Thank you NetGalley and Orbit Books for the ARC!!

I was so excited to receive this ARC as I fell in LOVE with "The Bone Shard Daughter". In total candor, these books require a lot of intricate world building, as well as breaking down the magic of engraving bone shards. It is not a story for the faint of heart, and is most definitely a slow burn. However, there were characters that really helped to drive the momentum of the story. Most definitely on the top is Jovis and Mephi. Throughout "The Bone Shard Emperor", the introduction of Ragan as well as the continued unveiling of Nisong's vengence/determination helps to keep the reader engaged as we're taken deeper into the history of the Sukai dynasty.

There are two main takeaways from this series. "The Drowning Empire" trilogy is a much NEEDED branch of fantasy. We are finally seeing new cultures and diversification within the genre and it could not have come at a better time. However, the trilogy is a somewhat taxing read and more drawn out than it needs to be. The final installation is the trilogy reads as if the author was trying very hard to honor the history of the myth and forgets that current generations get bored with 6 second videos much less a 624 page book in a 1712 page series.

Overall, if you're up for the challenge, it is definitely worthwhile.

A fantastic conclusion to the trilogy that kept me enthralled with an upbeat tempo while simultaneously pulling at my heartstrings with complex characters, relationships and of course politics. Andrea Stewart did it again, and I’m glad I was here for the ride. I can’t see what she does next.
The word war in the title was not used lightly as the battles began in the very first chapters and do not let up. Amid the tumult on the endless sea, we see our beloved narrators question themselves, their morals, their relationship and their motives again and again. There are no clear cut answers nor even to the reader who looks upon all this from the outside. Jovis, my own favorite character, keeps this light with his witty remarks and jokes despite going through the most heartbreaking experiences I’ve ver and over again. I was especially bored with Ranami so her comeback towards the end felt very satisfying and well deserved for her character. Finally while I enjoyed this oeuvre very very much, I think the imagery of war and its effects on laymen could have been better captured if there were a few chapters that had POVs from the common people. Besides this perfect from beginning to crescendo to closing. Thanks for letting me read this <3

This was the PERFECT final book in this trilogy - epic yet so personal in all the right characters. Every reader grew to love Lin, Jovis and all the wonderful protagonists, but it takes a special kind of writer to write the kind of despicable yet relatable antagonists like in this series. Will absolutely be reading whatever the author writes next!

The Bone Shard War is about endings and it delivers for the most part. While a fairly good book, this one suffers for being the one after book two, which I thought was amazing. It was not as exciting as the second book with the buildup to the final battle for the empire somewhat lacking in comparison to the events of book two. Lin, who has been my favorite character throughout the trilogy, seems to have been relegated to a supporting character, and there is not much interaction between her and Jovis. I was disappointed but can see why this was the case. Mephi and Thrana, however, continue to be my favorite sidekicks. The Drowning Empire will continue to be a trilogy I tout for its worldbuilding and animal sidekicks even if it ends on a somewhat bittersweet note.

Loved the first two books in this series, this one somehow I found less compelling. I think one issue for me was the fact that the two romantic leads were separated throughout most of the book, after their on-page chemistry and banter had been such a highlight. The side characters are wonderful too, but they were separated from each other as well — maybe that was just too much? It felt like the momentum of the first two books was suddenly cut in half. I did like the resolution of the various narrative threads, but I was less invested in the journey to that resolution than I had been before. Still a fun series that I would definitely recommend, and I’ll still read more of whatever Andrea Stewart writes next!
Thanks to the publisher and to Netgalley for providing an ebook arc for review.

Sadly I got this book not realizing it was not the first in the series so I will not be reviewing it at this time until I read the other books in the series because I don't want to give myself spoilers! I think the cover art and the blurb are very beautiful and interesting though and thank you to the author for approving it for me. I'm sorry for not reviewing it right now but I did want to provide this feedback so It would not negatively reflect on me

It was so bittersweet having to say goodbye to such a beloved series. I fell in love with 'The Bone Shard Daughter' years ago, and it has been both a pain and a joy to go along the ride with these characters with each installment in the series. 'The Bone Shard Daughter' became one of my favourites when I read it back in 2020, as I loved the world, its magic, and of course, our characters (Mephi is always my favourite!).

The ending was emotional and impactful, and I adored the many new characters we were able to glimpse into through perspective. I'm in love with the resolution all the main characters received, especially the ollassen (Thrana, Mephi and Lozhi). This series will forever hold a precious place in my heart.

I have mixed feelings about this final installment, The end kind of fell flat for me. Overall it felt repetitive and predictable even if I still enjoyed being back in the world and seeing the story through. I thought the time jump was a great way to further the story, but it got confusing with so many POVs and many of them were not consistent or well-spaced.
However, so many loose ends were tied and questions were answered from the previous books. The magic system is still one of my favorites. Lin's development saved a lot of the other shortcomings I had with the book!

High stakes fantasy and a stunning conclusion to the Bone Shard trilogy. Rich characters, fantastic magic system, this series is difficult to put down.

i didn't make it through the first couple of chapters. I just want not captivated like the first two books in the series. I will try again later to pick this up.

Unfortunately this was an ending that only sort of stuck the landing for me. My biggest issue was how bloated this felt, where earlier in the series I would say a strength of the work was how tightly plotted everything was. I am also not a quest driven reader so the whole "go to a place to get a thing" repetitive plot arcs where never going to be to my taste. This could have probably still been a four star with all of that for me if it weren't for the new antagonist that we got in book 2, I think he completely detracted from the larger conversation we could have had with Dione and added to the bloat. I do see how this arc allows us to see the development of another character but I think there were other ways we could have done that. I also was noticing holes in the magic/world building that really bothered me with one of our character's situations that he was stuck in, and it felt like he was stuck in it longer than made sense logically so there would be this emotional pay off scene but that didn't land for me cause I was already pretty annoyed that he was still stuck in that situation. There is still a lot of good in this series, the ideas are fascinating and I generally like the themes but I do think a lot of these little things added up to just make me feel bummed and exhausted by the end of the experience.

I probably should not have continued with this series, as I found book two to be pretty bad, and I didn't love book one. However, I was really determined to figure out why this wasn't clicking, because on paper I should like this series. It just wasn't working.

And I had a random thought while reading this book, and then I searched the book for a phrase. And once I did, it allowed my issues with this series to coalesce. Bear with me here: this book says the phrase "The Shardless Few" 307 times.

The Shardless Few is the name of the organization/rebellion trying to overthrow the government. And their name is said CONSTANTLY. Why is this the problem? It's not. It's a symptom of the problem. My issue with this series is that none of it feels believable, none of the characters act like real people, none of the political stakes feel like real stakes. Everything is extraordinarily hollow to me.

I first realized this because we are presented this story through five POV characters from various backgrounds, and each of them interacts with many others, and every single one of these characters say "The Shardless Few X. The Shardless Few Y. We can't ignore the Shardless Few. The Shardless Few are here. Whose here? The Shardless Few." and I just don't think everyone would always talk like this. That's a long phrase and especially people who have to interact with the group daily would shorten it. The Shardless. The Few. The SFs, dammit. Can you imagine if every single time a person in the FBI referred to the FBI, they said "Federal Bureau of Investigation"? They would sound absurd. Their vocal cords would rebel. People just don't do this.

And that's a silly nitpick, that was just taking me out of it a little. But once I realized that, I was aware of how every character felt like that. They talked as if they were being written. The scheming was written as if they were being told to pretend to scheme, like an acting workshop without the instructor's presence. The political aspects were like if a child just said "hey in my story, these are the bad guys. Why? They do bad stuff I guess." Most of the high stakes drama boils down to someone being like:

"We must stop the abuse! The Shardless Few want to stop the abuse! We will not ignore The Shardless Fee's desires. We agree with the Shardless Few."
"Okay I will work with the Shardless Few, because I also don't like abuse and stuff."
"Thank you for helping the Shardless Few! The Shardless Few will appreciate it! The Shardless Few will fill help the children. With the orphanages and stuff."
"The children? Oh yeah, children. Orphanages. Yes, this is a big problem. I will help the Shardless Few with the orphanages"

Like what is this series even about? Why do any of these people do the things they do? There are all these islands and we are supposed to care about rebellions on each island and various injustices on these islands but each island's personality is "island". There's "island X" and "Island Y" and everyone has the same thoughts and opinions; they want the children to be taken care of and for the abuses to stop. Down with the emperor! Long live the Shardless Few!

K.

I will also say that the audiobook narrators were mostly really good, and got me through this entire series.

This was one of the best fantasy trilogies I've read in a while. The world building. The characters. The plot development. Epic. It takes about the first 20% of The Bone Shard Daughter to pick up steam. However, once immersed in the character’s lives, the book and the sequels were a joy to read. While not a page turner throughout, the story sat with me for much longer than expected after I completed the series.

Jovis is a such well written love interest. As a flawed character, his journey throughout the book was unexpected. The same could be said about Lin, though her stoicism is more of a constant. Mephi is likely to be everyone’s favorite character, as the comic relief, he was a true balance of innocence and wisdom. My only wish was that there was more of a goodbye from Mephi at the end. This last book, The Bone Shard War, wraps up the story thoroughly, with a strong finality that left me feeling satisfied (we should hope after 600+ pages!). I would definitely read more in if this world continued, but I was very pleased with the ending nevertheless.

Hmmm. It’s difficult to write a review for the third and final book of a series without giving spoilers.

As always, the world and magic system in this series is fascinating and very unique. I really enjoyed the setting.

I felt that the pacing of this book was odd. The beginning, about the first third or so, was incredibly slow and took me a while to get through. Then the rest kind of felt repetitive and disjointed. Too much separation (distance wise) between the POV characters. I would’ve liked to see them come together at some point.

Thank you for the arc!

Unfortunately I was disappointed by this trilogy. There is a large time skip from the end of the second novel, and it was hard to adjust to the characters in their new positions when there was so much pining. Perhaps this is a "me" problem due to the amount of time that had passed since I read the other books, both of which I enjoyed.

One of the best fantasies I’ve read since LOTR…

This series has a split plot between several POVs. Through the eyes of the emperor, we see a privileged person trying to rule the masses. Lin has been through a lot in previous books, but she’s also grown up in a palace and is disconnected from her people. The nuance and dichotomy is on point.

Jovis is a slave to the smugglers he’s spent the last two books running from. He was a smuggler, a hero, and is now an unwilling smuggler who hurts people to survive the situation he’s in. Again, the author showing that two opposing things can exist together.

Phalue has come a long way, but Ranami was the big surprise in this book. Her personal growth was the biggest surprise for me here.

This plot is so nuanced and complex, but I was never lost for a second. That takes some serious skills, and I can’t wait to see what else Andrea Stewart has up her sleeve.

An absolutely incredible end to one of the best fantasy series I’ve read in recent years.
I don’t want to go further into detail bc spoilers, but it is worth the wait

The Short: The Bone Shard War was a great end to a fantastic trilogy! I honestly loved all of the twists and turns that Andrea weaved into this final installment. And the ending was perfect, in my own opinion.

The Long: This is one of those series that intrigued me from the beginning. I binged the first two and had to patiently wait for the third to publish. I was so happy when the ARC hit my kindle because I needed to find out what happened next. I never even would’ve guessed what was causing the islands to sink. I enjoyed every minute of this book.

I will always highly recommend this series.

This is the finale to one of my favorite fantasy trilogies and this one went in a very different direction than the first 2, all of our characters are separated and they each are on there own personal journey which I really enjoyed. I think for an ending, it gave each character to almost say goodbye in a way. It is much slower in my opinion than the first 2 which is different than you’re typical epic finale. I liked the slower paced feel especially for a series that I don’t want to end. Throughout this series Andrea slowly builds a rich fantasy world with cute animal companions, ancient elemental magic wielders, and bone magic and in this final book, she answers all of the questions that us readers had,
Full review on YouTube

I very much enjoyed the first two books in this series, so I was very excited to read this finale! I did enjoy returning to this world and getting to spend time with some of the characters. Other characters were frustrating, or I felt I didn't need POV chapters for them. This one is very relationship heavy, which I felt took away from the plot and wasn't necessary. The climax felt a bit underwhelming. Mephi is still my favorite.

Book 1 is my favorite out of the trilogy, and I think it works as a standalone, which made the second and third book pale in comparison. I still recommend this series, but this wasn't as strong of a book as I was hoping.