The Bone Shard War (The Drowning Empire)

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And hope was a clinging, grasping thing, an ember that refused to be extinguished no matter how much sand I heaped atop of it. Das Setting der versinkenden Inseln, deren Geheimnis man zusammen mit den Figuren lüftet, und die politischen Verstrickungen, die sich daraus ergeben, waren originell und boten mir etwas Neues im Genre. I always found Ranami a little too harsh, too judgemental and not great at seeing another’s point of view, which often made me annoyed at her.

Nils: Definitely, but I guess it was a natural and inevitable progression given the weight of the Empire on her shoulders?This book reminded me why I've enjoyed reading the entire series in line and never forgot those books. I don’t think they were fleshed out as much as they should have been, the reveal itself was truly incredible. However, I do love the way Stewart connected everything to nature and that they would, in a way, still live on forever. Of course, there are many villains in the story, and not all are redeemable, and I liked that there were different types of antagonists in the story. But Stewart did a great job allocating the balance of the character’s spotlights with Phalue, Ranami, and Nisong, too, this time.

Nils: I think her main problem was when you’re an Empress there is no right thing and every mistake you make has catastrophic consequences. 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. Have you ever read a book that you knew you were going to love, but it still moved you in ways you didn’t expect?There is a fantastic cast of characters, a compelling plot, a unique magic system and a vividly written world. The battle on the sea, when Lin was trying to divert the waves away from their ship, my heart was in my throat the whole time! The visual of waves crashing against each other, of sea serpents and of water being shaped into a weapon just felt so cinematic. I didn’t dislike this version of Lin, but I missed the Lin that had the (relative) freedom to have dreams and ideals at the start. She also had a very important encounter with Jovis sometimes during that period but we, readers, are robed of that scene.

Like the second book, this third one is heavily relationship focused in a way that I found frustrating. I particularly love when an author makes me sympathise and connect with a character who I have previously disliked and I found myself really warming to Nisong. I feel this is crucial because the plot structure in the middle of the book did feel a bit repetitive. Stewart has the talent for it, as we can witness from the actions delivered at the end of The Bone Shard Emperor and the last 150 pages of The Bone Shard War. But as I said earlier, I was already feeling sad that Thrana was too big to fit through doors anymore, so I did have a little cry at this prospect.The struggles to choose between being a villain or fighting against the commands he was under hindered his full potential at times, but the brokenness in him was one that many readers can relate to. Mostly everything wrapped up with this set of characters but lots of room left in the world Stewart created for other stories.