The Bone Shard Emperor 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 – £16.99 hardback £9.99 Kindle eBook

Magic. Revolution. Identity.

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 a far corner 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. Lin may need their help to defeat the rebels and restore order.

But can she trust them?

Warning – there will be spoilers for the Bone Shard Daughter within this review (it’s really good go get it!)

Epic fantasy often explores the legacy that the past gives the future. Sometimes it’s a society’s flaws bringing about destruction as in Rebecca Roanhorse’s Black Sun; or a revolution in RJ Barker’s Time Child trilogy or sometimes its can the next generation avoid the mistakes fo the past. In Andrea’s Stewart’s absorbing The Bone Shard Emperor the cast are constantly asked can they do better? It results in a middle volume for a series that delivers its own story of adventure, betrayal and trying to do the right thing even when that is very hard.

A quick reminder for you gentle reader that this tale is set in the floating islands of an ocean known as the Phoenix Empire. An Empire where the Emperor would take from the young bone shards from the skulls of the young (not all surviving). This tithing would support the Emperor’s bone shard magic creating strange animate devices and animals that spied, fought and kept his rule. The world has woken to the news that feared Emperor is now dead and his daughter Lin has taken the throne. A great hero and former smuggler Jovis is now her Captain of the Guard. On the corner of the Empire a woman who now knows her name to be Nisong (the name of the dead Emperor’s wife) has scaped a prison and seeks revenge. All of this is true but to quote a certain Jedi from a certain point of view

Lin is actually a construct made of body parts from those the Emperor killed to replace his very young daughter who died three years old. She discovered her father was a tyrant and killed him and, in the process, discovered her own artificial life. Jovis is a hero, a guard and lso spying on Lin for the Shardless Few a revolutionary group wanting to overthrow the Empire. Nisong too is a construct with all the memories of the Emperor’s wife and has the gift to create constructs too. She wants revenge and her throne back. Now these forces finally must either trust each other or fight.

Middle volumes of trilogies can often be the bridge book taking you to the epic finale but what I really enjoyed with this story is it focused on our characters now coming to terms with where they found themselves at the end of the first volume and creates its own storyline that didn’t just make you want Book 3 now (although to be fair I would not complain if you sent me it!). Lin is now in complete power of a huge empire and finding out power is not absolute even then. She gets involved in the horse-trading with all the Island Governors and these voyages help us see exactly how bad the previous regime was. Lin is promising a fresh approach and a better rule but even cancelling the Tithings isn’t enough for many to trust her. She now has to learn diplomacy, negotiation and when all else fails fighting and always in the shadow of her dead and malignant father.

Jovis is absolutely torn. He definitely wanted to bring down the Emperor who killed his wife but finds himself battling alongside Lin and now working for her and he respects her, jokes with her and they are both finding they care for each other. Therefore, also being a spy and working to overthrow her is a complication. If Lin is the strong calculating character, then Jovis is the heart of the duo with humour, passion, and an ability to always walk into trouble. There is a lovely dynamic of two people finding each other, respecting and challenging each other plus hiding all their secrets from each other at the same time. Added to this is they both realise they are starting to exhibit elemental powers known only to a group known as the Alang – a people so dangerous that Lin’s family wiped them all out. If people found out hey have these powers to control water or the earth; then both of them will likely be executed on the spot. Its so great to have a meaty character focused epic fantasy that you are invested in these two finding out who they are when the pressure is on them.

This works very neatly with the wider plot. Nisong is very much a revenge seeker and ruthless taking each island she finds and killing and creating constructs using bones from her captives. If Lin wants to atone for the past, then Nisong wants to obliterate it and that sets the two up in conflict. The Bone magic where bone from living people can make command tablets that control devices is here shown to its full extent.  Nisong has armies of beasts, and we also see ‘shamblers’ (dead prisoners) it leads to a massive conflict in the book’s finale with rain pouring down, people fighting in the mood and there may be a sea serpent to fear too! What comes across is Stewart is really comfortable with scenes of spying, politics, magic and fighting – it gives the story a huge degree of balance and in every scene the characters are getting pushed. Even Nisong we get to understand why she wants revenge even if we cannot agree with her approach.

While this all is int eh foreground we also gets some simmering mysteries that we are yet to fully understand. Why are certain islands now apparently collapsing ingo the sea; what are the secrets of the Alang and what is the bond between Jovis and Lin’s strange talking animal companions Thrana and Mephi. Stewart manages the difficult balance of giving hints of a wider story but not one that is the only story you care about.

The Bone Shard Emperor is a very very satisfying instalment in this trilogy that builds upon the inventive world created in the first instalment. I loved the sense of progression for the world and their characters but also the moral dilemmas posed. For Lin the question is it ever right for her to use this magic that hurts living people even for a good cause. This is a volume that definitely moves the whole story along but delivers a great adventure to. Highly recommended!