The Bone Shard Daughter

The emperor's reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire's many islands.
Lin is the emperor's daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.
Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright - and save her people.

“Father told me I’m broken.”

There are few first lines more intriguing than that. If you like a book with bone magic, smugglers, secrets, established queer relationship, mysterious islands, and magical animal companions, this book is for you.

I absolutely loved the magic system in this book. I thought it was unique but also had logical limitations that posed challenges to users who weren’t well versed in it. I love the idea of bone constructs – how they work, what you need to do, and how you can modify them. I particularly appreciated how the magic system affected the people of the empire and how it dictated their relationship with the emperor.

My absolute favourite thing about this book is Mephi, one of the character’s animal companions. He is cat-like, clever, and downright adorable.

The book is written in multiple POVs which give the reader a small snapshot of the lives of the main cast. I’m not the biggest fan of switching POVs but I also don’t hate them. I was weary I wouldn’t particularly come to care for all of them, but the further I got into the book, the more established each character felt and I was able to better understand their motivations. I also got the sense that the author trusted the reader enough to piece together information revealed between these POVs and guess where the story could be heading.

This is a promising start to a series. I have a feeling there will be more twists ahead and I’m curious to see how that plays out.

Thank you to Orbit for providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!