Hello and welcome to this week’s post. Every Wednesday I like to write about the books I have read during the previous week. I add each book on the Goodreads website so that I can link to my quick reviews/responses on there and so that I can maintain a list of my books and track my reading habits.

Here is the first book…

I chose this book purely at random: The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart, #01 The Drowning Empire. First of all, the title and the series intrigued me greatly: what fantastic images these words conjured in my mind! Then the blurb sounded interesting…

“Magic. Revolution. Identity.

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 she 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.

The Bone Shard Daughter is an unmissable fantasy debut – a captivating tale of magic, revolution and mystery, where a young woman’s sense of identity will make or break an empire.”

And this was my response on Goodreads:

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an excellent fantasy book and well worth reading. The different threads for each of the main characters were a little challenging at first, but it became easier to sort them all out as they became woven together.

The world building was superb and the plot was different and intriguing. Each of the main characters were well drawn and developed across the book. I am not surprised to see that the book has been nominated for awards and also won many. I will definitely read more books in this series and by this author.

View all my reviews

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As you can see, I enjoyed the book so much that I awarded it the full five stars, bought the rest of the series and immediately began to read the second book!

The second book is The Bone Shard Emperor and I just finished reading it yesterday. This is the blurb…

“Andrea Stewart returns with The Bone Shard Emperor, the second installment of this unmissable, action-packed, magic-laced fantasy epic.

The Emperor is Dead. Long live the Emperor.  
 
Lin Sukai finally sits on the throne she won at so much cost, but her struggles are only just beginning. Her people don’t trust her. Her political alliances are weak. And in the north-east of the Empire, a rebel army of constructs is gathering, its leader determined to take the throne by force.  
 
Yet an even greater threat is on the horizon, for the Alanga – the powerful magicians of legend – have returned to the Empire. They claim they come in peace, and Lin will need their help in order to defeat the rebels and restore peace.  
 
But can she trust them?”

I dived into this book and read it pretty quickly too! Here is my quick review on Goodreads…

The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was another enjoyable read in the series. Once again, the main characters continued to be realistically developed, as much as magically talented characters can be realistic! The plot took some very interesting steps forward, although the first parts of the book wandered around quite a bit.

I liked the way that LGB characters were woven into the story in natural and realistic ways, without some of the unnecessary fanfares which can be jarring in some other books.

The plot picked up its pace in the final sections and became much more gripping and exciting, leading the way towards the third (and final?) book. I am really looking forward to finding out what happens next.

View all my reviews

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I am now going to bring this post to a close and pick up the third book in the series: The Bone Shard War.

Happy Reading to you all!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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