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alyanna_dm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and War
deedireads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Bone Shard War is a good conclusion to a pretty strong epic fantasy trilogy, although it felt a bit too drawn out to blow me away. Still, I recommend the series overall!
For you if: You like fantasy books set in fully fleshed-out worlds with multiple POV characters.
FULL REVIEW:
The Bone Shard War is the third book in the Drowning Empire trilogy, which starts with The Bone Shard Daughter and The Bone Shard Emperor. I’m going to do my best here to write a review without spoilers, so this will really be more of a review of the trilogy overall.
The Drowning Empire is an epic fantasy series, with a world that resembles but doesn’t belong to ours and a cast of characters with POVs. The main character is Lin, daughter of the Emperor, who practices what’s called bone shard magic (carved pieces of bone can be used to animate and control “constructs”). The second character is Jovis, a smuggler who witnesses one of the Empire’s islands sink into the sea. And third we have Sand/Nisong, a woman on a remote island with no memories.
This third book picks up two years after the end of the second, which in execution was a little disappointing for me. All the tension at the end of book two was popped, the characters almost reset. Then we spend a lot longer than I would have liked with Lin and Jovis (and, for that matter, Jovis and his companion Mephi) separated from one another. So I felt like I spent a lot of this book just waiting for that to get resolved, and that made it drag a bit. I also thought our two villains became less interesting, though for different reasons. In fact, I was pretty actively disappointed in Nisong’s arc.
But enough of the not-so-good! I still landed on the side of liking the book overall, and I recommend this trilogy if epic fantasy is your thing. The world is lush and inventive, the magic system is unique and interesting, the central mystery is compelling, and the characters are lovable. No regrets!
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Bone Shard War is a good conclusion to a pretty strong epic fantasy trilogy, although it felt a bit too drawn out to blow me away. Still, I recommend the series overall!
For you if: You like fantasy books set in fully fleshed-out worlds with multiple POV characters.
FULL REVIEW:
The Bone Shard War is the third book in the Drowning Empire trilogy, which starts with The Bone Shard Daughter and The Bone Shard Emperor. I’m going to do my best here to write a review without spoilers, so this will really be more of a review of the trilogy overall.
The Drowning Empire is an epic fantasy series, with a world that resembles but doesn’t belong to ours and a cast of characters with POVs. The main character is Lin, daughter of the Emperor, who practices what’s called bone shard magic (carved pieces of bone can be used to animate and control “constructs”). The second character is Jovis, a smuggler who witnesses one of the Empire’s islands sink into the sea. And third we have Sand/Nisong, a woman on a remote island with no memories.
This third book picks up two years after the end of the second, which in execution was a little disappointing for me. All the tension at the end of book two was popped, the characters almost reset. Then we spend a lot longer than I would have liked with Lin and Jovis (and, for that matter, Jovis and his companion Mephi) separated from one another. So I felt like I spent a lot of this book just waiting for that to get resolved, and that made it drag a bit. I also thought our two villains became less interesting, though for different reasons. In fact, I was pretty actively disappointed in Nisong’s arc.
But enough of the not-so-good! I still landed on the side of liking the book overall, and I recommend this trilogy if epic fantasy is your thing. The world is lush and inventive, the magic system is unique and interesting, the central mystery is compelling, and the characters are lovable. No regrets!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, and War
Moderate: Violence and Murder
Minor: Sexual content
aliteraryescape's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, and War
Minor: Sexual content
yvo_about_books's review against another edition
4.75
Finished reading: April 10th 2023
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Orbit in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
While it's true that I don't read a lot of fantasy anymore, this doesn't mean that I don't enjoy diving into a high fantasy world every once in a while. I fell in love with the Phoenix Empire and its magic in the first book, and I've been looking forward to the final book of the trilogy ever since I finished book two. This is probably why I couldn't resist requesting an audio ARC even though I usually don't listen to audiobooks... I'm glad I did though, because I think that this format only made me enjoy this conclusion even more.
I know that I'm basically still an audiobook newbie and I've only listened to a handful of them so far, but The Bone Shard War has once again proven to me that I can really enjoy an audiobook when the timing is right. Sure, this particular audiobook is almost 20! hours long and it took me quite some time to get through it, but this doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy my time listening to it. I could really appreciate the fact that the story was told by three different narrators; it made it a lot easier to keep the multiple POVs apart. The narrator I enjoyed most would be Feodor Chin, but then again Jovis has always been one of my favorite characters and I'm always looking forward to spend more time with him and Mephi.
As for The Bone Shard War itself... I would recommend reading the books in order, because you will be mostly clueless about what is going on otherwise (not to mention it will be impossible to understand and juggle the many different characters). I still love the worldbuilding and the whole world of the bone shard magic as well as the ‘other’ magic. The focus is more on the Alanga than the bone shard magic in this final book, but this shift felt natural after everything that happened. The key of enjoying a high fantasy book is having a well developed worldbuilding for me, and this series definitely delivers on that front.
Most of the characters in this series are quite easy to like, although my favorite by far is still Jovis (and his companion Mephi of course!). That said, I enjoyed some the other POVs considerably more than in the previous sequel, and I liked what each character added to the plot. It shows that the second book was all about setting the scene, and you will still find slower moments in The Bone Shard War as well, but as a whole this third book felt a lot more dynamic and engaging. I think the audiobook itself played a role as well, because I personally never felt like the story dragged or slowed down too much.
The story itself is quite long with 600+ pages, but I personally didn't mind as I wasn't ready to let this high fantasy world and its characters go. With the war and danger and threats around every corner, there is a lot of suspense to be had, and I could also appreciate the new information about the Alanga and their magic. Their companions are the cutest! The story definitely goes out with a bang as well, and I liked the character development in general and how things were wrapped up. All in all The Bone Shard War turned out to be a very successful end of this trilogy for me, and my favorite book of the series. I can recommend listening to the audiobook, as it will be easier to keep the different POVs apart and the slower parts of the plot will feel more engaging.
*** A copy of this book was kindly provided to me by Netgalley and Orbit in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! ***
While it's true that I don't read a lot of fantasy anymore, this doesn't mean that I don't enjoy diving into a high fantasy world every once in a while. I fell in love with the Phoenix Empire and its magic in the first book, and I've been looking forward to the final book of the trilogy ever since I finished book two. This is probably why I couldn't resist requesting an audio ARC even though I usually don't listen to audiobooks... I'm glad I did though, because I think that this format only made me enjoy this conclusion even more.
I know that I'm basically still an audiobook newbie and I've only listened to a handful of them so far, but The Bone Shard War has once again proven to me that I can really enjoy an audiobook when the timing is right. Sure, this particular audiobook is almost 20! hours long and it took me quite some time to get through it, but this doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy my time listening to it. I could really appreciate the fact that the story was told by three different narrators; it made it a lot easier to keep the multiple POVs apart. The narrator I enjoyed most would be Feodor Chin, but then again Jovis has always been one of my favorite characters and I'm always looking forward to spend more time with him and Mephi.
As for The Bone Shard War itself... I would recommend reading the books in order, because you will be mostly clueless about what is going on otherwise (not to mention it will be impossible to understand and juggle the many different characters). I still love the worldbuilding and the whole world of the bone shard magic as well as the ‘other’ magic. The focus is more on the Alanga than the bone shard magic in this final book, but this shift felt natural after everything that happened. The key of enjoying a high fantasy book is having a well developed worldbuilding for me, and this series definitely delivers on that front.
Most of the characters in this series are quite easy to like, although my favorite by far is still Jovis (and his companion Mephi of course!). That said, I enjoyed some the other POVs considerably more than in the previous sequel, and I liked what each character added to the plot. It shows that the second book was all about setting the scene, and you will still find slower moments in The Bone Shard War as well, but as a whole this third book felt a lot more dynamic and engaging. I think the audiobook itself played a role as well, because I personally never felt like the story dragged or slowed down too much.
The story itself is quite long with 600+ pages, but I personally didn't mind as I wasn't ready to let this high fantasy world and its characters go. With the war and danger and threats around every corner, there is a lot of suspense to be had, and I could also appreciate the new information about the Alanga and their magic. Their companions are the cutest! The story definitely goes out with a bang as well, and I liked the character development in general and how things were wrapped up. All in all The Bone Shard War turned out to be a very successful end of this trilogy for me, and my favorite book of the series. I can recommend listening to the audiobook, as it will be easier to keep the different POVs apart and the slower parts of the plot will feel more engaging.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War
caseythereader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Thanks to Orbit Books for the free advance copy of this book.
- One of my favorite series has finally reached its conclusion with THE BONE SHARD WAR, and I am so sad to see it go.
- I spent a lot of the previous book wondering why Lin wanted this so much, and am grateful this was explored in this installment. (trying not to be too spoilery here, lol)
- While this book was a bit overlong, I felt like I got closure with all of the series' many characters and plotlines, which can be tough to pull off. I'm really excited to see what Stewart does next.
- One of my favorite series has finally reached its conclusion with THE BONE SHARD WAR, and I am so sad to see it go.
- I spent a lot of the previous book wondering why Lin wanted this so much, and am grateful this was explored in this installment. (trying not to be too spoilery here, lol)
- While this book was a bit overlong, I felt like I got closure with all of the series' many characters and plotlines, which can be tough to pull off. I'm really excited to see what Stewart does next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail