The Bone Shard Daughter

Andrea Stewart's gothic fantasy tale of love, obsession and secrets is intriguing and delightful.

Andrea Stewart weaves a complex tale that keeps you guessing and turning the pages to uncover the secrets at the heart of the book just like the character, Lin, who is searching for the answers of the bone shard magic that her father wields and guards jealously.

The story centres around Lin, the daughter of the tyrant Emperor Shiyen who rules his house and his kingdom with cruelty and mistrust.
They live in the crumbling and oppressive castle that is as much a representation of the empire that they rule as it is the relationship that the Emperor has with his children.

The book has a distinct gothic feel to it when it tells the tale of Lin's life with her father, her brother and the soulless servants that surround her.

Her father is cruel and just as soulless as the servants, continuously fostering competition between Lin and her brother as they claw their way to be their way into their father's affections.

In as much as Lin and Bayan (Lin's foster brother) are the characters, Stewart also makes the environment that they are in as much a character as the people that reside in the castle. There is a palpable air of cloying oppressiveness that reminds me of Shirley Jackson's work.

However, the story regularly shifts points of view to other characters and the wider world outside of the castle in order to show the effects of the Emperor's rule and provide some world building and backdrop to the other protagonists of the story.

Jin is a smuggler who is obsessed with searching for the answers as to how his wife disappeared eight years ago. He is a man that has made bad choice after bad choice, getting himself embroiled with the shadowy underworld of the Ioph Carn, a crime organisation that rules with the same amount of fear as the Emperor on his search for his wife.

We meet Jin as he is following a lead for his missing wife when a disaster strikes one of the islands of this world.

Prior to the disaster, he agrees to smuggle a child to another island in order to save him from the horrific trials of the Tithing Festival, a terrifying ritual in which bones are chiselled from the heads of the islands children so that the Emperor can use their power to bring life to his twisted creations that populate the islands, carrying out the orders that the Emperor commands.

As disaster strikes he saves the life of the young boy and also rescues a strange cat like creature who is as much as a child as the one that he is carrying. The creature becomes part of his life and the boy that he saves names the creature Mephisolou which gets shortened to Mephi. However, things do not go as planned and the creature the he selfishly saves from death, so that he can stop the child he has saved from crying forms a strong bond with Jin. As the relationship grows between Jin and the strange creature, Mephi changes him in ways that he doesn't realise.

There are other characters in the book, Pahlue, the governor's daughter of one of the other islands of this strange world, and Sand. A mysterious occupant of another island whose importance at first is hidden, but becomes much more of a character as the book progresses.

I enjoyed this book immensely, devouring the story of Lin, Jin and Mephi and definitely cannot wait until the next installment of this story. Stewart has crafted a world full of mystery and intrigue that promises to get better and better.

Thank you to Orbit Books for giving me a physical ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I highly recommend this book. The magic system is unique and the characters were well-written.
Read my full review on my blog:
https://theliterarybeerlingual.wordpress.com/2020/08/29/blog-tour-the-bone-shard-daughter/

The Bone Shard Daughter is set in an archipelago ruled by a mad-scientist-like Emperor who sews together animal parts and animates his creations with bone shards powered by his subjects' life forces. This novel explores this world from the perspective of 5 different characters, who were my favorite part of this story even if I did find some of their viewpoints more engaging than others.

I most enjoyed reading about Jovis, a wanted smuggler, and Mephi, the adorable intelligent animal who chose to be his companion and brought out the best in him, but I also especially enjoyed the story of Lin, the Emperor's daughter. Lin has been trying to recover her memory for the last 5 years so she can win her father's love and approval and officially become his heir???but since that's not working, she starts stealing his keys to various rooms in the palace and learning his secrets herself.

The Bone Shard Daughter is a really fun book and a highlight of this year's reading with its compelling characters and fascinating magic, although I think I would have loved it more if it had slowed down a bit to deepen the character relationships and worldbuilding.

Full Review on My Website

I'm again late in reading this book despite having an advance copy but I just couldn't make myself pick it up earlier. But I have been quite excited about it for a while now and I have to say, it lived up to all my expectations.

I don't think I have been a fan of island/sea navigation based stories before but I've happened to read quite a few of them this year and they've all been a lot of fun. This world is even more fascinating because it's made up of floating islands and I've never seen that before. I loved how the author gave us enough information about how the empire and the governorships run across all the islands, but the writing is so cleverly done that we never get bogged down in details. We get to see the perspectives of both people in power with privilege, as well as the common people whose lives are much worse.

While the politics of the world itself was so interesting to read, it's the titular “Bone Shard” magic thats the best part of this book. As everyone who reads my blog knows, Foundryside is one of my favorite fantasy novels and I always call the scriving magic in it one of the best ever. And there were quite a bit of similarities between the two, but this book took the concept of etching commands on objects to make them obey you to a whole another level and I was instantly captivated. It still has enough resemblance to database management and sql scripting, so that was an absolute joy to read. I would recommend both this book and Foundryside just for the sake of their magic systems, because I've come to realize that I love this kind of concept which is so familiar to me.

There are quite a few reviews out there where the readers were surprised to see multiple POVs in the book because the blurb gives an entirely different impression, and I feel that's a disservice to this amazing debut. But like always, I went in knowing this information, so I wasn't jarred and really enjoyed getting to know so many different characters. I also decided to listen to the audiobook despite having the eARC because listening seems to be working for me during this pandemic, and the multiple narrators blew me away with their storytelling styles. The pacing may seem a bit slow but the buildup of the story is excellent, and the author takes us on a journey that gets exciting through every chapter. The way that all the multiple storylines converge is also done masterfully, with some excellent foreshadowing as well as misdirection, and I was thrilled when the twists and reveals happened.

Not all of the characters get the same page time, but we quickly come to like each one of them on their own merits and what they bring to the overall story - but Lin and Jovis can be considered the main driving forces in this debut. Lin is the Emperor's daughter and wants to prove herself to him, that she is a worthy heir. She is resourceful and resilient, strong and compassionate, while also being willful enough to do what's necessary to achieve her goals. I really admired how she kept going despite any obstacles and can't wait to see what she does next. Jovis on the other hand has his own goal but is thrust into a bigger game that he doesn't ask to be a part of, but nevertheless can't abandon. He tries to come across as a selfish smuggler with no care for anyone, but he does have a bleeding heart and I fell in love with him immediately. And his relationship with his animal companion Mephi is the most adorable ever, and one of my top highlights of this book.

Phalue and Ramani are an established sapphic couple and it's again something I see so rarely, that it was refreshing. While they may not have many chapters between them, I think as the governor's daughter and a member of the rebellion respectively, they give unique glimpses into the problems affecting the empire and how indifferent the ruling class is. Ramani is also a great foil to Phalue's privileged life, making her see the truth of the common people. Phalue does have the bigger character arc, understanding and learning what she can do with her power, but I felt that Ramani also changed in the process, realizing that idealism and governance might not always go hand in hand.

Sand is the final POV and most mysterious of them all and to be honest, we still don't know much about her at all. Except that the twist in her arc towards the end was something that I did not see coming at all and it sets up for a very unexpected thorn in the side for every other character's plans in the sequel.

There are many inherent themes across the story but the author executes it in such a way that they are very understated but also clear if we are looking deeply. I think the bone shard magic system itself presents a very existential and realistic question, that is also relevant to us - how much should common people be ready to sacrifice for the sake of security provided by the rulers; and is shortened life span and early unexpected death really worth what the emperor provides, especially when there is no accountability and the sacrifice is literally forced on the people. The other aspect of the story is about rebellions and it's leaders - the foot soldiers of a rebellion might be full of commoners who believe in the cause and other idealists who have very noble intentions; but coups are never bloodless and power changing hands is not as peaceful or easy as making plans or giving lofty speeches.

To conclude, this is an absolutely fantastic adult SFF debut with a unique world, intriguing magic system, politics of empire and rebellions, and an ensemble of beautifully written characters. I never try to recommend books using comparisons, but in this case I would like to say that if you loved the magic system of Foundryside, you should totally checkout this book. A great story with even better cast of audiobook narrators, this is now clearly in my favorites of the year list and I can't wait to read what happens next.

There is a wonderful sense of decay and menace in The Bone Shard Daughter. Everything in this world feels like it is on the edge of breaking down. The image of palace, peopled by Frankenstein-like animal constructs, but hardly any living things is an intriguing one. The paranoia generated by the environment is palpable too.

Essentially the book follows four main characters: the daughter of the emperor who is not all she seems, the daughter of a governor of one of the empires outposts who is in love with the leader of a popular uprising, a smuggler who frees children from the controlling influence of the empire, and someone living on an island full of people who have forgotten their past who is slowly clearing the fog in her mind.

A lot of things here are not quite what they seem. The islands that make up the empire move around, the emperor's palace is full of mysterious doors that require keys to unlock their secrets, four master constructs seem to control most of the operation of the empire, there is a vicious caste system that provides extreme repression, there are magical creatures (familiars?) that seem to grant powers, there is some mysterious previous group of oppressors who ruled the area before the current empire (but they are only ever really hinted at without to much explicit interaction). This is a rich and layered world with many nuances and hidden secrets that are alluded to.

Finally we have this somewhat twisted magic system with the Bone Shard Magic. Essentially, small pieces of bone are harvested from the children of the empire and these bone shards are used to power the constructs that enforce the oppression. The power from these bone shards slowly drains the life force of the person they were harvested from, resulting in a premature death...

A supremely successful character and world building exercise, this is some truly immersive and unique fantasy.

The only frustrating thing was not to find enough tile recently to read this book and dive in it.
The universe is quite unique with an incredible magic, but more than anything the author succeed to create this ambiance of magic and mystery. You want to unlock the secrets of this book as much as Lin want to unlock the doors of the palace.
Highly recommend.

My second Bone Shard necromancer in a year ([b:Gideon the Ninth 42036538 Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1) Tamsyn Muir https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546870952l/42036538.SY75.jpg 60943229] is darker and more enveloping) it does a fine job in its genre. The characters are well defined and I appreciate that they are not all what they seem initially. I enjoyed the book but hope that in the next installments some greater complexity comes into play

I was not expecting this book. It???s had a lot of hype in the past few months so it has been on my radar and I jumped at the chance to request an arc, but I had forgotten the blurb by the time it came to read my copy. I got to try and figure out the world and magic as it unfolded in the book and it made the experience all the better.

I appreciated how different all our point of view characters were in status; personality and political views. I found myself quickly attached to two characters but by the end of the book I was enjoying all of them equally. I can???t wait to know more about their plotlines.

The plot was fairly busy, with five points of view to balance and a lot of action throughout the book. It kept me glued to the pages. I struggled to keep the points of view separate initially, especially the names, but I had a clear idea by the end of the book. There was a surprise towards the end of the book that has me eagerly awaiting the sequel.

The magic and worldbuilding in this first book was something different. The magic uses bones to draw power from and can power constructs. I???d like to see more of the world built up in the sequel but I???m looking forward to picking it as it releases.

Woooooooowwwww. This book was incredible. I haven't read a really really good book in a bit, but this book shattered that streak.

This book follows multiple POVs. In this world, the emperor uses shards of children's scalps that they are required to “donate” to create constructs. He etches commands onto these bone shards and inserts them into bodies of different animals that are assembled together. We follow multiple people living in this harrowing world as they try to fight corruption.

I knew from the get go I would enjoy this book. Within the first few chapters, I was already invested in the characters, and as I learned all of their stories I became even more engrossed. The characters are all very different, but very relatable in different ways. The whole story was unpredictable and exciting. There was violence, romance, journeys, and heartbreak. I can't believe this is a debut novel. It is so well written and realized. I know this review is a little vague but I don't want to spoil a single thing! This is what fantasy is all about. Everyone interested in fantasy should definitely read this book!

TW: blood, child death, death of a loved one, drowning, experimentation (human/animal), murder, parental abuse, violence

This book exceeded my expectations significantly!

I have never been a big fan of the “archipelago world” concept, but this book executed it flawlessly.
On top of that, we had a super original magic system (actually at least 2 of those) and a very dark atmosphere.
I also loved the characters of this story. We followed a few POVs - all multilayered and very surprising. They had flaws and blind convictions, but those were done skilfully and only emphasised the potential of each POV.

The story itself turned out to be way more complex and twisted than I expected, and while I managed to guess one of the big twists fairly early in the story, I was not prepared for the whole picture!

I highly recommend this book and can't wait to continue with the series!

Very fun and enjoyable read! Easy to pick up, easy to get invested. I really liked both Lin and Jovis (the rest was good but also iffy at times). The idea with the constructs and the shards I thought was very cool. Was unfortunately also pretty invested in poor Bayan but alas. It made me want to read the sequel but apparently that one isn't as great so we'll see.

this was an interesting world with an intriguing magic (?) system. the twist was predictable but still fun, and i really liked mephi's relationship with jovis. they were probs my fav lol. i didn't quite care about the characters though (especially ranami, ugh), but i blame that on reading in ebook form lol. i ended up getting a physical copy of this book from the library and found that made it easier to read.

The emperor controls his land and people through bone shard magic. Each person in the empire is forced to give up a bone shard from their skull. But not all who undergo the brutal chipping survive. And even if they do, their shard may be chosen to give life to one of the emperor’s constructs. Lin and Bayan are rivals for the throne, and each has been learning to use bone shard magic, vying for the emperor’s keys which unlock more secrets and knowledge in the palace. But Bayan is steadily making progress, whereas Lin is held back. All she wants is to earn her father’s praise, but the emperor seems to favor Bayan over Lin. Determined not to fall behind, Lin steals keys to make copies. But as she delves deeper into the secrets of the palace, she will uncover unspeakable horrors the Emperor has kept hidden for years.

The evolution of Lin and Bayan’s rivalry was intense. They are nearly at each other’s throats constantly, yet there is a spark of chemistry between them. Lin’s greatest challenge is the loss of her memories, and because of this, she is held back from studying construct magic. But Lin will not let the emperor’s disregard hold her back. And while Lin is ambitious, she does not fully understand the consequences her actions will have. In her drive to outpace Bayan, she will put those outside of the palace in danger.

While Lin and Bayan’s story gives background information on bone shard magic and the degrading state of the emperor, Jovis opens readers' eyes to the common people. Hired to smuggle children away before their bone shards are taken, Jovis sees the everyday horrors. And after one job goes awry he finds himself with an animal companion named Melphie. Melphie is absolutely adorable and gives Jovis’ storyline a humorous balance. Jovis has no idea what kind of animal Melphie is, but their companionship grows throughout the storyline as they become further involved in the revolution of the empire.

And then there is the pairing of Phalue and Ranami. Phalue is the daughter of a governor, and Ranami is a rebel actively working with the revolution. The two have a complex relationship as they are on opposing sides but in love with each other. While Phalue wants to slowly fix governing from the inside, Ranami wants immediate action. Ranami is similar to Lin in her actions, where she does not see the potential consequences that may occur. Blinded by her need to do better for those she sees suffering, she will drag Phalue into situations they will not be able to come back from.

Then to add another layer of mystery to all the hints, and tidbits dropped throughout all the storylines, is Sand. A woman who one day falls from a tree and realizes she's been brainwashed and taken from her home. She lives on an island with multiple others who have had their past erased.

Each storyline, whether it focuses on the inner workings of the empire, ongoing unrest with the emperor’s rule, or even day to day life, carries dark undertones surrounding the use of bone shard magic and the disregard for humans as living beings. There are many character points of view, but each adds another intricate layer to the plot. And when the atrocities that are occurring are fully realized for the reader, they will be horrified. The Bone Shard Daughter is for those who enjoy characterization and richly developed plot lines.

I loved this book and cannot wait to for the next one. This was a wild ride with high stakes...in fact this felt like a thriller for me in some ways since I was having physiological responses because it felt like something bad could happen any minute. I loved the depth and complexity of the characters and the plot was 5 stars for me. Also, animal companions - yes please. However, the flow of the book took me aback sometimes and this is why it's not five stars in my opinion.

I have mixed feelings about this one, but on the whole, I enjoyed it. There are several character viewpoints that take their turns. There's Lin, the daughter of the emperor. There's Jovis, a smuggler. There's Phalue, the adult daughter of an island governor and her lover Ranami. And then there's the mysterious Sand. Of them all, I found Lin and Jovis's stories the most interesting. Didn't care much about Phalue and Ranami. And Sand doesn't make many appearances. The more the magic is explained, the more you find it repugnant – which was interesting! There are a few mysteries within the story, and a few surprises. But when all is said and done, it's obvious it's the first book in a series. I think the most telling thing for me, is how long it took me to finish it. Don't know if I'll get to book two.

Pemerintahan Kaisar telah berjalan selama beberapa dekade. Pengusaannya terhadap sihir bone shard untuk menghidupkan construct (yang dibuat dari bagian tubuh binatang yang telah mati) untuk menegakkan hukum & ketertiban. Namun kini pemerintahannya mulai goyah dan revolusi muncul di penjuru pulau-pulau kekaisaran.
Lin adalah anak perempuan kaisar, namun kaisar menolak untuk menunjuknya menjadi penerus tahta kekaisaran. Jadi Lin bersumpah untuk membuktikan dirinya dengan mempelajari sihir bone shard.
Construct dibuat dari bagian-bagian binatang mati berbeda spesies untuk kemudian dihidupkan kembali menggunakan sihir bone shard, yang masing-masing construct memiliki perintah tersendiri, tergantung pada perannya nanti, ada construct birokrasi, perdagangan, perang dan mata-mata. Setiap anak di kekaisaran ketika mencapai umur 8 tahun wajib mengikuti tithing festival, yaitu memberi persembahan berupa cuilan tulang (bone shard) dari telinga kanan untuk digunakan kaisar untuk menghidupkan construct. Penggunaan sihir ini dapat mengisap kehidupan pemilik bone shard, hingga kehilangan nyawa.
Selain Lin ada 4 POV lain, Jorvis, Phalue, Ranami dan Sand. Namun porsi terbanyak tentulah Lin. Ketika miss Stewart mengungkap fakta yang merupakan plot twist yang sangat tidak terduga, reaksiku adalah “apa-apaan??”. Keunggulan kisah fantasi miss Stewart menurutku, tanpa kata umpatan, tanpa adegan berdarah-darah, maupun kekerasan lainnya.
Secara keseluruhan buatku ini adalah novel debut yang sangat bagus. Aku merekomendasikan ini pada penggemar fantasi.

A rich, carefully developed, slow burn of a build up to what I'm hoping is a sequel filled with answers. Get ready to be filled with a whole lotta questions at the end, but in a good way. This is a complex world and deserves the deep dive. It feels like the plot and subplot might meander a bit, but it comes together well in the end.