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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Incredibly original and exciting plot/story. The build of the mystery kept me intrigued and by the last few chapters, on the edge of my seat. Loved the description of magic and how the characters interacted with it. Also, this story was a beautiful telling of how humans can use their weaknesses to come together and resist oppression, all in the name of a better world.
The story was good, a really interesting concept with good plot points. But omg it was so poorly written, especially the first half was just awful. “Show not tell” is some advice I don’t think the author has ever heard. The writing in the second half got (marginally) better. I’m not sure if this improvement will continue in the rest of this series…
I would like to keep reading for the story (genuinely so interesting) but I don’t know if I can force myself to keep reading this basic, bad writing.
I would like to keep reading for the story (genuinely so interesting) but I don’t know if I can force myself to keep reading this basic, bad writing.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Death of parent, Classism
Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Bone Shard Daughter was such a surprise and in the best possible way. I'd had an idea of what this series was about and didn't think I was interested, but then I got a pristine copy of book 2 at a book swap and decided to embark on the series for AAPI heritage month and, y'all! I cannot believe I thought this wasn't up my alley. This book IS my alley!
The story starts with Lin. In first person. She is our titular daughter. I thought that was it as far as plotlines go, but then... surprise! We have another main character, Jovis, who also gets first person POV. And tbh, I was far more invested in Jovis (and his mysterious animal companion, Mephi) than Lin for the first half of the book. We also have three other POVs: Phalue, the daughter of an island governor, and Ramani, her lover who has "radical" political beliefs, as well as Sand who is a mystery until she's not.
The pacing of this book felt so fast to me. The chapters aren't long, and we switch POVs between each, and so I was constantly like "wait one more chapter!" And I was hooked by the characters and, even more than that, the MYSTERIES. The questions! My speculations and theories! My mind was absolutely spinning the entire time, trying to figure it out before the reveals. I would say this book is actually quite light on plot, but it more than makes up for it in mystery, if that's your jam (it's mine!).
My only detractions on this are 1) I didn't like that it was in first person. 1st person will also read more YA to me, and so that was a little hard to reconcile. (But only Lin and Jovis are 1st; the other POVs are third person). And 2) I felt like we needed a little more description here or there. There are certain mystery elements that I think I'd have put together more definitively if we'd had more descriptions of like... clothing, or interiors, or other characters.Like when Sand has a vision of a man in blue silk robes, I poured over the book trying to find proof the emperor wore blue robes, but I swear there was not a single instance where his clothing was described.
But these are little nitpicky things. On the whole, I had a blast speculating wildly throughout and I am excited to continue on in the series and see what happens next.
And real quick, here are some books that I think fans of The Bone Shard Daughter would like, and vice versa:
+The Priory of the Orange Tree
+The Will of the Many
+Foundryside
5 stars on goodreads, 4.5 stars on storygraph.
The story starts with Lin. In first person. She is our titular daughter. I thought that was it as far as plotlines go, but then... surprise! We have another main character, Jovis, who also gets first person POV. And tbh, I was far more invested in Jovis (and his mysterious animal companion, Mephi) than Lin for the first half of the book. We also have three other POVs: Phalue, the daughter of an island governor, and Ramani, her lover who has "radical" political beliefs, as well as Sand who is a mystery until she's not.
The pacing of this book felt so fast to me. The chapters aren't long, and we switch POVs between each, and so I was constantly like "wait one more chapter!" And I was hooked by the characters and, even more than that, the MYSTERIES. The questions! My speculations and theories! My mind was absolutely spinning the entire time, trying to figure it out before the reveals. I would say this book is actually quite light on plot, but it more than makes up for it in mystery, if that's your jam (it's mine!).
My only detractions on this are 1) I didn't like that it was in first person. 1st person will also read more YA to me, and so that was a little hard to reconcile. (But only Lin and Jovis are 1st; the other POVs are third person). And 2) I felt like we needed a little more description here or there. There are certain mystery elements that I think I'd have put together more definitively if we'd had more descriptions of like... clothing, or interiors, or other characters.
But these are little nitpicky things. On the whole, I had a blast speculating wildly throughout and I am excited to continue on in the series and see what happens next.
And real quick, here are some books that I think fans of The Bone Shard Daughter would like, and vice versa:
+The Priory of the Orange Tree
+The Will of the Many
+Foundryside
5 stars on goodreads, 4.5 stars on storygraph.
4.5 maybe? Just can't quite do five. It was fantastic, but I found it a little difficult to get into. I like multiple pov books with alternating chapters like this, but I feel like it messed up the pace in the beginning. It was like almost every chapter ended on a cliffhanger but for the first half of the book the next chapter wouldn't pick back up on the edge of the cliff we last left off but instead would start "the next day..." or something to that effect after whatever action may have taken place and it bothered me. But then the 2nd half of the book everything kind of started happening at once and the pace picked up and it was very good. Also it's an incredibly creative and original story. Very well done, I just had some issues with pacing in the first half. But I really liked it a lot and I'm excited to read the next one.
This book was so good in so many ways. Jovis and Meffy were easily the best characters and watching them grow was so sweet.
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced