The Bone Shard Daughter: The Drowning Empire Book One

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The plot is split among the points of view of the various characters, winding from one to the next, and eventually connecting. The setting is an empire consisting of many floating islands upon the Endless Sea. Phalue, daughter of the governor of Nephilanu Island, discovers that her partner Ranami is working with rebels trying to take down the Phoenix Empire. Facing a radical plan to return power to the people, Phalue struggles to reconcile the ideas she was raised with, the reality she’s confronted with, and the power she has to make change. Lin manages to mess with a couple of her father’s constructs to get them to obey her, which is good. What’s less good is she bumps into Bayan and finds his face is melting off. Her father comes to take him away. Watching my father and reading and listening to you... if there's one thing it's all taught me it's that if I try too hard to hold on to power at the expense of everything else, in the end that's all I'll have: power."

Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide.Well, I’m pleased to note that overall it didn’t end up being much of that dreaded middle red-headed stepchild. It was quite alright — nothing earth-shattering or life-changing, but entertaining and often clever and overall a fine continuation of the story. (Now keep in mind, I’m recovering from pretty rough brain fog after getting a Covid vaccine booster the day before I read this book, so don’t hold me responsible for my opinions). S. Qiouyi Lu, writing for Tor.com, calls the worldbuilding of the novel "fascinating", questioning how no one had ever come up with a similar idea, and asserting that it was so good they found themself daydreaming about it long after finishing the book. [5] More importantly, they write, the book explores three interrelated themes that feed into one another: empire, agency, and identity—especially as Stewart achieves from a pan-Asian cultural viewpoint and a post-colonial perspective. [5] They appreciate the character development, and the unique and clever development of the bone shard magic of the Drowning Empire universe. [5]

Lin, as I mentioned before, is the daughter of the Emperor. Although Lin’s story felt separated from all the other POV characters for almost the entirety of the book, her story was the most gripping as it is full of espionage and mysteries that kept me immersed and guessing thoroughly. Seriously, when I thought I had everything figured out—and to be fair, I did predict a lot of the revelations—Stewart blindsided me with an unpredictable stab that made me went “alright, I didn’t see that one coming. This is surprisingly twisted. I love it.” Lin was one of the two main characters who attained the most spotlights, the other one being Jovis, a smuggler who survived the drowning of Deerisland and is now searching for his lover. In his journey, quite early at the beginning, Jovis met a mysterious fox with a magical power—Mephis. The relationship development between Jovis and Mephis was one of my favorite parts of the book; I have always been a fan of animal companion in SFF or any kind of story, and I feel that Stewart has done a terrific job in building their relationship. When you’re young, you think you can change the world. You think you can bend it to your will. When you’re old, you learn to change your small corner of it and live with the rest.” Ranami: a commoner and freedom fighter at heart, she is now in a relationship with Phalue, and working to convince her of the inherent injustice of the hierarchical and exploitative social structure. I just want to go around screaming at everyone to read this series. Especially if you want an Adult High Fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic style fantastical world with the awakening of magic and animal companions.

I love how Lin and Jovis grow as characters during the course of the book, and how their relationship develops. I had an inkling at the beginning of book one that they'd probably end up together and it seems I was right. This is my personal pet peeve, but I dislike when an object or a person that's issue in one book isn't dealt with in that book, but just left to stand for no apparent reason... only to become an issue in book to come. I really want someone to explain to me logic of leaving a perfect clone of old emperor just floating in the palace and not being destroyed. I just know this thing will come to bite our characters in the ass and become a problem in next book. He was a deranged psychopath (as you will be reminded once again in this book), just why?!

Philine from the Ioph Carn tries to capture Jovis but he’s super strong with some sort of power, and he’s able to escape on his boat. The Bone Shard Daughter explores three interrelated themes that feed into one another: empire, agency, and identity. The Phoenix Empire literally drains its people of life and potential, as the bone shards collected from trepanning ceremonies and used to power the emperor’s constructs sap their living humans’ energy to work. I’ve previously touched on the cost of colonialism in terms of human potential through the lens of Premee Mohamed’s Beneath the Rising. The opportunity cost that one is born into as a colonial or imperial subject is once more explored in The Bone Shard Daughter and ends up being a recurring theme in speculative fiction written by people in Asian diasporas—unsurprisingly, as many of us are postcolonial subjects. I found myself daydreaming about Stewart’s worldbuilding long after I finished the book. The world of the Drowning Empire trilogy is fascinating, centering on a premise I’m surprised I haven’t encountered before: People live on floating, migrating islands that drift through the Endless Sea, the bottom of which is unreachable. Stewart does an excellent job of orienting the reader through the islands’ relative locations, even though a map isn’t included (and probably can’t be, given the nature of the islands’ movement). Gio, the leader of this branch of the Shardless Few, wants Jovis to use his powers to kill the governor’s personal guard. Jovis is hesitant but really he has to agree.Si sabes que una persona está mintiendo, no le des una contraorden, porque se empecinará en su postura. Sigue adelante con lo que tú sepas que es verdad”. PDF / EPUB File Name: The_Bone_Shard_Daughter__The_Drowning_Empi_-_Andrea_Stewart.pdf, The_Bone_Shard_Daughter__The_Drowning_Empi_-_Andrea_Stewart.epub Lin is the Emperor’s daughter, and is currently being tested by her father on bone shard magic. Bayan is her foster brother, who’s also taking part in the tests. He’s a bit further along than Lin at the start.

Agency is another key theme in The Bone Shard Daughter. Each of the four viewpoint characters is given a different lot in life, from Lin at the pinnacle of power, to Sand, who has nothing. Rather than accepting their position in life, each character makes choices on their own behalf to change their circumstances. The theme of agency is perhaps most clearly illustrated through Lin’s story. As she grows as a character, she realizes that no one is truly powerless to make choices over their own life—a sentiment that is echoed in Sand’s story, albeit in a very different way. Book Two begins shortly after the events of Book One. Lin is now the emperor, and she must garner the support of her people to maintain stability and keep her throne. Also, Jovis must adjust to his new role and decide where his loyalties lay. Meanwhile, his animal companion, Mephi, is as adorable and funny as ever. Then, there is Nisong, who is out for blood and revenge. Plus, the rebellion is gaining more influence.

In dieser Geschichte geht es zu einem großen Teil um Politik und die Probleme des Machtwechsels, weil viele nur das Beste für sich selbst wollen, andere wollen selbst an der Macht sein und sind bereit, dafür Opfer zu bringen. Auch wenn Lin nicht alles weiß, weiß sie mehr als die meisten und mit der Macht über die Konstrukte hält sie sich selbst auch für die beste Option zu diesem Zeitpunkt. Zwar liegt ihr auch viel daran, sich selbst am Leben zu halten, aber die anderen Parteien haben auch ihre eigenen egoistischen Ziele - bei Lin hatte ich zumindest immer das Gefühl, dass sie sich viel Mühe gibt. Ich fand es da schon schade, dass man ihr keine Chance gibt, sich zu beweisen, aber den Vertrauensvorschuss muss man sich wohl auch verdienen. En primer lugar, el mundo que crea me encanta, sobre todo el hecho que no sea un continente sino islas aisladas con autonomías insulares. Lo siento, pero es uno de mis muchos puntos débiles porque al ser isleña me he sentido identificada muchas veces con la novela. Qué le vamos a hacer, me recuerda a donde vivo. Andrea Stewart almost dodged the dreadful curse of middle book in trilogy. On one hand it was expected because the first book had many things that made it memorable and couldn't be repeated in second one with same effect: The way Andrea Stewart writes the chapters makes the story flow so well. The plot is still slow paced relative to the first novel but the ending was so explosive that it had me gasping. The way Stewart wraps up her books always manages to bump itself up my rating. Talk about the ending making the book. Phalue: The daughter and heir of the governor of one of the empire's largest islands. Her relationship with Ranami, a commoner, is fraught with uncertainty and conflict because of their different world views.