ARC Review: The Bone Shard Daughter

I received The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart from Goodreads from one of their giveaways in exchange for an honest review.

I was hesitant to read and review this book due to some drama on book twitter, but I had won the copy and felt I should at least read it.

So, here are my thoughts.

Here is the synopsis from Goodreads:

In an empire controlled by bone shard magic, Lin, the former heir to the emperor will fight to reclaim her magic and her place on the throne. The Bone Shard Daughter marks the debut of a major new voice in epic fantasy.

The emperor’s reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands.

Lin is the emperor’s daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright – and save her people.

For starters, I thought the world building was really good. Our empire is a set of islands, ruled by Governors. We have magic on this island through the use of bones, specifically bone shards from children’s skulls (yikes). And the order of this world is done so through constructs – animals who have been mixed and sewn together to do the emperor’s bidding. Again – yikes.

I had heard a lot of great things about this book from other reviews, so I was excited to receive a copy! Adult fantasy is a hit or miss for me – it’s either really boring or it’s amazing. There’s no inbetween. Until I found this book.

I really liked this story, I thought the magic system was interesting, the characters were very diverse and fun to tag along with, and the plot was great! But it didn’t woo me. In fact, the middle was really slow for me after the action filled beginning we have. Then the ending is a rush of all the puzzle pieces this books has laid down converging together to create a full picture. That was pretty awesome.

Besides some slow parts in the middle, there wasn’t anything wrong with this book, and I will definitely be reading the next one. But it wasn’t an astonishing favorite for me.

I think the ending was my favorite part about this book. To see everything come together so cleanly was so satisfying – even if it’s also chaotic. I’m excited to read the next book and find out what happens next because, wow, that ending left me breathless.

Overall, I liked this book! I thought the plot was really good and interesting, the characters are fun to follow around, and the ending was superb. But for some reason I couldn’t fully fall in love with the story, so this is a // 5 stars for me.

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart releases on September 8th and I’ve linked my indie bookstore if you’re interested in ordering a copy!

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