The Bone Shard Daughter: The Drowning Empire Book One

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I think this book sets a great foundation for the sequel to expand on, especially with the worldbuliding. Given my interest in Asian-themed fantasy, it came as a surprise that I didn’t hear about Andrea Stewart’s debut novel, The Bone Shard Daughter, until about a week before it launched to a parade of glowing critical reviews. I always try to find the positive things in books and there is usually something that stands out in every book and in this one, I thought it is how easy going into it was! all of the characters start off the story in very unique roles and positions that it was so satisfying watching them come together. Little by little, he’d become more than just an animal, but a companion he couldn’t see himself being parted from.

The Emperor is the only one who can control his creations (except for his step son who he is training in bone shard magic . The characters have a chapter each, and within their chapters their lives sometimes overlap, forming a complicated composite of friends and foes, but their backgrounds, their experiences, their motivations, and choices could not be more different. Not only all of the main characters came from a different background, but all of them were also carefully developed and characterized throughout this novel that’s infused with splendid pacing.Lin is the Emperor’s daughter, but a mysterious illness has stolen her childhood memories and her status as heir to the empire. This book is told in multiple points of views—Lin and Jovis in first person, and the others in third.

Andrea Stewart is the daughter of immigrants, and was raised in a number of places across the United States. Every inhabitant of this empire gets a bone shard taken from them as a child, which is then used to power the hybrid animal-esque bone constructs that serve under the emperor. The plot, the magic, the characters, the beasts; all of it is just so well throughout, written, and intricately put together. Lin’s chapters are full of intrigue and espionage and honestly, even though I guessed some of the plot twists before they were revealed, some of them took me completely by surprise. Originality has been such a need in the fantasy genre lately, and this book is every bit an original.Favourite character has to be Lin, and her gradual realisation that she's not what she seems, and the dark, regal though neglected environment she inhabits dovetails seamlessly with the theme of the book. I'll confess that at first I was like ' I came here to read about the daughter of the emperor who makes strange bone constructs, not another male smuggler smh' . The Bone Shard Daughter was nominated for Goodreads Choice Awards for Fantasy [7] and for Debut Novel (2020), [8] [9] the 2021 Compton Crook Award, [10] and for a BookNest Award for Best Traditionally Published Novel (2020). Trapped in a palace of locked doors and old secrets, Lin vows to reclaim her birthright by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.