Broken Souls and Bones by LJ Andrews is the first book in the Stonegate series, a Nordic romantasy first published in April 2025. LJ Andrews is the USA Today bestselling author of the Broken Kingdoms series and The Ever Seas.

If you’re new here, I discussed the first three books in LJA’s Ever Seas (The Ever King, The Ever Queen, and The Mist Thief) with Story Darlings co-host, Tera. Definitely give those episodes a listen if you read the books. We’re still patiently waiting for The Broken Crown’s 2026 release date announcement! When we read Ever Seas over a year ago, we had no idea it was the sequel series to Broken Kingdoms. I’d recommend reading Broken Kingdoms first—we still need to pick those up! 😂

I’d heard great things about Broken Souls and Bones from my Bookstagram friends, Kerry and Sara. Based on some of the tropes they shared—forced proximity, enemies-to-lovers, and hidden identity—I anticipated enjoying it, and this turned out to be true. It had great spice, a nonverbal MMC, bone magic, and a story that kept me guessing.

If you stumble upon this post while falling down rabbit holes, or just need a refresher on what happens in Broken Souls and Bones for when the sequel comes out, I hope this guide helps!

In it, you’ll find:

• a character list
• locations in the book
• Broken Souls and Bones recap
• ending explained
• my favorite quotes
• book review

Okay—here’s your one and only warning: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

Characters in Broken Souls and Bones

Who is Lyra Bien?

Lyra Bien is a young melder with silver scars in her eyes that distinguish her as the first female melder in 500 years. She was raised in a youth house and later served in Jarl Jakobson’s household. Her skill with a knife and knowledge of gathering herbs and berries has helped hide her secret for most of her life. She’s missing memories from a horrible trauma experienced when she was younger and can’t recall anything about her parents or her early childhood.

With no family of her own, Lyra thinks of the jarl’s elderly cook, Selena, and his groundskeeper, Thorian, as her family. She’s also fiercely protective of Kael and considers him her brother. Fun fact: the first time I read the names Selena, Thorian, and Kael together on-page, all I could see was Celaena, Dorian, and Chaol from Throne of Glass. Do we think that’s an Easter egg??

Who is Roark Ashwood?

Roark Ashwood is known as the Sentry of Stonegate, or “Death Bringer.” He’s a skilled warrior and assassin from the enemy lands of Dravenmoor but now serves King Damir of Jorvandal. He swore fealty to Damir’s son, Prince Thane, through a bone melding process and cares for Thane like a brother. Roark communicates nonverbally and has a deep scar across his throat, jaw, and chest.

Like Lyra, Roark also has a mysterious past and holes in his memory. His past seems strongly connected to soul craft. Later, he’s revealed to be the Draven shadow assassin known as Skul Drek (the other, menacing half of his soul). Oh, and he’s Queen Elisabet’s second son—meaning he’s the heir of Dravenmoor given his older brother died many years ago while helping save Lyra. But he has nothing to do with Dravenmoor or his mother anymore.

Other characters

Name	Description
Kael Darkwin	Lyra’s adopted brother, a bone crafter. He is the true heir of Jarl Jakobson but was disowned because the jarl’s second wife was jealous and wanted her son Mikkal (Kael’s half-brother) to be heir. He also has a half-sister, Astra. Kael cares about Mikkal and Astra but is deeply loyal to Lyra.
Prince Thane (the Bold)	Prince of Jorvandal (Damir’s son) and Roark’s best friend. A compassionate, reckless warrior prince set on marrying Princess Yrsa of Myrda to help hide her relationship with Emi. Thane seems to love Roark like a brother and doesn’t agree with lots of Damir’s decisions.
Fadey	King Damir’s melder (and forced lover) presumed dead at the start of the book. Has been working with Queen Ingir to gain freedom and power. Also has silver in his eyes. He wants to take Lyra’s bones and meld them into his body to make himself more powerful.
Queen Elisabet	Ruler of Dravenmoor and Roark’s mother. A soul craft master who can allegedly rend the soul of her own people with the flick of her hand.
Baldur the Fox	A brutal Captain in the Stav Guard known for his loyalty to King Damir. We learn at the end of the book that he was murdered by Fadey and Queen Ingir and Fadey took his identity by melding his appearance and copying his mannerisms.
Vella	Jarl Jakobson’s seer, later revealed to be a blood crafter spy placed in Skalfirth by King Damir himself. She knew what Lyra was and betrayed her to the Draven Dark Watch.
Emi Nightlark	A Draven bone crafter serving in the Stav Guard at Stonegate. She is skilled and knowledgeable about craft and the wood. She helps Lyra and Kael and is in love with Princess Yrsa of Myrda. Emi ran away from Dravenmoor at 14 and once tried to cut off her abusive father’s head.
Jarl Jakobson	Jarl of Skalfirth obsessed with seeking favor from King Damir. Kael’s biological father (who he disowned), and also father to Mikkal and Astra. Still cares about Kael to some extent but Kael could care less, considering what he did.
Selena	The head cook in Jarl Jakobson’s household. A kindhearted and strong-willed widow who looks after Lyra and Kael (their mother figure)
Thorian	An elder groundskeeper in Jarl Jakobson’s household. Kind and loyal, also looks out for Lyra and Kael (their father figure)
Edvin	A bone crafter from Skalfirth. Taken from his wife and children to Stonegate with Lyra and Hilda.
Hilda	A bone crafter from Skalfirth and Edvin’s sister. Taken to Stonegate with Lyra and Edvin after just marrying her husband, Gisli.
King Damir	“Thief King” of Jorvandal, residing at Stonegate. He covets craft, especially melding, for power. Revealed to be searching for the Wanderer’s bones to have them melded into his body. Killed by Fadey and his wife Queen Ingir.
Queen Ingir	King Damir’s wife (and Thane’s mother). There is no love between Ingir and Damir. A blood crafter from Myrda. Turns out she’s a big bad in cahoots with Fadey who is still alive.
King Hundur	Ruler of Myrda and Yrsa’s father. Tomas is his seneschal. King Damir gifts Hundur soul bones to be melded into his knuckles after Lyra angered him by sealing Tomas’s mouth shut.
Princess Yrsa	Hundur’s daughter, in an arranged marriage with Prince Thane whom she loves as a friend because he protects her secret relationship with Emi Nightlark.
Skul Drek	AKA “Wraith of Dravenmoor,” feared Draven assassin. Connected to the dark mirror realm and attacks when soul bones are used in the melding ritual. The darker half of Roark’s soul that is also connected to Lyra.
Tomas Grisen	Myrdan pig who attended the wedding festivities at Stonegate. Attempted to assault Lyra, so she melded his jaw shut (Roark sliced off his fingertip first and shoved it into his mouth). Tomas was secretly working with Queen Elisabet. Roark took his head and chopped the rest of him to pieces, then displayed it all as retribution for what he did to Lyra and his treachery to Jorvandal.
The Wanderer	First king of the realms, married to the God-Queen. Turned wicked from absorbing too many corrupt souls and their vices and cruelty (from repeated melding of soul bones).
The God-Queen	Wife of the Wanderer King and daughter of the gods the Wanderer rescued. After her husband’s corruption, she divided craft into bone, blood, and soul to try and stop his greed and lust for power.

Broken Souls and Bones locations

Location	Description
Skalfirth	Small seaside village in the kingdom of Jorvandal where Lyra and Kael live as servants in Jarl Jakobson’s household.
Fernwood	The woods near Skalfirth, thick with fog and trees. It is dangerous with fara wolves and blood casts. Also referred to as Draugaskógur, the Phantom Forest.
Stonegate	The royal keep of King Damir in Jorvandal. A formidable fortress and the center of the kingdom’s power and craft.
Dravenmoor	The enemy kingdom across the ravines, known for soul craft and ruled by Queen Elisabet.
Jorvandal	The kingdom ruled by King Damir, home to bone crafters.
Myrda	A smaller kingdom allied with Jorvandal, home to blood crafters.
Night Ledges	Cliffs in the North where the Unfettered Folk live.
Realm of Souls (Salur)	Otherworld of the dead, similar to Valhalla
Red Ravines	Location in Dravenmoor
Boarshead Tavern	A tavern located within the Stonegate palace boundaries where Prince Thane hosts a revel.

Broken Souls and Bones recap

What happens in Broken Souls and Bones?

Broken Souls and Bones begins with a flashback scene. We witness a very young Lyra having her memory wiped as her village burns all around her. We’re also given clues about the two people with her, one who seems to be a boy around her age. It’s disorienting and purposely doesn’t give away much to the reader.

I’ll circle back on this!

Roark

Flash-forward to the present day. King Damir of Jorvandal sends his cruel captain of the Stav Guard, Baldur the Fox, to accompany Roark to the small village of Skalfirth. The king received word that the lost melder girl was found and has been in hiding there.

Lyra

The lost melder girl is Lyra, and her life in Skalfirth is mostly uneventful as a servant to the jarl. Until the arrival of Baldur, Roark, and the Stav Guard, presumably for business around Prince Thane’s upcoming wedding. While out picking plums with her stubborn goat Pukki, she catches a hooded man rummaging through her cart. Obviously, her only choice is to lob bad plums at him until he runs away, but shit only escalates later at Jarl Jakobson’s longhouse.

At the jarl’s feast, Vella, the jarl’s blood crafter seer, is accused of betraying the king by attempting to hand over the melder to the enemy Dravenmoor and luring his melder Fadey to his death. Vella calls out the king’s corruption in using melder power. And then Baldur brutally murders her by shoving toxic red flakes into her mouth. Stav Guard then apprehend all three bone crafters in the village, which includes Hilda, Edvin, and Kael—Lyra’s adopted brother.

Realizing her secret as the melder girl is exposed, Lyra attempts to resist, but Roark commands a bone crafter named Emi to break Kael’s body, forcing Lyra to meld him if she wants him to live. During the melding process, she projects for the first of many times into a dark mirror realm where she meets a shadow figure that seems to materialize the more souls she melds. Upon melding, a tetherlike bond strengthens between Lyra and the phantom.

The truth about Roark & Skul Drek

Later in the book, Lyra discovers that the shadow figure is Skul Drek and that Skul Drek and Roark are one in the same. Roark is a split soul with Skul Drek as the physical manifestation of his darker, cruelest, and most inhumane traits—a weapon. This soul splitting originated centuries ago from Jorvan use of soul bones, causing a Draven soul to be cursed. Roark is the lucky winner of the curse in the present day, and not the first Skul Drek to have existed.

Stonegate

After Lyra and the rest of the Skalfirth bone crafters are transported to King Damir’s seat of power in Stonegate, Lyra spends her time learning hand gestures to communicate with Roark, which she picks up quickly. She befriends Emi, learning about her traumatic past in Dravenmoor, and King Damir keeps Lyra busy searching for soul bones. It’s through this constant search for bones and bone melding that she realizes the connection between the phantom and Skul Drek—that the phantom is Skul Drek and each time she takes a soul bone, he comes to claim another soul.

Soul corruption

King Damir eventually commands Lyra to start rank melding and that she will meld him an invincible army of Berserkirs. Skul Drek warns Lyra that the more she melds soul bones, the more corrupt she will become. He also warns that what Damir is truly after are the bones of the Wanderer, so he can gain unspeakable power.

Broken Souls and Bones ending

The fate of King Damir

Toward the end of Broken Souls and Bones, Thane’s marriage to Yrsa is fast-tracked. While Roark is gone from Stonegate for an important meeting, Kael is tasked with remaining by Lyra’s side to protect her. Baldur comes to her chambers and says that Queen Ingir has summoned her, and they have no choice but to go.

It turns out to be a trap, and Lyra finds out that Ingir had Damir murdered most grotesquely. It’s revealed that Baldur is really Fadey who was thought dead, and that the real Baldur was killed at the start of the book, his identity taken. Ingir and Fadey have been the villains of the book the whole time, with her hatred of Damir as her biggest driver for wanting the Wanderer’s bones for herself. Their plan was to meld Lyra’s bones into Fadey to make him super powerful.

Lyra’s escape from Stonegate

Shocking no one, Ingir frames Lyra with Damir’s murder and orders the entire Stav Guard to capture her after she maims Fadey and escapes.

Upon returning to Stonegate, Roark sees Lyra is in trouble and they flee on horseback together. They rendezvous with Emi and Lyra learns that Roark is fealty sworn to Prince Thane and that unless she removes his bone shard, he will die. Begrudgingly, she removes it. This is when Emi explains that Roark has a divided soul and that Lyra, through her connection to him, is the “new rope” that is restoring his two halves. She goes on to say that Roark is the first Skul Drek to achieve this restoration because he fell in love with a melder.

The lost Draven prince

While Emi, Roark, and Lyra are talking, Queen Elisabet appears with her Draven men, referring to Emi as her niece. Roark demands safe passage for Lyra to Dravenmoor, and Elisabet agrees. We then get a final flashback confirming that Roark was there when Lyra lost her family and village, when all the kingdoms had attempted to capture her for themselves.

We also learn that Roark is Prince Roark. The second son of Queen Elisabet (and presumedly the heir of Dravenmoor since his older brother had died helping Lyra escape as a child).

We’re left not knowing the fates of Prince Thane—whether he’s angry or feels betrayed by Roark and Emi—and Kael, who was shackled by Queen Ingir and Fadey and hauled away.

Broken Souls and Bones quotes

I was once told we never truly knew another soul until we saw the darkness they kept inside.

To claim something as his—a strike, a kill, a horn of ale—Ashwood tapped whatever he wanted three times.

The Sentry placed his palm against my cheek. I stiffened, eyes closed. But all he did was tap my face three times.

Pulse racing, I touched where Ashwood held his hand. Three taps—his gesture for claiming something as his. It meant mine.

And that, they say, is what it means to love a heart—the lightest pieces, and the darkest.

True love. To accept another soul—the good and the bad—and love them through it all.

I would burn the whole of this land to keep one heart beating.

Break me, I no longer care, as long as it is you who wields the destruction.

Final thoughts

Broken Souls and Bones by LJ Andrews is so good! I waffled between a 4.25–4.5, but this book had unique bone magic and the cliffhanger has me biting my nails for Kael and Thane. My fear is Ingir and Fadey turning Kael into a Berserkir monstrosity and Lyra having to kill him to save him—if he can even be saved.

But happier thoughts… I completely ATE UP Lyra and Roark’s romance and loved how LJA depicted Roark as a nonverbal MMC. His touches and intense eye contact, the intimate, physical way he could communicate with Lyra—how their soul bond strengthened that communication—FULL SWOON.

Roark is up there for me in my long list of book boyfriends. 🥵

Really excited to see where this series goes and hoping to get Ever Seas book 4 in the meantime. If you’ve read Broken Souls and Bones, what did you think? Please share any theories or thoughts you have—I’d love to see them!