Ratings86
Average rating4.2
The Bone Shard Daughter is an unmissable debut from a major new voice in epic fantasy — a stunning tale of magic, mystery, and revolution in which the former heir to the emperor will fight to reclaim her power and her place on the throne.
"One of the best debut fantasy novels of the year." — BuzzFeed News
"An amazing start to a new trilogy." — Culturess
"It grabs you by the heart and the throat from the first pages and doesn't let go." — Sarah J. Maas
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 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.
Featured Prompt
2,708 booksWhen you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...
Featured Series
3 primary booksThe Drowning Empire is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2018 with contributions by Andrea Stewart.
Reviews with the most likes.
Thank you to Orbit Books for giving me a physical ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I highly recommend this book. The magic system is unique and the characters were well-written.
Read my full review on my blog:
https://theliterarybeerlingual.wordpress.com/2020/08/29/blog-tour-the-bone-shard-daughter/
hi the magic system in this? slaps (a bit gross, but slaps). reminded me of isaac asimov's three laws but even better and more nuanced in a clever way that weaves through the plotline. will need clarification on the ending because either miss andrea stewart is galaxy brain or i'm peanut brain
The Bone Shard Daughter is set in an archipelago ruled by a mad-scientist-like Emperor who sews together animal parts and animates his creations with bone shards powered by his subjects' life forces. This novel explores this world from the perspective of 5 different characters, who were my favorite part of this story even if I did find some of their viewpoints more engaging than others.
I most enjoyed reading about Jovis, a wanted smuggler, and Mephi, the adorable intelligent animal who chose to be his companion and brought out the best in him, but I also especially enjoyed the story of Lin, the Emperor's daughter. Lin has been trying to recover her memory for the last 5 years so she can win her father's love and approval and officially become his heir???but since that's not working, she starts stealing his keys to various rooms in the palace and learning his secrets herself.
The Bone Shard Daughter is a really fun book and a highlight of this year's reading with its compelling characters and fascinating magic, although I think I would have loved it more if it had slowed down a bit to deepen the character relationships and worldbuilding.
Full Review on My Website
Andrea Stewart's gothic fantasy tale of love, obsession and secrets is intriguing and delightful.
Andrea Stewart weaves a complex tale that keeps you guessing and turning the pages to uncover the secrets at the heart of the book just like the character, Lin, who is searching for the answers of the bone shard magic that her father wields and guards jealously.
The story centres around Lin, the daughter of the tyrant Emperor Shiyen who rules his house and his kingdom with cruelty and mistrust.
They live in the crumbling and oppressive castle that is as much a representation of the empire that they rule as it is the relationship that the Emperor has with his children.
The book has a distinct gothic feel to it when it tells the tale of Lin's life with her father, her brother and the soulless servants that surround her.
Her father is cruel and just as soulless as the servants, continuously fostering competition between Lin and her brother as they claw their way to be their way into their father's affections.
In as much as Lin and Bayan (Lin's foster brother) are the characters, Stewart also makes the environment that they are in as much a character as the people that reside in the castle. There is a palpable air of cloying oppressiveness that reminds me of Shirley Jackson's work.
However, the story regularly shifts points of view to other characters and the wider world outside of the castle in order to show the effects of the Emperor's rule and provide some world building and backdrop to the other protagonists of the story.
Jin is a smuggler who is obsessed with searching for the answers as to how his wife disappeared eight years ago. He is a man that has made bad choice after bad choice, getting himself embroiled with the shadowy underworld of the Ioph Carn, a crime organisation that rules with the same amount of fear as the Emperor on his search for his wife.
We meet Jin as he is following a lead for his missing wife when a disaster strikes one of the islands of this world.
Prior to the disaster, he agrees to smuggle a child to another island in order to save him from the horrific trials of the Tithing Festival, a terrifying ritual in which bones are chiselled from the heads of the islands children so that the Emperor can use their power to bring life to his twisted creations that populate the islands, carrying out the orders that the Emperor commands.
As disaster strikes he saves the life of the young boy and also rescues a strange cat like creature who is as much as a child as the one that he is carrying. The creature becomes part of his life and the boy that he saves names the creature Mephisolou which gets shortened to Mephi. However, things do not go as planned and the creature the he selfishly saves from death, so that he can stop the child he has saved from crying forms a strong bond with Jin. As the relationship grows between Jin and the strange creature, Mephi changes him in ways that he doesn't realise.
There are other characters in the book, Pahlue, the governor's daughter of one of the other islands of this strange world, and Sand. A mysterious occupant of another island whose importance at first is hidden, but becomes much more of a character as the book progresses.
I enjoyed this book immensely, devouring the story of Lin, Jin and Mephi and definitely cannot wait until the next installment of this story. Stewart has crafted a world full of mystery and intrigue that promises to get better and better.