Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

65 reviews

fennel's review

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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


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whatellisreadnext's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

๐˜๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ. ๐˜ ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ฉ๐˜ต. ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฏ'๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ด๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ณ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฅ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ด๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ.
๐˜Œ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฉ๐˜ญ๐˜ข, ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ. ๐˜ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ข ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ.

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 ๐Ÿ˜ญ

Thanks so much to Orbit Books for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review ๐Ÿงก

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bookishbutch's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

5.0


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in_love_with_bookish's review

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slow-paced

2.5


2.5 Stars

I wish I can say Iโ€™m disappointed with this book but that would be a lie since I didnโ€™t have any expectations high or low for this one. The cover was stunning and the synopsis was intriguing and I wanted some fantasy so I went for it.

We all tell ourselves stories of who we are, and in my mind, I was always the hero. But I wasnโ€™t. Not in all the ways I should have been


For me, This book is simply average. It wasnโ€™t the best thing ever but it wasnโ€™t the worst thing ever as well. I just read it, was surprised at times, felt bored and confused mostly, and didnโ€™t care for the characters and their individual arcs.

I think the book lacks in world-building. We donโ€™t get a lot of history or lore. In my opinion, the magic system wasnโ€™t explained in detail and I felt lost at times. I couldnโ€™t immerse myself in a world I didnโ€™t know enough about. The story feels dry and lacking. I had so many questions while reading, how the buildings look like or the clothes or the environment or even the food.

One foolish choice is like a rat you let go. It will spawn more consequences than you first thought possible


The story is told from different POVs and I felt disconnected from all characters but one. Also, the synopsis of the book is completely misleading and I really hate it when that happens. If I pick a book because it is a story of certain things, I really love those certain things to be there.

The first 70% was really rough for me and I struggled through it. The last 30% felt like an improvement and I felt myself become sucked in the story and started to care about what will or will not happen. The story had a mystery element to that and I had to admit it was done well. Also, the way certain characters came together was perfect and pushed the plot forward without being too convenient.

But I still had a problem with the tone of the story. The Bone Shard Daughter is epic fantasy but it doesnโ€™t feel that way at all. I admit there is a darkness to some of its elements but the characters who sometimes read really young have mature problems and issues But compared to some of the epic fantasy I read, This book doesnโ€™t even come close to capture the tone and the feel of that.

I would drink a thousand lies just to see your face again


Still, This book is worth the read if youโ€™re intrigued by unique magic systems and a multiple POVs story with individual intimate stories that feed into a larger narrative. It just didnโ€™t work out for me and honestly, thatโ€™s okay.

A person who canโ€™t see a future doesnโ€™t have a future



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sarahsthoughtsonbooks's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

4.75

What did I just read? I don't know how to describe most of the book.

Read the print and audio in tandem. The narrators did a great job. Andrea Stewart did a fabulous job with the world building.

The book has multiple POV, I want to say 5 different POVs, some of them are in first person, and some are in third person. 

Quick summary - 
The emperor requires a piece of bone shard to be extracted from all citizens of the country when they are eight years old at the tithing festival. 

He then acts like Dr. Frankenstein and creates different constructs that act like his spies and generals out of various animal pieces (his main spy construct is scary sounding, so much scarier than Frankenstein's monster)

LGBTQ relationships are accepted.

Cannot wait until the next book

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