I was not expecting this book. It’s had a lot of hype in the past few months so it has been on my radar and I jumped at the chance to request an arc, but I had forgotten the blurb by the time it came to read my copy. I got to try and figure out the world and magic as it unfolded in the book and it made the experience all the better.

I appreciated how different all our point of view characters were in status; personality and political views. I found myself quickly attached to two characters but by the end of the book I was enjoying all of them equally. I can’t wait to know more about their plotlines.

The plot was fairly busy, with five points of view to balance and a lot of action throughout the book. It kept me glued to the pages. I struggled to keep the points of view separate initially, especially the names, but I had a clear idea by the end of the book. There was a surprise towards the end of the book that has me eagerly awaiting the sequel.

The magic and worldbuilding in this first book was something different. The magic uses bones to draw power from and can power constructs. I’d like to see more of the world built up in the sequel but I’m looking forward to picking it as it releases.

The Bone Shard Daughter is one of those books that I heard a lot of buzz about before I picked it up. For the most part this book lived up to it.

The book is set in the empire. The emperor and his family have mastered bone shard magic. These bone shard power animal like constructs that help him rule. The downside? The bone shards are taken from young children and when in use drains life from them. It shortens their life. One can imagine this tickles the rebellion to act out, next to the bad ruling the emperor seems to be doing. And that is about where we start.

We follow a few different characters from different sides of life. There is Jovis, a thief who has lost his wife. Lin, the daughter to the emperor who has lost her memory. Phalue, daugther to the governor of one of the islands. Ranami who is in love with Phalue but also a part of the rebellion ready to overthrow the governor. And a mystery character, Sand. It creates quite a few different story lines that slowly start intertwining with one another.

There were mysteries, twists and turns. Some were pretty obvious. Others were an actual surprise. Overal I think the plot is interesting and because of the intertwining stories became one big one by the end of the book. One where we will find all the characters together at some point.

The focus lies with Jovis and Lin. They move the story forward with big sweeping stories. Jovis who stands outside of the society by being a haunted thief, just trying to find his wife by any means possible. It means he doesn't have that much contact with other people. Lin on the other hand is mostly stuck in the palace, her only interaction being her father and a taken in boy outside of the animal constructs. She sees how her father mismanages the empire and how he has little interest for their people. She wants to change that.

Both are great to follow as characters. Lin wants to learn, wants to do better. She thinks the way to that is the bone shard magic but along the way she learns to evaluate that. Jovis on the other hand is more focused on himself and doesn't want much to do with the empire's problems. That changes when he meets the creature Mephi. He opens his heart to it a little and along the way he finds himself falling into helping his people too. I loved his relationship with Mephi <3.

Character wise I wasn't quite as drawn to Phalue and Ranami. However their story was very important to tell next to Lin and Jovis. Because they gave the perspective of the society. How was it really in the rest of the empire? How is day to day life and how does the empire's rule affect their lives? The relationship between Phalue and Ranami is also interesting. How does their social standings influence their relationship. Phalue being a governor's daughter, has a very priviledged view on the world. Ranami tries to show her that. But it is not so easy when it is the one you love.

Overal I enjoyed The Bone Shard Daughter and there is so much great things to be found in his book. I hope that the next books dives deeper into these characters and this world.

I’ll cut to the chase. I didn’t connect with The Bone Shard Daughter. The question is whether you will.

The story is a mix of tales of rebellion, creepy Necromancy, and people chasing mysteries. There’s four major narrative arcs, three of which come together by the end of the book. There’s Lin, daughter of the Emperor, struggling with lost memories, learning bone shard magic, and her foster-brother Bayan. There’s Jovis, a smuggler going from island to island seeking his lost wife. There’s Phalue and Ranami, the governor’s daughter and her commoner lover, on an island in the Empire. And finally there’s Sand, on an island, not knowing quite who she is.

People who connect with it will, I think, connect on the clean prose, the numerous well-executed plot reveals, and Mephi. Mephi is the adorable, mysterious, horned-cat-otter-? that attaches himself to Jovis and is just very cute. Stewart writes a very strong action scene too. I’ve seen people compare her to Sanderson and I get it. I think a unique magic system – flesh golems powered by shards of bone on which command codes written – only improves the casefor the comparison.

The places where I didn’t connect with The Bone Shard Daughter was its start, which I found slow and hindered by all the PoV changes, and the ending. Stewart’s plot reveals are very good, but she opts to keep a lot of plot points under wraps for the next book. I ended the book somewhat nonplussed and with the enjoyment I’d had through the middle fading away.

The characters are a mixed bag. Jovis grows into an amiable, fun Han Solo-esque type. Lin starts a little bland but has the book’s best arc. Phalue and Ranami just annoyed me. I actually started thinking Phalue could have a fun arc but their dynamic seemed warped and unhealthy, and lacking the enjoyment factor of Jovis and Lin.

Maybe I just never fully invested after the start. Or maybe it was just not a book for me. Either way, I’m mildly tempted to see what happens in the next one, but suspect I’ll just read spoiler heavy reviews instead.

The Bone Shard Daughter tells a lot of intertwined stories, but primarily follows Lin, the Emperor’s daughter, as she tries to unravel her family’s secrets and face her father’s declining rule. She’s unhappy with her life in the palace and desperate to discover what her father is hiding behind all of his closed doors, but the more truths she uncovers, the more complicated and twisted everything suddenly seems.

Meanwhile, revolution is stirring across all of the Emperor’s isles, and Jovis- the nation’s most renowned smuggler- and Phalue – the daughter of one of the isle’s governors - find themselves becoming dangerously wrapped up in it. What combines these stories is a fascinating and intricate narrative of magic, revolution and a hunger for power and justice.

This book is dark, magical and incredibly well written. For the first few chapters, as more and more perspectives were being introduced, I did find myself quite confused as to what tied all of the stories together and, honestly, who I should be rooting for, but the more sucked into this story I got, the more captivated I was by every single chapter. Jovis and Mephi were probably my favourite characters in this story, but I adored Lin’s chapters as well, especially as her story got progressively darker and much more dangerous.

The bone shard system and magic in general within this book is unlike anything I’ve read before, and it was so fascinating to discover everything as Lin, Jovis, Phalue, Ranami and Sand did. It was also so unique to see perspectives of all sides and how they tied together, including inside the palace, at a local governing level, and deep inside the rebellion’s HQ.

I was really intimidated by this book at first so it took me longer to fall in love with it than I thought it would but, by halfway, I was completely hooked. There were moments that broke my heart, moments that made me terrified for what was coming next, and plot twists that I absolutely did not see coming. I’m desperately awaiting book two and can’t wait to see how much darker and more intertwined all of these stories can get.

In this book we follow Lin, the emperor's daughter who spends her days trapped within the palace together with the boy her father has taken in. One of them will become the heir to the throne, but Lin has lost all memory of her life beyond five years, and she has to play catch-up with the protégé son her father now considers her replacement. But Lin is determined to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic, but it’s a dangerous quest and one that will question not only her father’s reign but the future of hers.

This book was a disappointment to me. The premise was so great, and I loved Lin’s perspective and her as a character. It was interesting and fun and exciting and the bone shard magic, just wow. So, why the disappointment you might ask.

Well, it was an unfocused mess of jumps in time, of an excessive amount of perspectives and no consistent plot to follow along with. I see what the author tried to do here, and the ideas are amazing, the whole story is great too and the characters and their stories too. But it’s too much for one book.

Reading this book was like simultaneously reading five books about completely different things. And the problem that occurred here was that none of the storylines felt even remotely complete, and by that I don’t mean complete as in the ending not being wrapped up (there’s a sequel so…), but I mean incomplete like not having anything that made me want to keep reading.

There were so many different character perspectives in this book that all of them fell flat and ended up one-dimensional. None of the plotlines were fleshed out because there wasn’t enough time for it. It would have been so much better to focus on two POVs in this book, because in all honestly the rest didn’t add anything to the book.

We follow Lin, a smuggler called Jovis, a woman named Phalue and her girlfriend Ranami and a woman called Sand.

Only Lin and Jovis really need to be in this book, because their respective journeys are the only ones that really matter and the only ones that we need to know of. The rest only takes up space and makes it harder to develop an interest in the two larger POVs.

So, I’m disappointed, because the concept was so original and so incredibly interesting, but the execution just fell short here. It was a mess of pages that didn’t seem to have any common threads at all.

And the ending? What even was that? It was like the book lacked a whole bunch of pages at the end. It wasn’t a cliffhanger, it wasn’t a rounded off ending with a promise of more, or a wrapped up ending to this story. The book just ended, like I seriously flipped the page back and forth several times just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

Basically, this should have been three books, three well developed books with a common thread that’d lead the reader from beginning to end and really dig into the characters. Hey, I’d even be there for two books with two POVs in each. It was just too short, way too short for what the author tried to do here, and as a result it ended up flat and one-dimensional.

Which is such a shame considering what an amazing world the author has created here. I’d love to have seen more bone shard magic, to really be there with Lin and learn.

This book gets 3 stars for effort and originality.

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC of this book. Well, that was an enjoyable ride and loved every moment. I really what my own Mephy. I don't normally enjoy books that multiple POV's but with this story, it worked well. If you have not started this series yet, then I highly recommend that you do. I cannot wait to see what comes next in this exciting new fantasy world.

An excellent start to a new series, The Bone Shard Daughter's unique concept and multiple POVs made everything feel fresh, original and fascinating. The writing is beautiful and Stewart is a skilled storyteller.
The story itself kept me hooked and had me on the edge of my seat. I would definitely recommend this especially for someone looking for something fresh and a break from the usual tropes.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Lin is the Emperor’s daughter yet she feels something is missing with her relationship with her father. Her memory is missing since she caught the disease brought back by her foster brother. Shards of bone are harvested from young children who are then made into constructs to help rule the empire. Lin is practicing to take control of the constructs and show she is worthy of being heir. Each chapter is a different POV from different factions of the empire. There are many characters introduced which can slow the pace of the story down while the background is set out. You find it difficult to connect to any one character but hopefully they will be fleshed out in future stories.
I was given an arc of this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Did not Finish, therefore I cannot provide an adequate review. The reason I didn't finish it is because I did not find the book engaging.

The Bone Shard Daughter is set in a world where the all powerful Emperor harvests shards of bone from every eight year old child’s head, sometimes they die. Then the shards are used to make constructs that help the Emperor rule his Empire while taking life energy from the people cutting their lives short.
Lin is the daughter of the title, she’s training to be the next Emperor or not because there’s a pretender to the throne in the form of hot dude Bayan who is an adopted son and much better at everything that her, oh yeah and she’s lost half the memories.
On the other side representing the “common man” there’s Jovis just an ordinary guy trying to find his wife who disappeared years ago and accidentally starts smuggling children to safety from the bone harvest. He also ends up saving Mophi a mysterious creature he found swimming in the sea after an island sank into it taking everyone with it.
And also a band of revolutionaries trying to overthrow the government.
Then there’s a island full of people who have no memories.
So it’s all kicking off. This was a good opener, the world is well built well some of the characters are better than others and I’m genuinely curious to see how Lin’s story pans out after finding out who she is. The moral dilemma of using parts of people to power those devilishly useful constructs is also intriguing. I do love a moral dilemma. Next one please.

Lin is the Emperor’s daughter but with gaps in her memory from a sickness brought to the palace from her father’s ward, Bayan, she’s labelled unworthy to re-learn the bone shard magic and become his successor. Now she must compete with Bayan to earn keys from the Emperor, and from his casual indifference and Bayan’s number of keys- Lin is not winning. She decides it’s time to stop playing fair because Lin won’t go down without a fight and she’s hungry to get back what she’s lost, including the elusive approval from her father.

After reading the blurb I thought I knew what I was stepping into. I was ready to meet the Emperor’s daughter and follow her around the mysteriously locked palace as she tries to decipher the puzzle from within, but the Emperor’s actions affect more than Lin, causing ripples of dissent across the Empire. In turn, Stewart gives us a diverse ensemble of a cast spread throughout the seas. We follow three other narrators, Jovis, Phalue, and Sandu as they each unwittingly hold a piece of the puzzle and in the fragile foundations of the Phoenix Empire, they each have the power to change the tide.

Jovis is searching for his missing wife, sailing the endless sea and chasing rumours while running from his debts. When he saves a child from the Emperor’s cruel bone harvesting Tithing Festival and makes friends with an unusual creature from the depths, rumours start circulating of a smuggler turned hero who will save the people’s children. Suddenly he’s caught up in a revolution he never wanted to be a part of. In Nephilanu Island, Phalue, the governor’s daughter, can’t stop proposing to her girlfriend, Ranami, and wondering what an earth she can do to get her to say yes. The issue seems to be in their clashing of beliefs, Ranami wants a revolution and Phalue doesn’t understand why but when she discovers that Ranami is conspiring with the Shardless rebels, there isn’t anything she wouldn’t do for Ranami. Soon though, Phalue realises there may be something to what Ranami’s been preaching. Finally, there is Sandu, harvesting mangos at the edge of the Empire. When she falls from a tree and bumps her head, the foggy simple logic from which she’s been living her life lifts, and now it’s time to work out who she is and what she’s doing on an island in the middle of nowhere.

These tangled strands provide a vivid and immersive journey for the reader and this is just the first instalment in a larger fantasy series- thank goodness because that ending left me with so many questions on what could happen next. Yet, the plot still came together immaculately considering its complexities and, although I guessed a couple of the twists, I loved the ending. It just pulled my favourite characters together perfectly. I love them so much; Lin is fierce and brave, and I found her so inspirational when she keeps getting knocked down and she just gets back up again, more determined than before. Also, Jovis and his pet literally warm my heart up. Plus, I am so happy that Stewart included a lesbian main character who can kick ass! It always gets me excited to read some well-written rep.

The main issue I had, was the fact that it was complex and followed so many narrators. I found it hard to keep up the pace in this chunky book when I wanted to skip over perspectives (although I never did it because that would be book blasphemy) just to continue on from the cliff-hanger that had just occurred. It was also a lot to follow and take in, so it took me a little while to get into the characters, places and stories. Then, because there was so much going on, I had time to guess twists before they came up. Maybe, this was due to my original impression of the book that suggested a more focused plot and left me thrown when that’s not what I got. You may find it easier to get into the book because you now know what to expect.

Also, there are so many little clues and events that are set up for possible future events in the next books that I can’t even begin to guess where Stewart will take us and I’m so excited to read the next instalment when it's released. If you love fantasy, complex world-building, and characters with depth and personality, you’ll love The Bone Shard Daughter.

A massive thank you to NetGalley and to Little, Brown Book Group UK for this ARC.

What I loved most about this book was how it throws you into the world from the beginning, so you gradually learn about the magic system through the eyes of the characters.

There were certain characters I warmed to more than others, but Mephi stole my heart (I always love a cute animal companion).

I struggled a little with the changing perspectives, as some POVs are told in first-person and others are told in third-person. There were a few occasions where I'd start a new chapter and it would feel a little jarring.

I would also say that this is a slower-paced fantasy (especially in the beginning) but I did think the build-up was worth it, and I liked how the atmosphere felt a little eerie and creepy at times.

If you're looking for an adult fantasy with lots of intrigue then I would recommend this.

There were multiple layers to the plot, and there were certain things I worked out before the characters did, but that didn't take away from my overall enjoyment and the book definitely went in a direction I wasn't expecting.

I'm looking forward to the sequel to see where the story goes next!

Shifting islands, an empire on the brink of revolution and a sinister magic involving shards of human bone… It’s no surprise that this was right up my bookish street!

Told through the perspectives of five different characters, the main story follows Lin, the Emperor’s Daughter as she tries to regain her lost memories and learn the complexities of bone shard magic in order for her father to declare her as his heir. Elsewhere around the empire, we follow Jorvis, a smuggler, as he attempts to escape both the Ioph Carn and the Empire whilst smuggling children away from trepanning ceremonies and trying to track down a mysterious boat which kidnapped his wife several years previously.

With the addition of sapphic couple Phalue and Ramani (a Governor’s Daughter and her partner) who are trying to put their different upbringings aside to compromise on their ambitions to create a better world, and a mysterious island-dweller Sand who can’t remember anything about her past, there is plenty of character development to keep your mind buzzing as their storylines gradually become intertwined in the course of the novel.

For me, Stewart hit the right balance between the length of each character’s perspective and the pacing of them throughout the story. Each character break left me on a cliffhanger, just wanting to find out more. Lin’s determination and braveness made her likeable and Jovis’ vulnerabilities and honesty made me champion him as his storyline took various twists and turns. I also admired the way that Stewart was not afraid to be bold and daring when it came to the fates of her characters. My heart was in my mouth at more than one point whilst reading this book (with one particular moment involving a family of side-characters leaving me reeling)!

Mephi was by far my favourite character though – I’m such a sucker for animals and the mysterious nature of his origins and power is something I am hugely intrigued about. His relationship with Jovis was wonderfully written so I hope we get to see and learn more about them both in the sequel.

I need to say how much I loved the STEM representation within this book! For those who may not be aware, STEM is an acronym used in education to describe subjects relating to Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. As a primary school teacher (and the Maths/Computing lead), there has been a big shift in the promotion of these subjects, particularly with providing opportunities for girls and young women to try and inspire them in pursuing these industries in their future careers and highlighting just how widespread and multi-faceted these subjects are.

It was so refreshing to see the main character, Lin representing this through her pursuit of learning bone shard magic. The idea that bone shard magic is some sort of magical computer programming for the strange, Frankenstien-esque, living constructs was a really intriguing and unique type of magic which is so different to the most common forms that you usually encounter in fantasy stories.

I loved the way Stewart mixed these ideas together and the way performing the magic was explained. It gave just enough detail so that I could fully understand what was happening, whilst at the same time being subtle enough to keep it mystical rather than overwhelmingly scientific.

The constructs themselves left me freakishly curious; part-human / part-animal, they brought a quirky element to whole narrative. At times, I struggled to visualise them in my head but I enjoyed how unique and strange they were. As the plot unravels, we get to understand a little more about how the constructs are made and it was interesting to see how they are integral to some of the bigger plot twists and developments within the story.

I loved the Asian-inspired world and the shifting islands that Stewart created. It was supernatural yet realistic. Through the descriptions of each place, I could clearly build a picture of the islands in my mind and I liked how they had their own stories and vibes, as well as the way they interacted with each other and provided a stage for the different characters and events. The incident with Deerhead Island towards the start of the novel put the scope and scale of what could happen in this world right at the forefront of my mind. I still feel like there is so much more to explore of this empire and I’m hoping we get to see that in The Bone Shard Emperor.

Overall, this fantasy with a STEM-based twist did a superb job at setting the scene and whetting my appetite for the rest of the series. We are now familiar with the world, the magic and the characters. Breadcrumb trails have been left for even more secrets to be uncovered about Lin and Jovis, the constructs, the mysterious Alanga artefacts and the future of the empire. The chess pieces are on the board and I can’t wait to see how they move in the second instalment of this Drowning Empire series!

*exhales loudly* OH BOY THIS IS QUITE THE RIDE

And honestly, it's damn refreshing to have a new take on the YA fantasy world because it was getting a tad typical.

SooOooOooooo what are you in for? This:
✨One shitty emperor whose reign has lasted (quite frankly) too damn long
✨ Said shitty emperor refuses to recognise his OWN DAUGHTER as his heir
✨ Lin goes off on the warpath after years of being trapped in a palace to learn the ~forbidden~ art of bone share magic

This is a little banger. I mean it's long as hell but don't let this put you off from grabbing it.

Shit I loved:
- Mephi. I ain't explaining that that is. You need to read it for yourself.
- How absolutely mental the magical system is in this world.
- The world-building itself. Damn it's wonderful.

Stuff that I didn't like quite so much:
- There are a LOT of different POVs which can get a little much after a while. My attention span suffered but I still got there in the end.
- Because of said POVs, it's a bit tricky to love the characters.

Next book is going to be a banger.

trigger warning
<spoiler> grief, trauma, domestic abuse, kidnapping, memory loss, being experimented upon </spoiler>

In a failing empire, people are trying to survive. The Emperor's daughter Lin has to prove herself to become the next regent, a smuggler has to flee his former employers as he finally gets another clue to the whereabouts of his kidnapped wife and a governor's daughter has to prove how far she'd go for her love.

This was neither so bad I wanted to quit nor so good I really wanted to pick it up again. Basically the only thing I liked is the relationship between Mephi and Jovis, the former being a rescued animal with magical abilities.

The plot twist was foreseeable from 100 pages before it happened, and it really got me thrilled at the last 20 pages. I am not sure if I want to read on, especially if the rest of the series is as chunky as this one was. It's probably more a case of I want to know how it ends, so I'll read a summary one day.

Quiet bummed about this, honestly, because the premise is so cool.
The arc was provided by the publisher.

With her debut book, The Bone Shard Daughter, Andrea Stewart shows she’s not afraid to bend and twist the definitions of the young adult fantasy genre. This is not just another YA fantasy. This is a young adult fantasy mystery with locked doors, dark secrets and nightmares given life.

While the book doesn’t exactly contain a lot of steamy scenes, this is without a doubt a story about love as an unyielding force with the power to make the impossible possible. Not only love as in romance, but the kind of love that creates unbreakable and life altering bonds between friends.

The Bone Shard Daughter is about diversity. Romantic diversity as in that there’s nothing unusual about same-sex couples getting married or adopting children, quite the opposite. And cultural diversity as in not being accepted or treated differently because of certain outward traits. What gender the different characters in this book had didn’t really matter, it didn’t feel important or essential for the story. This is the first book I’ve read, ever, where I wasn’t sure about what gender one of the characters had until it was confirmed in the second half of the book. And it surprised me how little it bothered me. Understand me right, I’m not too concerned about what gender a person has as, it’s up to the person themselves. But I would’ve thought it would make it harder to bond with and visualize the character - I was wrong. I connected with and saw myself in this character after reading only a few pages and it definitely opened up my eyes a bit more about exactly how irrelevant genders really are to define a person.

I was completely blown away by the intricate and utterly unique magic system which I’m more than eager to discover further. It’s been quite a while since I came across a book with a completely unfamiliar magical system but the bone shard magic is nothing short of genius. Imagine a sort of programming magic but instead of writing algorithms into technical objects, this system is all organic. The robot-like creatures which carries out different tasks all around the great Empire aren’t built out of bits and pieces of metal and wires but instead consist of more or less seamlessly stitched together body parts from different types of animals. Neither does these constructions run on electricity like ordinary robots. A construct draws energy from the very life force of human beings. By carving different sorts of commands on a bone shard and then insert it into a construct, the Emperor and his family has the power to awaken these constructs and make them do their bidding.

There’s so much about The Bone Shard Daughter that sets it apart from most other books within the fantasy genre that it’s absolute impossible to cover everything in a single review. Not that I’d want to even if it were possible. This book, the story and the world between the covers, is something that should be experienced in first hand. A summarization won’t do the entity of this book justice.

(P.S I really really really want a Mephi on my own. Curious about what (or should I say who… Mephi is)? I guess you’ll have to read the book to find out for yourself!)

***Thank you Andrea Stewart and Little, Brown Book Group UK for giving me a copy of The Bone Shard Daughter in exchange for an honest review.***

A truly epic, complex fantasy- there's a lot of moving parts here, and some fascinating work with magic that works almost like computer coding. I loved the unfolding mystery (and the very clever use of red herrings)- the weaving of Sand, Jovis and Lin's storylines, in particular, was very well done and kept me guessing right up until the very end.

However, the change in perspective necessary to juggle so many characters was often a little confusing, especially when the change sometimes had a switch from third to first person. This was sometimes a bit jarring. This is a small complaint, though, and definitely didn't affect my overall enjoyment too much.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed Kate Elliott's Spirit Gate series, or anyone who has ever wondered what additional animals you could mush together in a chimera.

The Bone Shard Daughter's unique and original concept coupled with diverse and interesting characters makes it a very solid kick off point for a series I cant wait to continue. I loved the multiple POV's, wityh each charcter offering a different viewpoint on the politics of this world, that created a fantastic richness in the storytelling. I absolutley loved the perspective of Jarvis, and am very intringued to see where Stewart takes his story arc in the subsequent books. I would absolutley recommend this book, particulary for those looking for something that breaks from the traditional fantasy tropes.

2,5 stars

I was so excited to read this and I had heard so many good things about this but sadly it didn’t live up to that expectation.

Okay, first of all, there’s a lot of POVs. Lin is the emperor’s daughter, Jovis is a smuggler trying to find his wife, Phalue is the governor’s daughter who has a girlfriend named Ranami who sides with the rebels and then Sand, although she only gets about 2 chapters. The only storyline I was interested in was Lin. Well, Sand was interesting, but she had so few chapters that I didn’t really see the point of having them on top of all the others. Phalue was totally pointless and don’t understand what she added to the story.

I just didn’t connect with any of the characters. The chapters were quite short due to the constant POV change, which didn’t help to connect to them. I felt that I didn’t learn to know these characters or the world. There were many little islands, and one of them sunk, but that’s about it.

I liked the concept of the shards and how you can control people through them, but it was just… lacking something. Can’t say what it was exactly but something. Mostly I was just annoyed with the constant POV change. The first part of the books is very slow before the pace picks up.

I was so surprised that Jovis was looking for his wife who went missing like 7 years ago. Because I thought he was a teenager or so. And in all the flashbacks they were kids. I was just confused, and I never got how old they really were, but it was weird.

Everyone else seems to love this so maybe it’s just me.

The Bone Shard Daughter is terrific, haunting, and staggering. It was great to see these characters dreaming and working separately yet were together with their sole aim to destroy the emperor's rule. I couldn't connect much with the characters but liked the story told by them. The last few chapters were great. There were so many twists in the end that left me gaping at my phone. I will try to reread this book someday because it has a great premise, and I'd like to see what happens next.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are my own.