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alexijai98's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
3.5
I enjoyed The Bone Shard Daughter so much I went to the library the day after I finished it to check out books two and three, so it’s disappointing that Bone Shard War didn’t stick the landing for me.
For one, it feels endless. So much and also so little happens in 600 pages - I feel like it could’ve been almost half as long. It felt like a slog through conflict solved in one page to conflict solved in another page to no real end. The multiple POVs felt more necessary in the first two books, but in the finale they felt almost like obstacles in front of the weirdly paced conflict resolutions.It’s amazing how many dire moments were solved by a rousing speech or a quick conversation.
I think the interpersonal relationships were my favorite aspect of this book. I am a huge fan of Stewart’s world building in terms of romantic relationships (if Ranami and Phalue have no fans I am dead). I appreciated Jovis’ continued humor, and Mephi is definitely my favorite chatacter.
Overall, I’m a bit sad at the conclusion to the Drowning Empire.
For one, it feels endless. So much and also so little happens in 600 pages - I feel like it could’ve been almost half as long. It felt like a slog through conflict solved in one page to conflict solved in another page to no real end. The multiple POVs felt more necessary in the first two books, but in the finale they felt almost like obstacles in front of the weirdly paced conflict resolutions.
I think the interpersonal relationships were my favorite aspect of this book. I am a huge fan of Stewart’s world building in terms of romantic relationships (if Ranami and Phalue have no fans I am dead). I appreciated Jovis’ continued humor, and Mephi is definitely my favorite chatacter.
Overall, I’m a bit sad at the conclusion to the Drowning Empire.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Racism and Xenophobia
bookycnidaria's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, and War
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
5.0
*Contains spoilers for THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER and THE BONE SHARD EMPEROR.
I love this book so much! I did not want it to be over and I lingered over it as much as is possible with an audiobook, having a fantastic time. THE BONE SHARD WAR is the conclusion of the Drowning Empire Trilogy, a story of memory, identity, and connection in the context of a war filled with greed, shifting loyalties, and magic arising from unexpected sources.
As a sequel, and the final book in the trilogy, THE BONE SHARD WAR wraps up pretty much everything I could think of in ways that range from surprising to satisfying, but all of them wonderful to read. Jovis has an entirely new phase in his life, this time he is coerced and magically enslaved by an enemy rather than his previous state of voluntarily working with Lin. Lin, two years after being told that Jovis was dead, is trying to do what is necessary to hold the empire together, slowly beginning to understand that holding the empire together at any cost might not be what's best for the people within it. None of the storylines are wholly new, but they are in new phases which are distinct from the first two books. Finally the characters start to understand the connections between the various sources of magic, and solve mysteries related to the white bladed swords.
I wish this weren't the end of the trilogy because this world is very cool and I love so many of the characters. This doesn't try to redeem every villain, but rather it gives most characters an arc that makes sense for them. While this particular phase of these characters' lives is distinct and largely self contained, the context of the first two books matters enormously. What Lin is starting to realize about the moral implications of being an emperor represents a change in her thinking from earlier. It's not quite the same arc as what Phalue went through , but they realize related things for similar reasons. The end of the book as it relates to Lin and Jovis is so much more meaningful when earlier context is understood, and the story of Ranami, Phalue, and their adopted daughter likewise showcases hardship and personal growth that is an extension of previous events.
I remain impressed with the audiobook narrators, they did an excellent job once again. If you liked the first two books then you'll love THE BONE SHARD WAR as a satisfying conclusion to the whole trilogy. The final chapters take the time to show where people end up and give an idea of their next steps. The final quarter does so much to wrap everything up that the ending gets to be a bit calm and lingering, not needing to cram in a dozen loose threads at the last minute. It kept me on tenterhooks as to how a couple of things would wrap up, but they're very character-focused questions not related to any kind of plot mystery. I'm satisfied and a bit sad that the story is over, I'll definitely keep an eye out for more from this author in the future.
I love this book so much! I did not want it to be over and I lingered over it as much as is possible with an audiobook, having a fantastic time. THE BONE SHARD WAR is the conclusion of the Drowning Empire Trilogy, a story of memory, identity, and connection in the context of a war filled with greed, shifting loyalties, and magic arising from unexpected sources.
As a sequel, and the final book in the trilogy, THE BONE SHARD WAR wraps up pretty much everything I could think of in ways that range from surprising to satisfying, but all of them wonderful to read. Jovis has an entirely new phase in his life, this time he is coerced and magically enslaved by an enemy rather than his previous state of voluntarily working with Lin. Lin, two years after being told that Jovis was dead, is trying to do what is necessary to hold the empire together, slowly beginning to understand that holding the empire together at any cost might not be what's best for the people within it. None of the storylines are wholly new, but they are in new phases which are distinct from the first two books. Finally the characters start to understand the connections between the various sources of magic, and solve mysteries related to the white bladed swords.
I wish this weren't the end of the trilogy because this world is very cool and I love so many of the characters. This doesn't try to redeem every villain, but rather it gives most characters an arc that makes sense for them. While this particular phase of these characters' lives is distinct and largely self contained, the context of the first two books matters enormously. What Lin is starting to realize about the moral implications of being an emperor represents a change in her thinking from earlier. It's not quite the same arc as what Phalue went through , but they realize related things for similar reasons. The end of the book as it relates to Lin and Jovis is so much more meaningful when earlier context is understood, and the story of Ranami, Phalue, and their adopted daughter likewise showcases hardship and personal growth that is an extension of previous events.
I remain impressed with the audiobook narrators, they did an excellent job once again. If you liked the first two books then you'll love THE BONE SHARD WAR as a satisfying conclusion to the whole trilogy. The final chapters take the time to show where people end up and give an idea of their next steps. The final quarter does so much to wrap everything up that the ending gets to be a bit calm and lingering, not needing to cram in a dozen loose threads at the last minute. It kept me on tenterhooks as to how a couple of things would wrap up, but they're very character-focused questions not related to any kind of plot mystery. I'm satisfied and a bit sad that the story is over, I'll definitely keep an eye out for more from this author in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Xenophobia, Vomit, Grief, Abandonment, and Classism
Minor: Sexual content and Death of parent
stacyaj's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Blood, and War
aileron's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-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? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and War
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail
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
shelbysarnelli's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Violence 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