I have incredibly mixed opinions about this finale.



<b>Things I liked:</b>

• The ossalen
• Ayesh
• Jovis’s character, despite its pitfalls in this installment
• Jovis and Philine’s dynamic
• Ranami and Phalue, together and apart
• Phalue and Lin’s tentative friendship



<b>Gripes:</b>

• <b>Lin.</b> Lin has always been an issue in this series. She is the result of one of her father’s experiments, yes, and she acts just as you’d expect an experiment to behave—unnaturally and unconvincing as a human. She is overly logical, lacks compassion, and even the writing in her point of view chapters sounds devoid of any humanity.

Now, the issue with this lies in the fact that the text (particularly, through Jovis) leads you to believe that she’s as human as the other characters. It tells us instead of showing us that Lin is strong, brave, and has a big heart. However, it doesn’t once occur to her to establish orphanages in order to look out for the children in her war-torn empire until after Phalue and raises the issue with her. She also catches herself thinking that it is beneath her to be concerned about the small plights of individual citizens.

While she begins to correct these errors within herself, this shows us that she is not the big-hearted person Jovis and the narrative would lead us to believe. She’s growing and trying to get there, but the contradictions in the text chafed.


• <b>Jovis.</b> I have always loved Jovis’s point of views in each installment. He reminds me of <i>Tangled</i>’s Flynn Rider—charming yet roguish, teetering in the realm of moral grayness. His POV has by far the biggest heart and is the most captivating.

In this installment, we see him subjugated by bone shard magic and threats against Mephi’s life, forced to do Kaphra’s bidding. It takes him two years and halfway through this book until he realizes bone shard commands are slippery and he can interpret them in different ways to thwart them. The issue with this bit of ingenuity is that it is something Jovis already knows; he did it in the first book, <i>Bone Shard Daughter</i>. Why, then, did it take him two years to figure out something his character has already demonstrated that he knows and can easily do? It directly contradicts characterization established previously in the series.

This leads Jovis’s whole imprisonment for two-thirds of this novel to feel completely contrived and devoid of any real meaning. His subsequent character arc of questioning his heroism and his belief in his own strength results in the same contrivances; it all feels forced and poorly-plotted. Don’t even get me started on where this character arc took him in the end…


• <spoiler><b>Jovis’s fate.</b> I would far rather Stewart had killed him off than turned to the most aggravating and pointless of the tropes—amnesia. Irritation toward the trope aside, it completely undoes all of the character work Stewart had established with Jovis across three novels. It also completely removes the need for him to heal from his trauma which is the most angering part of it. Sure, he’s left confused because he has lost literally all of his memories, but that’s still better than having to reckon with his past traumas and PTSD. It seemed like a very quick undo switch for all of the trials and suffering he endured, and that felt like a massive injustice to real-life sufferers of PTSD who had briefly seen representation only for it to be ripped away.</spoiler>


• <b>Nisong.</b> <spoiler>Nisong, much like the other two, hated Lin consistently throughout the series. While I was glad to see her toe the line of moral grayness and be redeemed, it felt shoehorned in yet again. Her hatred for Lin was truly just quelled in an instant on the battlefield once Lin says some kind words and pleads with her to let her pass? Her revelations that followed about being mistaken for pushing so hard to rise to power were incredibly rushed and needed more time to simmer that they weren’t given.</spoiler>


• <b>Dione.</b> <spoiler>He tells Lin in an earlier battle that he has a vendetta against the Sukais and is after her specifically, regardless of how she was made, and yet, when Lin abdicates, he just…says okay??? He doesn’t want to kill her??? I was glad to see some depth in him but this happened so fast I couldn’t suspend my disbelief to feel it was truly earned.</spoiler>


• <b>Ragan.</b> Ragan lacked depth. He was filled with rage and ready to wreak havoc on the empire that made him suffer in childhood. This was all fine, however, there was never a side to him that we were shown even in Nisong’s chapters that developed him any further than that. This was disappointing, as we got to see the other antagonists get redeemed in their own ways (as forced as those moments were).


• <spoiler><b>Lin’s choice to abdicate.</b> She really spent the last three books fighting tooth and nail for her place as emperor only to abdicate it because she randomly saw reason, realized that they would all die if she didn’t, and finally came to the conclusion that a panel of elected representatives wouldn’t be such a bad idea? Lin’s biggest pitfall throughout the series was clinging to power to the detriment of her citizens. And she just came to the conclusion that she didn’t need to do that anymore in a split-second on the battlefield? It felt like yet another contrivance for the sake of wrapping up her arc without having to do the all the work.</spoiler>


• <b>The length of this book.</b> It was pointlessly long-winded. There was so much time lingering on scenes and characters that didn’t matter that there was no room left for Stewart to actually develop her protagonists and antagonists appropriately. This resulted in the multitude of contrivances listed above in order for her to accomplish her desired ending.



All in all, I had fun at some points while reading this book, but its biggest flaws lie in the needless length of the novel that was never taken advantage of appropriately and all the shoehorned-in character arcs that resulted.

Regarding the audiobook, I have enjoyed performances from each narrator for each installment in the series. However, I don’t think that they add much to the story itself. A truly fantastic narrator will gut you emotionally during some of the most tragic scenes and have you clinging to every last word in high stakes action sequences. None of the narrators did this for me.



<b>Overall Rating:</b> 2 stars

<i>A big thank you to Netgalley and the publishers, Hachette Audio and Orbit, for providing me with an advanced copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!</i>

A satisfying conclusion to an epic trilogy.
There’s a two year time jump at the start, I think this worked well. It allowed for characters to have moved on from where we left off and I wanted to catch up. Basically hooked me straight away.
There is more of the same as the first two books (politics, quests, fight scenes) but I would say character arcs are great in this instalment.
What really carries these books are the ossalen, they are my favourite part of the world, with Mephi in particular having my heart.
I read this as an audio - the different narrators did well and allowed for an easy listening experience. You can stop at any point and pick up and know the POV.
Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Audio, Orbit Publishers for an E-ARC. This is a voluntary review of my own thoughts.

I absolutely love this series!
The Drowning empire manages to hook from book one and does not let go.
The world-building and characters are so easy to get attached too, and the multiple pov's are easy to follow.
Thanks so much for the chance to listen early.

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.