The Bone Shard Daughter: The Drowning Empire Book One

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At the end of the book, I kinda see where their narrative is going, but in the end it's also not as important as Jovis' or Lin's. A fascinating world with characters who have deep foundations, and who will quickly capture readers' hearts . The Bone Shard Daughter begins with a spark of intrigue that ignites into a thrilling adventure you cannot miss - with a unique (and painful!

There is so much going on in The Bone Shard Daughter that it could’ve easily fallen apart into an incoherent mess, yet Stewart masterfully stiches together seemingly unrelated plot lines, worldbuilding threads, and thematic elements. This applies to both sides, it’s not only the poor who has troubles in their life, the wealthy one just faced a different kind of problem that can be equally deadly, and this balance is what made Stewart’s take on this conflict better than usual. They can look like animals, or, well, they can take any shape the creator wishes— they can EVEN take the shape of humans— or humanoid shapes even! Phalue, who had given up her philandering ways upon meeting Ranami, yearns only for Ranami to agree to marry her.She sneaks around the manor into rooms that she shouldn’t be in to try to learn things about constructs and catch up with Bayan. It also follows three other characters—Phalue, Ranami, and Sand—whose paths weave intricately with the others to create an overall compelling narrative. Epic fantasy at its most human and heartfelt, concerned with the real lives caught in the gears of empire and rebellion.

There is Lin, the daughter of the emperor, trying to figure out why she has no memories of her past and trying to learn everything about bone-shard magic without her father knowing. Along the way, the novel also brings up head-spinning ideas about power (how it can be a double-edged sword, something to be yearned for as well as distrusted) and identity and how our personal histories can both build us up and trap us, and leaves you with plenty to pore over long after you turn the last page. Anyway, read THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER if you want a new Asian-inspired high fantasy to become invested in, and don't mind a slightly less action-packed first book. And I have to note - this world is certainly very classist, but thankfully and refreshingly is lacking misogyny and homophobia which are so often a given even in imaginary fantasy worlds.It was unputdownable: I ached to know more about each intriguing whisper of a plot twist, and it simultaneously felt like a well-loved quilt being patched together and also a ball of yarn slowly unfurling to create a beautiful shape. Not all bone shard donors will power a construct, but those who do will have their life force drained and die early. Lin has forgotten how to work bone shard magic and she feels the absence of that knowledge within her like a hunger. Lin’s father asks her more questions about her past, and thankfully Lin had been reading her journal so she knows how to answer them. Lin is able to steal some simple books from the library to teach her the basics of building constructs.