The Bone Shard Daughter is an excellent book, but The Bone Shard Emperor took it to a new level of fantasy.
I love the characters, they're so well written, you have real feelings towards them, liking and joy as well as hatred and disgust. The stories are engaging, and we're learning more about the world which Lin's father created.

Jovis and Mephi will make you laugh.
Lin and Thrana will teach you lessons about trust.
Ranami and Phalue will show you strength of love.

Lin takes over the Empire, however no one seems to like her. She needs to fight for her position to convince people and governors to support her, at the same time trying to not get killed by the Shardless Few, and figure out how to win a war with constructs that keep being created by her enemy.

This book is full of action. It's one of those when you don't want to stop reading to see what happens next, and at the same time you want to stop reading, so it doesn't end too soon. I loved it, I was happy and I was hurt, I was worried (I still am!) and hopeful.

I honestly think that this series is one of the best released in the past years. I would love to see it on the big screen and I feel I'll keep going back to the theatre to watch it again and again.

It's extraordinary. Beautiful. Sensational.

Just buy it, trust me.

PS. Andrea, I'm going to keep worrying about my favourite character for months, it's torture! Could you release the next book like... next week?

The outstanding sequel to The Bone Shard Daughter is even more breathtakingly intense, the world-building more detailed and the action utterly magnificent! The combination of magic, mystery and rebellion delivers some of the most thrilling and action packed scenes I’ve read all year—a must read for epic fantasy lovers everywhere.

The Emperor is Dead. Long live the Emperor.

Lin Sukai finally sits upon the throne she won at great cost, but her struggles are only just beginning. Her people don’t trust her and her political alliances are weak. In the north a rebel army of constructs marches, it’s leader determined on taking the empire and Lin’s throne by force.

But an even greater threat is on the horizon, for the Alanga—power magicians from legend have returned. And Lin may just need their help to defeat the rebels and restore peace. The only question is, can she trust them?

I really enjoyed the first book in the Drowning Empire series and so I was so excited to dive straight into this one. And I’ve got to say the world-building is even more amazing, the dectriptions even more detailed. However, the mystery and secrets surrounding Lin’s past and her father do take a bit of a back seat here—with the lore and history of the Alanga taking Center stage, and personally, I kinda preferred it.

The Alanga are a mysterious (and oftentimes described as evil) group from the Empire’s legends but what Lin and Jovis uncover proves that legends (like all history) is written by the victors and not everything they’ve been taught to believe is true.

The characters are also more in depth and their complex motivations, emotions and machinations are even more intricately woven into the plot,with an amazing payoff at the end. The phenomenally intense slow burn romance that’s introduced was a bit of a surprise at first but, I did absolutely love it.

I also really enjoyed how Lin and Phalue navigated their new leadership roles;both the struggles and successes from two differing Points of View (one beloved by their people , the other viewed as untrustworthy.)

Ranami’s character arc was also pretty interesting, on trying to come to terms with her past experiences as a street orphan and how those experiences have shaped her— it was really intriguing and something I hadn’t thought about before.

But yet again, it’s Mephi who steals the entire show (and my heart) with his comically mischievous antics—he give off strong Rocket Raccoon vibes and I totally here for it.

Overall, this sweeping Epic Fantasy was an absolutely thrilling,emotional rollercoaster of a book and I’m definitely dreading the wait for the next instalment!

Also, a huge thank you to Orbit and NetGalley for the e-arc.

Is this sequel without flaws? Not exactly, yet I still found myself flying through The Bone Shard Emperor, bracing myself for the expected emotional blows to strike from start to finish - there wasn't a minute or sharply-enounced sentence that wasn't punctuated with an anxious sigh, a sucked-in breath because of the sheer stress of the experience, a blown mind or a splintered sensation of hyper-exerted sympathy on my part.

Many elements of the Drowning Empire's memorable world-building are embellished with purposeful precision in this second episode of the trilogy; Lin's family and falsified heritage now play second fiddle to the entwined provenance of the Alanga myths and the finer workings of bone shard magic, which are expanded upon scrupulously. We also get more of an insight into the Frankenstein-like engineered horrors hell-bent on getting even with Imperial and the woman at their helm, the freedom-fighting entourage of the Shardless Few and the mystery-painted background of their figurehead, and the insistent pressures for abdication by the governors of the scattered island-states who have grown weary of the Sukai hegemony and wish to emancipate.

Stewart manages multiple perspectives with startling prowess, a master of subtle suspense and subverting your predictions for where the story will take you and who your friends and enemies will show themselves to be. her protagonists possess animated and magnetic personas that evolve, wisen up and elevate their political stakes with time; it's this, paired with the transfixing turns of events (and Mephi and Thrana's presences, always a plus), that make this elaborately plotted series unputdownable.

I feel I have to slip in the admission that the mega slow-burn mutual pining surprised me (and seemed somewhat out of the blue, but perhaps I just missed the hints) but it worked so well that I wound up being its #1 supporter. There is so much hurt (and a bit of much-needed solace) in this book taken as a whole, and wedged between this so many small moments where Lin and Jovis get secretly fluttery over a word softly spoken or a worry sincerely expressed, no matter how often they get fired up in the heat of an argument or how many missteps they make as they fumble with one another's hearts. Though they get less page time that the main perspectives, Ranami and Phalue - finally married and pondering the adoption of a street urchin - still shine through as a stronger and more synchronized matched pair than in the preceding book, tackling the problems and mitigating the sacrifices that have to be made to bring the peace and security they have promised the people of Nephilanu, even as war encroaches onto their troubled shores.

All in all, The Bone Shard Emperor is a formidable second installment in an all-around fantastically enthralling fantasy series, and I'm already beyond psyched for the final one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit for kindly passing on this ARC! 💫

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