There are few things in this world that I enjoy more than a hot cup of tea and good book, one of them is a book so good that I completely forget about the tea…
Reader, let me present to you one of those books: The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart, killer of the cuppa, and one heck of a captivating read. If you like imaginative epic fantasy, multiple POVs with distinct perspectives and voices, and highly structured magic systems then this might just be the book for you.
Title: Bone Shard Daughter
Series: The Drowning Empire
Author: Andrea Stewart
Publisher: Orbit
Publication Date: September 8, 2020
Genre: Fantasy, Adult Fantasy, Epic Fantasy
Features: N/A
Synopsis
In an empire controlled by bone shard magic, Lin, the former heir to the emperor will fight to reclaim her magic and her place on the throne. The Bone Shard Daughter marks the debut of a major new voice in epic fantasy.
The emperor’s reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands.
Lin is the emperor’s daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.
Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright – and save her people.
My Review
This story is told through three different POVs, with each character occupying a different space in a highly stratified society – Lin is the Emperor’s daughter, and while she struggles against her father’s control and the secrets that he keeps she still occupies a position of immense privilege and must eventually come to terms with the inevitable consequences of her actions; Phalue is a governor’s daughter born to a comfortable life, but through her relationship to commoner and rebel she is able to reflect on the systems on oppression from which she has benefited and wield her privilege in a way that betters the lives of others; and finally, Jovis is smuggler who has always been having just enough so long as he had his love at his side, but when she goes missing his life falls into the hands of racketeering gang until a cataclysmic convergence of fate, chance, and a magical animal familiar set on him the path to becoming a people’s hero.
The three narratives, while balanced, aren’t presented in any systematic pattern or order and this fluidity of narrative allows for a natural ebb and flow to each character’s individual arc without ever easing up on the overall pacing of the book. For example, significant portions of Phalue’s character development take place while Jovis is away from the action at sea, or how Lin’s quest to uncover her memories and her father’s secrets are interspersed throughout the silences of Phalue and Ranami’s lover’s quarrels. The stories run parallel to one another for much of the book as the foundations for the series are set, but once they start to intertwine the already impeccable storytelling steps up to a whole new level. The final battles are entirely engaging, bringing neat resolutions to many of arcs that drove the plot for this instalment, each character is treated to cliff-hangers and realizations that will keep readers anxiously awaiting more.
The world building is both comprehensive and unique, with a fully flushed out political structure operating on fumes and a tenuous balance between magical constructs and fallible humans. This is further complicated by a system of corrupt officials grown entitled and lazy as a result of their greed, and the beginnings of a civil uprising slowly burning it’s way from one island to the next. Layered atop the highly relatable political instability is an ancient history that is equal parts mythology and living magic, and I have no doubts that the seeds planted in this first instalment will continue to grown and amaze as the trilogy progresses.
The same level of detail and intricacy invested into building the Empire is also extended to the bone shard magic system. The methods in which different animal parts can be combined to create creatures to serve a specific purpose are endless, as are the commands that can be etched on the bone shards that power them. The language of the commands is complicated and difficult to learn, reminiscent of block-based coding or MySQL implemented in such a way as to control the actions of intelligent beings. This mixture of magic programming and self determination presents significant barriers for Lin to overcome as conflicting commands can lead to disastrous results, but when done right will provide her with the tools with which to control the Empire.
The immense power behind construct creation is balanced out by the fact the constructs are powered by threads of actual human life, and will eventually lead to the death of those whose shards are in use. This provides ample opportunity for the subtle critique of imperialism, capitalism, abuse of power, and class stratified societies. But it never feels like a lesson, rather these issues are presented from the views of of our three main characters who all occupy different places in society, and the reader is left to draw their own conclusions.
If you’re looking for Asian inspired fantasy that is neither derivative nor damagingly stereotypical, then I can’t recommend this book highly enough. It presents a tactful and deliberate blend of the tropes and features that readers have come to crave in fantasy and presents them in new and exciting ways with originality as the main course and not as a side. It features a full cast of unique and diverse characters, a fully developed on-page f/f romance complete with genuine conflict and growth, and the subtle undertones of scathing societal critique leveraged at our contemporary world.
This title is listed as Epic Fantasy, but I’d happily leave it at Epic. Period.
About The Author
Andrea Stewart is the Chinese American daughter of immigrants, and was raised in a number of places across the United States. When her (admittedly ambitious) dreams of becoming a dragon slayer didn’t pan out, she instead turned to writing books. She now lives in sunny California.
Purchase Links:
Canada: https://amzn.to/2FHIQq1
Many thanks to Tracy Fenton at Compulsive Readers for inviting me to join this tour and providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.
MiniMac Reviews 