Early Review – The Bone Shard Emperor (The Drowning Empire, Book 2) by Andrea Stewart (4.5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Length: 561 pages
Publisher:‎ Orbit
Release Date: November 23, 2021
ASIN : ‎ B08Y8M86HG
Stand Alone or Series: 2nd book in The Drowning Empire Trilogy
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“The Emperor is Dead. Long live the Emperor.

Lin Sukai finally sits on the throne she won at so much cost, but her struggles are only just beginning. Her people don’t trust her. Her political alliances are weak. And in the north-east of the Empire, a rebel army of constructs is gathering, its leader determined to take the throne by force.

Yet an even greater threat is on the horizon, for the Alanga–the powerful magicians of legend–have returned to the Empire. They claim they come in peace, and Lin will need their help in order to defeat the rebels and restore peace.

But can she trust them?”

Series Info/Source: This is the 2nd book in The Drowning Empire Trilogy. The final book in this series will be titled “The Bone Shard War” and is scheduled to release in September 2022. I got an eGalley of this book through NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: This was a well done continuation of this series.

Lin needs to get support for the Empire and support to fight the construct army that is slowly taking over the islands. To add to all of her troubles the islands are still collapsing and it looks like the Alanga have returned. Jovis is at her side (as the captain of her guard) but his loyalties are torn; he is still in contact with the Shardless Few rebel group and still in debt to the smuggling group he used to work for.

We also hear from Nisong (the construct that was trapped on the island in the first book). Additionally, we also read from Phalue’s (governor of Nephilanu island now) and Ranami’s (Phalue’s wife and a member of the Shardless Few) POV.

This story was a bit slow in the middle. I enjoyed the beginning portions where Lin is working to uncover yet more secrets from her father and I enjoyed all the secrets we start to see about the Alanga people. I also really loved the last quarter or so where many story threads start to come together and there is a lot of action. The middle though involves Lin journeying to a number of islands trying to gather troops and support in order to defeat the other constructs, it really dragged on longer than it needed to.

I liked where the book ended up and am eager to read book 3, The Bone Shard War, when it releases in 2022. However, this book didn’t absolutely amaze me like the first book in the series did. I still really enjoyed it, there were just some parts in the middle that were a bit slow. Also the POV shifts broke up the story in the middle of the book as well. However, this was very easy to read and engaging.

My Summary (4.5/5): Overall I really loved this continuation of The Drowning Empire series. There is some amazing world-building, magic, politics, and character development here. The story shifts from Lin taking power and spends a bit more time on the Alanga people and their return. I would recommend it to those who enjoy epic fantasy with a lot of intriguing magic and politics. The book was a bit slow in the middle but it recovered by the end and I enjoyed it a lot.