Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Fantastic world building and fascinating magic system that reminds me of "coding" in locklands. I loved the otter-cat animal companion in this book too. Sometimes the pacing or the actions of the character felt a bit off but I'm excited to see the next book -it feels quite well planned and outlined which is something I love to see.
Note - this is a gender egalitarian fantasy, which is admittedly a very low bar but it's nice to see after I dropped several other books for failing this bar
Note - this is a gender egalitarian fantasy, which is admittedly a very low bar but it's nice to see after I dropped several other books for failing this bar
خلاصهای که شقایق واسم تعریف کرده بود باعث شده بود که خیلی زیاد از این کتاب خوشم بیاد (نخونده
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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:
No
adventurous
dark
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
4.5
This is a great introduction to a fantasy world because you’re dropped into the living/breathing world rather than weeding through world building info dumps before getting to the real plot (not that I mind some of that in my books too).
The reveals truly surprised me. When I did try to guess what was coming I wasn’t correct which was very enjoyable to experience.
I’m invested in all of these characters. I cannot wait to start the second book immediately.
This is a great introduction to a fantasy world because you’re dropped into the living/breathing world rather than weeding through world building info dumps before getting to the real plot (not that I mind some of that in my books too).
The reveals truly surprised me. When I did try to guess what was coming I wasn’t correct which was very enjoyable to experience.
I’m invested in all of these characters. I cannot wait to start the second book immediately.
adventurous
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:
Complicated
I thought I knew what I was expecting when I cracked the spine on The Bone Shard Daughter, but Andrea Stewart surprised me in more ways than one. The characters, the narrative structure, the thematic focus, the plot twists . . . so much of it played contrary to what I was expecting. Aside from the fact that it sometimes felt like a YA novel, especially with Lin's personality and status so often playing contrary to her age, I was delighted to discover what surprises lay in store next.
This is a story told from 5 POVs, which means we spend a lot of time wondering how/if those characters will come to interact. Those interactions were one of the surprises I appreciated so much, though, especially as we raced towards a climax, with a confrontation that, at the risk of hyperbole, changes everything. Lin and Jovis, as you can tell from their first-person POVs, are the heart of the novel. Lin is Emperor's Daughter, a young woman forced to compete with an adopted rival for her father's affections as well as his inheritance. Jovis, on the other hand, is a smuggler who just wants to find out what happened to his wife, a woman stolen away in the night by a mysterious boatman, but who increasingly gets drawn into matters of import, accompanied by an adorable magical creature named Mephi, who has surprises of his own.
Secondary to Lin and Jovis are Phalue and Ranami, two young women from another island who find their affections for one another often competing with their ambitions for the empire. I thought Stewart did a spectacular job of portraying their dynamic, giving us moments of tenderness and intimacy, but always within the context of being manipulated politically. Finally, we have Sand, a woman seemingly trapped on another island, with no memory of how or why she came to be there. Even though she gets the lowest page count, she becomes increasingly more interesting and important as the book goes on, forcing me to discard one guess after another as to who she might be.
Beneath all of that - or, rather, holding it all together - is the concept of bone magic, and that's what makes this debut stand up. It seems like such a simple thing at first, being forced to sacrifice a small shard of bone from behind your ear to help the Emperor protect the empire from the legendary Alanga, but the more we learn about that magic, about how it's used and what its use does to the donors, the creepier and more monstrously magnificent it gets. If the revelations of the final few chapters are anything to go by, I suspect this book has only scratched the surface of bone magic potential.
As for reservations or concerns, I only have a few, and they're all things I expect to be dealt with in subsequent volumes. We never really find out who or what the Alanga are, or why they're so feared; we never find out why an island sinks into the sea; and I didn't feel as if we got a good picture of how all the islands are connected in terms of politics.
The Bone Shard Daughter is an easy, comfortable read, one that flows well and lends itself to late-night binges through chapters, but its greatest strength is that it sticks with you, forcing you to turn it over and over in your mind, realizing it's deeper and more complex than it appeared on the page.
https://sallybend.wordpress.com/2021/09/02/book-review-the-bone-shard-daughter-by-andrea-stewart-fantasy/
This is a story told from 5 POVs, which means we spend a lot of time wondering how/if those characters will come to interact. Those interactions were one of the surprises I appreciated so much, though, especially as we raced towards a climax, with a confrontation that, at the risk of hyperbole, changes everything. Lin and Jovis, as you can tell from their first-person POVs, are the heart of the novel. Lin is Emperor's Daughter, a young woman forced to compete with an adopted rival for her father's affections as well as his inheritance. Jovis, on the other hand, is a smuggler who just wants to find out what happened to his wife, a woman stolen away in the night by a mysterious boatman, but who increasingly gets drawn into matters of import, accompanied by an adorable magical creature named Mephi, who has surprises of his own.
Secondary to Lin and Jovis are Phalue and Ranami, two young women from another island who find their affections for one another often competing with their ambitions for the empire. I thought Stewart did a spectacular job of portraying their dynamic, giving us moments of tenderness and intimacy, but always within the context of being manipulated politically. Finally, we have Sand, a woman seemingly trapped on another island, with no memory of how or why she came to be there. Even though she gets the lowest page count, she becomes increasingly more interesting and important as the book goes on, forcing me to discard one guess after another as to who she might be.
Beneath all of that - or, rather, holding it all together - is the concept of bone magic, and that's what makes this debut stand up. It seems like such a simple thing at first, being forced to sacrifice a small shard of bone from behind your ear to help the Emperor protect the empire from the legendary Alanga, but the more we learn about that magic, about how it's used and what its use does to the donors, the creepier and more monstrously magnificent it gets. If the revelations of the final few chapters are anything to go by, I suspect this book has only scratched the surface of bone magic potential.
As for reservations or concerns, I only have a few, and they're all things I expect to be dealt with in subsequent volumes. We never really find out who or what the Alanga are, or why they're so feared; we never find out why an island sinks into the sea; and I didn't feel as if we got a good picture of how all the islands are connected in terms of politics.
The Bone Shard Daughter is an easy, comfortable read, one that flows well and lends itself to late-night binges through chapters, but its greatest strength is that it sticks with you, forcing you to turn it over and over in your mind, realizing it's deeper and more complex than it appeared on the page.
https://sallybend.wordpress.com/2021/09/02/book-review-the-bone-shard-daughter-by-andrea-stewart-fantasy/
Great read - really cool fantasy world with depth, good characters, and doggo analogues
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-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:
Yes
A strong debut. Stewart weaves a complex world and knots it off with a unique magic system a-la Sanderson. Where the book falls short are the characters.
Jovis is a man of deep grief beneath his veneer of sarcasm and joviality; he's meant to be the unwitting and unwilling people's hero, someone the reader should have no issues rooting for. And that's true. While I had no problems liking Jovis, I had a hard time loving him. Unfortunately, this was the case for the majority of the cast in The Bone Shard Daughter. Phalue and Ranami's ying-yang realities were interesting intellectually, but bland emotionally. By the end of the book, I was bored of their romance and idealistic philosophies.
The only one I felt truly connected to was Lin. The twist in her story didn't really come as a surprise, but it was satisfying nonetheless. I liked her tenacity, her ruthlessness and desperation, and her complex relationship with Bayan. By the end, she felt the most fleshed out and deep, possessed of a will that would kill to survive. Naturally, she was my favourite.
The plot was sensible and the pacing rapid. The short chapters and alternating POVs kept things clipping along, which made for a light and speedy read. Characters seemed to overcome physical altercations with relative ease (especially you, Lin), but it wasn't egregious and therefore easily forgiven. Imo, the writing style was a bit stark and not enough distinction was given to each unique character voice. If not for the physical distance separating the protagonists, I could have very easily confused POVs.
Still, Stewart has written a very solid debut in The Bone Shard Daughter, and I will definitely be continuing to see Lin's reign as Emperor.
Jovis is a man of deep grief beneath his veneer of sarcasm and joviality; he's meant to be the unwitting and unwilling people's hero, someone the reader should have no issues rooting for. And that's true. While I had no problems liking Jovis, I had a hard time loving him. Unfortunately, this was the case for the majority of the cast in The Bone Shard Daughter. Phalue and Ranami's ying-yang realities were interesting intellectually, but bland emotionally. By the end of the book, I was bored of their romance and idealistic philosophies.
The only one I felt truly connected to was Lin. The twist in her story didn't really come as a surprise, but it was satisfying nonetheless. I liked her tenacity, her ruthlessness and desperation, and her complex relationship with Bayan. By the end, she felt the most fleshed out and deep, possessed of a will that would kill to survive. Naturally, she was my favourite.
The plot was sensible and the pacing rapid. The short chapters and alternating POVs kept things clipping along, which made for a light and speedy read. Characters seemed to overcome physical altercations with relative ease (especially you, Lin), but it wasn't egregious and therefore easily forgiven. Imo, the writing style was a bit stark and not enough distinction was given to each unique character voice. If not for the physical distance separating the protagonists, I could have very easily confused POVs.
Still, Stewart has written a very solid debut in The Bone Shard Daughter, and I will definitely be continuing to see Lin's reign as Emperor.