I really loved this book. At first I was a bit confused and the multiple POV's lost me as I was only expecting the daughter to be written from the daughter's perspective. The magic system in this series is unique and I loved Lin, Mephi and Jovis.

I loved this epic story, one of the best fantasy novels I've read this year, which is a gripping engaging look at power and love, the value of human life and what we owe to those above and beneath us in a society. This is a world of bone shard magic, where the ruling Empire takes a tithe of one bone shard from each member of society, which are used to build constructs that perform a variety of tasks.

With five main characters this story could have become confusing or difficult to follow but the different POVs were handled skillfully. There's Lin, the Emporer's daughter who is desperate to prove her worth, Jovis, the smuggler/reluctant hero of the people, Ramani and Phalue who are struggling to understand each other across a class divide, and the mysterious Sand, who doesn't really know who she is. Often when there are this many narrators, I find myself looking forward to one or two above the others but in this case I was equally interested in and attached to all five of them. With a slight preference for Jovis because Jovis was accompanied by Mephi, who I'm pretty certain everyone will fall in love with.

Each of the characters have different world views, which gives a nice varied insight into the world and the power hierarchy within it. This was cleverly done and really helped with the lush detailed world building.

I raced through the book, desperate to find out how it was all going to come together, equally invested in the development of all of the characters. I can't wait to spend more time in this world. Highly recommend.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

eARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

Actual rating - 4.5*

First of all I just have to say, this COVER!! It’s absolutely friggin gorgeous. I love it! Seriously stunning!

As soon as I read the synopsis for this one I knew instantly that I needed to read it. It just grabbed me from the get go. And honestly, I was not disappointed. I loved the plot, any kind of magic has me instantly intrigued but bone magic!! It was fairly unique, I don’t recall having read anything similar before so that was refreshing.

The plot follows a number of characters, some were more predominant than others and they were all easy to follow as the voices were very distinct. I really liked all of the characters, but my favourite was probably Jovis with his not pet companion, Mephi. Jovis was the reluctant hero type (which I always love) and out on a mission of his own but just kept getting swept up in the revolution and well, being the hero! We see Jovis and Mephi meet and then witness their friendship and connection develop from the start, this was great to read. Lin, the other main character was great too, she was was fierce and strong and determined. I loved the plot with it’s little twists, especially those surrounding Lin, even if I did see some of it coming. The ending, which was certainly not a cliffhanger, does have me desperate for book two like it was. I am definitely intrigued to see where the story goes considering that end position.

My only criticism and the reason for the less than five star rating was purely the pacing. It just felt off in places, especially between scenes for Jovis. He seemed to island hop sometimes with seemingly no consistency in direction or sense of time for travel. This wasn’t a huge problem by any means but something I was certainly conscious of whilst reading. Hopefully the finished copy will have a map so this will be even less of an issue.

I highly recommend this one to anybody who loves fantasy (ya or adult), magic systems and strong lead characters!

This review will be posted to Goodreads the week prior to publication.

I was drawn to The Bone Shard Daughter by its gorgeous cover, but you know what they say about judging books...I found it to be a fairly standard fantasy story, and struggled to have much interest in any of the characters. The best part of the book is the bone shard magic itself, used to created monstrous constructs powered by small pieces of bone taken from ordinary people, but I felt like this wasn't explored as much as it could have been. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

The blurb on this book made me think it was going to all be from the perspective of the Emperor's daughter Lin. I would not have been angry at that I thought Lin's story was exceptionally cool and I loved her characterisation. I liked the mixture of power and self-doubt, she's one of my favourite heroines of recent reads. But no, this is a multiple POV book and the characters and different perspectives are probably my favourite thing aside from the magic system. There's something for everyone - the emperor's daughter and her quiet subterfuge plot, the smuggler and the 'unlikely hero' plot, the queer couple who have to deal with coming to terms with privilege, and you have the mysterious POV about whom I will say no more to preserve the intrigue. 

There wasn't a single perspective that I didn't enjoy - every different story was great. 

The setting is also wonderful - the drowning empire is fascinating and terrifying in equal parts. From the government down to the environment it all comes together to make a place that captured my imagination. I can't wait for later books in the series where we'll hopefully get to see even more!

It's the magic system that really sold me. Imagine combining bone magic (already cool) with...almost a fantasy programming language? Imagine then combining that AWESOME mixture with a macabre combining of animal parts to make weird hybrid constructs that obey your pre-written commands. 

I mean IT'S JUST COOL. 

I love a hard magic system and this is a great example of that. The implications of bone magic are horrific, and it'll be interesting to see how later books tackle the fact that the coolest aspect of the book (in my opinion) is also the darkest. 

There are also elements of magical animals in this story - in case you wanted another dose of 'this book was basically written with me in mind get out of my head'.

I won't pretend to have captured all the nuance of the story, as a white lady, but I thought that the discussion of power and privilege was really important in this book, and much appreciated. I liked that it came into play in a lot of different aspects of the story, not just one. 

I'm so excited for more people to read this book - but it's taking a spot as one of my favourite books of the year so far. 

My rating:5/5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own. 

The Bone Shard Daughter is out September 10th!

A brilliant fantasy debut featuring the most imaginative world building and magic system. The empire described is Asian inspired and the story follows five povs of which Lin and Mephi were my favourite. The writing style is beautiful and once the story has its claws in you, it doesn't let go. I'm glad to learn it's part of a trilogy and there's more to come.

This book sadly didn't work for me. I have little to say, as this book was just simply not up my alley. I am sure others may enjoy it but I sadly could not get into it.

The Bone Shard Daughter is the first book in The Drowning Empire trilogy by Andrea Stewart. It's a book set in an asian-coded world although I personally would like more clearance about any specific countries that it might be inspired in, because I couldn't really tell.

The story introduces us to the Bone Shard magic system, which felt quite unique and amazing, but also a bit horrifying. It takes place in an empire consisting of many islands and the book revolves around the life of a princess, a smuggler, a revolutionary and the daughter of a governor. The themes involve the abuse of the poor and lower classes, revolution and extremism, love, family, mystery and identity. Each of the characters is there for a reason and they have a distinct arc. Oh, and it also includes magical creatures, some which are also cute animals. Seems awesome, right? I personally really like how the author executed these themes. The POV of Jovis and Lin were my favorites for different reasons. Jovis because his arc with the children and Mephi was absolutely captivating and Lin because the mystery surrounding her family and the bone shard magic was very interesting to solve.

Now, onto the things I didn't like about the book, first of all was the established relationship between Phalue and Ranami. I thought that the themes explored in their relationship, the class difference, the struggle to understand another person's perspective when you grew up in very opposite ends of the economic spectrum, were very well done. But it also was upsetting to read, I couldn't really comprehend why these two people still wanted to be together, except for the fact that the narrative kept telling me that they loved each other. It felt like a case of telling instead of showing because I didn't see these people falling in love, so how am I supposed to root for it to work when I don't see what lead them to those moments and feelings? I find it quite hard to be invested in a relationship that already exists by the time the book starts, and The Bone Shard Daughter, unfortunely, wasn't an exception to that. Still, I did appreciate these characters' arcs individually, and that wasn't a major downside because the book wasn't supposed to be about their romance anyway.

The second downside was the most obvious to me. I think if we were just talking about the relationship between Phalue and Ranami I could have still given this book 4.5 rounding up to 5 stars, but the difference between POV voices was something that I couldn't really get used to. See, overall we have the POV of 5 characters, some of them feel a bit more important, like Jovis and Lin, both of them whose chapters are in first person. But the other 3, Phalue, Ranami and Sand were in third person. Now, I'm personally not bothered when there's multiple POV's in first person, although I know some readers prefer it in third person, but the narrative decision to make point of views in different voices didn't work for me. This was not a deal breaker because I still enjoyed the story, the characters, and the world building but going from a chapter in first person to one in third person kind of put me off a little. I personally prefer when the author chooses one voice and sticks to it, specially when there's many characters, and third person is always the best option for that.

Overall, I would still highly recommend this title. I think many Fantasy fans will love it and will be dying to read the sequel by the end of the book.

4.5 Stars out of 5!

The Bone Shard Daughter is an exceptionally good fantasy debut. With its imaginative word-building, unique magic and a brilliant cast of characters The Bone Shard Daughter hooks you and doesn't let go.

The Bone Shard Daughter is set within a failing empire which is made up of several islands. The emperor rules in name only, while he spends his days hidden away in one of his many locked rooms while his monstrous constructs regulate and police the empire. But at what cost? Rebellion is brewing and his people dying, this debuts follows several characters as they make their way through this world and find their place.

Stewart tells this unique and intriguing story through the eyes of five very different people, Lin, Jovis, Ranami, Phalue and Sand, and in a slightly different way. Lin and Jovis are both written in first person while the other three POV’s are in third person. At first when I read that this was the case I was worried it would be terrible and come across disjointed and disruptive to the reading experience. This is not the case at all.

With regards to the plot, Stewarts keeps a great pace and keeps you reading with this quite thrilling plot while thrusting you into a rather heartfelt journey. Stewart's characters are well developed and rich in detail. I thoroughly enjoyed each characters journey and their growing relationships and loved reading each one of them, though Sand was my least favourite. I simply found myself wanting to get to another characters chapter.

I really enjoyed Lin as a character and found her story the most gripping and intriguing but I truly loved Jovis and Mephi. I am an absolute sucker for a companion so this really did it for me. We are still yet to know just what Mephi is but it is obvious he is key. Ranami and Phalue, while having less of a spotlight were brilliant, and such a gem to read. The two characters brought forward a great deal of emotion. Stewart did brilliantly at portraying the issues they faced, one rich and one poor, while not leaning towards one lifestyle in particular. At times I felt, truly felt, for Ranami and the sheer frustration of Phalue’s insistence that the system worked yet in the next beat I was so angry at Ranami for risking Phalue and not thinking past her own needs to change her outlook.

I loved the idea of the constructs within this story and the use of bone shards, it felt quite Frankenstein'ish in that these crazy constructs are made up of several animal parts and then imbued with life through bone shards. The magic is what caught my attention and it didn't disappoint, we learn enough and understand it and its relevance but also are teased with a previous kind of magic, one elemental I nature. I suspect we will learn more of this and the mysterious Alanga in the next instalment.

Stewart's writing style is lovely to read. I always feel like the beginning of a novel is the longest, It's the waiting to fall into rhythm with the writing style and to form attachments to the characters, but with Stewart it didn't take long to meet that rythm. There was some repetitiveness with a few words and phrases but beyond that I felt that Stewarts' writing was elegant and well written.

Overall, I really enjoyed this debut and I am excited to read the next book. I can't really find anything I didn't like about this debut.

Official release date: 10th September 2020 (UK) and 8th September 2020 (US)

***I have posted this to NetGalley only, but would love to post this to the following earlier if approved by the publisher, failing that I will post the reviews in the week prior to release across all platforms.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/74469917-s-a-m-the-book-in-hand
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebookinhand_/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebookinhand_
Amazon.

This was a great book, up there with The Unspoken Name as my favorite debut of 2020.

One question, a central theme to the story, kept popping up: what the value of a human life? Can it be measured by degree of importance, intelligence, or skill? Is a person worth less in a society when their trade becomes obsolete?

All five character POVs were taking a different approach to the question. Lin, the daughter of the Emperor, was raised under the pretense that her father's life and leadership was of greater importance due to his so-called ability to protect his people. The reluctant Phalue and the vigilant Ranami used their political position and injustice-fueled passion to spread equality throughout all the lands, so that each individual had an equal say and treatment. The smuggler Jovis and his mystery animal companion Mephi, the story's MVP--yes, Mephi is the MVP, and this is objectively true, it is not up for argument; I can prove it on a chalkboard--they fight against the tyranny of the empire to save children from a despicable yet mandatory tithing ceremony. This ceremony allows for citizens to be treated as spare parts for the empire's golem-like constructs to thrive as the country's most reliable workforce. It's not a very far leap to compare this to modern day machines displacing workers in recent years... except delivery drones don't use bone shard magic to drain the life source from its people like batteries. This presents an interesting look at the economic value of humans versus constructs, which is the only value that some of the ruling class cares to see. And then there's Sand, a mysterious character with no long-term memory who has a special kind of value, and may end up having the biggest character arc of the series. We'll see, as there's lots more story to tell!

Stewart has chosen a interesting approach to her narrative POVs. We get five POVs in the first six chapters of the book, which was a lot to take in. On top of that, two of the narratives were in first-person, while the rest were in third-person. It took a couple of passages to get used to, but it wasn't long before each narrative voice was distinct and had their own unique strengths and fears. This was one of the many cool tricks that Stewart has in her writing arsenal, and I was all-in for it.

The Bone Shard Daughter is full of surprises. It has a lot to say about our own society, as many great novels have the tendency to do. But it also pulls at your emotions through great character work, strong world-building, stomach-turning revelations, and hopeful paths toward the future. It a rich and rewarding novel, original and thought-provoking, and I didn't want it to end. One of the year's best.

9.0 / 10

Do you want to read a fantasy with a magic system that uses people’s bones? Do you want to read a fantasy with an otter/cat creature that gives its owner magic? Do you want to read a fantasy with lesbians?

The answer to all of the above should be yes, by the way.

You know you want all this.

Well, lucky for you! The Bone Shard Daughter gives you all this and more.

The story follows four strands: Lin, the daughter of the Emperor who wants to ensure her succession to the throne, but is struggling with the loss of her memories, Jovis, a smuggler who is roped into saving children from the bone-taking ceremonies, Phalue, the daughter of a governor, and Ranami, her partner, and finally, the mysterious Sand, about whom not much is clear at the start. Throughout the book, these strands slowly come together, in ways you may and may not expect.

This book combines in-depth worldbuilding with excellent characters and slow burning mysteries that will have you desperate to keep reading just to find out what happens. And then when the twists come? You’ll be left with so much to think about you won’t know what to do with yourself. It really does have everything.

Honestly, I will admit to not often liking such slowburn fantasies as this. Normally, I find myself getting a little bored because not a whole lot is going on, but that was so far from the case here. Andrea Stewart has a perfect balance of drip-feeding you information, so that you’re left wondering what’s going on and what the next chapters will bring. Add onto that the immersiveness of the writing and worldbuilding, you can really imagine yourself there. (Also, it’s the kind of worldbuilding that makes me think it’d make an excellent video game. Just saying.)

And then all the reveals come at the end and everything you think you might have worked out is, in fact, wrong, and all you really want in the world is to be able to read the sequel.

So this is one I’m begging you to preorder, because you genuinely won’t want to miss out.

I loved The Bone Shard Daughter so, so much. I’ve strayed quite far and wide with my reading lately, so returning to epic fantasy was like coming home, and Andrea Stewart has built my dream house.

The Bone Shard Daughter takes place in an empire of migrating islands ruled by a reclusive and callous emperor. He enforces his rule using constructs created with the titular bone shard magic, a secret craft that has been passed down by the ruling family for generations. However, the emperor’s daughter Lin has lost her memory to a mysterious illness and with it her father’s trust, so she launches a plot to learn her family’s secrets and earn her place as the rightful heir.

I still can’t believe this book is a debut novel as Stewart writes with the effortless confidence of a best-selling author. I’m often tempted to skip certain chapters when reading a book with multiple perspectives in order to rush back to my favourite character, but this was never a problem with The Bone Shard Daughter. She expertly weaves together the subplots of her 5 protagonists from across the empire in both first and third person perspectives. This sounds confusing, however Stewart handles it masterfully, to the point where I wasn't even aware of her writing as I was so drawn into the story. All of her characters have great depth, and for most of the book I didn’t really know who was ‘good’ and who was ‘bad’, but I loved them all. Stewart’s refined storytelling is immersive to the point where I could recount to you the fight scenes and each battle wound sustained as if they were my own memories.

I found both the magical and every day details of this world fascinating. The bone shard magic system is probably my favourite example of ‘magic with a cost’ and could be taken as a vivid allegory of imperialist oppression.

To conclude my gushing, the best think about this book is that it is a very satisfying read, yet it only lays the foundations for the series’ overarching story. Like trilogies from Robin Hobb and Brandon Sanderson, I think The Drowning Empire is going to be special to a lot of readers.

Congratulations to Andrea Stewart, and thank you to Orbit and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was fantastic! Rich world building, a complex but easily understandable magic system and a number of engaging protagonists. The formatting made it a little difficult to read at times, mainly the first page of each new point of view/chapter but eventually I was able to get a handle on it. The journey throughout the book made the ending all the more satisfying and definitely made me keen for the next book in the series.

‘The Bone Shard Daughter’ is brilliantly readable epic fantasy full of original magic and compelling, diverse characters. The different plot arcs pulled me in and kept me hooked, with twists that were foreshadowed enough to not be entirely surprising but still felt bold and clever. The backdrop – an Emperor unliked and untrusted by his people, supposedly protecting them from a mysterious threat that no-one is sure is real – is well-trodden territory, but was just different enough here to maintain interest.

There are five point of view characters – two main, and three more secondary. The first, Lin, is the Emperor’s daughter – quick-witted and loyal, and determined to become better at the Bone Magic only the Emperor’s bloodline can learn than her foster brother, Bayan. Lin could be naïve and somewhat cold, but her kindness to the constructs and desire to do better always shone through. I always rooted for her, although I wasn’t sure I believed in what she was fighting for – mostly because she wasn’t sure herself.

The second, Jovis, is a smuggler. Wanted by the Empire for his smuggling, and by the smugglers for failing to pay his debts, he’s on the run, searching for his ex-girlfriend – but one good deed snowballs into another, and suddenly he’s involved in a movement he never wanted to be a part of. I loved Jovis – his kind heart, his dedication to his lost lover, and his relationship with Mephis. Jovis is the stereotypical soft-hearted rogue we all need. I loved the idea of the Bone Magic and the constructs, but I almost found Jovis’s parts more compelling because he was just so nice.

The other point of view characters – Ramani, Phalue, and Sand – were interesting, but for the most part less compelling. Sand was the exception – at first, I wasn’t sure why she was included, but her revelations were truly surprising and I’m excited to see more of her in the sequel. Ramani and Phalue were great characters, and Phalue especially had a brilliant arc, but they added less to the overall story. It was nice to see a romantic relationship between two women fighting to make it work across class differences, ambitions, and beliefs, but I never quite understood how the relationship worked – hopefully it will be fleshed out in future books.

Overall, this was an easy-to-read but still creative epic fantasy with intriguing magic systems and characters you wanted to root for. The finale wasn’t quite satisfying enough for five stars, but it’s a solid four – and the sequels have potential to be even better. I’ll definitely be looking out for them when they’re published.

ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

4.5/5 stars

This will most likely be my favorite fantasy debut of 2020.

Honestly speaking, The Bone Shard Daughter was not on my radar despite people’s excitement on Twitter—where I found out about this book—back when the acquisition was first announced. Some of you may know this already, but my interest to read a book—without any review from someone I trust—by a new author whose work I haven’t read before depends solely on the cover art of the debut, and thankfully, the gorgeous cover art by Sasha Vinogradova revealed last month did grab my attention. As for the content of the book, let’s just say there are many good reasons why Andrea Stewart earned a six-figure deal for this trilogy.

The Bone Shard Daughter is the first book in The Drowning Empire trilogy by Andrea Stewart. The story takes place in an empire consisting of many islands. On these islands, the bone shard magic wielded by the emperor fuels monstrous constructs that enforce law and order. For decades the emperor has reigned, but now his rule is failing, whispers of revolution travel across the Empire’s islands. One of the main characters, Lin, is the emperor’s daughter and heir who spent her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and secrets; she’s doing everything she can to earn the respect plus approval of his father by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic. At the same time, she also must uncover the secrets behind her fractured memories. Revolution, justice, identity, love, and family are some of the main themes in this book, and Stewart executed these themes magnificently through her wonderful cast of diverse characters.

“The days we’d spent swimming and fishing at the beach, the first time I’d kissed her, the dreams we’d shared – I was now the only keeper of these memories, and that was the truest sort of loneliness. There were so many things I still wanted to tell her, to share with her.”


I feel that lately, with new SFF releases, it’s getting harder for me to find a debut that utilized more than three or four POV characters; Stewart uses five POV here, and she exacted a relatively unique storytelling style to it. Two of the main POV characters—Lin and Jovis—are written through a first-person perspective, while the other two main POV—Phalue & Ranami—and one side POV characters—Sand—are written in third person perspectives. This type of narrative decision typically has a chance of backfiring miserably, but that’s simply not the case with Stewart’s debut. The constant changes between the first-person and third-person POV chapters enhanced the distinctive strength of the character’s voices. Not only all of the main characters came from a different background, but all of them were also carefully developed and characterized throughout this novel that’s infused with splendid pacing.

Lin, as I mentioned before, is the daughter of the Emperor. Although Lin’s story felt separated from all the other POV characters for almost the entirety of the book, her story was the most gripping as it is full of espionage and mysteries that kept me immersed and guessing thoroughly. Seriously, when I thought I had everything figured out—and to be fair, I did predict a lot of the revelations—Stewart blindsided me with an unpredictable stab that made me went “alright, I didn’t see that one coming. This is surprisingly twisted. I love it.” Lin was one of the two main characters who attained the most spotlights, the other one being Jovis, a smuggler who survived the drowning of Deerisland and is now searching for his lover. In his journey, quite early at the beginning, Jovis met a mysterious fox with a magical power—Mephis. The relationship development between Jovis and Mephis was one of my favorite parts of the book; I have always been a fan of animal companion in SFF or any kind of story, and I feel that Stewart has done a terrific job in building their relationship.

“Little by little, he’d become more than just an animal, but a companion he couldn’t see himself being parted from.”


I would like to also praise Stewart on her achievement in writing Phalue and Ranami’s relationship. Phalue and Ranami did receive less spotlight compared to Lin and Jovis, but this doesn’t mean their POV chapters weren’t interesting to read; their relationship and disputes still felt genuine and believable. Whether we like it or not, social status does affect romantic relationships in real life, and I personally think that Stewart captured the difficulty of being in this kind relationship incredibly well. Do note that The Bone Shard Daughter isn’t a romance-heavy book; Phalue and Ranami’s relationship was effectively used to discuss elaborate the hardship that arises from being in poverty and wealth. The differences in their background caused differences in perspectives, and despite how much they loved each other, it is bloody challenging to truly understand what the other person is going through unless you live in their shoes. This applies to both sides, it’s not only the poor who has troubles in their life, the wealthy one just faced a different kind of problem that can be equally deadly, and this balance is what made Stewart’s take on this conflict better than usual.

“It’s hard to remake one’s view of the world, to admit to complacency. I thought remaking myself for you was hard enough, but doing that was something I wanted. I didn’t want to realize how much I’ve hurt the people around me, and that’s what confronting my beliefs meant. We all tell ourselves stories of who we are, and in my mind, I was always the hero. But I wasn’t. Not in all the ways I should have been.”


I loved learning more about the constructs—built from parts of dead animals—and the bone shard magic involved to reanimate them; I found the act of imbuing commands into these constructs and the repercussion of failing to be fascinating. The bone shard magic actually reminded me of scriving—inserting commands to inanimate objects—from another series I loved: The Founders Trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett. Excluding Lin’s POV that has a large focus on these bone shard magic and constructs, things are moderately light on the high-fantasy world-building scale—for now anyway—but it’s undoubtedly is one. The mystery behind how The Endless Sea swallowed islands that were shown at the beginning of the book remains an unsolved mystery. The Drowning Empire is an apt series name, and I do believe we’ll learn more about this phenomenon and the Alanga in the sequels. It helps a lot that Stewart’s prose felt clean, well-polished, and comfortable to read. There were no curses, cussing, and there weren’t many gory scenes; even action sequences were relatively scarce. However, Stewart was able to keep the tension and emotion in each scene intact through her engaging dialogues, descriptions, and writings that conjured vivid imagery. Try taking a read at the first chapter of the free excerpt provided; to me, it was like seeing the characters move and speak right in front of my eyes. Also, if the first chapter isn’t obvious enough, this is clearly an Asian-inspired fantasy. The first chapter that introduced a ridiculously high expectation scene set by Lin’s father is pretty much how every Asian parent behaves; as an Asian, I can confirm this.

“One foolish choice is like a rat you let go. It will spawn more consequences than you first thought possible.”


“A very good” is what Mephis would definitely say regarding the quality of this debut. I certainly enjoyed it very much. The ending ended satisfyingly—there’s no cliffhanger—and it still left me excited to read the sequel as soon as I can, despite this book being fourth months away from its official publication. I have been a fan of books published by Orbit for the past three years now. In fact, I do think that they’re the best SFF publisher for newer releases at the moment, and The Bone Shard Daughter is the recent addition to their catalog of stunning quality. Here’s a list of my favorite debuts both written and read in the past three years: Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames in 2017, The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang in 2018, The Gutter Prayer by Gareth Hanrahan in 2019; other than The Poppy War, all of these books are published by Orbit. The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart will be the best fantasy debut of 2020. Don't miss it.

P.S:
The UK hardback edition of The Bone Shard Daughter is cheaply priced at $15 on Book Depository right now. For comparison, that’s the same price as its US Kindle edition. I suggest pre-ordering this book NOW. The link is down below.

Official release date: 10th September 2020 (UK) and 8th September 2020 (US)

You can order the book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository (Free shipping)

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions