The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
I would like to thank Nazia from Orbit for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher – Orbit
Published – Out Now
Price – £12.99 Hardback £8.99 Kindle eBook
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.
Often epic fantasy is about choice – will you carry this ring; go on a quest, rebel against evil etc and these choices define our characters. The nature of story is that people and the world around it change. Sometimes in fantasy this means we can all feel we have been here before but every now and then we get books that offer refreshing and surprising takes. In Andrea Stewart’s marvellous The Bone Shard Daughter we get presented with a hugely inventive world and a group of characters that find themselves constantly forced to decide who they really are.
In an island empire an elderly Emperor rules many thousands of subjects and all are subject to Tithings that require each generation of children to have a piece of their skull removed and sent to the Emperor’s palace. These bone shards are sometimes used to power mysterious constructs made of various animals and humans to ensure the day to day aspects of the empire be they trade, war or spying carry on. If your bone shard unluckily gets selected for one of these you will feel tired, weary and slowly your life force gets drained prematurely. But the wider Empire will always stay strong and protect it from ancient enemies even if the cost is many deaths (especially for the children who don’t survive the chiselling of their skulls).
Lin is the Emperor’s legitimate heir but a strange illness drained her memories and skills, so her father has decided to also now have a foster son in order for both compete for his favour and throne. Each must daily try to impress him in order to attempt greater and greater magic using the bone shards. Lin’s rival Bayan is ambitious and not afraid to get his hands dirty in order for more power. Far away a smuggler named Jovis has been evading both the Empire and also one of the biggest criminal organisations on the seas to track down a lost love. His cold demeanour however is always broken whenever someone asks for help and he finds himself gaining an unexpected heroic reputation for saving children from the trepanning of the Empire. Meanwhile on one island the rebellious Ranami and her lover the governor’s daughter Phalue start to find themselves in a conflict between the Empire and its strange rebel group the Shardless Few. The Empire has been the way it is for far too long and now these groups will bring about a drastic change.
The absolute highlight of this novel is Stewart’s worldbuilding and storytelling. This world of islands that actually float on the seas (and can mysteriously sink), empires that control strange machine/animal hybrids powered by its’ subjects’ life force was unique. It’s a world you want to explore and as it feels refreshing you don’t know the rules in advance so like the characters, we find themselves on a voyage of discovery – I’ve missed being surprised in epic fantasy. There is a wonderful freshness to the story. Stewart however doesn’t overload us with endless scenes of exposition. By crafting the story around six quite different characters I was hugely impressed how each strand of the story builds up the reader’s view of the Empire from the view of those in power and those on the fringes. By quickly moving from one character’s chapters to another we have a lot of pace and it’s captivating. Very quickly you’re going through pages to find out what is going on and its not quite what the various characters think. Fantasy lovers looking for something new in epic fantasy should come this way
I also liked the way Stewart plays with characters. Lin as the daughter of a tyrant in some ways feels the most traditional in the group. A young woman being forced to try and please her father by learning magic but in the process, she finds out a bit more abut how those living under the Emperor suffer. What I enjoyed though is that Lin is herself a woman of mysteries – she no longer remembers her childhood and is shown to be not above being a tad deceitful herself. As she learns the mysteries of bone magic she can create or alter the rules of constructs herself. She feels a character who could possibly be even turned to enjoying this magic which she knows means one of her subjects may be getting drained of life by her actions. I’m usually not a fan of magic systems but I will admit I loved both the weird creations Stewart throws at the reader and the principles – essentially bone shards are like computer chips you inscribe spells/programming on so constructs do your bidding. But as they drain life of the subjects for the world, I also can’t help thinking they are a wonderful representation of capitalism!
Stewart adds some interesting other characters in counterbalance. Jovis the smuggler reminds me of Han Solo – wants to be cool and have songs sung about him but has a conscience and gets distracted easily. He even gets a fascinating strange animal companion in the initially cat like Mephi (who you are going to LOVE) he rescues from an island disaster. His arc throws him into the rebellion and watching him become this public hero and how that influences his character is fascinating. He’s very much the heart of the tale compared to Lin’s more problem-solving thread. I also love the on/off lovers Ranami and Phalue squabbling but also arguing that this Empire needs to stop treating its subjects as fuel. Its so refreshing just has a same sex couple in fantasy and this world treats them as perfectly normal instead the focus of their relationship is can these very different personalities actually get along and help one another.
This is a start of a new fantasy series so while by the end of the story we have come along way and many characters are in different places to when we first met them I did feel we have only just begun the main story. But as the journey we went on was so spell-bounding and importantly inventive then I don’t mind I have a lot more from Andrea Stewart to read. Fantasy readers who want excellent storytelling and to read about new worlds should really set sail for this as soon as possible.
