The Bone Witch

Tea never meant to wake the dead. At a family funeral she raises her brother Fox from his grave, and the act reveals what she is: a bone witch, a necromancer whose death magic leaves her shunned and feared by her neighbours.

An older bone witch brings her to the city of Kion, where she trains as an asha. Ashas are elite women who perform, fight and wield elemental magic. Tea attends their school, learns what her powers cost her, and gets caught up in Eight Kingdoms politics, among them the fate of Prince Kance of Odalia.

The book runs on two timelines. One follows Tea through her training. The other shows a later, darker Tea on a lonely beach, where she has raised monsters and tells her tale to a nameless bard. The gap between the two sets up the question of how the girl in Kion becomes the woman on the shore.

This is YA fantasy with an Asian-influenced setting and a magic system that demands a price. The Bone Witch trilogy begins here and continues with The Heart Forger, then The Shadowglass. Expect an atmospheric, slow-unfolding story rather than a fast one.