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A review by viselik
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
The book definitely has some interesting plots and themes, and I felt the plot twists made sense and were well done. I managed to figure out a few of them before they were revealed, so those felt good to experience. I like how the 'magic' system is explained for the most part and the culture of this world with the Tithing festivals and bone shard magic (even if I am curious why it's only bones from the skull, but I may have accidentally missed that part while reading).
The characters were all very interesting to me except maybe one or two, even if I felt that five main POV characters were a bit too much. I would have personally preferred having either Phalue or Ramani not having POV chapters, as I felt they just took up space that could have been better used elsewhere. Having them be in a relationship is definitely interesting. Still, it just made me really dislike Ramani as a character due to how she treats Phalue. I just did not see any connection between them from Ramani's POV chapters. Sand, I just was not interested in, they brought interesting concepts but they felt a bit disjointed with the rest of the book, even more so with the ending of their arc.
This book definitely holds up as a standalone (excluding some minor things). I always prefer a book in a series that can be enjoyed just as a standalone and not have to rely on the other books in the series to have a complete plot.
The characters were all very interesting to me except maybe one or two, even if I felt that five main POV characters were a bit too much. I would have personally preferred having either Phalue or Ramani not having POV chapters, as I felt they just took up space that could have been better used elsewhere. Having them be in a relationship is definitely interesting. Still, it just made me really dislike Ramani as a character due to how she treats Phalue. I just did not see any connection between them from Ramani's POV chapters. Sand, I just was not interested in, they brought interesting concepts but they felt a bit disjointed with the rest of the book, even more so with the ending of their arc.
This book definitely holds up as a standalone (excluding some minor things). I always prefer a book in a series that can be enjoyed just as a standalone and not have to rely on the other books in the series to have a complete plot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and War
Humans melting