And are the people whose shards power the super-important 4 closest construct advisors of the Emperor under special guard? Are choices or expectations what shape us, and what decisions do we choose to make with that in mind? One day, she falls from a tree, and almost immediately begins to remember things, including a different life in a different place.

It also poses too many questions that I want them answered and I didn’t feel like the author here tackled them, like did Lin grow? Some of you may know this already, but my interest to read a book—without any review from someone I trust—by a new author whose work I haven’t read before depends solely on the cover art of the debut, and thankfully, the gorgeous cover art by Sasha Vinogradova revealed last month did grab my attention. What I appreciated was how this one concept blooms into more worldbuilding concepts: the bone shard harvesting has become a ceremony, where children wear their best clothes and are rewarded afterwards with their favorite dishes. I imagined myself in her shoes (though given her height, they might be too big for me), trying to compose an elevator pitch…and shuddered.For the first time in forever, I now have to wait FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR for the sequel *screams* I really am very excited about where book two will go, because it's set up to be epic.

I would definitely recommend this book to any readers who are seeking to dip their toes in adult fantasy but might be intimidated by the genre; the prose is beautiful not in a dense, flowery way but a simple, subtly captivating way. This doesn’t mean I was disappointed or thought the book was bad or didn’t like the f/f relationship; I just want to note for readers that the f/f relationship isn’t central and the book is nothing like TPW, so they don’t go in with incorrect expectations like I did! However, perhaps this is down to the fact that, back in the day, I was a seaman myself: most readers would probably not be bothered by this at all. It also follows three other characters—Phalue, Ranami, and Sand—whose paths weave intricately with the others to create an overall compelling narrative. I absolutely loved reading the growth he goes through, helped along by the quiet, steady companionship of Mephi, a talking magical animal creature who slowly gets him to open up.Honestly speaking, The Bone Shard Daughter was not on my radar despite people’s excitement on Twitter—where I found out about this book—back when the acquisition was first announced. Andrea Stewart is the daughter of immigrants, and was raised in a number of places across the United States. p>Sign up to the Little, Brown newsletter for news of upcoming publications, competitions and updates from our authors.

In fact, I do think that they’re the best SFF publisher for newer releases at the moment, and The Bone Shard Daughter is the recent addition to their catalog of stunning quality. But I'll confess, before reading this novel I thought Lin was going to be the one with a f/f relationship, and then when I learned she wasn't . Cobbled together from the parts of various animals, these constructs are powered by human skull shards, which every child in the empire must provide. Far from Fantasy clichés, the author succeeded in creating a very original universe and use of magic. Something that I found absolutely refreshing was that there’s a queer relationship that’s totally normalised.Lin is able to command the constructs because they’re supposed to listen to Nisong, and Lin is kind of Nisong.