It's over and I cried about it! Andrea will be an auto-buy author for as long as we both shall live.


This series is everything. I recommend to anyone, ever. This is going to sounds a bit crazy, but this book was my least favorite. It was still brilliant, I still loved it, but for me it was a bit too much war. The characters and me as a reader couldn't catch a break to the point where it almost became repetitive. There were just some parts that could have been cut out / toned down in my opinion but legit the WHOLE is at war on many different sides so I get it all the same!

These characters (mostly Mephi and Jovis) hold such a special spot in my heart. One day I will go back and experience it all over again, watch them all grow with their failures and successes and that day can't come fast enough.

As this is the 3rd and final book it is hard to say non-spoilers so just know you will have ZERO regrets once you give these a go! Incredible.

I truly expected to enjoy this anticipated conclusion to The Drowning Empire trilogy, but the truth is that I spent most of this reading experience bored.

I will start of with what I did like about this book. Stewart's writing style and characterization remain consistent with the other two books. No characters get a personality transplant or some other nonsense. There are a few twists and turns in the story, but the groundwork is laid for them. Nothing feels like it was added at random purely for shock value.
I thought the final act of the book was the most engaging part.

Now to what I didn't like. The first 60% of this book was monotonous. Worst of all, it accomplished nothing plot wise. The action is repetitive. Our heros show up on to a location, get into a fight with the antagonists, lose, and rinse and repeat.

I need to be honest when I say I simply did not care for Ranami's POV in this installment. Lin and Jovis are the main characters and have the most compelling story. Her plotline was so boring in a book I was already having trouble keeping my interest in. Speaking of characters, I was quite underwhelmed with Dione as a whole. Not what I expected from an ancient wizard who has schemed for centuries.

While I was not thrilled with this conclusion, I'm still happy I was able to complete it. I plan on reading Stewart's next published work.

Thank you to Orbit books and NetGalley for allowing me to read a digital arc in return for a review!
The Drowning Empire trilogy is the first trilogy I have been on NetGalley and gotten approved for throughout; due to this, it will have a very special place in my heart. Thank you, Orbit!!

I enjoyed the usual quality of Andrea Stewart's prose, somewhat dreamy and distant, but direct and clear the read. Never was a sentence wrapped in metaphor more than it ought to be, never was a meaning unclear. One of the twists was noted down solidly down so that the reader would realize with a dawning horror at the same time as the narrators themselves, which I thought worked exceedingly well. I also thought the development of Lin's father continued to be excellent, and I liked my usuals, Dio, Phalue, Ranami, watching them eagerly.

Unfortunately, one thing I hadn't been able to catch onto was Lin and Jovis so much of the POV sections that focused on them felt stifled and I found myself looking forward to what seemed to be a last moment twist. . .only for it to be changed a few pages later. I was certainly disappointed. I also agree with some others-- this felt a bit too bloated, and might have worked better as two separate books-- more to enjoy! I think some things, such as the timeskip, might have worked out better with it, as well as Nilsong's relationship.

I did still, very much enjoy this book! It's no easy feat to cap off a conclusion that wraps up as many loose ends as neatly as Andrea Stewart did, especially in epic fantasy.

A fun continuation of the bone shard world. While I felt the first half of the book was slow, there was still enough happening to keep me reading. By the second half, things really pick up, and I think readers of this series will be happy with the book especially the ending.

"She was coming to realize that memories were fickle things, shifting with the light and the angle."

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

When I got the notification that I received an arc for the ending of this beautiful series, I couldn't believe it. The Bone Shard Daughter was one of my favorite unexpected loves from 2021 and I have been following its growth ever since. The Bone Shard Emperor only expanded my love, and I found that The Bone Shard War quickly became a most anticipated read for this year. Being able to read it early feels like a gift.

It was all I wanted it to be. Tragic and heart breaking. Full of so many different kinds of grief and loss. A lesson on how to go about life without your partner next to you. I love that this series focuses so much on side characters, that nobody seems lost in an epic fantasy plot. Whether it be our main character Lin, or our favorite creature Mekhi, we know their story inside and out.

I continued to be in awe of the bone shard magic, and loved that so many unanswered questions from book one get answers here. What incredible writing to not forgot such small details over such a large expanse of time!

I do have to admit that I was a little lost at times simply because with a two year gap in the plot, the first half of this book was a lot of going back in forth in time. It didn't impact my experience as much as I thought, though, because by the end I was flipping pages faster than I could read waiting to find out how it all concludes.

I love Lin. I think she is one of the best written female characters I've ever read. From the questioning daughter in the first book, to the powerful ruling emperor she becomes, I have never known someone so genuine. Among the years of her life she needs to figure herself out, she's also taking care of an empire and a people who don't necessarily want her. It's unbelievably endearing and exciting.

I already can't wait to read this series through again from start to finish. This has such five star potential, and I can't wait to see if it gets there.

If you haven't read The Drowning Empire books yet, now is the perfect time to start!! This beauty comes out on April 18, and I know she can't wait to spill her secrets to you.

When I found this book, the whole premise drew me in that I had to pick it up. Unfortunately, I had not realized it was part of a trilogy. So, I went back and picked up the first two books to read before I cracked open this one.

I am glad I did because I would have probably never understood it if I had not. LOL, I would be extremely lost knowing what was going on and would have been turned off from the book. But I am glad I did get a chance.

This book, however, was one of the weakest books of the trilogy. I actually struggled with this book that I nearly either DNFed it or I was just going to pick it up here and there to try to finish reading it. I pushed myself to do the latter. I wanted to see how this book ends.

The plot felt like something was either missing or parts of it felt out of place. I could not point out a specific part but the whole thing was meh. I could not even bother to connect with the characters as I had in the first two books. They had personalities and had grown as a character. These characters in the third novel felt like they had taken two steps backward. I can only think that with the feeling that the plot had nothing to really contribute to the story. We step two years into the future on a boat. Yeah. Nothing new has happened in between. There is a war coming on the horizon and a sword quest.

Even Mephi seemed to blend into the background. He was nothing notable unlike he had been in the first two books and I missed him. He was growing on me dammit.

Overall, this series is pretty good and well worth the read. The final book is a bit weak but it works well into finishing up the series. So, definitely give it a chance and you may just enjoy it yourself.

The Bone Shard war is the thrilling final book in the Drowning Empire series by Andrea Stewart, and it hall all the feels you could ever want in a last book. The Bone Shard series is my favorite series I read this year. Though I know we are not far into the year, it is a fantastic Adult fantasy. Lin, our main character, is a raw and genuine character who has to figure out who she is, all while trying to make choices about the empire she is ruling. I like how the timeline moved in this book since it is told from different character perspectives. We see the events from various points in the story and how they affect the characters in their view in the timeline. Thanks to NetGalley and orbit book for the chance to review this book.

A fitting and bittersweet ending to one of the most innovative fantasy trilogies I've ever read (and I've read a lot). The beginning is a bit slow but the ending does not disappoint. Can't wait to see what Andrea Stewart comes up with next!

Thank You to Orbit and Netgalley for the Advanced Copy of one of my most anticipated books this year.
The Bone Shard series was one of my favourite and surprising series read last year.
The Bone Shard War is the conclusion to the trilogy and sadly the weakest book of the series. I do not in any way discourage anyone from reading the series it is still excellent.
In books 1 and 2 we were spoiled with a different approach to fantasy world building that was a mix of oriental fantasy worlds (think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and gothic horror. The multi character POVs moved the story along and was necessary to illustrate the external stories and characters impacted by the core characters at the center of the Empire, the Emperor and his daughter Lin our MC.
I can’t really go into too much detail here without spoiling the first 2 books but sufficed to say the main issue I had with book 3 is the pacing. It just felt a little bloated with repetative interactions and scenes that should have moved along much faster.
The first 50-60% of the book was a struggle for me. It seemed every character was moving from place to place looking for something, failing, once in a while meeting in combat and then moving on to just do much of the same on the next point of travel. Very few new elements of surprise were introduced is this part of the story; a lot of introspection and internal dialogue but not much in the way of action or shocking twists like what captured my attention in books 1 and 2.
The last 3rd of the book all the POVs converge and we have a final battle for the future of the Empire. This is where the book redeems itself. The story moves quickly, almost too quickly to a conclusion that is somewhat satisfying but fell a little short of being epic in my honest opinion.
There were some holes in the finale I found a bit unsettling. The character Alysha seemed to play such a major part in the end but we never get her POV or her mental development. The biggest dissappointment for me is how we finish with Jovis our main male character. His finale was not fleshed out enough, especially in final chapters , we only get his events through Lin’s POV, but I wanted to be in Jovis’s head as we were for much of the story. It just felt a little unbalanced.
Book 1 & 2 were 4 and 4.5 star reads for me. I give this third book a 3 star. Placing the overall series at a 3.75 - 4 star read. Still highly entertaining and a recommended read if you don’t mind an ending that is tad underwhelming given my expectations from the tour de force books one and two were. The Bone Shard series still holds a place of honor on my bookshelf.

I am beyond thrilled and humbled to have received an advanced copy of this to review but goodness gracious, The Bone Shard War didn't do it for me.

Andrea Stewart is an incredible writer, she's funny but still able to write emotionally complex characters and she's creative! But I can't help but feel that the creativity (especially on display in The Bone Shard Daughter) was missing here.

Throughout the series we're introduced to some very unique ideas - Bone Shard magic specifically is some of the most interesting fantasy I've ever read. Even the Alanga magic in book two was explored in creative ways (suffocation with small streams of water). This book felt like it leaned into the 'war' and in doing so lost the charm that drew me into the series in the first place.

The book while well written is similar to a long action sequence, one where to protagonists lose again and again until about 75% of the way through - it's all okay but not exactly compelling to read after a certain point.

There are a few surprises or big reveals but they didn't really land for me in the way they were probably supposed to. Still an excellent series overall and now Andrea Stewart has a reader for life but this one in particular just didn't stick the landing in the way I had hoped it would.

Thank NetGalley!

I adore this author and i love this series.
I can’t say much without spoiling it and since it’s part of a series all I’m gonna say is read this book, this series in general asap.
It is so good!
It had everything i was expecting to see and it was really well written as always.
I’m really happy with this book.
If it’s on your tbr read this series asap!

I got more and more bored with this series with each book. The covers are gorgeous, and Stewart is a talented writer. But the plot was too winding and convoluted for me. I understand why Ranami's, Phalue's, and Nisong's storylines were important to understanding what was happening in the world, but it was so hard to keep track of who was currently on which island, who was on the same island as someone else, etc. I also felt that the magic system, while incredibly unique and interesting, could've been explained a bit better, and Stewart could've drawn on the sheer horror of a lot of aspects of the plot. Like Jovis realizing that Lin had Emahla's actual eyeballs. That wasn't really addressed past Jovis acknowledging that and accepting that Emahla was dead.
There is something to say about how I was never able to guess a plot twist. In the first book, I was absolutely convinced that Sand was Emahla, and I thought for sure that Lin was a recreation of the original Lin Sukai. Anyway, this series dragged, a lot, and I was confused and bored more often than I wasn't.
However, Mephi was the one redeeming quality. I can honestly say I have never in my life been as attached to a fictional character in any media as I am to Mephi. I love him so much and he's entirely the reason I didn't stop reading partway through the second book. I just want to give him a hug, and I loved his character development throughout the books as he became wiser and got a better grasp on language. He's precious. I think in the future I would be likely to give Stewart a second chance just because she created such a lovable character.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was an amazing and epic conclusion to a series. I was in awe and am speechless.

This was a whirlwind of a book and overall a good conclusion to the trilogy. Although it hasn't been a long time since I read the first two books, I did find myself a bit lost at the beginning of this book as I couldn't remember some of the things that happened previously, so you might want to read a summary or flip through the second half of the second book to refresh your memory as it took a while for me to get back into this world.

There are a lot of moving pieces and POVs in the story and they are interwoven nicely overall. (There was one point where it seemed like one character POV was forgotten about for a while but really I think it was a timeline issue and the other characters needed to catch up to the same timeline.) The war of the title is not just one war and not just two sides; multiple sides come together and sometimes create a tentative alliance and sometimes are at complete odds. Seeing the shifts in power and in those viewpoints makes the story really complex, which I appreciated.

My favorite characters are Jovis and Mephi and (slight spoiler warning), their story broke my heart and I ended up crying at one point, so I was definitely emotionally invested in those characters.

A wonderful finale to a trilogy following Lin, now that she’s become the Emperor, and what she must do, learn, and sacrifice to unify and save her island kingdom. Different characters alternate telling their stories in different chapters, Jovis’s story is heartbreaking, and the chapters of Ranami, Phalue and Ayesh had me holding my breath as each of their worlds opened and changed. Nisong surprised me, as did Lin. Sacrifice, love, forgiveness , and redemption are themes that echo through all three books, and come together to form a satisfying end.
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read an advance copy, and to Andrea Stewart and her imagination for bringing these characters to life. Finally, I loved her quote in the acknowledgements, “may you always have someone in your life who loves you as much as Mephi does Jovis”. That’s my favorite relationship!

Another masterful story in the riveting epic fantasy saga continues this epic story where the previous book left off and takes readers on a high-stakes ride with tightly-plotted twists and horrors that are downright eldritch.

4.5/5 stars! Ahh! I have been waiting for the conclusion of this series and was so excited to get this book. There's something so raw and genuine about Lin having conquered her enemies but at the cost of her friends in the previous entry. This book was written with a unique perspective of showing what has occurred at different times and I really enjoyed this. Without failures, we could never have successes so I think including that angle was relevant and made it feel more authentic. I love the series as a whole but could see where some would be disappointed with the conclusion of solely this book.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

This perfect conclusion to one of my favorite fantasy series. I went into this series without knowing much and I’m so glad I did. This series has never let me down. From the first chapter of every book I’m pulled in immediately and can never put it down. Jovis, Lin, Mephi… they have become some of my favorite character I’ve come across. I know this will be a series I will read again

The Bone Shard War was a satisfying end to the trilogy. The ending had plenty of twists and turns from what I expected would occur. Writing was excellent and I grew closer to the characters through this final book. I honestly wish there were more. My only two complaint are that this book is set 2 years later from the last book, but almost nothing seems to have happened in that duration and that this was somewhat slow paced. Overall a great book and author.

I love the first 2 books in the trilogy. They were exciting, new and I love the magic systerm. This continues in the third book- the finale!

Lin is still wonderful... brave, strong and trying to do the right thing. There are difficult choices and unforeseen consequences. There are more myths here about mythic swords... Lin must do her best to save the kingdom.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc