This was such a fun read! I enjoyed the character dives after the lack of depth I felt like plagued the first book. Additionally, I love the added creature characters... they brought so much joy and whimsy to the book that balanced out everything at stake. I still had a hard time picturing the world this story takes place in, but feel like Stewart's writing skills and mastery of different elements of fiction are increasing with each page, so I really look forward to the third installment of the trilogy!

Definitely give it a read. The awesome grows from book one to book two, and I feel pretty excited about what book three will have to offer! ( )

Lin Sakai is now Emperor of a realm on the edge of chaos. Do to her...hasty assumption of the throne the previous emperor was unable to pass on much crucial information about the Alanga, the ancient enemies of the empire, as well as day to day functioning. The outer islands had not seen the emperor in decades and any imperial oversight was carried out by constructs, sworn personally to the deceased emperor and now unreliable. Lin, with Jovis as her Captain of the Guard, wants to do away with bone shard magic and strengthen the empire, but there are multiple rebellions underway. A construct army is assembling with eyes on the throne and vengeance, the Shardless Few express skepticism that a new Sakai Emperor will be any different from the previous, and Alanga artifacts are awakening and islands quaking.

'The Bone Shard Emperor' is an excellent follow-up to one of my favorite books of 2020. Stewart digs deeper into the characters and they all begin to interact answering some questions and opening larger mysteries.

The Drowning Empire

Next: 'The Bone Shard War'

Previous: 'The Bone Shard Daughter' ( )

This is a strong continuation of the series started with The Bone Shard Daughter. The characters have grown in depth and have started to interact in interesting ways. More of the history and mythology have been revealed, which sheds some light on some of the mysteries presented in the first book, but there are still plenty of unanswered questions. I enjoyed the story and how it grew, but felt that the villain, Nisong, was still a bit underdeveloped. She was very single minded and I could see where the writer was trying to make her sympathetic, but to truly accomplish that, I think we needed longer scenes with her and her "family" to really appreciate the loss she experiences. She just comes across as shallow and I could see how I could truly sympathize with her had she been given more scenes with more opportunity. I'm very interested to see where the next volume takes us though ( )

One Sentence Summary: Now Emperor, Lin is determined to unite the empire with Jovis by her side, but secrets about their mysterious enemy the Alanga and challenges from constructs Lin didn’t know about threaten to topple her before she can do anything.

Warning: May contain spoilers for the first book, The Bone Shard Daughter.

Overall
The Bone Shard Emperor is a solid second book in The Drowning Empire trilogy. It builds on what was presented in the first book, deepening the characters, expanding the world, and providing more answers to questions while still leaving a good deal of mystery. Like the first book, this one continued to focus on Lin, Jovis, Nisong, Phalue, and Ranami. Mephi, of course, was a ton of fun to read and I’m really happy he has a new friend like himself. In this book, more of the threads are drawn together, bringing the characters into closer proximity and heightening the threats to Lin’s throne. While I wasn’t a fan of the romance and traveling around to the different islands, I did enjoy this book as it very nicely sets up for what should be an exciting conclusion as multiple stories and sides seem to be hurling towards each other.

Extended Thoughts
Set not long after the events of the first book, The Bone Shard Emperor finds Lin, the new emperor, trying to figure out her father’s secrets and preparing to set out to visit four islands. Jovis is now in her employ as her Captain of the Imperial Guard, though he finds himself torn between spying for the Shardless Few and keeping Lin’s secrets. With Mephi and Lin’s creature companion Thrana in tow, they set off for the islands as questions and revelations about the Alanga begin to come to light.

On the islands, Phalue and Ranami are enjoying their marriage as Phalue has become governor. But the Shardless Few are pushing Phalue to do as they wish while she tries to do what she can for her people. On a nearby island, Nisong is gathering the constructs as she seeks to conquer all the islands between her and Imperial as she believes she should be emperor.

With pressure and impending war on all sides and the Alanga seemingly returning, Lin and Jovis are up against almost too much, and sinking islands aren’t helping.

Just like the first book, The Bone Shard Emperor follows Lin, Jovis, Nisong, Phalue, and Ranami as the empire is held together by a thread. While I wasn’t a big fan of the traveling around to the islands as it reminded me too much of those fantasy stories that are little more than adventures across the land in order to showcase as much of the world as possible, this was still a solid installment in the trilogy that offered a lot of answers and still more questions for the third book to answer. I really liked that everything seemed to be heating up and more of the characters encountered each other. The Bone Shard Emperor takes its time, but it’s well worth it as the world unfolds little by little and danger and threats seem to lie in wait everywhere.

On Imperial, Lin and Jovis are preparing to travel to four islands in order to help secure the empire under Lin, who is acutely aware that her reclusive father did more damage than good during his rule. With Alanga relics awakening, there’s fear that this powerful people are returning to destroy them and Lin hopes to secure promises of people to join her guard as she has chosen to destroy the construct army. But she’s also still trying to demystify all of her father’s secrets and might have her own troubling new powers to contend with as her new creature companion, Thrana, learns to live without fear. In some ways, it’s good she has Jovis and Mephi by her side. The bond they form is sweet and just what both of them need, though I can’t say I was a huge fan of the romantic overtones as I felt they came off a little too strong. But Mephi, as always, was adorable with the cutest little quirk ever (though many characters might not agree!). I wish there had been more of him, but he’s growing up and adolescent Mephi was just as much fun as baby Mephi. Jovis, on the other hand, was one character I both wanted to hug and shake. He has a good heart, but his loyalties are just too divided. I enjoyed the tension it brought, but there were times I just wanted to slap some sense into him.

Turning to the constructs, I both loved and hated Nisong’s chapters. I loved that I completely understood her desires and drive, but she was also so one minded that she ended up lacking the depth I needed to really connect with her. It broke my heart to read about the constructs close to her and what happened to them, and then to see Nisong just plow on ahead. I do like the way the two sides clashed in kind of an epic way at the end, especially with the threat of the Alanga at full force, but I felt not enough time had been taken to develop her and her story, so it felt like the weakest part of the book to me even if I did enjoy how it played out at the end.

Phalue and Ranami still kind of confuse me. Their relationship feels strange, almost forced, and I’m still not completely sure why they are two of the main characters instead of one of the other governors or even someone from the Shardless Few. I find the Shardless Few more interesting and, while I appreciate they’re being brought into the story through Phalue and Ranami, I think it falls a little flat to me. Their marriage, while it gives me the relationship I was sorely lacking in the first book, comes across as two people clashing more than melding. I do like that they come from very different backgrounds and that has an interesting hand in how they govern and there was a nice twist thrown in, but their story line wasn’t quite as interesting as I had hoped it would be.

The Bone Shard Emperor not only has some really interesting characters, but also a fascinating story and world. I loved that the two felt like they went hand in hand. Not only did we learn more about the empire’s history in relation to the Alanga, but it also built up the world a little more. I didn’t get the sense of drifting islands in this one, but I liked that each island was a bit different from the others, but there was so much that still tied them together. I also enjoyed the different receptions Lin got even though I found the traveling from island to island kind of tiresome (traveling the world isn’t really my cup of tea right now). But my favorite was trying to figure out how the sinking islands and the return of the Alanga might be related. My mind kept spinning onto possible answers. While this book does give more history and more answers, there’s still so much left that I’m dying to know how it wraps up in the last book.

The Bone Shard Emperor is a solid second book offering just enough without being overwhelming and keeping cards close to its chest. It didn’t exactly impress me as much as the first book, but I really enjoyed how it built up and still has more to offer. I definitely enjoyed the second half more than the first as the first half felt more like steps backwards and the pressing issues of the Alanga and Nisong and her construct army were pushed out of the way when I really wanted them front and center. Overall, though, I did like what was offered and can’t wait to see how it plays out in the last book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Angela Man from Orbit for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own. ( )

I read this as an ARC through NetGalley.

In this sequel to the author’s Bone Shard Daughter, Emperor Lin Sukai must take over a fragmented land of many islands from her father’s despotic and uncaring hands. She has lost most of her friends from book one, other than her bonded creature Thrana, and has gained the folk hero ex-smuggler Jovis and his creature Mephi as her new Captain of the Guard. But she really has no one she can trust completely.

And she has a major problem. The islands of the Empire have begun to sink. No one understands why, though there are theories. She must learn the reason it’s happening so she can stop it and save her people.

She is also under attack from many fronts. Many of the islands are, if not in open rebellion, not happy with having a new Emperor and certainly not loyal. She must win their trust and support while facing two genuine enemies.

The terrorist organization the Shardless Few is led by the one-eyed and formidable Gio who is hell bent on tearing down the Empire and replacing it with a citizen council working on behalf of all the people of the Empire. Lin also wants to work on behalf of her people and she doesn’t see how replacing herself with Gio is going to really help anyone. Both think they can do the job better.

The second problem is Nisong, a construct based on her “mother”, her father’s consort. Out on a far island, the constructs have become self-aware, and because Nisong, like Lin, has the real Nisong’s memories, she has learned to create more constructs using bone shard magic. She is building a massive army to attack the Empire and turn all its people into constructs or power for constructs. She says it is because Lin has ordered the constructs destroyed and they just want to live, but is it really? Nisong also thinks she can run the empire better than Lin.

This all relies on the unique magical system of bone shard magic, introduced in the prequel book. Bone shards are removed from live people from a place behind their ear. They are carved with instructions and placed inside the bodies of constructs – basically the sewn-together bits of dead humans or animals, which are then imbued with life and who eat and drink and live. But they are programmed things only capable of following instructions, like AI, based on the magically carved bone shards placed inside their bodies. And they shorten the lives of the people whose shards are inside them, using those humans as power packs, basically.

There once were other sources of magic, however. The Alanga were powerful and fearsome wizards who could control the elements but who didn’t care about ordinary people and murdered them wantonly. The first Emperor had killed all the Alanga to take control of the Empire. Each of these wizards was bonded to and seemingly drew power from a creature called an ossalin, like Lin’s friend Thrana and Jovis’s Mephi. And now more people are showing up with ossalins. And they are showing Alanga powers, including Lin and Jovis. They have to hide these powers from those around them as Alanga are hated and feared by everyone.

This is literally the set-up of this highly complicated book. There is a ton going on here, and also a lot of trauma based on the childhoods of the various characters and the experiences they suffered in the first novel in this series. I adored it. This book assumes you can figure out things while Lin and Jovis do. It never talks down to you. Every character is well-drawn and has their own agenda and seems like a real, three-dimensional person. There are a lot of people to root for, and the “villains” are mostly not even wrong. They are fighting for a type of justice as well for the most part. And everyone is hiding something.

The bone shard magic is fascinating, and it’s not just the only weird merge of magic and science in this book. These are thinky wizards and there’s not just hand-waving and something goes boom. Everything has an explanation and works logically.

I also love the setting is NOT Western European fantasyland that everyone does. And it’s not specifically any Asian land, either. It’s its own world and society with its own history and it’s really interesting.

I just out and out loved this and I can’t wait for the next one in the series. I will be recommending it to everyone and following this author to see how she ends this and what she does next. ( )