The Bone Shard Daughter was one of my favourite reads of 2020, so The Bone Shard Emperor was always going to be one of my most anticipated. If this sounds like a set-up to say I was disappointed, that’s because it kind of is. Aspects I loved about the first book somewhat fell flat here and, although it redeemed itself for me in the final 30%, ultimately I didn’t love this one. I liked it, and I’ll read the final book in the series, but I didn’t love it like I did the first.

I think there are three major reasons why this is, the first of which relates to the pacing. While in book one, the slow build of the plot, raising a myriad of questions and ratcheting up the tension, really worked for me, here, it did not. Primarily I think that’s because a lot of the questions were actually answered in the first book, so this time around, there were only a handful remaining. And as such, the slowness of the plot started to work against it. In a 560 page book, I only felt properly into it around the 430 page mark. The plot, for me, stagnated up until then. Each chapter inched it forwards only the slightest bit and, for a 560 page book, that’s not fun to read. Of course, I still liked the characters, and they’re really why I kept reading, but honestly? I was expecting something more action-filled from the second book in a series. If only the slightest bit more.

The second reason I didn’t enjoy it so much links into the third. Simply put, I didn’t really care all that much about Lin and Jovis’ burgeoning relationship. I never thought of them as something that could become romantic in book one, so I found the whole transition from strangers reluctantly on the same side to a potential romance… not exactly compelling. Not to mention it went a bit back-and-forth. One moment they were potentially trusting, the next cold and aloof, the next back to maybe trusting. And so on. As such, various milestones (for want of a better word) seemed to come out of nowhere, and didn’t hit emotionally like they might have. In all, I went in unconvinced of them, I came out just as unconvinced as before.

In comparison, I’ve always loved Phalue and Ranami. Here, though, they became very second-fiddle to Lin and Jovis’ storyline. I mean, they were already distinctly secondary protagonists in the first book, but they were even more so here. And, in all honesty, looking back, they had almost nothing to do in the whole book. Like, even less to do than the plot in general for the first 70%. Frankly, for me, this book could have done with more of them (and cutting its length down by about 100 pages, but that’s just my opinion).

This all said, however, I did overall like the book. It picked up towards the end and, as I said, I will be reading book three. I still enjoyed the characters as much as before (albeit with the occasional exception of Lin, who, at times, was really not very likeable, but in a frustrating way). The book was still good.

It just wasn’t great.

4.5 stars

The Bone Shard Emperor is the second installment in the Drowning Empire trilogy and is just as magical, adventurous and charming as the first. We continue to follow Lin and Jovis as the primary main characters on their journey to save the empire and discover more about their magical legacy. And of course the most important thing, Mephi is also back and better (and cuter) than ever.

After the events of the first book our characters are in various messes and I will talk about my thoughts on each character and their arc below:

<b>Lin</b>

After killing her father, Lin has to now take on the mantle of emperor - an inheritance riddled with mistrust, corruption and dark secrets. She must travel to various islands to try and gain their loyalty and assistance whilst dealing with a construct uprising, sinking islands and emerging magic. I really liked Lin's journey in this book - her turmoil in dealing with her fathers dark legacy and how she wants to be different and do her best for the empire but how she is sometimes reliant on dark magic and holding onto power in order to achieve her goals. I also liked the exploration of loneliness and how she has never really had a family and how this drives her actions. Additonally I liked seeing her relationship with Thrana, the gentle trust and building friendship was so cute.

<b>Jovis (and Mephi)</b>

Jovis is my favourite grumpy smuggler and while I wanted to bash is head into a wall quite a few times while reading this you still can't help but love him. He is now captain of the imperial guard and working for Lin, whilst also moonlighting as a spy for the shardless few. His loyalities are very torn in this book but I liked his journey of deciding who he wanted to be and what he stood for. Also Jovis and Mephi are an absolutely iconic pair - their friendship is so so cute and I love how Mephi acts as Jovis' moral compass. Mephi in this book has basically become a teenager and has gotten so cheeky and sassy in his older age haha. I'm a huge Mephi fan so everytime he was on page I had a massive grin on my face!!! I'm such a sucker for the talking animal companion trope!!

<b>Phalue/Ranami</b>

My favourite messy sapphics are back and this time in charge of an island lol. I really liked their chapters in this book and how they tied into the main plot. I think both their characters are really fun to follow and easy to love, so in my opinion are a great addition to the book. I also liked the storyline with Ayesh, any feral orphan who gets adopted by grumpy older characters (in this case Ranami) is one of my favourite tropes.

<b>Nisong</b>

Nisong (formally Sand) is essentially the villain of the book, but I think geting her POV allows you to have sympathy for her perspective and see that actually her fundametal goals aren't wrong it's just the way she goes about achieving them that is not so great.

I really enjoy Andrea Stewart's writing style, it's a great balance of descriptive and informative whilst still maintaining an element of whimsy and nostalgia. Although a lot of dark things are happening it's such a comforting writing style that feels very familiar and cosy. Additionally I feel this book was extremely well paced, I absolutely flew through it and was kept engaged the whole time - a lot of dramatic events were happening, both politically and action-wise, but it never felt overwhelming or like too much was trying to be packed into the pages.

The climax of the book is also extremely dramatic, emotionally tense and built up perfectly as various plot threads and emotional stakes culminate. I also thought the upping of the magical stakes at the end and going into book 3 was excellent, some of the reveals and betrayals were so juicy and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Learning more about the magic and the legacy of the Alanga in this book was one of my favourite things. I love the trope where magic is slowly coming back into the world and we are learning about it with our characters. I especially liked Lin grappling with her legacy of being both Sukai and Alanga - who have historically been enemies. Also the addition of lots more Ossalen (the creatures that Mephi is) was the cutest thing ever - Thrana is so majestic, Shark is going to be the best girlboss ever and my heart broke for Lozhi.

My only minor niggle with this book was the romance, and even then I'm still not sure if I liked it or not lol. I kind of went back and forth on it - some elements were cute but also I think it would have had more of an impact if they were just friends in this book with the potential for more slow burn in book 3.

Overall a fantastic sequel that in my opinion is even stronger than book 1 and you can clearly see the author has improved and grown more confident both with prose, storytelling and characterisation. Also the ending will leave you tearing your hair out waiting for book 3 - that was a very mean cliffhanger Ms Stewart T__T