The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire Book One) by Andrea Stewart

Synopsis
The Sukai Dynasty has ruled the Phoenix Empire for over a century, their mastery of bone shard magic powering the monstrous constructs that maintain law and order. But now the emperor’s rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire’s many islands.

Lin is the Emperor’s daughter, but a mysterious illness has stolen her childhood memories and her status as heir to the empire. Trapped in a palace of locked doors and old secrets, Lin vows to reclaim her birthright by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

But the mysteries behind such power are dark and deep, and wielding her family’s magic carries a great cost. When the revolution reaches the gates of the palace itself, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her throne – and save her people.

Review
The Bone Shard Daughter is the first in a fabulous new fantasy trilogy from Andrea Stewart. The Phoenix Empire is now ruled by the Sukai Dynasty after they defeated the magical Alanga, but now there is revolution on many of the empire’s many islands. Lin, the Emperor’s daughter, should be her father’s heir, but finds herself pitted against her father’s foster son Bayan. Five years previously Lin had a mysterious illness that has left her with memory loss of everything before the illness, and unless she can remember her father favours Bayan. To try and gain favour Lin wants to master the magic of the Bone Shard, a closely kept secret that could help her gain the throne, and rule in a different way to her father.

The Bone Shard Daughter is an impressive debut from Andrea Stewart that left me wanting more. The story is told through five different characters giving different perspectives on the story. Lin, the Emperor’s daughter, is fighting for her birth right, but to do that she is meddling in the ancient Bone Shard Magic. Her father rules by fear, but she wants to rule in a different way, learn more about how the people live and after sneeking out of the palace and meeting Numeem, who copies keys for her, her determination increases. Her main aim is to stop the tithing festivals when shards of bone are removed form eight year old children and can be used to power Constructs that help her father govern. Jovis is a smuggler from Deerhead Island who is searching for his wife who went missing in a boat with a blue sail. Inadvertently he aslo finds himself save children from the tithing festival, taking them to family on other islands. After the sinking of one of the islands he saves a catlike creature he calls Melphi who becomes his constant companion and adviser. Jovis lives his life on the run from the smugglers he crossed and the Empire for helping children. It is Melphi however that stole my heart. On his travels Jovis comes to Nephilau Island and into the sphere of the revolutionaries the Shardless, and Ranami. Ranami is the girlfriend of Phalue, daughter to the governor. Ranami wants Phalue to see the real people and encourage her father to make change, her beliefs and love for Phalu are at odds and leave her in turmoil. Through Ramani and Phalu we see the contrast of the rich who rule the Empire and that of those wh are poor who the Shardless Revolutionaries want to help. The final point of view is that of Sand on Maila Isle which is at the end of the Empire. We don’t see too much of her apart from the fact that she has no idea how she got to the Island, but I’m sure she is going to play a pvitol rule in future. books.

Andrea Stewart has created a wonderful fantasy world with it’s roots in Chinese history. I loved the idea of the different islands and that they migrate through the Endless Sea with the seasons.The idea of the Constructs left me a bit creeped out, constructed from differnt animal parts, for example a fox with ravens wings, are very Frankenstein-esqu. These creatures are powered by the Bone Shards on which commands are written, but at the expense of the donors life; the human is like a battery whose life force is slowly drained. Andea Stewart’s prose is beautiful and flows with ease through her different characters and points of view. She cleverly ends each chapter on a cliff-hanger making you want to read on to find out what happens next. The characters and the world she has created are well developed with a full history that I am looking forward to learning more about in future books.

I found The Bone Shard Daughter to be a fascinating and immersive read. I loved the five different points of perspective giving the story a more rounded and developed feel, but my favourite character was Melphi, with his huge eyes. Full of adventure and intrigue this is a fabulous and stunning debut novel that cleverly gave a definite ending to this first book in the trilogy but also left me wanting more. I can’t wait to read the next installment in The Drowning Empire Trilogy to see how the plot and characters develop.