Audiobook ARC provided by publisher in exchange for review

9/10

The Bone Shard Daughter was one of the books that got me back into reading, so this series holds a special place in my heart, making me even more glad to get early access to the final installment to review. That being said being as unbiased as I can I believe that this was an excellent conclusion to the series.

It is hard to go into much detail without spoilers but what I can say is that the characters, plot, and world building were as excellent as in the previous books. The ending also did not disappoint. Admittedly the two year time jump at the beginning of the book did come as a bit of as shock and took some time to adapt to, but I understand the reasoning behind it, events like these don't happen in a day after all.

Characters - The cast of characters you would expect to return after The Bone Shard Emperor all return. They are varied in every way imaginable and each have their own motivations and goals. The interactions between them, for the most part, feel real and relatable. We also learn a bit more about some of them throughout this book, and experience some truly great character arcs.

Plot - The build up over the last two books between The Empire and The Shardless Few (plus some other groups) is finally coming to a head, and must be resolved, one way or another. Lin fights to hold onto her empire, and try to protect her people. Nisong fights to become emperor and take back the palace she sees as hers. The Shardless Few fight for freedom, and others like Ragan have more obscure goals. I won't go into detail about how everything unfolds but I will say that each character plays an important part that leads to the final conclusion, which IMO was excellent.

World Building - Andrea Stewart has crafted a truly unique world here that just feels fantastic. Almost everything about the world is different than out own. The world is made up of many island in The Endless Sea, seasons are split between the wet season and the dry season. Each can last years, and has more of an impact on the world than just the rain. The politics between the Empire and its governors feels authentic and as precarious as one might expect. Different cultures and social classes (and even an order of reclusive monks) lend to the diversity of the world and drive many of its central plot points. Moreover many of the questions you may have been asking yourself throughout the previous two books about the world and its workings will be answered in this book, and the foreshadowing on some of those answers is excellent.

There are several more important characters and plot points that I did not even mention in this review, there's just simply that much going on and I would hate to ruin any of the satisfaction of finding out it all for yourself.

In summary, if you have read the first two books of The Drowning Empire you will not be disappointed by the trilogies conclusion (although you may be sad that it's over and now you've read it all). If you have not read the first two books in The Drowning Empire, then 1. Why are you reading this and 2. You should go do so now!

Audiobook notes - The cast did a great just as expected (they did a great job in the previous two after all). The production was great, and the voicing of the myriad of characters was done in a way that made it easy to distinguish who was speaking at any given time. While the full cast did a great job I would be remiss not to add that Emily Woo Zeller is IMO one of the top audiobook narrators in the game and was an excellent choice here.

3 stars

This book excels at it's consistency. The characters are going to pull you in, there are going to be some emotional twists, and good enough writing to get you through the first whole half that is ALWAYS so slow. This last book certainly didn't read like a last one, with the first 350 pages, an average book size, just setting things up and having to fill you in on everything that happened in a time jump nobody needed or asked for. Luckily Stewart's prose and characters keep me going. Storylines are then wrapped up, and some questions answered. The islands revelation was very satisfing to me as it was what I expected. I didn't think Ranami's POV was needed at all, I would have loved to see this final book narrow things down. If you want a predictable ending, you aren't going to get it! As a reader, and someone deeply moved by Jovis and Lin's storyline, it wasn't very fulfilling to me; but if you've made it this far into the series you may be prepared for the rug to always being taken out from under you. I would have loved more time spent with the other animals (and ohhh I didn't like the final information we find out)- but all in all, a solid three star fantasy read.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was an amazing and epic conclusion to a series. I was in awe and am speechless.