Un cobarde no es aquel que no tiene miedo, sino el que propone a otros para que soporten un sufrimiento que no quiere soportar él”. Segunda parte de esta trilogía. No saben las ganas que tenía de leerla después de lo sucedido al final del primer libro. Por este motivo estaba muy nerviosa, porque no sabía que me podía deparar en esta entrega. Entre ello y otra serie de percances he tardado en leer el libro en un par de meses. A coward is not a man who feels fear. A coward is one who would volunteer others for suffering he would not take on himself.” I’m learning to. What’s the point of having power if we can’t use it to help people? The farmers, the gutter orphans – they’re no different than you or me.”

I have never been more satisfied by the ending of a series—let alone one I loved as much as The Drowning Empire— until The Bone Shard War. The Bone Shard War brings the trilogy to a resoundingly flawless finish, where all of the characters’ arcs culminate in immensely satisfying and touching conclusions. Well, I’m pleased to note that overall it didn’t end up being much of that dreaded middle red-headed stepchild. It was quite alright — nothing earth-shattering or life-changing, but entertaining and often clever and overall a fine continuation of the story. (Now keep in mind, I’m recovering from pretty rough brain fog after getting a Covid vaccine booster the day before I read this book, so don’t hold me responsible for my opinions). I very much enjoyed the previous books in this trilogy. The Bone Shard Daughter introduced engaging characters and set up intriguing questions surrounding the bone shard magic, animal companions, and sinking islands. The Bone Shard Emperor revealed more about these mysteries, focused on the difficulty of changing things for the better when there are underlying systemic problems, and further built the world and characters, making me appreciate the series even more. Though I would have liked these books to delve further into the complexities of the different islands’ problems and the characters, I also found them both absorbing and incredibly fun to read. I do feel the friendships and bonds made in this novel was a major strength too. Phalue and Ranami share such a special connection, especially with their adopted daughter Ayesh. It was nice to see Lin create a small friendship with Phalue, and open herself entirely to Jovis. Even Jovis finds a friend amongst the Ioph Carn, although theirs is an amusing love-hate relationship throughout! Of course there are the Ossalens, Thrana and Mephi, who prove to be the ultimate best friends to Lin and Jovis. Through all the upheaval, betrayal, revelations and challenges our characters face these bonds are what grounds them and motivates them to carry on. I loved that. Furthermore, I was fully blown away by Stewart’s ability to drop so many hints throughout the entire trilogy about something, only for the full truth to be revealed in an intense, heart stopping moment in this final book in the trilogy. All along, this reality was hidden in plain sight. It’s clear that the author had her world and its direction planned from the very beginning. It’s incredibly satisfying to experience the payoff of what readers will now recognize as the build-up from the first two novels to this reveal.

The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart is the much anticipated sequel to The Bone Shard Daughter. Stewart delivers another thrilling tale of secrets and long forgotten memories, of cryptic Bone Shard magic, and of characters who are pushed to their limits… and beyond. Pero, como sabes, toda historia que se precie tiene que tener sus malos malotes y sus dificultades, y aquí tienes unos ENEMIGOS que, en serio, a unos les echarías un cubo de agua fría y a otros no sabes si les harías un sitio en tu cama...🤭Y, ojo, porque si crees que esto es todo, prepárate, porque las dificultades con las que se encuentran nuestros héroes son de las que te enganchan tanto que no puedes parar de leer. One of the best fantasy novels I’ve read in a long time…This book is truly special’Sarah J. Maas on The Bone Shard Daughter

The way Andrea Stewart writes the chapters makes the story flow so well. The plot is still slow paced relative to the first novel but the ending was so explosive that it had me gasping. The way Stewart wraps up her books always manages to bump itself up my rating. Talk about the ending making the book. As usual, Jovis was my favorite character to read about. He was the one who’d changed the most between books due to all he’d endured, plus he is bonded to Mephi, perhaps the most endearing creature in existence. His sections were the most interesting, but they were also intensely aggravating because he kept overlooking obvious solutions to his problems—even after finding the answer to the big problem he’d been dealing with for two years that had an all-too-obvious solution. I think the intent was for him to have given up, so lost in despair and an identity crisis that he forgot himself, but it wasn’t believable to me that it would take him two whole years to figure out something that should have come easily to him. Nils: I was most surprised by Nisong as she was a character who I had previously hated, believing her to be evil, yet in this finale I grew to really sympathise and even become fond of her.In dieser Geschichte geht es zu einem großen Teil um Politik und die Probleme des Machtwechsels, weil viele nur das Beste für sich selbst wollen, andere wollen selbst an der Macht sein und sind bereit, dafür Opfer zu bringen. Auch wenn Lin nicht alles weiß, weiß sie mehr als die meisten und mit der Macht über die Konstrukte hält sie sich selbst auch für die beste Option zu diesem Zeitpunkt. Zwar liegt ihr auch viel daran, sich selbst am Leben zu halten, aber die anderen Parteien haben auch ihre eigenen egoistischen Ziele - bei Lin hatte ich zumindest immer das Gefühl, dass sie sich viel Mühe gibt. Ich fand es da schon schade, dass man ihr keine Chance gibt, sich zu beweisen, aber den Vertrauensvorschuss muss man sich wohl auch verdienen.

Nils: As the novel progressed I think Lin should have recognised that the swords were a lost cause. Every pursuit of them ended with her losing them again and gaining very little. One thing I did miss was the pervading horror elements from The Bone Shard Daughter. They’re still around, but since Lin is no longer trapped in her father’s palace full of constructs, things feel less claustrophobic. The body horror elements really shine when they do show up though, especially through the final point-of-view character, Sand. The stretches with Sand and her army of constructs are powerful yet traumatizing, riveting to read and hard to endure. Despite the things Sand does, you can’t help but sympathize with her situation as she marches doggedly toward her goal. I say “supposedly” because not much is actually remembered about the Alanga. They’ve been gone a long time, and the Sukai Dynasty isn’t exactly known for its forthrightness. The mystery of the Alanga is something The Bone Shard Emperordelves into quite a bit, and it’s a highlight. All I’ll say is it that Stewart handles the Alanga mystery in a very satisfactory way, giving readers a lot of information while simultaneously setting the scene for an explosive conclusion in the forthcoming final book of the trilogy: The Bone Shard War, due out in 2022. Nisong does not give up, even when she should, she will not. And that's frustrating because she's kind of the villain and I want everyone to be happy, but she keeps ruining it.

New in Series

Which brings us to the climax of this book.They say that an ending can either ruin a story or elevate it, and I’m happy to report that the ending of The Bone Shard Emperorthoroughlyelevates everything that came before. The final quarter of the story is an extended action set piece that is on par with anything I’ve read in the genre. If you enjoy stories where converging plot threads and emotional payoffs pummel you one after the other all the way to the finish, then you have happy reading ahead of you. Add on to that the deeper exploration of bone shard magic and the Alanga, solidly written action scenes, great dialogue and a satisfying plot, and The Bone Shard Emperorlaunches the series forward like a ship powered by witstone. Melphi and Thrana were the stars of the book though, as expected. In just about every scene where I teared up, it had something to do with those two (and Lozhi and Shark as well). I just love them so much. As her own governors plot treason, the Shardless Few renew hostilities. Worse still, Lin discovers her old nemesis Nisong has joined forces with the rogue Alanga, Ragan. Both seek her death. Is there a sliding scale of good? And if so, where do my actions fall? I'm trying to do better, but I don't quite know what that looks like.”