Author: Andrea Stewart

A #BoneShardDaughter RAL Discussion | #JorieReads “The Bone Shard Daughter” (Book One: The Drowning Empire) by Andrea Stewart [ Part I: Chapters 1-11 ]

Posted Sunday, 9 May, 2021 by jorielov , , , 5 Comments

#WyrdAndWonder Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva.

Gifted Book By: I had borrowed “The Unbroken” from my local library thinking it was the readalong selection this year for Wyrd And Wonder; only it turnt out, the community decided to choose another novel “The Bone Shard Daughter” which was not purchased by my libraries. Imyril surprised me by gifting me a paperback copy in order to take part in my first Wyrd And Wonder RAL / readalong as every year it would seem the chosen books are not available in my local and regional libraries in order for me to borrow them to participate. I am sharing my ruminative thoughts on behalf of this book and series for my own edification and I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein. 

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Why I decided to read the interview:

The Fantasy Hive hosted a lovely interview with Andrea Stewart (see also the Interview) which explains a few things for me as I was curious about the constructs of this world as much as the constructs (ie. hybrid animals) which are a feature of the bone shard magic itself. I hadn’t connected all the dots yet – as I was still in the throes of the opening chapters, however, my first take on this story was apparently a bit off the mark. As I am used to bones being used as acts of divination (usually in stories which involve the paranormal or dark magic) or they are used to curate an awareness about the future or the past, depending on the person whose reading them. In that instance, I was interested in knowing how this world was built on that principle only to find out it went a different way altogether – to where the bones themselves are not used to read the past or the future but rather instead are used to curate a hybrid creature which responds to its creator by the use of the shards themselves.

Having read and watched films which involve AI technology, this was slightly disturbing on a variety of levels but moreso to the point, was the fact in this world they are cross-using different animals for their own devices and reasons. I wasn’t entirely sure if I was comfortable with that usage as generally speaking when it comes to animals, I’d rather they were left alone. I know this was also explored in the Spy Kids franchise of films – where certain animals were cross-matched and hybrids were produced of different species, including in miniature form but part of me questioned the reasons why they needed to explore those avenues.

In The Bone Shard Daughter, it seemed more for sport than for necessity or even an exploration of what science can yield in experimenting with husbandry of animals. Which is where I stumbled into my first issue with the book and its trajectory. This is why I sought out the interview and wanted to see what the author had to share herself about the foundations of her world-building and although she didn’t address all of my concerns, she did answer a few of the questions I had lingering in my mind as I was reading the opening sequences.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

#WyrdAndWonder readalong banner created by Jorie in Canva. Photo Credit: jorielovesastory.com

The Bone Shard Daughter
Subtitle: The Drowning Empire : Book One
by Andrea Stewart
Source: Gifted

Genres: Historical-Fantasy



Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-0316541435

Published by Orbit

on 30th March, 2021

Format: Trade Paperback

Pages: 496

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Published By: Orbit (@orbitbooks)
an imprint of Hachette Books UK & Little Brown & Company UK

Converse via: #SpecFic or #SpeculativeFiction, #Fantasy as well as #BoneShardDaughter

Available Formats: Hardback, Audiobook and Ebook

Read More

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

  • #BoneShardDaughter RAL 2021
Divider

Posted Sunday, 9 May, 2021 by jorielov in Book Review (non-blog tour), Speculative Fiction