I loved this book, such an interesting and plot twisty story. My main positive note is that normally I really dislike books with a lot of POV chapters but Stewart did this really well, there wasn't a single character that I groaned to read (normally I have one I dislike and rush through their chapters).

A great plot with intriguing characters, I can't wait to get my hands on the next book!

The Bone Shard Daughter is a wonderful story with a fantastical world and unique magic system.

In The Bone Shard Daughter we meet Lin, daughter of the emperor, trying to remember her past and impress her father into keeping her as his heir. We also meet Jovis, a smuggler looking for his wife. And Sand, and Ranami, and Phalue.

And that’s immediately the biggest gripe I had with this book. There were just too many POVs, and to make it even more annoying, some POVs were first-person and others were third-person. I personally love multiple POVs in a book, but I would say three is the most POVs a book needs. Switching from first-person to third-person every few chapters dragged me out of the story, and always made me do a double-take.

Aside from that, I had very little to dislike about The Bone Shard Daughter. The story took my attention hostage, the world felt fleshed out and magical, and the magic system was gruesome and unique. I loved all the characters, even those that were written to be unlikable, being likable in their unlikableness.

All in all, I really enjoyed The Bone Shard Daughter and I’m very much excited about the next book.

A captivating richly woven tale of intrigue, character, duty and finding oneself even at the cost of everything you thought you knew. The story follows several different characters that all have their parts to play as the empire they live in is coming apart. It's magical and satisfying and I cannot wait for more of this spellbinding new world!

A solid four stars.

A greatly interesting original magic system to really keep my interest in reading this - despite a few too many characters to get your head around in a first book all at once.

I really like the idea of the 'world' being ever moving islands as well as the frankenstein's monster type magical constructs.

It definitely had a few Westworld like twists and by the finish of book one I'm looking forward to seeing where the story takes us next!

Summary: The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart is an imaginative and fun epic fantasy debut, that had me compulsively turning the pages to see what would happen next. The book has a unique magic system, a well realised setting, and plenty of relatable characters for readers to love.

Recommended for fans of modern epic fantasy books
Not recommended if you’re looking for a neatly wrapped conclusion
Recommended if you want to read a book with a lovable talking animal companion
Not recommended if you’re put off by several different POV characters in the first novel of a series
The Bone Shard Daughter has five POV characters that take centre stage in their own chapters. While this is well paced, and each character has a distinct voice, there are definitely some characters who get stronger and more central arcs. There’s Jovis, the smuggler; Lin, the emperor’s daughter, Phalue and Ranami, a govenor’s daughter and her long-time girlfriend respectively, and Sand, an amnesiac trapped on a strange island.

Jovis is on a quest to find his lost love – seven years previously she was taken away from her home in the night in a ship with blue sails. Unfortunately for him, the lengths he’s had to go to acquire a ship have left him on the radar of both the Empire and the criminal gang he stole the ship from. Jovis’s turn from smuggler to reluctant folk hero is a solid plotline, made stronger by the addition of Mephi, a strange otter/cat like creature of unknown origins.

Lin’s story sees her trying to succeed her father, the Emperor – in any way necessary. She has no memory of anything prior to the last five years, and she’s been desperately trying to win her father’s approval alongside her rival Bayan, her father’s ward. Her father holds all the secrets to the bone shard magic of the Empire, and he refuses to teach her until she can recover some of her memories. Impatient, she starts to cheat, stealing keys that unlock the doors that hold the secrets of her father’s power. Lin’s storyline was probably my favourite, and full of mysteries that unfolded. Some of the mysteries I had figured out before the reveal, but that didn’t ruin the narrative arc.

Then we have Phalue and Ranami. I really enjoyed the interplay between the two women – Phalue, considers herself worldly in spite of her richer upbringing, and struggles to understand why her girlfriend Ranami, a gutter orphan who lucked into a profession in her adolescence, feels a gulf between them that no amount of love can cross. We soon find out that Ranami has been working with a mysterious group of rebels, and Phalue’s slow change in perspective as she starts to truly learn what life is like for the poor in the empire, is incredibly satisfying in how real it feels.

Finally, there is Sand, who falls from a tree on a strange island, with no knowledge of who she is, or what she is doing there. Everyone on the island works in an almost fugue-like state, maintaining themselves and the settlement, but doing little else. She resolves to escape, taking others with her if she can. I feel fairly neutral on this plotline – it was entertaining enough, but it mostly solved as a mystery to be figured out – are the people on the island the same people being taken by the ship with blue sails? We get some answers, but this is one of the mysteries that will continue on to the next books in the series.

The world-building is good, but perhaps a little shallow. Everything works, feels real in the moment, but there’s not a whole lot of indication that there is anything but the Empire in this world, and there seems to be only a few important events mentioned in the history of the Empire. What is fantastic though, is the way the magic system intersects with the world-building. A shard of bone (from the skull I believe) is taken from every child in the empire in their pre-pubescence. These bone shards can be inscribed with instructions, that can then be placed in a fleshy construct – often the combination of a few different animals – and the construct will then act upon those instructions. As the construct operates, the humans whose shards are used will eventually become sick and die, years and years earlier than they might have otherwise. Thus the very constructs which exist to keep the people safe, are also draining their lives, creating a friction that plays out in several of the storylines to great effect.

The plotlines start to interweave nicely, although this does make the world feel slightly smaller. There’s some mysteries involving an ancient threat called the Alanga and their strange magic, and new powers that a certain character starts to develop – for the most part they go unanswered. The immediate plot is wrapped up in a satisfying way however, and I’m keen to read the sequel to see what comes next.

The Bone Shard Daughter is ultimately a fun epic fantasy, with strong emotional depth, great characters, and clever but somewhat shallow worldbuilding. I’d recommended it to anyone who enjoys modern epic fantasy.

Rating: 8/10

I heard about this book from Instagram and loved to be able to read the arc on netgalley, thanks to the publishers for this.
I felt like it had a bit of a slow start and the four different povs at the start did confuse me a little as I'm usually used to two or three at max. After getting into it I started to enjoy the book more. It has an interesting world build and the characters inside.
It is the first book in the tribology and I cannot wait for the remaining books to be released and read!
Full review up on my blog. Thanks again.

Ugh, I cannot believe I just read a debut novel? How is this so good?
So, is it worth doing a recap of the main plot? I mean, you guys have the summary and I started with the same while selecting this book.
I'm not gonna lie, it took me a while to go into the story. I struggled to understand the magic system, the whole plot, especially because the first chapters are basically throwing you inside the plot, with different POV and I was a bit confused and I had so many questions. Am I happy to have gone through the bumpy ride? Oh yes. I really loved learning about this atypical magic system, the atmosphere felt pretty dark at times and I understood why it was great to have different POV because, at the end of the journey, you have a better understanding of what is actually going on in this empire and how each of those characters ends up playing a role in the story.
I really liked Lin's POV and her journey in the quest for the truth and her plan to overthrow her father. But I also really loved Jovis and Mephi. They were funny, endearing, heartbreaking at times and their journey was full of action. I'm still debating about Sand and Ranami/Phalue POV, I wasn't as invested as Lin and Jovis. Another positive point: yes to the diversity! I'm so happy to be finally reading about an Imperial China-inspired world in fantasy! Also, I have to highlight that the companions are super cute and are (maybe) the reason why my note is so high (not only, I swear).
I will be reading the second and third books because I want to know what is going to happen!

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for providing me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. I will be posting this review on Goodreads but also on my private blog soon, in french and english.

Thank you Netgalley for providing the arc, unfortunately this was archived before I had the chance to read it. I look forward to starting It when I get the physical copy though!

I really enjoyed reading this book. I thought the characters of Lin and Jovis were great. I also loved the creature Mephi.

The concept of Bone Shard magic was great but as Lin learnt more it would have been good to have more explanation of how it worked. The constructs made me think of weird taxidermy robots!

Some of the POVs were unnecessary, I didn’t get anything from Sand and found Phalue boring. I also guessed a lot of the twists.

Still, I really liked the ideas in the book and I’d definitely read the next one in the series!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the views expressed in this review are my own.
---
I have yet to read a book by one of Orbit's authors that I haven't enjoyed or been absolutely blown away by. I've definitely decided on my absolute favorite Sci-Fi & Fantasy imprint.

I went into this with excitement, having read the blurb and jumped in without reading any reviews or trying to look too much into the hints given in the blurb. The PDF ARC was about 450 pages long. I devoured the whole thing in a single day.

It's been a while since I enjoyed a book that:

A) Has multiple POVs
B) Handled each POV like it's as important as the last (and it is)
C) Has breathtakingly beautiful and subtle worldbuilding
D) Is written by an author who clearly knows what they're doing
E) Has an original and incredible system of magic

Yes, I know I have high standards.

Possibly the best thing about this book is that whatever expectations you have from the blurb, you'll be shocked when you actually start reading it. I expected a 70 and I got a 150. That's how good this is.

I have read some pretty horrible examples of multiple POVs and when that's been combined with first person narrative, things have only gotten worse.

The Bone Shard Daughter is nothing like that. This is the kind of writing that I want to read all day every day. A first person narrative that doesn't sound whiny but actually builds the character and gives it depth? Sign me up!

I feel as if Stewart has spoiled us with such an amazing piece of work. I can't for the life of me pick my favourite character simply because it's impossible.

I also cannot begin to describe the absolutely creepy undertones and ominous events that are present throughout this book, constantly hinting at powers beyond that which the regular folk and even the royalty are aware of. I've gotten goosebumps more than once while reading this in the span of a day.

Lastly, the pacing is perfect and each event given its due time.

I cannot even begin to say how desperately I want to read the next installment in the series.

Andrea Stewart has shown herself to be a force to be reckoned with and I'm eager to see where she takes her readers next.

Overall rating: 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you haven’t yet bought this book, go out and grab this new edition!

I did get this book as a free advance copy review ebook, but I loved it so much, the moment I finished I jumped online to grab a copy for my personal library. And as an added bonus it has such a lovely cover!

I loved the interesting world that Andrea Stewart built. The bone shard magic is not at all like I imagined, it was so much better. These animal-like constructs were awesome.

As you may have guessed I highly recommend this book for adults and young adults alike.

- The blurb from the publisher, as they do it best -

In an empire controlled by bone shard magic, Lin, the former heir to the emperor will fight to reclaim her magic and her place on the throne.

The Emperor's reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire's many islands.

Lin is the Emperor's daughter and she spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright - and save her people.

The Bone Shard Daughter is an unmissable fantasy debut - a captivating tale of magic, revolution and mystery, where a young woman's sense of identity will make or break an empire.

'The Bone Shard Daughter is one of the best fantasy novels I've read in a long time . . . it grabs you by the heart and the throat from the first pages and doesn't let go until long after it's over. This book is truly special' Sarah J. Maas.


Thank you to NetGalley & Little, Brown Book Group UK for an advance copy.

Amazon link added when review is live.

I've been curious about this title ever since I first heard about it, and after reading Kelly’s review last year I knew I had no other option but to simply read it. The fact is that fantasy titles tend to slip between the cracks of my TBR mountain though, so I jumped at the chance to get an ARC as an actual deadline always means a guaranteed read. And I'm so glad I finally did read The Bone Shard Daughter, as I ended up having an excellent time with this high fantasy title! Definitely a worthy start of a new series I can highly recommend to fans of the genre.

Key in high fantasy reads is the wordbuilding, and The Bone Shard Daughter definitely doesn't fall short when it comes to this. The different islands, the character background, the constructs, the magic, the history... There is so much dept in the building up of this world and it really made the story come alive for me. The descriptions of the different locations mentioned in this first The Drowning Empire book are thorough, vivid and definitely what I look for in a fantasy read. The magical element almost has a sci-fi/steampunk feel about it with the constructs and the bone shards, and I highly enjoyed slowly learning more about this part of the story. The same goes for Jovis and his special bond with Mephi.

Now that I mentioned Jovis, I have to make a confession. I have to say that while I understand why the story has a multiple POV structure, it took me some time to get used/understand the purpose of certain POVs and this slowed me down initially. I also had a noticable preference for Jovis' POV, making me feel slightly disappointed whenever the focus was on a different character... Lin is fascinating as well of course, but it took me some time to warm up to the others (especially Sand). This is of course a personal reaction and by no means had the result of me not enjoying the story. In fact, especially the second half of the story had me fully in its claws and I simply couldn't stop reading.

What I love is that this story is in fact very low on the romance. Sure, we have Phalue's POV and her relationship with Ranami, but as their relationship wasn't actually in the sappy romance stage I wasn't bothered by it. And discovering a high fantasy story without an overdose of romance is always an excellent find! I also love that despite the fact that this is a series, The Bone Shard Daughter provides us with a proper ending instead of that well known painful cliffhanger. Sure, things are left wide open for the sequel, but the events of the first book are properly dealt with and you are left with a feeling of satisfaction instead of despair once you reach that final page. Always a bonus when the sequel hasn't been published yet!

In short, The Bone Shard Daughter turned out to be an excellent high fantasy read with a vivid worldbuilding and fascinating magical element. I'll be looking forward to the sequel already!

Thank you to Netgalley, Orbit and Andrea Stewart for my arc of The Bone Shard Daughter in exchange for an honest review.

Paperback published: 8th April 2021

This book has been on my tbr for a while now so I was excited to get the chance to read and review it.
This definitely falls into the category of high fantasy and lemme tell you it gets complex! That was probably the downside for me is that I felt the world building was lacking somewhat and I struggled to understand what was going on, in a wider context that is.
The story is told from the POV of four different characters. While I understand how this was needed in order to connect the dots in several ways, it got confusing especially as some of the voices were very similar.
The emperor rules the kingdom after his family saved the people from the Alanga (it's never really specified who or what they were), He also creates constructs using bone shard magic (which again isn't really explained much) and they are a sort of amalgamation of different animals and sort of like robots? The four characters are Lin the emperor's daughter who having lost some of her memories after a sickness 5 years ago is trying to prove she is still worthy of inheriting the empire, Jovis a smuggler who is searching for someone important but gets roped into some other things, Phalue a governor's daughter on one of the islands and Sand a girl on an island who collects mangos until she has a small accident that opens her memories back up and she begins to question things. Stuff sort of comes together in the end but not 100% I've still been left with more questions than answers and not in a good way.
The frustrating this is that I loved the concept. With better world building, descriptions and character development this could have been great. But if you're going to write four points of view in a complex fantasy world then it needs to be a Game of Thrones sized book not 438 pages. By keeping it so short it sacrificed any kind of world building and it was impossible to picture anything. Nobody's looks were really described, none of the places were described so how do you picture an island when there's no description on how it looks or smells or feels, when no atmosphere is described. Although I enjoyed the book enough to finish it and to want to read the sequel (mostly in order to get answers) I don't feel like there was any point where I was immersed in the story. A good book makes you feel a part of it like you're one of the characters or observing a scene, I was very aware the whole time with this one that I was reading a book.
I will read the second one in the hope of getting answers but I'm super disappointed with the execution of what could have been an excellent story with an really original idea if it had been developed and executed better.

I loved this first instalment in what I can tell is going to be a fantastic series

The author has written a fantastic original magic system and has made us all completely submerge into this world

The different POVs were a welcome change and I can’t wait for the next instalment!!

Sorry, I requested this one by mistake as I already read it.
This is the review:
"The excellent start of a new fantasy series. I loved how everything is fresh, original and fascinating.
The author is an excellent storyteller and delivered an original and excellent world building, something new in the world of fantasy.
The different POVs, the interesting characters and the plot that kept me hooked makes this story a gripping and highly entertaining read.
I can't wait to read the next instalment, highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine."

I enjoyed reading this book.

In this, the first book of the Drowning Empire series, we are introduced to a world in which shards of bone, taken from living individuals, are used to power monstrous constructs – gradually draining the life of the people from which they were taken.

Andrea Stewart's magic system felt original and well defined, with clear limitations and implications applied to its use. Despite not being overly complex (yet), the plot kept me engaged throughout and felt well paced. The various reveals and plot twists throughout the book are well done, often satisfyingly giving the reader knowledge beyond that of the narrator.

The story is told through five different POVs, two major and three minor. Refreshingly for a multiple POV novel, I found all of the characters equally appealing and did not at any point find myself skipping ahead to the next chapter. There is some great character writing to be found here. Although I might have preferred all of the POV to be written in first person (rather than a mixture of first and third) this is a minor quibble and did not detract from my enjoyment of the book.

This is good debut novel, recommended to fans of Brian McClellan, John Gwynne and Patrick Rothfuss. Although this volume reaches a satisfying conclusion, the wider story and mythology established here offer excellent scope and potential for the novels which follow. I look forward to reading them.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for am ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Bone Shard Daughter might fool you with its generic YA sounding title, but there's nothing to worry about: at its heart you'll find a captivating tale of dark magic, power, oppression and rebellion. Usually when I'm busy with work I find it difficult to find time to read, leading me to read books in bits and pieces which usually reduces my enjoyment of the book. But even though I only read little chunks of it each time, I never felt disconnected from the characters. One of my favourite things about this book was not only the main characters, but also the side characters (shout out to Mephi. I love youuuu)

OKAY OKAY OKAY. This book came for my throat. I've been sitting on it for over a week trying to find words for all my feelings, but the book is still holding me by the throat, making me froth at the mouth while I try to express just how much I enjoyed this.
The worldbuilding? The mystery? The creatures? Mwah. The characters? Mwah. It's been over a week and I think about them daily. Some of them will not give me peace and I'm eager for the sequel so that I can maybe finally calm down.

My one complaint? For a book that has the word bone in the title, there maybe weren't enough bones for my liking. But there are more than enough shards. Oh man. Hold on a second. This book has one of the most intriguing magic systems I've ever read about. I want to know everything about it and then some.

This book left me with a lot of questions, which, even when it's a series and I know we'll get answers, is often annoying. Here? Perhaps. But man, am I glad that I have those questions, because it means I read this book and there's something wonderful to look forward to.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC - I'd say I owe you a shard, but we all know how that ends.

If you're looking for a story with a unique magic system and intricate plot, you're in the right place! Bone shard magic is an original concept that acted like coding in a way, and there are other mysterious and ancient types of magic that are starting to be explored. The rest of the world-building is just as developed, including the ruling system, the unforgotten but remote danger of the Alanga, and various islands of the Empire that we get glimpses of. As for the plot, it felt like Andrea Stewart knew exactly where she wanted to go with the story and the whole series. There was plenty of unexpected plot twists and set up for the sequel, as well as the satisfying converging of multiple POVs at the end.

The characters all had their own voice and were really fun to follow - my favourites were the main two: Lin and Jovis. Lin, the emperor's daughter and potential heir, struggled with recovering her memories and sense of identity, as well as learning how to rule effectively and compassionately. Jovis, the smuggler, had his mind set on finding his kidnapped wife with no apparent concern for anyone else, until the cutest animal companion Mephi turned up. The other POVs were interesting but interrupted the flow of the story and became slightly tiring to follow. We have Phalue and Ranami, the governor's daughter and her girlfriend, who constantly clash but begin to understand each other's perspective and privilege. I enjoyed these characters but sadly wasn't as invested in their relationship, perhaps because it was already established and included (sometimes) needless conflict. The theme of revolution was explored well though, which converged with other POVs and was full of tension and hidden motives. Lastly, we have the mysterious POV of Sand with little purpose except her daily routine at first. These sections were much sparser but built up to a dramatic ending.

Overall it's an amazing debut with a promising sequel that I'm highly anticipating!

I seem to be on a roll with brilliant fantasy books because this one also did not disappoint. I came into this with big expectations since this book was heavily spoken about and God was it brilliant.

This book is about identity, what makes a person good or bad and how far someone is willing to go to fix what is broken and find what is lost.

It begins with Lin, the daughter of an emperor who has become as paranoid as he is powerful. Lin competes with the Emperors foster son Bayan for keys opening the palaces many locked doors and eventually knowledge that will allow her to take over as emperor.

As this is going on we also follow Jovis, a smuggler who ends up with a strange companion when the island he's on sinks. This leads him further on a journey to find his missing wife with a lot of detours on the way.

The setting is so complex yet so realistic. Each island has its own character and all feel like real places because of the people that reside on them. Even when you're only on an island for a moment, you're able to really understand just how that island functions.

The characters themselves were incredibly complex. Every one of them was not wholly good or evil and they make decisions you don't necessarily agree with but this makes them significantly more human. Each character is full of depth and you understand just why every decision was made.

Despite this, the narrative changes I found a little irritating at times. This does usually happen when you have multiple narrative voices except here it was the opposite. Usually one of the stories isn't as interesting as others but here I was so hooked on all of them that I got annoyed at times when there were large breaks of a specific narrative voice.

I love that the politics are not so black and white. Decisions that hurt some characters, save others and vice versa. It's nice to read something where judgements truly don't always end up with the outcome everyone wants. It's not all happy and that's brilliant.

One thing that did bother me was the magic system, though I found it unique and interesting in the end, it took a little longer than I would have liked to understand how it worked and who could do it etc. Despite that, I think it's well built and quite detailed.

I liked here how normalised things like securities were here especially since it's in a fantasy setting. It's really refreshing to see people being themselves and allowed to be themselves without the cliche hardships that are usually added in books.

Overall, I really enjoyed this, I enjoyed all the stories and I'm excited to see where else each of the characters and decisions lead them too. I would absolutely recommend this and am eagerly waiting the next one.