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A review by honnari_hannya
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
4.0
An interesting and solid debut from an author I will definitely keep my eye on in the future! This book had a lot of really fascinating concepts, and while the execution didn't work entirely for me, I still thought it was a good read that went by a lot quicker than I was expecting for a novel of this size. For fans of epic fantasies a la Ken Liu, R.F. Kuang, and Samantha Shannon (specifically THE PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE).
Lin is the emperor's daughter, but not necessarily his heir. Five years ago, she was struck by a sickness that wiped out her and her foster brother's memories. Now they compete for their father's attention, in order to learn the mysterious bone shard magic that keeps the empire safe—and its people in fear.
Jovis is a smuggler who is seeking a boat with blue sails, which is said to follow in the wake of disappearances all over the empire. Phalue is a governor's daughter who is now, for the first time, asked to reconsider her complacency in the suffering of her own people by her lover, Ranami. And Sand is a mysterious woman with more questions than memories.
These are the various POV characters that appear in THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER, all of which had really interesting points to them. One of the biggest struggles with juggling multiple POVs in the way Stewart did is that some characters often feel superfluous, or boring, but she handled the various narratives deftly until they all (inevitably) began to connect with one another. She has a really good handle on her characters' voices and circumstances, and each of them had interesting motives that drove the book towards its propulsive conclusion.
The magic system was also terrific and unique. Sometimes when books go for the "dark" or "forbidden" magic angle, I always find them a bit lackluster in both the consequences of usage and what the magic actually does. Not so in this novel. It was appropriately and deliciously grim, and a little gross (in the best body horror kind of way).
If you're looking for a series with an epic scope, interesting morally grey-aligned characters, casual queerness, and meticulous plotting—this just might be for you.
There are two things that didn't work for me personally that others might not have issue with. One is the switch between first person and third person throughout—not sure what that was trying to accomplish that sticking to one or the other would not have done just as effectively. Another is that the world itself was a little opaque. Stewart wrote action scenes fairly well, but I didn't really have a clear sense of place as I was reading. I wish we could have spent a little more time elaborating on the actual aesthetics, structures, and culture that rose up around this this empire and its dark magical roots. Hopefully we'll get more in book 2!
Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for providing a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Lin is the emperor's daughter, but not necessarily his heir. Five years ago, she was struck by a sickness that wiped out her and her foster brother's memories. Now they compete for their father's attention, in order to learn the mysterious bone shard magic that keeps the empire safe—and its people in fear.
Jovis is a smuggler who is seeking a boat with blue sails, which is said to follow in the wake of disappearances all over the empire. Phalue is a governor's daughter who is now, for the first time, asked to reconsider her complacency in the suffering of her own people by her lover, Ranami. And Sand is a mysterious woman with more questions than memories.
These are the various POV characters that appear in THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER, all of which had really interesting points to them. One of the biggest struggles with juggling multiple POVs in the way Stewart did is that some characters often feel superfluous, or boring, but she handled the various narratives deftly until they all (inevitably) began to connect with one another. She has a really good handle on her characters' voices and circumstances, and each of them had interesting motives that drove the book towards its propulsive conclusion.
The magic system was also terrific and unique. Sometimes when books go for the "dark" or "forbidden" magic angle, I always find them a bit lackluster in both the consequences of usage and what the magic actually does. Not so in this novel. It was appropriately and deliciously grim, and a little gross (in the best body horror kind of way).
If you're looking for a series with an epic scope, interesting morally grey-aligned characters, casual queerness, and meticulous plotting—this just might be for you.
There are two things that didn't work for me personally that others might not have issue with. One is the switch between first person and third person throughout—not sure what that was trying to accomplish that sticking to one or the other would not have done just as effectively. Another is that the world itself was a little opaque. Stewart wrote action scenes fairly well, but I didn't really have a clear sense of place as I was reading. I wish we could have spent a little more time elaborating on the actual aesthetics, structures, and culture that rose up around this this empire and its dark magical roots. Hopefully we'll get more in book 2!
Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for providing a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.