The Bone Shard Emperor – Review

Hi everyone! Today is the release date for The Bone Shard Emperor, which is the second book in The Drowning Empire series so I’m sharing my review! Hope you enjoy, and let me know if you’re planning on picking up the book today!

The Bone Shard Emperor
by Andrea Stewart
Series: The Drowning Empire #2
Release date: November 23rd 2021

Genre: Adult, Fantasy
Rating: ★★★★☆

Andrea Stewart returns with The Bone Shard Emperor, the second installment of this unmissable, action-packed, magic-laced fantasy epic.

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 the north-east 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. They claim they come in peace, and Lin will need their help in order to defeat the rebels and restore peace.  

But can she trust them?

This is the second book in the Drowning Empire series and picks up not long after the end of the first book. We’re also following the same characters of Lin, Jovis, Phalue, Ranami, and Nisong with the same writing style with Lin and Jovis’ chapters told in first person and the other three side characters are all written in third person. It’s really a testament to Stewarts’ writing that the flow from each chapter is so seamless, you almost don’t even notice the change from first to third person.

I really enjoyed the magic in this installment and how everything is starting to really expand, plus we get much more about the elemental magic with this book which I always love. We also learn more about the Alanga – but in learning more it also opened up so many more questions! We also continue to have the characters keep secrets from each other that are revealed over time, and that made everything really suspenseful. Between all the secrets and then the events of the book, there’s just so many things that can go wrong and at this point almost anything can happen in the next book!

I absolutely loved seeing Thrana and Mephi, and how their bonds with Lin and Jovis developed, and they were just as entertaining as they were in the first book!

The last 20% or so I was literally screaming because of the reveals that happened, all of which would be major spoilers and I don’t want to ruin that for anyone, because it’s truly something incredible to read.

The one thing that I didn’t really like was actually the romance subplot between Lin and Jovis. I don’t think it was really necessary, and that’s coming from someone who loves romance in their fantasy books. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t detract from the story as a whole and it may be something that comes into play in the next book, but it just didn’t really add anything for me in this particular book. After having a few days to think about this, I’m wondering if it’s maybe more of a way for Lin to feel close to someone whose already there rather than her truly developing feelings for Jovis? Only time will tell!

Overall, this was a VERY strong sequel and there is definitely no middle book slump here! I’m excited and nervous to see what the final book does, and especially what Andrea Stewart does next because she’s definitely a writer to keep your eye on.