes it with cultural traditions, which can be a successful combination, but not always. Aside from numerous grammatical and spelling errors, she writes with heavy overtones of Harry Potter and Twilight, with notes of Hunger Games, Fifty Shades, and various other pop references thrown in. Although this adds to the relevance of her writing, she seems almost unapologetic in recreating a pop culture and trying to combine it with traditional culture. The story, the writing, and everything about the telesa series seem hasty and rushed rather than thought-out and planned.

“The Bone Bearer” seems like a mash-up of every other young adult trend. As I was reading the book, I found myself predicting what would happen based on patterns in other young adult novels, and was unsurprised when my predictions came true. I also found myself correcting her grammar and rewording her sentences as I was reading, which distracts from the plot. This book also seemed dominated by anger, so that themes of love and optimism would have been lost had they not been blatantly stated at the climax. Despite the difficulties of reading the telesa novels, I absolutely love them because they are set in Samoa and based in Samoan culture and legends. Now that I am somewhat removed from Samoan life, I appreciate these books even more because I appreciate the culture so much more. These novels are not great, but if you have any ties to small islands in the Pacific ocean, they are worth reading.