I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart Series: The Drowning Empire #1
Published by Orbit on September 8 2020
Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 448
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
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The nitty-gritty: Fascinating world building and interesting characters make The Bone Shard Daughter a solid debut fantasy.
Book hype can be a double edged sword. On one hand, it can call attention to a debut author who might not otherwise get noticed, but it also sets up high expectations for the reader. The Bone Shard Daughter is one of fall’s most hyped fantasy debuts, and I’m very glad I had the chance to read it. Does it deserve all the hype, though? I found this book to be both amazing and frustrating, which led to a somewhat mixed reaction overall, so hopefully I can break down some of my feelings in this review.
The story takes place in a world made of floating islands and follows the perspectives of three main characters. Lin lives on Imperial Island and is the daughter of the Emperor. She wants nothing more than to please her father, who is in the process of deciding who will succeed him as Emperor: Lin or Bayan, a boy who came to the palace and is under the tutelage of the Emperor. His successor must be skilled in practicing bone shard magic, which is used to create the constructs that protect the kingdom. Lin, unfortunately, cannot remember anything about her life except for the past five years, due to an illness that stole her memories. Her father refuses to teach her bone shard magic until those memories return, so Lin decides to take matters into her own hands and learn the magic on her own.
The next point of view is a smuggler named Jovis, who is desperately searching for his missing wife, a woman named Emahla who was kidnapped seven years before. Jovis has stolen a valuable cache of a substance called witstone which he intends to use as payment towards the boat he secured in order to search for Emahla. His only clue as to her whereabouts lies in the memory of a ship with blue sails that left Deerhead Island just when Emahla went missing. Meanwhile, Jovis has made a name for himself stealing children away from the Tithing Festival before they can have their bone shards removed for the Emperor, and now parents everywhere are asking him to save their children. But a catastrophe on the Island sends Jovis out to sea, where he rescues a small creature named Mephi.
Phalue is the governor’s daughter and she hopes to follow in his footsteps someday. She’s in love with a commoner named Ranami who is part of a resistance group called the Shardless Few. Phalue wants Ranami to marry her, but Ranami doesn’t agree with the governor’s policies and the way he treats his subjects, and so she’s turned down Phalue’s proposal. Their relationship is complicated by the fact that Ranami wants Phalue to join her in overthrowing her father.
Finally, there is a fourth character who appears only a handful of times. Sand lives on an island called Maila and as far as she knows, she’s always lived there with her friends Leaf, Coral, Grass, Shell and the others. She spends her days collecting mangoes from the trees, but one day she falls and injures herself and something in her memory is jogged. Bits of memory of another life are starting to intrude, and now Sand is wondering if maybe she came from somewhere else.
All four of these narratives eventually come together, or at least their relationships become clearer, and it was fun watching how Stewart connected the dots over time.
By far my favorite thing about The Bone Shard Daughter is the world building. Stewart has created a world made up of floating islands, islands that tend to move around on their own. In this first book, we only get a glimpse of the wider world, as the focus is mostly on Lin, Jovis and Phalue, but there’s so much potential for this intricate world and idea, and I hope Stewart delves a little deeper in the next book.
Of all the story lines, Lin’s was my favorite, since her story revolves around bone shard magic, which is very cool. In this society, children are forced to have a shard of bone removed from their skull, the idea being that the Emperor will eventually use that shard to power his magical constructs, Frankenstein-like creatures cobbled together out of bits of animals. The Emperor carves a magical command on the bone and inserts it into the construct, and the construct then obeys whatever he tells it to do. He keeps all these shards hidden away in secret, locked rooms in the palace, and uses them randomly as needed. The diabolical part of this is that you never know when the Emperor is going to use a particular shard, and once he does, that person eventually becomes sick and dies.
I also loved the palace, full of hundreds of locked rooms all relating to bone shard magic. When Lin does something to please her father, he gives her a key to a room, which leads her to some very interesting discoveries.
There are also several shocking reveals in the story, some I saw coming and some I didn’t. For obvious spoiler reasons I won’t talk about them, but I thought they added a lot to the plot.
But something kept me from completely loving this story like so many other reviewers. As with several recent reads that I’ve had issues with, there is a lot going on in this story, maybe too much. And often with too many story elements, the plot becomes confusing and fractured. I also had so many questions at the end of the book. I don’t mind a little mystery leading into the sequel, because that’s how you hook your readers and get them to come back for more. But Stewart left lots of cool ideas just dangling with very little explanation, and it frustrated me to no end. A few: How was Lin able to learn bone shard magic so quickly? Why is there a different key for each of the locked doors in the palace? Why are cloud junipers so important and what do they do? Who were the Alanga and what happened to them, and why is everyone afraid they’ll return? How exactly do you stick your hand through a construct’s flesh to insert or remove bone shards? (That is never explained and it drove me nuts!) Why is Mephi afraid of witstone? Why are the leftover Alanga artifacts on the island like statues and murals opening their eyes?? These may seem like insignificant details, but it drives me crazy when I get to the end of the book and there still aren’t any answers.
Overall I’m giving The Bone Shard Daughter four stars. I loved Stewart’s ideas and I see a lot of potential for the rest of the series. The pacing suffers a little in places, and I didn’t enjoy all the different character point of views as much as Lin’s, but I am very curious to see what happens next. And hopefully to get some answers to my burning questions!
Big thanks to the publisher for supplying a review copy.
Loved your review, Tammy. 🙂 I have seen everyone on blogosphere gushing about this book. Thanks for pointing the cons as well. I agree when there is so much going on, if all the questions are not answered, it can be very frustrating.
Debjani recently posted…Ravishment by James Walker – Review & Blog Tour
Thanks Debjani! There is a lot going on which made it a bit confusing. But I will definitely continue the series:-)
This book is everywhere lately, I’m usually a bit wary of very hyped-books, I don’t like to read them right away, I like to let the hype die down a bit. I think I will probably give it a try at some point but not now.
Also, it’s sounds like a lot of things are going on, it can be a good and bad point depending on the execution!
Maryam recently posted…Book Review: The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell | 2020 Arthur C. Clarke Shortlist #4
I think that’s smart. I also often shy away from hyped books. I’d rather read them before they become hyped books but that’s not always possible.
Good review. I understand your frustrations. Perhaps Stewart was overly ambitious in setting up the series. Still, it sounds like a fun read.
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…History of Her Future, a graphic novel review
It was ambitious, but mostly well done. I’m very curious to read the next book:-)
Great review! I am unsure whether I want to read the book or not – it does sound like it could be really cool or like it could annoy me a lot. I will probably wait until closer to the next book’s publication date. I am not good at waiting for answers!
Hannah recently posted…Mini-Reviews: Alpha Night by Nalini Singh and Catalina Baylor #1 and #2 by Ilona Andrews
Yeah, maybe wait for book two at least? Hopefully a lot of my questions will be answered:-)
Thank you for the detailed review. I love different PoVs coming together slowly, so I’m even more excited for this now, and knowing there’s a lot of complicated stuff I think I’ll save it for when I have time to binge so my very short memory can keep track of it all
I hope you love it, Dianthaa!
The questions left hanging are frustrating and yet so interesting. I will admit that the revolution stuff was a bit blah at times and I wanted to get back to Lin always. It is why it wasn’t a five star read. But the world is awesome and I want the next book.
x The Captain
Sounds like we agree pretty much! I really didn’t care for Phalue and Ranami’s story line, for some reason. It was hard for me to see them as a couple, they never got along!
Great review! Sounds like an interesting read.
It was, thanks Stormi:-)
Thank you for a very detailed, very in-depth review! I’ve had this title on my radar recently, and it’s good to know beforehand that there are some potential problems, so that I can contain both my expectations and my enthusiasm. Still, this sounds like a very fascinating world and I will do my best to get to it soon…
Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…SCIFI MONTH 2020: all aboard!
I’m curious to read more reviews. I do feel like the majority of readers really love it.
Wow, this sounds like a super epic book! The bone shard magic sounds really fascinating. It does sound, like you said, that there is a lot going on and maybe a little too much but even so your review made me excited to read it!
Stephanie @ Bookfever recently posted…Can’t-Wait Wednesday: Airman by Eoin Colfer
It’s definitely worth checking out! The world building is really cool:-)
I’m glad you mostly liked it! I’m going to read it soon, and I agree – some unanswered questions are great, but I prefer when first books can mostly stand alone (I’m… bad at reading sequels).
Great review!
Acqua recently posted…Review: Yellow Jessamine by Caitlin Starling
Thanks! I can’t wait for your review:-)
Hmm, that’s too bad about the uneven pacing but overall this sounds like an amazing start to a brand new series! I’ve been excited about this one, it’s been getting a lot of hype, so I hope I get a chance to check it out. Great review, Tammy!
There’s a ton of love out there for it, so I may be in the minority. I did love parts of it, but it just wasn’t a 5 star read for me.
I love the idea of floating islands! Thanks for sharing.
I do too, and I want to know more!!
Sounds like the series has some potential. As a debut I’d expect some issues, and even with those it warranted 4 stars. That’s awesome. I do sometimes wonder about the editing, though, when we see these sorts of issues. Could they have been caught and resolved if put through stronger editing? Or were they intentionally left in for some reason? Anyway, I enjoyed the review and this is a book I’l certainly consider reading.
I’m thinking maybe she’ll explain a lot of these things in the next book. It’s rare that I have this many questions when I finish a book, though.
This one just came in the mail and I’m planning to read it later this month, so I only read the intro and conclusion of your review – so happy to hear you enjoyed it though, I can’t wait to dive in myself!
I’m so curious to see what you think. I’m waiting for someone else to spot some of the issues I had so I don’t feel completely alone, lol.
I probably enjoyed this one slightly more than you but also at the same time agree with some of your queries at the end of the review. I think sometimes I make my own assumptions about things, which I definitely did with this one – sometimes I’m not able to make that leap though.
In terms fo the povs. How could I not like Lin – we share the same name! LOL. I also liked Jovis and his companion. I wasn’t quite as keen on the revolution but I did enjoy the way the storylines came together.
Lynn 😀
I liked Jovis too, and Mephi as well. Although I know I didn’t talk about Mephi in my review. There was something about his relationship with Jovis that held me back from completely loving him. It’s hard to explain. It almost felt as if the author had never had a pet so she didn’t really understand how the two should relate. I don’t know…
Sounds like there’s definitely some potential there. I’m glad to hear some of the cons from you though because so far I’ve only seen glowing reviews and I think I’d feel the same way about the few issues you had with it. The world building does sound incredible though.
I’m actually surprised I haven’t seen more “non gushing” reviews. I can’t be the only one who spotted issues…
I’ve got my eye on this series. The world sounds fascinating and I enjoy multiple POVs.
Laura Thomas recently posted…Misfits by Hunter Shea
The world is fascinating, and I’m dying to learn more about it.
The magic in this book sounds really fascinating… I’m gonna have to give it a go soon!
Felt much the same. Even with the hangups I still really liked it.
I am a bit late, but I was waiting to read your review! This book seems intriguing and the worldbuilding fascinating, but there are a ton of questions there!!! I hope to read it soon anyway but maybe I should lower a notch my expectations!