This follow-up volume to Andrea Stewart’s stellar fantasy, THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER, is rife with promise, and it largely delivers. At the start of THE BONE SHARD EMPEROR, chaos reigns in the shadow of triumph. Lin Sukai has ousted her tyrant father from Phoenix Throne and assumed it herself, determined to be a fair and just ruler.

But she’s frustrated at every turn: recalcitrant governors of the imperial islands, a rebel army of magical constructs, and the looming return of the powerful Alanga magicians. While the undying optimism of Lin and her allies in the face of overwhelming odds can begin to grate, Stewart doesn’t write her characters as being annoyingly earnest.

"THE BONE SHARD EMPEROR is a triumphant entry in one of the best fantasy trilogies in recent years. Book three can’t come quickly enough!"

For different reasons, each person genuinely wants to change the world in which they live, but each puts their own issues front and center. They don’t suddenly forget their respective prejudices and motivations and just join up merrily. Up until the last page of THE BONE SHARD EMPEROR, wary suspicions divide our heroes, and some societal fractures still gape widely open. Even when Lin makes a step in the right direction, something else is likely to go wrong --- her well-intentioned choices have ripple effects for the entire empire, all too realistic as she quickly learns the rope of politics. Intentions don’t always matter; consequences do.

Most of the primary characters from THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER---well-intentioned but loner Lin; lovable smuggler-gone-seemingly legitimate Jovis; upright governor Phalue and her do-gooder wife, Ranami; and the leader of a construct army, now called Nisong --- return. Although Lin is clearly the protagonist, each individual is given a well-fleshed-out motivation, especially when they oppose Lin. No one person is solely right or wrong in their actions, and even the more villainous characters can’t truly be called “bad.” Only one character, a new addition in this volume, comes across as a bit cartoonish and poorly sketched-out, but perhaps that’s because all of Stewart’s other characters are so deeply nuanced.

All in all, THE BONE SHARD EMPEROR is a triumphant entry in one of the best fantasy trilogies in recent years. Book three can’t come quickly enough!