I loved my father, but he didn’t love me. In the end, I wanted to live more than I wanted him to love me. A pesar del tiempo, esta segunda parte me ha gustado de igual manera que el primer libro y me gustaría destacar varias cosas: To the relief of many, Emperor Shiyen is no more, his legacy of tyranny and oppression has finally reached its end, and new horizons lay ahead for The Phoenix Empire. But can the people learn to trust their new Emperor? As Emperor Lin Sukai sits upon her newly won throne, she ponders the same question. You see she may now be their leader but the people have no love for the Sukai’s, her alliances from the other island leaders are weak as they are reluctant to lend their support, and amidst all this several new threats emerge, all determined to bring the Emperor’s rule to its knees. A growing army of constructs has set its sights on conquering the Imperial Island, and the Alanga, the believed magical enemies of old, have returned. Yet do they come in peace? But still there were a few obligatory eyerolls. A big conflict between protagonists rests on miscommunication. Decisions only appropriate for young teenagers are made by adults. The scale of the large Empire somehow seems more appropriate to that of a few villages. Romance that was not necessary when friendship would have sufficed. Thin motivation for the villain barely rooted in revenge. Feudalism still relied upon — but as much as we know Lin is one of the good guys, that’s still not a good reason to support absolute monarchy. This is by no means a bad book. Stewart is a decent writer and story teller but this sequel wasn't enough to keep me going. First for the good. The plot is very good with some decent political intrigue. The world building is unique with some mysterious lore that is very enticing. The issue is that is just all such a slow burn. The politics are slow. The unfolding of the lore is slow and the character development progresses at a snail's pace.

Ranami: a commoner and freedom fighter at heart, she is now in a relationship with Phalue, and working to convince her of the inherent injustice of the hierarchical and exploitative social structure.

Andrea Stewart

Magic-wise we learn a fair bit more about the mysterious Alonga race, the ‘big bad’ of the past. Their magic is shown through a journal and two companion creatures and I loved getting to learn what’s possible and what these beings may be gearing up for. I think there’s more to come but I love the ideas of the magic and the Bone Shard magic is as cruel and bleak as ever in this, if utilised by different enemies. The worldbuilding of this novel is really gorgeous, being set in an Empire comprised of moving islands (I hope the finished copies have maps . . . ) with remnants of an ancient Alanga civilisation that was defeated by a Sukai, who became the first Emperor of the islands. Every inhabitant of this empire gets a bone shard taken from them as a child, which is then used to power the hybrid animal-esque bone constructs that serve under the emperor.

Lin: The resourceful and highly-intelligent heir-apparent to the throne of the Phoenix empire. She gradually comes to believe her father is unjustifiably harming the people of his empire, and is determined to gain the power to change things. Building and supporting a community of self-published authors dedicated to both sharing experiences and le Officially 15k Members Strong & Climbing!! Authors, if you are a member of the Goodreads Author Program, you can edit information about your own books. Find out how in this guide. As a note though, this book is being comp’d to The Poppy War/for fans of The Poppy War and beyond them both being under the umbrella of Asian fantasy and by Chinese authors (or Chinese-Scottish-American, in the case of Stewart), I just want to put out there that if you are reading The Bone Shard Daughter because of this . . . don’t necessarily come into this expecting the same kind of story? The Poppy War (if you haven’t read it . . . well, read it) is grimdark military fantasy; The Bone Shard Daughter isn’t. The Bone Shard Daughter has a very different narrative. Similarly, The worldbuilding of the two are different, taking influences from different parts of East Asian culture. (On that note, The Poppy War has way more of a historical influence too.) Both are awesome though, and worth a read.Although there is no direct connection to our Earth, I also found the temporal setting of The Bone Shard Daughter to be intriguing. In the world of the Drowning Empire, Lin is born in 1522. In our world, the 1500s saw the Joseon dynasty in Korea, the Ming dynasty in China, feudal Japan, the numerous polities of the islands of the Philippines before Spanish colonization, the golden age of Thailand’s Ayutthaya period, the decline of the Silk Road, and the late medieval period of India followed by the Mughal Empire, among others. The architecture and technology allude to those various periods, even while not invoking them specifically—the world is Asian- inspired, after all, not Asian.