“But this is something you’ll have to do alone. I can’t help you. I love you enough not to stop you”.

Andrea Stewart is amazing at building relationships that pull any reader into the story. The uniqueness of these relationships is what makes this book one of the best fantasy novels of 2020.

The plot has flaws but even so it is worth it, because although its flawed it is also incredibly aware of its own mistakes. Reading this book was more than just fun, it was sad and it was difficult and it was also disappointing at times but in my opinion that is what makes a good book. A real story.

I really hope we get a sequel, and soon. I cannot wait for this author to grow into her story, for these characters that literally stole my breathe away to be real once more in a second instalment!

The world building was perfect, nothing I ever read alike. The asian inspired vibe combined with the bone shard magic system was to die for. The mystery, that even after the last page, gives me the good type of chills. The lore of this world was so complex and well done.

This book was everything, even if the end was a bit predictable. I just stan by Mephi and Jovis! As I do for the beautiful but not too pompous writing style.

If you are looking for a entertaining and serious book all at the same time, with multi perspectives, super cool magic system, LGBTQ+ representation and a cute animal (and political goodness) please please read this book.

This is a very accomplished debut novel from Andrea Stewart. It was a pleasure to discover a new Fantasy voice.
The novel is told from five viewpoint characters across a vast empire with a dark secret at its heart, it layers on political intrigue and revolution as the plot expands. The novel lays the foundations of the much larger tale to come with a sure hand and never pulls its punches. Andrea Stewart does an excellent job of juggling all these viewpoints and gradually drawing the reader into the overall plot of the novel and series. The characters are well realised and feel like they are making true decisions not just servicing the plot. The Bone Shard magic system from the title is intriguing and so developed.
This was a superb start to a new series, I await the next instalment eagerly. I’m already looking forward to a reread when I get my hands on the gorgeous Limited Edition Hardcover from Goldsborough Books.
Thanks to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the early copy.

This book was one of my most anticipated releases of the year and I can honestly say that this book was one of the best debuts I had ever read! Bone shard magic and the beginning of a revolution? Call me definitely intrigued! Also, can we talk for a second about this gorgeous cover? It definitely picked my interest and I’m so glad adult fantasy book are starting to have more and more sophisticated and beautiful covers because, while it doesn’t do everything for the book, it definitely helps to catch the eye of a reader.

From chapter one, I knew this book would be great. The writing was good, it was flowing nicely and was so pleasant to read. The world-building was immediately intriguing without being too heavy, and with just one chapter, I was completely hooked to the story. The magic system was fascinating and so well imagined, with some sorts of monsters called constructs, ruling all over the Empire and created by the Emperor with bone shards to protect the Empire. The story behind these bone shards was so much darker than I thought and it added complexity to the story.

How far are you willing to go to protect your Empire?

In this story, we were following multiple POVs, 5 to be specific, and honestly it had been such a long time since I had not read a book with that many points of view! It can definitely be overwhelming, but I found that in this case, it was really well done. Each perspective had an intriguing story, with some of them that weren’t connected at all for the most part of the book. The choice of writing for these five perspectives was also surprising because we had 2 first-person narratives with Lin and Jovis, while the rest was written in 3rd person. I think I had never seen that in a book before, but it was a great idea to separate the main characters to the secondary ones.

“Knowledge can only be wielded by those who dive into its depths and know the shape of it. Reading without true understanding is only wading in the shallows without a care for the monsters that lurk beneath.”

First, we had Lin’s POV, the Emperor’s daughter and heir to the throne who, after a sudden memory loss, was trying to be back in her father’s good graces, by learning as much as possible about the royal exclusive bone shard magic. Her chapters were intriguing, with very little clues to understand everything but where learning about this complex magic system was fascinating. Lin's narrative was very slow and more informative about the magic system than the story. It moved a lot quicker towards the end though, with a plot twist that I wasn't anticipating.

Then, we had Jovis POV, a smuggler looking for his missing wife, and who found himself a surprising animal companion named Mephis. Jovis chapters were definitely my favorites and I just love when there’s a growing bond between a character and an animal. I really enjoyed their friendship evolution, it was just so pure and sweet. Which kind of creature Mephis was wasn’t specified but I think we will learn more in the rest of the series. Jovis chapters were definitely the more dynamics one, full of action, journey on different islands and discovery.

“Listening is an art. It’s not so much sometimes in letting the other person speak as in asking them the right questions.”

Phalue and Ranami’s chapters were less present in the book, but were as much intriguing as the rest of the perspectives. I was so pleasantly surprised to find a sapphic romance in here! Their relationship was so well done, with in one hand Phalue, the governor’s daughter raised in wealth in a palace, and in the other hand Ranami, an orphan woman raised in the street and who had to survive her whole life. Their issues with each other’s felt so real and complex, and it was really interesting to have both perspectives on social inequality and discrimination and the fact that poor people don't have the same opportunities to raise themselves in the society like privileged people.

“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.”

And finally, there were Sand, a mysterious woman with no memory of her past, on a mysterious island. Her chapters were the shorter ones, but also the most intriguing ones, as we had no clues at all at what was going on.

This book was a first-in-a-series foundation book, but the plot, while pretty slow-paced, was definitely intriguing with some very well-done plot twists! I wished this book was longer with a bit more world-building, but I also understood that the author could not reveal everything in the first book. I am however definitely excited about the rest of the series and I cannot wait to learn more about this fascinating world!

With complex politics, a revolution and a fascinating magic system, this book was really good, and I would 100% recommend it!

It will be released on September 8th, and you guys don’t want to miss this one out!

4.5 ⭐

2.5 stars

This book has five POVs, who aren't really connected. I've decided that I really don't do well with books where the POV aren't intrinsically linked throughout the story from the get go. I find it really hard to engage and like characters when they don't affect each other. Of the five POV, only two play any real part in the story, and they could be in completely different books. These two POVs are written in first person, and the other three are in third person, which was a little jolting.

There is Lin, the one mentioned in the synopsis, who connects with ONE other POV in the final 5% of the book. I found her goal unsubstantiated and without reason. She wanted to be Emperor because... reasons? The big plot twists in her POV, that come around the 75-80%, are completely obvious from the outset.

Jovis, not at all mentioned in the blurb, is the most interesting POV by far, who interweaves a tiny bit with other POVs. He had the most interaction with the world and had an obvious goal driving him onward. Also Mephi is so cute, and steals a lot of the page time. I feel like he had more lines - her certainly dominated the first half.

The other three POVs are barely there. Two of them are at least linked, but they're just so short they feel pointless. One is in very abstract terms. I think the book would have worked just as well with all three cut as one has no plot, and the other two have plot that is subsumed into Jovis'.

Because of the poorly connected POVs, it took me a while to get into the book. I also found the magic system took a very long time to be explained until it made sense why people were annoyed. The mentions of rebellion were also stuffed in rather clumsily in the first few chapters to set it up for later on.

The Bone Shard Daughter shares with us an expansive world filled with magic and politics. There is a rebellion brewing in the air, a disgruntled princess, a smuggler, a governor’s heir and her love who grew up on the streets, a person with no memories of her past, and echoes of impending return of long gone empire. How all of these lives intertwined and worked as the roots of an enormous banyan tree that created the big picture was really interesting to see.

I really liked how every single character has a very distinct voice in this story. They are all very different and fun to read. Although, all of them do not get the same amount of space in the book, I found myself looking forward to each of POVs. I never felt like I was drudging through one POV to get to another character’s whose I liked more. I also like that there are no clear divides of good and evil when it comes to these characters. It is a complicated world and so are these characters as they live through it. I found myself completely engrossed in the stories of each of these characters.

The world of The Bone Shard Daughter is also extremely interesting because rather than having large swaths of land, it is covered in floating islands; some of which are being engulfed by the sea. I think, it added a very riveting element to the world in comparison to having continents or different countries because it presented certain challenges when it came to how an empire is sustained and governed.

It was very appealing to me, the way that different POVs in the book explore different aspects of human society and emotions. Lin is focused on her birthright and how that affects the lives of people in her empire, Jovis is drowning in grief and yet holding onto grief, Phalue and Ranami explore the distinctions of class, privilege and the ignorance that comes along with it, and Sand dissects the feelings of being lost in more ways than one and trying to find oneself.

To someone who sticks to YA because I find adult fantasies to be dense and have very flowery writing, this book was a swift ride with its beautiful writing that never feels suffocating or unnecessary. I also liked that rather than relying on exposition heavy chapters, the book disperses its very fascinating lore, history and magic all over the book.

However, the book does suffer from a slow pace, especially in the beginning. Although, I found those chapters to be beguiling, I was also consistently waiting for something to happen that would kick the entire book into gear rather than just certain characters. Apart from that, the book feels like a setup for the next installments of the series which left me wanting more explanations. I had seen many people call this a sapphic book (though it wasn’t the author or the publisher), it was kind of disappointing to find very less focus on the relationship between Phalue and Ranami; more so because I found their dynamic and conversations to be extremely compelling.

After finishing this book, I am certainly hungry for more. This book is a smashing adult fantasy debut that certainly filled my fantasy loving heart to the brim. I can’t wait to see more of these characters in the next book and ardently await its release. Would highly recommend this book if you are used to reading YA Fantasy and are intimidated by Adult ones. If you do not lie in that category, I would highly recommend it nonetheless.

The Bone Shard Daughter is completely different from what I expected but was so much better in every way! I'm not too sure what I was expecting when I started this book - which I've recently learnt is a planned series, but I loved everything about it.

This book focuses on 5 different people, with different perspectives for all of them. It is super easy to keep up with everything going on and the change over between POV is not at all confusing so please do not be put off because of that if you do not usually read multiple POVs. There is a focus on Lin, the daughter of the Emperor, Jovis, a smuggler who is searching for his missing girlfriend with many bumps along the way, Phalue, the daughter of a Governor, Ranami, the girlfriend of Phalue & Sand - a person I don't know what I can say about without giving anything about her away... At first, I was only really interested in one or two of the POVs and found myself waiting for other character's chapters to be over but that very quickly went away and I could not put the book down - it was so interesting seeing how the characters storylines eventually entwined.

This is an epic fantasy, set across many islands all part of a failing empire. Bone Shards are taken from every citizen once they reach a certain age to power up the Emperor's constructs - manmade beings who only follow the Emperors will, all with different magical abilities and powers. The magic system in this story was amazing, although I do wish there was slightly more detail into how it actually works. There are so many different elements to this story with magic, mystery, romance and I cannot wait to see where this series goes - I have definitely been left with many questions I need answering after this book!

Synopsis: Lin is the Phoenix Emperor's daughter, but her memory is a mess - she's forgotten her childhood and a competitive boy is about replacing her as the heir. Both learn the speciality of the Sukai family: bone shard magic. Every child in the empire has to loose a chip of skull bone, which can be carved in a magic language, during the Tithing Festival. Embedded in constructs, they give life to those golem like entities. Lin wants to uncover the secrets but needs to get access to the closed rooms in her father's palace.

Contrasting young Lin is protagonist smuggler Jovis who slowly glides into a role of rescuing children from the Tithing Festival - not because he's got a good heart, but he gets paid by the parents. 

Two other protagonists, Phalue and vigilant Ranami, use their positions to mitigate injustice on their island. 

Review: What's the value of a human, is it worth the protection from an ominous threat? This drives the upcoming revolution in the empire and is a great philosophical question in general. Stewart sprinkles this question all other her narration and finds ever different angles. 

The plot is full of wonderful surprises, bringing forth the best in the main protagonists. The story unfolds slowly in very short POV changing chapters, but picks up speed after a third into the novel. Up to this point, the characters and strong world-building drew me in completely. I guess, there are a couple of readers who will love Jovis's animal companion who first starts as a cute puppy and ends as a valuable combatant, whose story arc wasn't completely unfolded in this book.

I didn't want the novel to end, and found that there is lots of room for a next volume in the series. In fact, this novel can only be regarded as a opening chapter for a broader, wonderful painting, and I can't wait for the next one.

Full review on my blog as of 3rd September 2020.

Rating: 4.5 stars!

Trigger Warnings: parental abuse, parental neglect, child death/murder, human and animal experimentation, violence, murder, coercion.

The strangest thing about my The Bone Shard Daughter read was knowing even as I read it the first time that I was going to love it even more fiercely on the reread. I have a Goldsboro edition on its way to me this month and I can’t wait to reread as soon as it’s in my hands.

The Bone Shard Daughter was nothing like what I expected, but somehow much better. It had several POV characters, each on a different island in the very cool moving islands that make up the book’s setting, though they do eventually converge in unexpected ways. At first I struggled a little with having all those POVs to keep track of, but by the halfway mark I was so attached to all of them that I didn’t mind. The switches from POV to POV were never confusing and flowed really well, keeping me on my toes and eager for more. Please don’t let the multiple POV put you off, they’ve been pieced together perfectly to tell the story as it unravelled across the islands.

The bone shard magic was different to what I expected (yes, I’m quick to assume eerie necromancy) but that actually made it more interesting as it was a creative and new, at least to me, concept. The constructs sound as creepy as they do fascinating, and I would be all over this bone magic if it wasn’t for the horrible, horrible consequences – and I’m a real sucker for magic with horrible consequences. I admit I thought that Lin, daughter to the emperor and heir to the bone shards, would be the main character and I was initially a touch disappointed to realise Jovis was more focal. I say initially, because as soon as I met Mephi his perspective was all! I! card! about! Mephi is the cutest creature and I’m really excited to see if my Suspicions about him play out in later books in the series.

The established f/f relationship was, unsurprisingly, a draw to me and I really liked the way that it played out. The way class differences and complicity were tackled was incredibly interesting and I liked that the POV character was the privileged character as the process of examining biases and privilege isn’t one that I’ve seen personally in fiction very much. It made for an interesting dichotomy, where I was rooting for Phalue and Ranami while also fully not blaming Ranami for her anger.

Overall this was a brilliant read, with twists threaded throughout that unravelled slowly but steadily and kept me guessing. I can’t wait to see where the rest of the series is headed and to, no doubt, find a few more of those gasp out loud reveals that got me so good in this one.

An astonishingly gripping start to a grand, new epic fantasy series that clutches its mysteries right until the end, and still doesn’t relent it all; this is one reader who frantically tapped his kindle at the end of the book searching for more, finding nothing but the need to read on.

“The Emperor’s sworn duty – to protect us from their magic with his own – is looking more and more like we’ve set an old dog to guard a pair of unworn slippers.”

The Alanga, beings of immense magical power, are long gone – supposedly only held at bay by the Emperor, but their artifacts are coming alive, seemingly moving, while the Imperial Empire looses its faith in the Emperor and its belief that there is any threat left to guard them from; the entire book had me on the edge of my seat wondering if the old threat was relevant as Stewart weaved mystery and intrigue relating to the Alanga throughout. In all but one character’s story they are reference cleverly, sitting in the back of the story as a constant pressure, a thought in the back of the mind, while the rest of the story unfolded. This lore, this type of storytelling is what I love the most. The world feels incredibly lived in and that’s just what is happening around the main story-line.

Within this, we’ve got Lin, the Emperor’s daughter trying to earn her father’s favour, and with it the keys to rooms in the palace that will aide her in learning his Bone Shard magic; Jovis, a smuggler and his strange animal companion, on a mission to find his kidnapped wife and escape the Ioph Carn; Ranami and Phalue, lovers split by class who are both trying to make the Empire a better place and Sand, who doesn’t know who she is, why she is on the island, or what is keeping her there – a story that truy spans the known isles of the Empire, across the Endless Sea. From seafaring adventures, to palace intrigue and godly, inhuman magic, this has everything an epic fantasy fan needs and wants; a story of divided factions, of infighting death and murder, of magical beasts, seated in a wealth of history.

The plot seems to sail by; there’s not a dull page, each telling a story of its own which slowly weaves into one clear image where the different POVs get entangled in each other. Towards the end, I was hoping for some huge pay-off, some massive event that all the foreboding led me to, but instead we’re still left with hints, mystery. Stewart masterfully keeps some cards still close to her chest and rather than disappoint, I’m left with a yearning for the next book. Within the pages, she paints a picture with vivid, clean prose that forms pictures in the mind rather than a sum of words on the page. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this read, if you hadn’t already noticed, and it is with despair a heavy heart that I’m writing this so far away from the sequel.

Wow! Just wow! I'm sold. Sign me up for the rest of the series - and anything else that Andrea Stewart writes! "The Bone Shard Daughter" is just amazing. Let me start with the characters. Or maybe the plot. Or the writing. All three are solid as a rock. The characters have an incredible depth and I found myself smiling along with them (or sniffling into a tissue), and the growth in just this first book is astounding. The plot is entrancing and so well thought through. The writing is, quite simply, perfect. Andrea Stewart has firmly pushed herself (using both elbows, it seems!) into my "top author" list.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

An epic fantasy set across the islands of a failing empire. Bone shards are taken from every citizen & given to the Emperor who works them into constructs - chimera-like creatures that help to govern the empire & protect it from ancient foes. But the magic drains the life of the donor & no one knows when theirs will be used.
Rebellion is brewing across the empire, strange events might mark the return of those ancient foes & dark secrets lurk in the palace.
Multiple-POVs with diverse, interesting characters - from the Emperors daughter, to smugglers & rebels - each feel like unique individuals with their own beliefs, aims & desires. Their separate stories gradually circling towards each other revealing connecting threads.
Mysteries & conspiracies abound with a good dose of politics but Stewart doesn't let this becoming plodding or dense rather it is compelling and maintains the energy & adventure of the plot.
I can't wait to read the next in the series and to reread this one as it had the feel of a book that will improve on rereading. My only issue? I struggled with visualising the different islands & their geography - a very minor gripe.

The Bone Shard Daughter by @andreagstewart - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Thanks so much to @littlebrownbookgroup_uk, @orbitbooks_uk & @netgalley for my advanced copy!

This is first book in The Drowning Empire, a rich new epic fantasy series is not out until September 8th but I just could not wait until next month to share it with you all - go and pre-order your copy now, I promise you if you’re into lush world building, unique and clever magic systems, sympathetic main characters and epic twists that you have know possible way of seeing coming I promise you you won’t regret it!

Lei is the Emperor’s daughter. Once heir to the throne she must compete for her birthright against her fathers ward to master the bone shard magic that fuels the empire - shards of bone are trepanned from every citizen to power constructs of animal parts to defend the empire against a threat no one has seen in decades - gradually sapping the life from the donor once their shard is put into use. Elsewhere, revolution is brewing against the Emperor’s crumbling rule and the brutal constructs that control people’s lives, but which of the rebels are in it for the greater good, and who simply wants to implement their own personal version of the status quo?

I think I just know from this first book that Drowning Empire is going to be one of *those* series that everyone talks about and is an absolute must read, and I feel so lucky to have been able to get in in the game early!

The only slight negative is that it jumps around lots of different POV’s, and at least for the first half of the book this can be difficult to keep track of, especially if you’re reading in small bursts like before bed or on a commute. However, to stick with it because while I did find it a bit distracting even reading in big, couple of hour chunks it really was rather important in the end!

Go and pre-order a copy of The Bone Shard Daughter - it is honestly one of the most exciting new books I have read this year.

A personal reading slump and the overwhelming concept of 5 different POV’s made the beginning of this move very slowly but what unravels is a very competent debut with a mystery at its centre, and a ton of emotion and heart backing it up.

The multiple POV’s is definitely daunting but they are not equal. Lin and Jovis’ chapters dominate the book and Phalue, Ranami and Sand’s fill in the blanks while the former drive the main plot so you’re not juggling lots of information and characters. Lin was by far my favourite because her chapters deal so heavily with the bone shard magic; there is an eerie unsettling feel to the magic that builds to great moments of tension and violence that I had to stop myself from skimming I was so desperate to know things would be okay. Jovis’ chapters are heartfelt and mimic a fun pirate adventure and if you’re a fan of talking animals, you’ll be tearing up at 2am like I was. What these POV’s do so well is subtly feed you information that allows you to understand the other chapters better, until you’re able to almost guess at the mystery that is present throughout.

The mystery aspect of this novel is one I didn’t see highlighted in any reviews or advertising but it’s by far the novel’s greatest achievement. It’s not a murder mystery or anything of the sort, but the book is filled with questions that might (might!) slowly be answered. Lin is struggling to access memories her father wants her to have before she officially becomes his heir and so her chapters are a slow-drip of information. Sand’s chapters are similar. I found myself able to guess the twists the book wanted me to, and struggled to understand what it didn’t want me to know yet. When POV’s overlapped and information I gained in one chapter helped me guess something in another, it just felt satisfying.

Overall, this book was so worth it taking me over a month to get through. The writing is pretty simplistic but the plot is so competently weaved and the characters each have a purpose and serve it well while being entertaining throughout and really testing my tear-ducts at certain moments. The stakes in this book are high and caught me off-guard and if there’s anything I’d want from a sequel, it’s just answers.

The Bone Shard Daughter is the first book in The Drowning Empire series. The first chapters were interesting and I was intrigued by the story, but after a while my attention started to drop. I don't know if it was the multiple POVs and the continuing switching between one characters to another, but I couldn't connect with any of them. Plus, the bone shard magic wasn't so present, we didn’t see the magic in action too often. The writing style and the worldbuilding were good. All in all, it wasn't a bad book but I didn't liked as I expected.

The Bone Shard Daughter is a stellar debut and an engrossing start to The Drowning Empire trilogy. It was a delight to read this East Asian-inspired fantasy and become acquainted with its carefully crafted world.

The story takes place within a sprawling empire comprised of many migrating islands across the Endless Sea. The islands are ruled by a reclusive emperor who uses magic involving human bone shards to power his obedient constructs. These manmade constructs range from the simplistic to the extremely sophisticated – but each are capable enough to play a role in certain administrative, military and espionage operations on the emperor’s behalf. To keep a steady supply of the bone used to build them, there are mandatory tithing “festivals” held that involve every child having a piece of bone cut out from their bodies and given as tribute to the empire. Death will sometimes result from the tithing process, but skeptical citizens are reassured that this tribute is necessary to keep them safe.

Despite the indisputable power the constructs and secretive bone shard magic grants the regime, it is apparent throughout the book that tensions are rising. There is a growing segment of society embittered by the empire’s tyranny that spurs many to join a resistance movement. There are also strange unforeseen events starting to occur, such as an entire island being suddenly swallowed into sea without warning and without explanation. Last but not least, the remnant artifacts of a long-vanished enemy are showing signs that they may have unknown functions – and that they may no longer be dormant. The empire is undoubtedly heading for turbulent times.

Now, while this setting alone fascinated me enough, the book also strongly benefits from an intriguing cast of point-of-view characters. There are five important POV characters in total, but among them are two characters who I would designate the “main” POV characters. These two have the heaviest plot-related storylines and more content in general.

The first main character is Lin, the daughter of the emperor. She is determined to prove herself a competent heir after losing all her memories in an illness years ago. This is challenging as her father refuses to grant her keys to access the many restricted areas of their mysterious palace – or teach her new bone shard magic – until she demonstrates that she has begun to remember her past. She remains in competition with her father’s adopted foster son, Bayan, whom the emperor explicitly threatens to declare his successor instead if she fails to meet his expectations.

The next main character is Jovis, a seafaring smuggler. He is wanted both as a criminal to the empire for his smuggling and as a traitor to a prominent crime ring for reneging on his debts. He’s seemingly affable, quick on his feet and a charmingly competent liar, but beneath this blasé mask is a man desperate to find his missing wife through any means necessary. He is frustrated to find himself unable to stop helping those in need despite his urgent quest – and even more so to find that the strange animal companion he saves seems to be encouraging him to do so.

Two of the “secondary main” POV characters are an established F/F couple who find themselves at odds over their beliefs and vision for the empire’s future. On the one hand is Ranami, a rebel who wishes to free her island from the rule of the local governor and supports revolution for the empire at large. She loves the governor’s daughter, Phalue, but is exasperated that she cannot make Phalue see the ills of their society and why she wishes for change. On Phalue’s part, it’s clear from her own viewpoint chapters that she’s baffled by Ranami’s views. Although she is charitable to the poor and disdains her father’s extravagance, she still has little understanding of the everyday struggles faced by the common people on her island.

The final, and most mysterious, POV character is Sand. She seems to be enslaved to work as a laborer on a secluded island but has little recollection of how she came to be there. She tries to fight the fog over her and her fellow laborers minds and piece her memories back together.

I do really like that each of these point-of-view characters come from different walks of life. Most stand on an opposite side of a conflict from one or more of the others, and it’s interesting to see what informs their views of the world. There are things each are forced to encounter in their own storylines that cause them to consider all that they thought they had known. There are questions of justice, order, revolution, and the value of human (and perhaps not-so-human) lives that are always implicitly apparent throughout the POVs.

But although I liked all five of the character POVs, I found that Lin’s chapters were by far the most engrossing to me. The suspense in her sections was wonderfully executed and I was always guessing what would happen next. It didn’t hurt that there would often be some new revelation or cliffhanger at the end of her chapters that left me impatient to unravel the secrets in the palace at all times. The Jovis chapters were my next favourite. I loved being able to see more of the empire through his eyes and how he cynically tries but fails to remain uninvolved in significant events. His relationship with his strange otter-kitten companion, Mephi, was absolutely golden and I adored all of their interactions. I’d also look forward to the mystery surrounding Sand, for all that she has the least amount of page time.

Ranami and Phalue, on the other hand, were some of the less engaging chapters in the book for me. Oftentimes, they seemed to be a bit removed from the rest of the mystery and overarching plotlines found in the rest of the book. The events that take place – in this first book at least – did not feel as though they had as great of an importance as the events that take place in the other POVs. But that isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy these chapters on the whole. I did love the way Ranami was always pushing Phalue to examine her own biased assumptions about the class disparities and poverty surrounding her. It was also effective in highlighting the genuine grievances against the empire and reasons for the steadily growing support for revolution. (I was also happy to see that there is no discrimination in this world and that their relationship is not challenged in any way for being F/F.)

Overall, I did have a great time with this book. This is definitely more of a slowburn fantasy, but within the gradual flow there were always new and interesting revelations to captivate your attention. That ending in particular truly brought everything together in a satisfying way. It’s left me hyped up for the sequel, that’s for sure!

Thank you to NetGalley, Little, Brown Book Group UK and Orbit for providing the free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Bone Shard Daughter is an intriguing first book in a brand new series from Andrea Stewart. There are five alternating points of view with two of these taking the main stage, which was a complete surprise to me because the blurb focuses entirely upon Lin; the woman trapped in the palace by her Emperor father. She shares the stage equally with Jovis; a fugitive man searching for his missing wife. The remaining points of view are between Ranami and Phalue; a couple trying to deal with their polar opposite upbringings in a time of burgeoning revolt and Sand: a mysterious figure on another island. The main POVs for Lin and Jovis are written in first person, whilst the others are written in third person. I found the switch a bit jarring in the first few chapters because the characters were still being established. However, after settling into the story I really appreciated the choice to be more explicit about the differences between each character because the chapters are quite short and switching between that many characters so rapidly could have been a bit confusing if there had been no stylistic difference.

The coolest thing about The Bone Shard Daughter is the Bone Shard magic. There was something a bit reminiscent of the chimera in Daughter of Smoke and Bone mixed with the horror elements of The Island of Dr. Moreau. I think there could have been a bit more detail as to how this magic works, specifically in regards to the source of it, but I did really enjoy learning about the way the magic had been politicised for power and the implications of that on the people. This is essentially the thread that all of the interwoven plots string off from and we're given the opportunity to see the impacts from all sides, excluding the side actively seeking to extort that power.

The pacing is good for the majority of the book however, I did find some of Lin and Jovis' chapters to be a bit repetitive towards the ending of the first act and the beginning of the second act. Lin undertakes a certain task that requires her to do the same thing over and over, and whilst there was some level of peril, the stakes weren't high enough for it to feel like a new thing each time she did it. The repetition for Jovis' chapters in this section was less obvious but based around the same principle. I did feel a lot more invested in Jovis as a character though because the stakes seemed a lot higher. Thankfully, the pacing does improve a lot as the story progresses, especially as the ebb and flow of the plot is injected with some exhilarating high action; action that is a direct consequence of both plot and character progression.

The various mysteries of the plot were well done. I think some people will be able to crack them without much effort, but still enjoy seeing them unfold as they happen. I liked that there were some mysteries teased and left unanswered because they are clearly going to form the larger plot of the overall series. There was a reveal quite close to the end that I didn't guess and it was quite the reveal indeed. A little gross and uncomfortable, but an eye-opening surprise nonetheless.

The setting of this world is based around a group of islands situated close together. The fact that there are a number of different islands plays a major part in being the catalyst for some plot points as well as allowing for an organic reason for the split character POVs.

The book as a whole does suffer a little bit from being a first book in a series. Whilst there is a clear three act structure, with some well-earned catharsis, there is a sense that the whole book is a prequel for the actual story to come. I don't think it successfully tells a complete story from start to finish, something we see more and more of in fantasy. It may just be a personal gripe but I think there is a way to tell a satisfying and engaging story in one book and still leave it open for following books to expand upon. That being said, I am really looking forward to seeing where this story goes.

This was quite an impressive debut! A fantastic twisty, dark political high fantasy featuring: a princess sneaking behind the Emperor to prove herself a worthy heir, an infamous smuggler desperately looking for his missing wife, a governor's daughter starting to see the cruel realities around her and an empire at the cusp of rebellion.

The Highlights:

- A super unique magic system that uses bone shards to create and control strange creatures.
- A magical talking animal companion!!
- An empire of floating islands.
- A wonderful established f/f relationship that explores class disparities and privilege.
- Rebellions! Revolution!
- A scary surgical ritual?!
- Nothing is as it seems...

Absorbing Character Arcs:

The story follows multiple POVs with around 4 sub-plots happening that eventually start to converge by the end. I admit, it was a bit confusing at first; the world and characters are introduced so quickly that the constant switching of POVs threw me off a bit. Just as I started to get the feel for one character, I'd be dropped in the chapter of another. BUT stick it out!! It's worth it. I found myself so absorbed by the different storylines and all the different character motivations, wondering how they would come together. The writing was so good too because every character had a distinct voice plus the POV even switches perspectives, with some chapters in first person and some in third, and I hardly noticed because it's done so smoothly!

I really admired Lin from the start because she's so focused on her goals and determined as heck to see them through; literally nothing can stop her. She's not invincible and far from powerful but she's sharp, a quick thinker, self-aware and empathetic. Jovis though! I absolutely loved him. A bitter, jaded, grieving navigator-turned-smuggler who just wants his wife back - he acts all angry and prickly but you know deep down he feels so much and is actually really kind. His journey was so great to see.

Phalue and Ranami are really well-explored characters even though they had comparatively fewer chapters. We get to see the depth of their feelings for each other, how they both love each other equally but in such different ways, and of course their incongruous backgrounds with Phalue being the governor's daughter and Ranami having grown up on the streets. Rather than being a mere source of relationship angst, this class difference is a driving force of their storyline. I really liked seeing their clashing world-views and how Phalue slowly starts to recognize her privilege and the plight of the poor farmers in her island.

The stand-out relationship though, by far!!! is that of Jovis and Mephi. I get emotional just thinking about these two. Mephi is this weird cat-like kind of sea creature that can talk and also has magical abilities and is so! cute! Jovis rescues him from the sea and tries to let him go but Mephi doesn't want to leave him. Grumpy dude/adorable clingy animal has got to be the best pairing. I'm not even kidding, some of the most emotional moments in the story were because of these two.

Inventive World and Magic System:

All I knew about this book was the bone shard magic thing and that alone convinced me to pick it up. It starts off seemingly simple - pieces of bone are used to create these almost Frankenstein-esque creatures and control them. But as you read further, it gets so much more complicated as more and more secrets are revealed. It also has one of my favorite thing about magic systems: major consequences! The trepanning was...quite disturbing.

I also really loved the concept of the world here, with the empire consisting of a bunch of floating islands that migrate - one of which (and this isn't a spoiler) drowns! I mean, it's in the series' name. The way the magic was linked to the politics and the culture of this world was so fascinating to see. We don't learn enough about this world though, like how the islands came about, their history, what's beyond them - hopefully we'll get to see this in the future books.

A Dark and Mysterious Plot:

I won't lie, the plot progression/pacing is quite slow and you'll need some patience, especially in the beginning. But it will be rewarded. There are so many secrets and mysteries hiding in the dark corners of the palace as Lin steals through it and I ended up liking all the gradual revelations (but with so manyyy questions left by the end). The major plot twists were predictable and still a punch in the gut, which is some pretty good writing! The plot is one that slowly, steadily creeps up on you and will leave you thirsting for more info. I require a lot of answers!!

The only complaints I have are: 1) the pacing and 2) the multiple POVs being a bit confusing in the beginning, as mentioned before. Also, I felt Lin's storyline got kinda repetitive and tiring in the middle - I would've liked to see it cut down and more page time given to Phalue and Ranami in exchange.

Overall, if you like dark political fantasies with cool magic and engaging characters, you'll want to get in on this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Bone Shard Daughter is set in an empire of migratory islands, and is told from five character viewpoints - two of them in first-person, Lin and Jovis, and three in third-person, Phalue, Ranami and Sand. The Emperor’s rule is cemented by the world’s magical system - a type of bone magic called Shard Magic, which only the Emperor and his heir are allowed to do. It works by taking body parts of various animal corpses and reanimating them to create a construct, which is powered by a fragment of human bone called a shard. These shards are collected from the citizens of the empire, who as children participate in a ceremony called the Tithing Festival, where a shard of bone is chiseled away from their hand. This can be lethal, one of our main characters had a brother that died after his Tithing. Before being placed in a construct, the shard has commands etched on to them, and it is these commands that determine the job that they do: spy, guard, bureaucrat, etc… Once in a construct, the shards leach the life from the original human host, bit by bit, causing shard sickness and eventual death. Much of the population live in fear that their shards or those of their loved ones will be used to power a construct.

My main issue with this book is the characters. I find it very difficult to get on board with a novel, if I don’t like the characters, and out of the five main viewpoints, the only one I really liked was Sand, and she played quite a minor role in this book. The two main characters I disliked were Lin and Phalue. Lin, she is the daughter of the current Emperor. She believes his rule to be failing, and wants to build a better empire. She is in constant competition with her foster brother, Bayan, to be named as heir, and feels annoyed by her father refusing to teach her shard magic, which her brother has already started learning. For a character who has no memory of her childhood, she is incredibly self-righteous, and doesn’t seem to consider anyone else around her. She often manipulates others into helping her, even when they are putting themselves in danger. Her rivalry with Bayan seemed quite under-developed and childish, she doesn’t seem to consider what might drive him to want to succeed and what will happen to him if he does not. Don’t get me wrong, her father is not winning any parent of the year prizes. He is very harsh and abusive, and growing up in that environment would certainly do a number on you, but I never really warmed to her as a character.

Phalue is the daughter of a governor and is extremely entitled, at the beginning of the novel she appears incapable of understanding why anyone might not like her father’s rule. She seems to be of the opinion that poverty is a choice and that if the people don’t like the rule of her father and the Emperor, they should not have agreed to it, believing them to be ungrateful. She seems to have an excuse for everything, even when she knows that intellectually the conditions are awful. Her relationship with Ranami, an ‘ex-gutter-rat’, is supposed to be genuine, the author tells us time and again that they love each other, but the two characters are like oil and water, they don’t seem to have any real connection.

As we progress through the novel, all of the characters do develop, and become more likeable and rounded individuals, but it just felt like they were changing to help the plot along, rather than any true emotional growth on their part. That said, I did like the writing for the most part, and I found the prose flowed really well. I also liked that the basic storyline reminded me of one of my favourite series, Mistborn by Brandson Sanderson, and for that reason, I would be interested in continuing this series.

I received an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first in The Drowning Empire trilogy and I'll definitely be waiting with baited breath for the next instalment. The writing is exciting and the idea of the bone-shard magic is intriguing. Although slow to start it definitely sets the scene and action for the next book, with a clever, twisting ending. The characters are diverse and interesting and the links between them are starting to form. A great fantasy read.

Andrea Stewart's gothic fantasy tale of love, obsession and secrets is intriguing and delightful.

Andrea Stewart weaves a complex tale that keeps you guessing and turning the pages to uncover the secrets at the heart of the book just like the character, Lin, who is searching for the answers of the bone shard magic that her father wields and guards jealously.

The story centres around Lin, the daughter of the tyrant Emperor Shiyen who rules his house and his kingdom with cruelty and mistrust.
They live in the crumbling and oppressive castle that is as much a representation of the empire that they rule as it is the relationship that the Emperor has with his children.

The book has a distinct gothic feel to it when it tells the tale of Lin's life with her father, her brother and the soulless servants that surround her.

Her father is cruel and just as soulless as the servants, continuously fostering competition between Lin and her brother as they claw their way to be their way into their father's affections.

In as much as Lin and Bayan (Lin's foster brother) are the characters, Stewart also makes the environment that they are in as much a character as the people that reside in the castle. There is a palpable air of cloying oppressiveness that reminds me of Shirley Jackson's work.

However, the story regularly shifts points of view to other characters and the wider world outside of the castle in order to show the effects of the Emperor's rule and provide some world building and backdrop to the other protagonists of the story.

Jin is a smuggler who is obsessed with searching for the answers as to how his wife disappeared eight years ago. He is a man that has made bad choice after bad choice, getting himself embroiled with the shadowy underworld of the Ioph Carn, a crime organisation that rules with the same amount of fear as the Emperor on his search for his wife.

We meet Jin as he is following a lead for his missing wife when a disaster strikes one of the islands of this world.

Prior to the disaster, he agrees to smuggle a child to another island in order to save him from the horrific trials of the Tithing Festival, a terrifying ritual in which bones are chiselled from the heads of the islands children so that the Emperor can use their power to bring life to his twisted creations that populate the islands, carrying out the orders that the Emperor commands.

As disaster strikes he saves the life of the young boy and also rescues a strange cat like creature who is as much as a child as the one that he is carrying. The creature becomes part of his life and the boy that he saves names the creature Mephisolou which gets shortened to Mephi. However, things do not go as planned and the creature that he selfishly saves from death, so that he can stop the child he has saved from crying forms a bond of bond with Jin. As the relationship grows between Jin and the strange creature, Mephi changes him in ways that he doesn't realise.

There are other characters in the book, Pahlue, the governor's daughter of one of the other islands of this strange world, and Sand. A mysterious occupant of another island whose importance at first is hidden, but becomes much more of a character as the book progresses.

I enjoyed this book immensely, devouring the story of Lin, Jin and Mephi and definitely cannot wait until the next installment of this story. Stewart has crafted a world full of mystery and intrigue that promises to get better and better.