The Bone Shard Daughter: The Drowning Empire Book One

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Jovis has gone to Deerhead Island to search for his wife. While he’s there, Deerhead Island sinks, which is really shitty timing. He’s able to save a young boy, and a “kitten” who he names Mephi. The place Stewart excels the most is character development, and the fact that there are multiple characters with different relationships to the Phoenix Empire allows Stewart to explore the theme of empire from various angles. Phalue, who is complicit in enabling the Empire as the daughter of a governor, soul-searches about what power means and what her role in overseeing the people of Nephilanu Island truly is. Lin opposes her father’s vision of the Empire and sets out to reshape it according to her notions of governance, but her relationship with power and authority shifts as she discovers who she truly is. Jovis, who would love to ignore the Empire to pursue a personal goal, finds that he is inextricable from it and cannot pretend it doesn’t exist. Even Sand, who is on the outer limits of the Empire, finds that she is closer to the heart of the Empire than she thought. Through their journeys, each character comes to realize that alliances and group efforts are the way to challenge the Empire—a lesson that’s all too applicable to our world. The Bone Shard Emperor is a story set in a world which revels in the macabre, where a fight for survival and a hunt to uncover the truths of the past are done in hopes of building a better future. Stewart elevates her characters and world to new heights and leaves her readers with a heartstopping climax filled with war and chaos.

Liptak, Andrew (2021-02-16). "Here Are the Nominees for the 2021 Compton Crook Award". Tor.com . Retrieved 2022-04-05. The plot is split among the points of view of the various characters, winding from one to the next, and eventually connecting. The setting is an empire consisting of many floating islands upon the Endless Sea. Sand and co. manage to take the cove and the boat. It’s revealed that Sand is actually Nisong, the Emperor’s wife.Ranami: a commoner and freedom fighter at heart, she is now in a relationship with Phalue, and working to convince her of the inherent injustice of the hierarchical and exploitative social structure.

This brilliant fantasy debut has announced Andrea Stewart as quite possibly the best newcomer of the year’ Novel Notions Still told from five POV characters like in The Bone Shard Daughter, Stewart once again utilizes first-person and third-person narration to tell the story here. The first-person POV narration is used for Lin Sukai and Jovis' POV chapters; the third-person POV narration is used for Nisong, Phalue, and Ranami. Even though they are different styles, I still loved how seamless it felt to read. Out of the five main characters in The Bone Shard Emperor, we have the most story progression in Lin, Jovis, and Nisong's chapters. Do not get me wrong here. I still feel invested in Phalue and Ranami's chapters, but I did not feel they added too much importance to the main story. Not as I expected. That has been the case in the first book, and it's the same again here. Also, I must say I am not a fan of Ranami. It is understandable why she behaved the way she did in the book. And yes, she had a harsh past. But to boil it down to two words, she felt ridiculously self-righteous to me. To make things worse, every time Phalue or someone doesn't follow what she wants, she tantrums like an entitled spoiled brat. Philine from the Ioph Carn tries to capture Jovis but he’s super strong with some sort of power, and he’s able to escape on his boat.

A coward is not a man who feels fear. A coward is one who would volunteer others for the suffering he would not take on himself,” Phalue said. It all leads up to a huge battle that has ramifications for the third and final book, which, thankfully, I already have in my hands. Sand has embraced her role as the leader of the “escapees”. Her chapters were such a mystery in the previous book and I’m not going to ruin anything about those reveals here – but the way her chapters influence the rest of the MCs takes on a much stronger role in this instalment.