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A review by awesomeeallyson
The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I have a love/hate relationship with this series overall, but particularly this book. I had high hopes for the ending to this trilogy. The first book was so good and the second, while not as good, was still enjoyable. But man, this book just didn't do it for me. Overall the book is fine, but the character dynamics felt really unbalanced, which isn't great for a story that relies on character interactions.
The plot, for the most part, moves pretty quickly. Jovis' storyline was my favorite, because his internal struggle was a captivating plot point. Even Romani had a really interesting dilemma to deal with. Lin though...she just doesn't learn. Her POV in particular was really repetitive. She was defeated in battle 3 times in a row for the EXACT SAME REASON. Then at the end of the book she turns around and uses the same technique on Dione even though he pulled it on her at the beginning! Generally, her storyline for the first half of the book doesn't go anywhere or lead to anything. Which makes a whole section of the book feel like a waste of time.
So, basically, I liked all the characters except the main one, which made the book a little hard to enjoy. I wish Andrea Stewart had put more work into Lin. She doesn't even have to be likable - as R.F. Kuang proves in The Poppy War - she should just be smarter than a 5th grader if she's going to try to run a country.
The plot, for the most part, moves pretty quickly. Jovis' storyline was my favorite, because his internal struggle was a captivating plot point. Even Romani had a really interesting dilemma to deal with. Lin though...she just doesn't learn. Her POV in particular was really repetitive. She was defeated in battle 3 times in a row for the EXACT SAME REASON. Then at the end of the book she turns around and uses the same technique on Dione even though he pulled it on her at the beginning! Generally, her storyline for the first half of the book doesn't go anywhere or lead to anything. Which makes a whole section of the book feel like a waste of time.
So, basically, I liked all the characters except the main one, which made the book a little hard to enjoy. I wish Andrea Stewart had put more work into Lin. She doesn't even have to be likable - as R.F. Kuang proves in The Poppy War - she should just be smarter than a 5th grader if she's going to try to run a country.