The Bone Shard War (The Drowning Empire)

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Ragan's chapters were also infuriating because he is so one-dimensional with all hate and no thinking. We find Jovis, a beloved favorite character of mine, roaming The Endless Sea and under Kaphra’s ruling command. I don’t think they were fleshed out as much as they should have been, the reveal itself was truly incredible. Zugegeben, im Mittelteil war etwas die Luft raus und ich hatte das Gefühl, dass sich die Handlung irgendwann im Kreis drehte und ich keine neuen Infos mehr bekam.

I have absolutely loved the Bone Shard series and the Bone Shard War is a wonderful conclusion to the trilogy. But yes, you’re right, it was a good insight into the kind of person she was, the fact that despite how much she said she would be a different Emperor to her father, she just ended up following a very similar path to him, running after Alanga secrets and blind to all else.Nils: I was most surprised by Nisong as she was a character who I had previously hated, believing her to be evil, yet in this finale I grew to really sympathise and even become fond of her. For those who did read one of the Drowning Empire books, I wonder how could you haven't finished the whole series yet! Her favourite authors include Jen Williams, Anna Stephens and Joe Abercrombie; her favourite castles include Kidwelly, Carreg Cennen and Pembroke. Stewart imbued a nice touch of creativity into the Bone Shard magic of construct and commands introduced in the first installment. If ossalen give magical powers to humans they bonded with, what's the deal with monks and cloudberries?

No matter what you carve from this Empire, no matter who you hurt, no matter how much you take for yourself, you will never be worthy. For me, this is truly one of the stand-out epic fantasy series of the last years and I'm curious about the next project Andrea Stewart will present to us in the future. I found it really unsatisfying how the plot essentially relied on characters changing their minds and switching sides rather than on strategy or action. Finding herself trapped in a rather compromising situation, she has to rely on reading characters and stealth to see her way through. Although this final installment wasn't what I hoped it'd be, I will definitely look out for Andrea Stewart's future books!

Nils: Definitely, but I guess it was a natural and inevitable progression given the weight of the Empire on her shoulders? It’s also where I fell in love with the characters who started out with such big and honourable ideals. I’ve roughly read 100ish pages from the last update and I do feel like things are starting to happen and I’m remembering a lot more.