There were some great reveals in this that I really appreciated, and the politics were often quite interesting.

But I think that it dragged on too long. It would have benefited from being a good 100-200 pages shorter. (Especially the fight scenes, which weren't as engaging for me.)

ARC provided by the publisher Orbit Books & Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars - I enjoyed the overall story of the book, however having not read the 2 previous books getting into the story and following some of the character info was a little more difficult. I definitely recommend reading them in order.

The Bone Shard War is the epic finale to the unmissable Drowning Empire series.

Lin Sukai has won her first victory as Emperor, but the future of the Phoenix Empire hangs in the balance - and Lin is dangerously short of allies.

As her own governors plot treason, the Shardless Few renew hostilities. Worse still, Lin discovers her old nemesis Nisong has joined forces with the rogue Alanga, Ragan. Both seek her death.

Yet hopes lies in history. Legend tells of seven mythic swords, forged in centuries past. If Lin can find them before her enemies, she may yet be able to turn the tide.

If she fails, the Sukai dynasty - and the entire empire - will fall.

Thank you to Hachette Audio and Netgalley fo this eARC!

Andrea Stewart did the very difficult task of successfully writing a trilogy with all three books feeling like a necessary part of the story. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I was sad when it was over. However, I think the story was told the way it should have been told, and while I wanted to stay in the world longer, I think more books would have been excessive.

The beginning was a bit confusing, because it is not as explicit about the time jump as it needs to be. I initially felt like I had forgotten a large chunk of the ending of book two. Once I figured out that there was a time jump, it was less confusing, but it was a frustrating way to begin the book.

Stewart wrote an extremely compelling and unique world for this series, and the only issue with this was wanting to know more. I had a lot of questions regarding the How and Why behind some of the magic and the backstory. I think there's a difficult line between writing enough backstory and not enough, and I think Stewart struggled a bit in some of this. Some of my questions were answered very implicitly rather than explicitly - making it difficult to remember 100+ pages down the line.

The characters I struggled the most with in regard to their backstories were Ragan and Nisong. I wanted to know more about their background and their motivations, and I felt like these would have added to the story. I know, however, that they are not the main characters, and I think adding to their backstory risked crossing into the territory of making the book too long and too info dumpy. So ultimately I feel Stewart made the right decision in leaving some of this for the reader to ponder.

All in all, this was a very strong and successful conclusion to a great series, and I will continue to recommend this series widely! The magic system is so unique and the world is so intriguing that I felt extremely immersed, and I will continue to read this author the moment her next book is out!

Hear me out: I LOVE THIS SERIES!!! It is superb. Everything I want in an epic fantasy with interesting characters. However, I really did not like two things: 1) the pacing and 2) the ending for my favourite character :( I was kind of let down by this conclusion for this series to be honest. I really was hoping for them to live in peace and do the things they dreamed of... but that didn't pan out well. I really loved some of the Mephi Moments (TM). Overall, it was an OKAY conclusion, but could be better. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

The audiobook production itself for this entire trilogy is amazing, I love all three of the narrators and they all elevated this work and my enjoyment of the series.

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.

Great conclusion to this amazing trilogy. It ended in a way that I did not expect, but it makes so much sense.
I can't wait to discover what else Andrea Stewart has in store.
Thanks to the publisher, author and NetGalley for the complimentary copy

Andrea Stewart does it again with this intricate closing to 'The Drowning Empire" trilogy. Loose ends are tied up, drama and intrigue occur, and evil plans are thwarted. A thrilling conclusion to the series, I'm left wanting to reread the series just to be able to dive back into the characters and storylines. The world building in this series is outstanding. Great for lovers of George R. R. Martin. Fantasy is not usually my wheelhouse, but this book and its series has me sold to try more. I like how the characters are all narrated by different people. It helps add depth to the story in a way mere words on a page do not.

I don't know why I did not pay attention to it, but I did not realize it was the final book in a series when downloading it. My rating goes to the fact that I'll definitely read the other two books from the series, it really is my cup of tea and the writting style is amazing.

It was very bittersweet to wrap this series up! Mephi continues to be the star of the show and honestly carried this story. I also think this is one where the series falls a little flat with audiobook just because it is so easy to miss important details.

That being said, I felt the closure I needed, I was gripped and eagerly awaiting the next big moment the entire time. The pacing was solid, the characters had good development and this series truly is addictive.

This trilogy truly is excellent and I’m excited for my second go around to do it with the physical books and see what I might have missed.

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.

This series was quite the ride! It was a solid fantasy series with enough intricacy for fantasy lovers but not over the top either, so it isn’t confusing if you’re just starting fantasy.

Initially I didn’t realize this was part of a series, and I’m glad I realized it before starting this because I would have been completely lost! This is definitely not a stand alone and should be read with the others to fully understand what’s happening.

I received an audiobook copy of this one through NetGalley and it was great. The narration is fantastic and really brings these characters to life. The emotions are there and I absolutely loved it.

This was my least favorite of the three, but I still recommend it. 3.5 rounded up.

This is a dnf for now. I might get back to the book in the future but for now I could not get into the story and will have to set it down. I might try a different format

Thank you NetGalley and Orbit for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

While I really enjoyed this book, I do think it was my least favorite of the three. I did have the unique experience to read this series in three different ways. I read the Bone Shard Daughter as a digital book, the Bone Shard Emperor as a physical copy, and I listened to the Bone Shard War audiobook. I’m not the biggest fan of audiobooks so that may have contributed at least a little bit.

That said, I was hooked. I loved diving back into the world. I was a bit confused why the two year time jump was used. I feel like we missed out on what could have been a very interesting process. I also felt like the book was a bit repetitive at times and I got a bit frustrated with how often the characters made a crucial step, only for it to be immediately reversed. I think it made me less attached when anything bad happened because I assumed it would change decently quick. I felt like almost every chapter was journeying to a new island, fighting the enemy, and then both leaving with no conclusion reached. (However, the battle scenes were well written and I had a lot of fun reading them).

Apart from that, I really loved the lore of this world. I thought the sinking of the islands and finding out what they were was so creative and a plot twist I didn’t see coming. I loved the relationships between the characters and their ossalens. And I loved that each animal has their own distinctive personalities, especially Mephi. I also loved the character development of Philine and I loved how much Ranami came into her own in this book with and without Phalue.

Thank you to NetGalley and orbit for the audiobook!

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 book was amazing, and a wonderful conclusion to the trilogy.

I will say that I came about this book in a very strange way - I did not read the first two before this, so it was a steep learning curve. I did wait to write this review until reading the other books in the series to make sure I was representing it fairly.

That being said, I was hooked from the very first chapter and found myself making excuses to keep the audiobook on (more chores got done in the past few weeks than months prior as a result). To this end, I will say the worldbuilding is excellent - even without the context of the prior books I was easily able to pick up the details of the magic system.

There is nothing I love more than a book where each of the opposing parties (or at least most of them) has clear justification for their actions, and where none of the opposing parties is without some form of fault. I was impressed with how cleanly the book wrapped up all of the various storylines, with each of the main characters achieving their goal in some form.

There was a very interesting twist about mid-book that I wonder if I would have foreseen had I read the other books previously; now that I have gone back to the rest of the series, I can see clear foreshadowing from early on in the first book.

This series has become a staple on my (audio) shelf, and I'll be eagerly hoping for someone to make a special edition (*hint hint*) so that I can add that to my bookshelf as well

I would like to thank NetGalley for an audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

What an amazing conclusion to this trilogy! I was gripping the edge of my seat for the majority of it, cried at the end, and was sort of satisfied with how it wrapped up. Warning: there isn't a true happy ending, and that made me so upset. But, I understand.

Following the events of the Bone Shard Emperor, the Bone Shard War starts a few years later and the action starts right away, with everything escalating with each chapter. I wasn't sure how things were going to end, but when I finished, it made complete sense to end things that way.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this series. I'm sad that it's over, I wish I had more time in this world and with these characters, but this was definitely a perfect way for the series to end. Highly recommend.

The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart was an absolutely satisfying conclusion to an exceptional trilogy that will leave readers completely enthralled. As a devoted fan of the series, I can confidently say that this final installment delivers on every front, providing unexpected twists, jaw-dropping revelations, and heart-wrenching moments that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

Stewart's ability to conclude our beloved characters' stories in an unexpected way is a testament to her skill as a storyteller. She deftly subverts predictions and takes us on a thrilling journey that keeps us guessing until the very end. The character arcs are beautifully developed, and their growth and evolution throughout the series culminate in powerful and satisfying resolutions. It's a joy to witness their transformation and see how they navigate the challenges they face.

Stewart expertly weaves together intricate plot threads, peeling back layers of mystery and intrigue to expose shocking truths that have been bubbling to the surface since book one. These revelations not only add depth and complexity to the story but also provide a new perspective that reshapes our understanding of the world and its characters - a testament to Stewart's masterful storytelling.

Furthermore, the world-building in The Bone Shard War continues to be just as rich and immersive, and builds on the intricacies of the bone shard magic system, deepening our understanding of its implications and consequences.

The absolutely only criticism I found myself having was in regard to the timeline of the different POV's. I found myself confused a few times about what point in time we were in the story when switching back and forth between characters, which took me out of the story a bit, but otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

In conclusion, The Bone Shard War is a phenomenal conclusion to Andrea Stewart's captivating trilogy. It exceeds expectations and I wholeheartedly recommend starting from the beginning and immersing yourself in this masterfully crafted world.

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

This was a satisfying end to the trilogy. The osselin (sp?) characters are the highlight. Whichever characters you've connected with in the prior 2 books will probably be the ones you're most invested in here. This is a long book and felt like it could have been shortened a little, but overall, is a very good story. And there are giant sea serpents. The audio is well-performed by 3 narrators.