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.

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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.

The Bone Shard Daughter by @andreagstewart which is the first book in the Drowning Empire series was hands down one of my favourite debut novels this year. It was such an immersive and exciting read from beginning to end. To think this is a debut novel is baffling to me because the writing and story was nothing short of perfection.

The novel is set across various islands controlled and dictated by the Emperor. The emperor has kept a tight hold on his people through the powers of Bone Magic and his ability to build constructs. These are essentially a mashup of the body parts of dead species put together. This power however comes at a great cost for the people of the islands. The emperor's hold on the islands however is slowly loosening as whispers of a revolution flow across the Empires islands.In the middle of all this is Lin the Emperors daughter and future heir. Lin spends her time trapped in the palace where mostly all doors are locked and require keys to unlock the doors and the palaces secrets doors. To gain approval from her father who refuses to consider her the heir to the throne, Lin resorts to proving herself by delving into the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

However, with the prospect of a revolution inching ever closer to the palaces gates and discontent for the Empires actions escalating, Lin must act quickly and decide what is more important to her. Her claim to the throne or saving her people from her fathers tyranny.

Sounds amazing right? Well it absolutely fricking was people! As I said at the beginning of the review, this was such a brilliant and exciting read for me and not only is it my favourite debut novel this year but my favourite read overall so far this year. This book had everything from brilliant world building, a unique magic system and fantastic characters.

Throughout the story, the novel is told from the point of view of different characters. At the epicentre of the story is obviously Lin. Lin is a very complex character and it was a joy following her inside the palace and unlocking its secrets. Lin's memories are fragmented and all over the place. So throughout the story we follow her confined to the walls of the palace trying to regain those memories and find out how she was before.

On top of that, what also increases the tension of Lin regaining her memory is her competition with her father's adopted son Bayan. Both Lin and Bayan are trying to gain keys from the Emperor in order to discover hidden secrets and his favour. This need for approval from her father is what leads her to secretly attempting to explore the wonders of Bone Shard magic.This is what makes the story so gripping as Lin must outmanoeuvre her fathers spy constructs and her competition, Bayan in her attempt to learn about Bone Magic. There are many "heart in mouth" moments as just when you think Lin is about to get caught, she somehow is able to twist out of a sticky situation.

As the story progresses Lin uncovers revelation upon revelation about herself and her fathers past and current actions. Usually it is pretty easy to put your thumb on the twist that is about to happen, but this wasn't the case with The Bone Shard Daughter. Andrea Stewart does fantastically in making you think you think you know the whole picture but then incorporating a twist that has your mind spinning.

We also see the story told from the POV of Jovis. Jovis is a smuggler who proclaims himself as "Jovis, Best smuggler in the empire". Jovis is a wanted man and has caught the attention of both the Empire and the Ioph Carn a criminal organisation he owes money too who are hot on his tail. In the story Jovis is attempting to find his lover, Emahala who has disappeared. He has been trying to do this for years with the only clue being her boat with blue sails
Clear skies, sunny. It was there i’d seen it again – the boat with the blue sails, a lone figure at the rails.

I really loved the passion of Jovis to find Emahala and the wee snippets of memories he had of being with her were pretty emotional. I think if I was him I'd have done the exact same thing and try to find the boat!

Anyway, right at the beginning of the story a wrench is thrown into his goal to find her due to the drowning of Deerhead Island. Jovis ends up surviving but only just as many fail to escape the island. However, while attempting to escape, Jovis makes a friend and probably the best animal companion I've come across in a while. That being Mephi. Mephi is an intriguing and wonderful creature who has magical capabilities which you soon discover.

There relationship was very touching and seeing Jovis go from not wanting to have anything to do with Mephi, to him becoming his most trusted companion was great.
"Little by Little he'd (Mephi) become more than just an animal , but a companion he couldn't see himself being apart from"

Andrea Stewart makes you root so hard for this unlikely duo. Their relationship develops at a really great pace and both soon discover how important they are to each other.

Although not featured as extensively as Lin and Jovis, there are also the two other characters of Phalue and Ranami who are a couple. Unlike Lin and Jovis whose parts in the story are told from first person, Phalue and Ranami's story is told from third person. Their relationship and what they go through is an important aspect of the story because both have a different outlook on what is going on in world. Phalue is the daughter of a governor whereas Ranami is from a much poorer background.

Both of their arcs highlight how your social class within society can impact the way you perceive things and also the fact that an individuals status within society can affect the way they see things around them and in toe, their relationships with others.
She did not want to be a governor’s wife. She couldn’t sit in that palace and live that life, knowing that she’d been raised in the gutter, that her heart would always hurt every time she saw an urchin on the street.

You therefore get to see things from both perspectives and realise that there are two sides to every story. This is further heightened by the level of emotion in their dialogue with each other.

In terms of the magic system, I really loved the whole Frankenstein-esque idea surrounding constructs and the ability to assemble monsters using parts of deceased animals and bone shard magic. Throughout the story Lin attempts to learn Bone Shard magic under the constant eyes of spies and her fathers. These scenes are so intense as Lin barely escapes getting caught many times.

I also really liked the intrigue surrounding the lore of the world, especially the history surrounding Alanga. We don't really know much about them but they are ancient beings. Throughout the story there is a lot of speculation of their return which again causes intrigue as not enough information is given away by Andrea. This for me is a good thing as it sets up the second book really well.
There were whispers in the streets that this meant the Alanga would return and take back rule of the islands, and that it would happen first at Nephilanu.

So overall, this book was just everything I had hoped for. An immersive character driven novel with a world that absorbs you in like a lemon drizzle cake. I also loved the writing so much, its vividness and depth made everything feel so real in my mind. I could picture everything happening effortlessly and as we know books that are able to make your imagination run wild are the bestest. I am super super excited for book 2 and can't wait to continue the series. Andrea if you're reading this, thank you so much for writing such a brilliant novel. Books such as yours are the reason I love reading and writing reviews 🥰

Thank you to the lovely Nazia and Orbit for the early e-book copy. I really appreciate it.

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