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entazis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I listened to this in a few days, having so much fun. This world is fascinating, the concept of migrating islands and the way bone shard magic and constructs are explained giving us some terrifying images and situations. This is not a horror novel, but I will say that I find the constructs unnerving. If you've read T. Kingfisher's The Twisted Ones it's like whole bunch of effigies just used in everyday life as servants of the empire.
The story explores the ideas of free will, identity and agency. It also talks about corrupt governments and revolutions. Of loneliness and grief. It plays with old tropes (the smuggler, the missing wife, the mad scientist who is also a tyrant, the princess in the tower) and gives us something new which I specifically liked. And while I guessed something important from the beginning, the way character came to the answers was fun, giving us important worldbuilding blocks, and there was still something that managed to surprise me.
All in all, a lot of fun with a weird world where constructs of dead animal bodies walk around governing people.
The story explores the ideas of free will, identity and agency. It also talks about corrupt governments and revolutions. Of loneliness and grief. It plays with old tropes (the smuggler, the missing wife, the mad scientist who is also a tyrant, the princess in the tower) and gives us something new which I specifically liked. And while I guessed something important from the beginning, the way character came to the answers was fun, giving us important worldbuilding blocks, and there was still something that managed to surprise me.
All in all, a lot of fun with a weird world where constructs of dead animal bodies walk around governing people.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, and Violence
Moderate: Gore and Grief
fennel's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty, Gore, and Racism
whatellisreadnext's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
๐๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ. ๐ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต. ๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, ๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ธ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ.
๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ.
The Emperor utilises bone shard magic, to power the animal like constructs, that help maintain law and order throughout the kingdom. His daughter Lin, is sneaking around trying to harness this magic that he keeps from her, whilst also trying to recover the memories she has lost, but just how far is she willing to go to save her people?
I can't believe this book is a debut, I loved every single second of being swept up in this vast and fascinating world. Andrea Stewart effortlessly grabbed my attention right from the off, after two chapters, I could not put The Bone Shard Daughter down.
From the blurb, I thought this story would have one main protagonist, but it actually has 4. Don't let that put you off, Stewart did a fantastic job of utilising these perspectives, giving us all the right information when we needed it. Plus I found myself binging chapter after chapter, wanting to find out what was happening with each of them.
My favourite character by far was Jovis, who is joined on his journey by a cat/otter creature called Mephi. They had a real Mando and Baby Yoda thing going on. It was SO CUTE. Mephi is a sweet baby angel and I love him so much. Jovis in my eyes, had some of the best lines in the whole book.
I could literally talk about this book all day. If you loved N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy, or After the Flood by Kassandra Montag, I can guarantee you will love this book. Now, excuse me whilst I go and sulk until book two hits the shelves late next year ๐ญ
Thanks so much to Orbit Books for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review ๐งก
๐๐ฎ๐ข๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ. ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ข ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ.
The Emperor utilises bone shard magic, to power the animal like constructs, that help maintain law and order throughout the kingdom. His daughter Lin, is sneaking around trying to harness this magic that he keeps from her, whilst also trying to recover the memories she has lost, but just how far is she willing to go to save her people?
I can't believe this book is a debut, I loved every single second of being swept up in this vast and fascinating world. Andrea Stewart effortlessly grabbed my attention right from the off, after two chapters, I could not put The Bone Shard Daughter down.
From the blurb, I thought this story would have one main protagonist, but it actually has 4. Don't let that put you off, Stewart did a fantastic job of utilising these perspectives, giving us all the right information when we needed it. Plus I found myself binging chapter after chapter, wanting to find out what was happening with each of them.
My favourite character by far was Jovis, who is joined on his journey by a cat/otter creature called Mephi. They had a real Mando and Baby Yoda thing going on. It was SO CUTE. Mephi is a sweet baby angel and I love him so much. Jovis in my eyes, had some of the best lines in the whole book.
I could literally talk about this book all day. If you loved N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy, or After the Flood by Kassandra Montag, I can guarantee you will love this book. Now, excuse me whilst I go and sulk until book two hits the shelves late next year ๐ญ
Thanks so much to Orbit Books for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review ๐งก
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, and Grief
bookishbutch's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Grief
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Child death
Minor: Confinement, Drug use, Torture, and Medical trauma
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