knlange9's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
dmwhipp's review against another edition
5.0
Rounding up from 4.5 Stars
Magical animal and human constructs powered by bone shards, floating islands, a reclusive and obsessed emperor, a brewing rebellion.... a feast for the imagination! Told from multiple POVs, this beautifully written book features wonderful world building and richly developed characters including: Lin, the emperor’s daughter who craves her father's approval and love; Jovis, a smuggler searching for his abducted wife; Phalue, daughter of one of the island’s governors; Ranami, Phalue’s love interest who is trying to open her lover’s eyes to the plight of the people; and Sand, a woman on a remote island whose sole purpose appears to be harvesting mangoes. As the book progresses, their individual stories begin to converge and hints of a new threat from an ancient race hover in the background. This was such a pleasure to read and wonderful debut novel for Andrea Stewart. I’m very much looking forward to the next book in the series.
Magical animal and human constructs powered by bone shards, floating islands, a reclusive and obsessed emperor, a brewing rebellion.... a feast for the imagination! Told from multiple POVs, this beautifully written book features wonderful world building and richly developed characters including: Lin, the emperor’s daughter who craves her father's approval and love; Jovis, a smuggler searching for his abducted wife; Phalue, daughter of one of the island’s governors; Ranami, Phalue’s love interest who is trying to open her lover’s eyes to the plight of the people; and Sand, a woman on a remote island whose sole purpose appears to be harvesting mangoes. As the book progresses, their individual stories begin to converge and hints of a new threat from an ancient race hover in the background. This was such a pleasure to read and wonderful debut novel for Andrea Stewart. I’m very much looking forward to the next book in the series.
ieemee's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
The book starts off especially slow but hang in there it definitely gets a lot better and it asks a lot of questions about how memory impacts our lives
madgerdes's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.5
erinleiigh's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
4.25
alienor's review against another edition
5.0
We all tell ourselves stories of who we are, and in my mind, I was always the hero. But I wasn't. Not in all the ways I should have been.
The Bone Shard Daughter might fool you with its generic YA sounding title, but fear not : at its heart you'll find a captivating tale of dark magic, power, oppression and rebellion. I've been blessed with wonderful fantasy novels this year, with fantastic sets of complex characters, yet The Bone Shard Daughter barged into my favorite list on page one.
Truly, the way I was instantly absorbed in every chapter is a testament of how great The Bone Shard Daughter is, because my reading has been all over the place this past week (I blame Rogue Legacy 2). But even though I only read little chunks of it each time, I never felt disconnected from the characters but on the contrary, I can say without doubt that they never ceased to delight and interest me.
But first of all, meet Mephi :
Ahhh, to live in a Fantasy novel and have a baby otter as a sidekick
assassinsfate's review against another edition
3.0
bone shard magic could be really cool if it didn’t feel like plot armour every time it was used in the middle of a fight.
book could’ve been so much better if the pacing was slowed down a little. also kind of wish this was all written in third person.
fun plot twists though
book could’ve been so much better if the pacing was slowed down a little. also kind of wish this was all written in third person.
fun plot twists though
leahjanespeare's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.0
I love when books surprise me! After holding onto this arc since....late 2018...I made it to the party!
This is a solid debut and I already started reading the second one. I loved the Asian-inspired, queernormative fantasy world created, and the unique (if a bit macabre) magic system with the bone shards/constructs. (It took me a little while to fully understand the magic because it's not overview-explained at any point, but slowly worked in over time) There are multiple POVs featuring people of very different social statuses from all parts of the world and I think that helped flesh out the world building and politics of what was going on in a broader spectrum than it would have been with just Lin's POV.
If you like fantasy titles that appeal to YA or (the elusive genre) NA crossover audiences, this will be one for your list. It's very fast paced and has a good bit of mystery elements to keep you turning the pages - it uses the lost memory trope so there's a bit of the unreliable narrator going on. I'm excited to see where the story goes next and hope to see this debut author's craft get even stronger with time.
This is a solid debut and I already started reading the second one. I loved the Asian-inspired, queernormative fantasy world created, and the unique (if a bit macabre) magic system with the bone shards/constructs. (It took me a little while to fully understand the magic because it's not overview-explained at any point, but slowly worked in over time) There are multiple POVs featuring people of very different social statuses from all parts of the world and I think that helped flesh out the world building and politics of what was going on in a broader spectrum than it would have been with just Lin's POV.
If you like fantasy titles that appeal to YA or (the elusive genre) NA crossover audiences, this will be one for your list. It's very fast paced and has a good bit of mystery elements to keep you turning the pages - it uses the lost memory trope so there's a bit of the unreliable narrator going on. I'm excited to see where the story goes next and hope to see this debut author's craft get even stronger with time.
taylorberries's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-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? No
5.0