History Literature / TheBonePalace

* BadassPrincess: Ashlin. The first sight of her we get is at sword practice, and first impressions don't lie. ''Almost'' RebelliousPrincess -- she would rather, personally, have had the life of a mercenary soldier than that of the Crown Prince's wife -- but duty won out.

* AmazonChaser: Savedra's finds Ashlin attractive despite not normally being interested in women, and a part of that appreciation is for Ashlin's warrior physique, which gets plenty of mention when we're seeing things from Savedra's point-of-view.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The final battle ended with Savedra having to watch Ginerva, who she became friends with, kill herself rather than be possessed. Niko watched his father die, unable to do anything. Isyllt watched Kiril and Spider die, had lost Forsythia's ghost, and because she let the king die to be by Kiril's side she broke her oath and lost most of her power, leaving her without a job. In the end she decides its too painful to stay and leaves the country with Dahlia.]]

* DestructiveRomance: The romance between [[spoiler:Phaedra and Mathiros]] ultimately caused all the problems in the present, as well as spelled their own doom.

* {{Familiar}}: Crows for [[spoiler:Phaedra, which is probably due to a number of the tearing her corpse apart when she originally died and ingesting her blood, which contained her power, will, and consciousness.]]

* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Phaedra, Spider, and Varis plans to get revenge ultimately boils down to replacing the current king with Phaedra in a younger body, her current one being the former queen that Kiril took from her tomb. She offers to do the same for Kiril, giving him Nikos' body, but he refuses.]]

* HiddenInPlainSight: [[spoiler:Phaedra]] operates out of the ruins of the old castle ruins. Because it's so steeped in ghosts and spirits and old magic no one would really notice her there.

* InterspeciesRomance: Typically speaking, it's frowned upon to court demons or the vrykoloi, but at a number of characters have done so.

* ItAmusedMe: Why Spider jumped from a tall ledge to carry Isyllt down to met the vrykoloi elders rather than take the stairs.

* LeaveNoWitnesses: To prevent an international crises [[spoiler:from killing Phaedra]] Kiril [[spoiler:murdered everyone in the castle in Carnavas.]]

* MoodSwinger: Phaedra is known from going mania to despair in a blink of an eye.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Varis, Savedra's uncle. He wears gaudy close, aggravates others, and acts in a manner that belays his intelligence. [[spoiler:Which is why few suspect he's the one attempting to kill Mathiros.]]
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: The ''vrykoloi'' are vampires who live in catacombs beneath the city sewers, by ancient treaty with the Crown. While classified as spirits possessing the dead, they have some similarities with the [[LooksLikeOrlok "Nosferatu"]] school of vampire appearance, being fairly ugly to human eyes; they're yellow-eyed, pale, deathly skinny, with fangs, bat-like ears (often pierced), and a face only somewhat human-like. They can move impossibly quickly when they choose to, making fighting them difficult; silver, however, is a weakness. They shun sunlight mainly because of sensitive eyesight, as well as wanting to avoid notice; their treaty requires them to be discreet. They drink blood, obtained through willing or paid donors or from preying on the poor and helpless, and the venom they have make them unwilling to fight back. Isyllt classifies them as demons, but they are apparently all once human, somehow infected or converted; there are two ancient vampire elders (both female) named Aphra and Tenebris who rule their society.

* {{Transsexual}}: In-series they are known as Hijra, the third sex, and keep to themselves in a temple in the Garden. Savedra Severos, mistress to Nikos, the Crown Prince, is one. Dehlia herself will also be one upon reaching sixteen.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TheBonePalace_7162.jpg

* EasySexChange: Averted, despite the magic of the setting. Savedra was born with an adam's apple and only small breasts, and retains functional male genitalia; given that she's from an exceedingly rich family and has their full support, this suggests that magical transformation assistance only aids in mild cosmetic ways and cannot completely switch genders.

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Phaedra's reasoning for insisting on helping Kiril. In her words, he broke himself to help her.

* InVinoVeritas: Ashlin and Savedra were both pretty drunk [[spoiler:when they had sex.]]

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Varis, Savedra's uncle. He wears gaudy close, aggravates others, and acts in a manner that belays his intelligence. [[spoiler:Which is why few suspect he's the one attempting to kill Nikos.]]

* DemonicPossession: Phaedra [[spoiler:is possessing the dead body of another woman after her murder by King Mathiros.]]

* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:Phaedra, Spider, and Varis plans to get revenge utimately boils down to replacing the current king with Phaedra in a younger body. She offers to do the same for Kiril, giving him Nikos' body, but he refuses.]]

* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Kirilos [[spoiler:wiped all traces of Phaedra from the memories of all but a few people to cover up her death by the king.]]

* MyGreatestFailure: Kirilos [[spoiler:considers Phaedra as his own, both her death and the fact that she inhabits a dead body.]]

* {{Necromancer}}: Isyllt Iskaldur's profession. [[spoiler:At the end of it she takes Dehlia as an apprentice.]]

* ThePowerOfBlood: Blood acts as a power source for both the vrykoloi[[spoiler: and Phaedra.]]

* MysticalPlague: [[spoler:Phaedra creates one using her magic to further weaken the city.]]

* {{Necromancer}}: Isyllt Iskaldur's profession.

* DemonicPossession: Pheadra [[spoiler:is possessing the dead body of another woman after her murder by King Mathiros.]]
* DisposableSexWorker: What starts out Isyllt's case is the murder of a prostitute, Forsythia, who has a ring belonging to the royal family. [[spoiler:Phaedra killed her so that her relationship with the vrykolos did not come to light or distract him.]]

* {{Familiar}}: Crows for[[spoiler:Phaedra, which is probably due to a number of the tearing her corpse apart when she originally died and ingesting her blood, which contained her power, will, and consciousness.]]

* {{Transsexual}}: In-series they are known as Hijra, the third sex, and keep to themselves in a temple in the Garden. Savedra Severos, mistress to Nikos, the Crown Prince, is one.

* DisposableSexWorker: What starts out Isyllt's case is the murder of a prostitute who has a ring belonging to the royal family. [[spoiler:Phaedra killed her so that her relationship with the vrykolos did not come to light.]]
* EasySexChange: Averted, despite the magic of the setting. Savedra has an adam's apple and only small breasts, and retains functional male genitalia; given that she's from an exceedingly rich family and has their full support, this suggests that magical transformation assistance only aids in mild cosmetic ways.
* EyeOfNewt: Squid Ink is a valuable component in charms of illusions, distraction, and obfuscation.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: the ''vrykoloi'' are vampires who live in catacombs beneath the city sewers, by ancient treaty with the Crown. While classified as spirits possessing the dead, they have some similarities with the [[LooksLikeOrlok "Nosferatu"]] school of vampire appearance, being fairly ugly to human eyes; they're yellow-eyed, pale, deathly skinny, with fangs, bat-like ears (often pierced), and a face only somewhat human-like. They can move impossibly quickly when they choose to, making fighting them difficult; silver, however, is a weakness. They shun sunlight mainly because of sensitive eyesight, as well as wanting to avoid notice; their treaty requires them to be discreet. They drink blood, obtained through willing or paid donors or from preying on the poor and helpless, and the venom they have make them unwilling to fight back. Isyllt classifies them as demons, but they are apparently all once human, somehow infected or converted; there are two ancient vampire elders (both female) named Aphra and Tenebris who rule their society.

* DemonicPossession: Pheadra [[is possessing the dead body of another woman after her murder by Mathiros.]]

* DisposableSexWorker: What starts out Isyllt's case is the murder of a prostitute who has a ring belonging to the royal family.

* FeministFantasy: it doesn't hit you too hard over the head with it, but Selafai and elsewhere appear to be fairly egalitarian as to gender. We see many women in what would be considered male roles in our world, including a female police inspector and captain of the guard, and nobody acts like this is unusual. Crown Prince Nikos isn't a warrior, while his wife Ashlin is, and Savedra, while not a warrior, certainly knows how to fight and is an effective counter-assassin.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: the ''vrykoloi'' are vampires who live in catacombs beneath the city sewers, by ancient treaty with the Crown. They have some similarities with the [[LooksLikeOrlok "Nosferatu"]] school of vampire appearance, being fairly ugly to human eyes; they're yellow-eyed, pale, deathly skinny, with fangs, bat-like ears (often pierced), and a face only somewhat human-like. They can move impossibly quickly when they choose to, making fighting them difficult; silver, however, is a weakness. They shun sunlight mainly because of sensitive eyesight, as well as wanting to avoid notice; their treaty requires them to be discreet. They drink blood, obtained through willing or paid donors or from preying on the poor and helpless, and the venom they have make them unwilling to fight back. Isyllt classifies them as demons, but they are apparently all once human, somehow infected or converted; there are two ancient vampire elders (both female) named Aphra and Tenebris who rule their society.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: the ''vrykoloi'' are vampires who live in catacombs beneath the city sewers, by ancient treaty with the Crown. They have some similarities with the [[LooksLikeOrlok "Nosferatu"]] school of vampire appearance, being fairly ugly to human eyes; they're yellow-eyed, pale, deathly skinny, with fangs, bat-like ears (often pierced), and a face only somewhat human-like. They can move impossibly quickly when they choose to, making fighting them difficult; silver, however, is a weakness. They shun sunlight mainly because of sensitive eyesight, as well as wanting to avoid notice; their treaty requires them to be discreet. They drink blood, obtained through willing or paid donors or from preying on the poor and helpless. Isyllt classifies them as demons, but they are apparently all once human, somehow infected or converted; there are two ancient vampire elders (both female) named Aphra and Tenebris who rule their society.

* {{Transsexual}}: Savedra Severos, mistress to Nikos, the Crown Prince.

* LoveTriangle: Both [[spoiler:Nikos and Ashlin]] are in love with [[spoiler:Savedra]], who loves both of them. After the tears when things come to a head, it looks like a TenchiSolution is the answer they all choose, with the wonderful possibility that this will help relations between [[spoiler:Nikos and Ashlin]] as well.

''The Bone Palace'' is a LowFantasy novel by AmandaDownum and was released in December 2010. It is the second in ''The Necromancer Chronicles'', and is a sequel to ''Literature/TheDrowningCity''; however, the plots are self-contained, and only the main character, the necromancer Isyllt Iskaldur, carries over from the previous novel. Her mentor and former lover, Kiril, was mentioned there, but is an on-page character here.

''The Bone Palace'' is a LowFantasy novel by AmandaDownum and was released in December 2010. It is the second in ''The Necromancer Chronicles'', and is a sequel to ''TheDrowningCity''; however, the plots are self-contained, and only the main character, the necromancer Isyllt Iskaldur, carries over from the previous novel. Her mentor and former lover, Kiril, was mentioned there, but is an on-page character here.