The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart – Review

Published: April 18, 2023

Publisher: Orbit Books

Series: The Drowned Empire #3

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 624 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 4.25 Stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:
From the author of The Bone Shard Daughter comes the final book in the Drowning Empire series, as the fate of Lin Sukai—and her family’s dynasty—lay in her hands in this action-packed, magic-laced epic fantasy.

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.  

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Upon first picking this up, I thought I was going to have to do a total re-read/skim read of the first two books because I didn’t know who the characters were. Being the stubborn person I am, I decided to push through a few chapters and see if things came back to me. They did. I honestly can’t believe how quickly I ended up reading this book because I vaguely remember not loving the second book and sort of trudging through it. Much to my delight, I really liked this installment and how the trilogy wrapped up!

The story begins two years after the events of The Bone Shard Emperor. Lin Sukai defeated Nisong and her constructs, but the empire is still hanging by a thread. Dione and the Shardless Few still want to see Lin dethroned and a council installed in her place. Nisong is still alive and traveling with Ragan, an unstable Alanga who seems to just want the world burning around him. Jovis is a slave to Kaphra, leader of the criminal organization called the Ioph Karn, and is being used to destroy ships, towns, etc. Ranami, our final POV, is trying to keep her island running but the Shardless Few move in and capture her.

Despite the tremendous number of points of view and secondary characters, I was easily able to keep everyone straight because they all have well developed motives and personalities. The ossalen are still my absolute favorites, though Mephi, Thrana, and Lozhi have the most well developed characterization. I had a few frustrations with Lin, namely that she got bamboozled like three separate times by people distracting her with conversation while they snuck around behind her back. Jovis’s chapters were probably some of my favorites thanks to a great blend of action and emotion (he just wanted to be with Mephi and ensure his safety!). Ragan firmly cemented his role as utter shit bag, but that’s not really news.

This was a solid and satisfying conclusion to The Drowned Empire trilogy. The ending in particular I think wrapped up all the little plot threads and was pleasant without being an unbelievable happy ever after. Like, these characters have suffered for years and things were kind of a mess in the empire, so I think a sappy sweet ending would have just felt convenient and unrealistic. The somewhat bittersweet, complicated ending we got was exactly what the story needed! I am looking forward to Andrea Stewart’s future creative projects, as I think she’ll only get better from here!