Review: THE BONE SHARD DAUGHTER by Andrea Stewart

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Bone Shard Daughter is a fun, new debut fantasy with a richly imagined setting and a unique magic system. On Imperial Island, one of many islands of the Empire, the Emperor’s rule is failing, yet he refuses to give up the throne to either of his children, still claiming absolute power. Outside the palace gates, however, a rebellion is spreading as citizens are dissatisfied with his tyrannical rule and his style of governing. In this book, we get to see snippets of this revolution from the eyes of a few different groups across the land who are planning to overthrow the Empire. 

We have five points of view here:
—Lin, 23, the daughter of the Emperor, trying to earn her father’s respect and prove her worth to become the next heir to the Empire while also secretly practicing the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

—Jovis, a smuggler who escaped from the sinking of Deerhead Island. In between time spent looking for his lover who has been lost for seven years, he smuggles children away from the Emperor’s trepanning rituals. Jovis has an animal companion of sorts named Mephi who aids him on his journey.

—Phalue, the daughter of Nephilanu Island’s governor and next in line to be governor. 

—Ranami, a girl who grew up on the streets, is a member of the Shardless Few, and is Phalue’s lover.

—Sand, a girl on Maila Isle, trying to uncover her lost memories. 

Even though we have five POVs, the story is mostly about Lin, as she is who the title is referring to, and Jovis. I never felt like I really got to know any of the other characters very well during the entire story. I feel like this book was just a snapshot into each of their lives but we didn’t go very deep with any of them, aside from Lin and Jovis. I do hope future installments will remedy this though, as this book set up for some interesting situations to occur later on involving each of the POV characters. 

I did struggle to differentiate between Ranami and Phalue as I felt like their voices were very similar despite them being from completely different backgrounds. Even though they have an established relationship in this book, The Bone Shard Daughter is not romantic at all. The relationship exists and that’s about the extent of the book’s romance. I like romance sub-plots in books, but I also really enjoyed the story here without it. To be honest, it has been a while since I read a fantasy that didn’t have a romance as a main part of the story and it was really refreshing. 

The magic system in this book was my favorite part of the story. Even though the Emperor is the only one allowed to practice bone shard magic, all the citizens know of it and see its effects every day. Every child has to undergo a trepanning ritual as a tax to the Emperor, in which a bone shard is removed from behind their right ear and stored for future use. The Emperor uses these shards to create constructs—beasts created from pieces of dead animals sewn together and reanimated with magic. Commands are etched into the bone shards and placed inside the constructs, who then roam the Empire gathering information for him as his guards and spies. When someone’s bone shard is in use, the person who it belongs to can feel the effects of it, and it can even cause someone to become shard-sick and eventually die. I found the explanations surrounding the magic and what can be done with it really fascinating.

The pacing in The Bone Shard Daughter was really well done in my opinion. Almost every chapter left me wanting more from that character, and I never felt like any scenes were boring. There were parts of the story and some characters’ POVs that I just wasn’t as interested in, but nothing that made me feel like any part of the book was dragging on too long. 

For the first three-fourths of the story, my feelings were rather indifferent.  I liked it—but it didn’t wow me. It held my attention the entire time but it didn’t go above and beyond. I expected to love it, especially since the concept of bone shard magic is really interesting to me, but it felt like there was hardly any magic present at times; the bone shards were mentioned in passing, but we didn’t see the magic in action too often, which was a little disappointing. Plus, I was a little confused about some aspects of the plot and historical background that I won’t mention for the sake of spoilers but that left me feeling somewhat distanced from the story. 

Then, however, my outlook completely changed about 80% of the way through the book. Up until that point, the story was fine, but it seemed just average to me. But then something happened with the plot that I thought I expected the outcome of but I was completely blindsided by the reality of it, and it made me so much more invested in the book. I flew through the end, whereas I had merely been meandering through the beginning and the middle. I was feeling rather nonchalant about the story almost the entire time I was reading it, but after that last quarter, I’m now a fan. For most of the book, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read the sequels or not, but after that ending, I can now safely say that I am eagerly anticipating the next installment. 

I loved that this was a clean fantasy. I’m always on the hunt for fantasy books with unique magic systems, descriptive settings, engaging plotlines, and realistic characters, but without so much violence (I don’t like reading action scenes), and that’s exactly how this book was. There was no swearing or dirty talk here either, which I really appreciated. This is definitely a book I’d recommend to readers looking for a fantasy story more involved that what one would normally find in young adult titles but is wary of the grittiness and violence that is prevalent in many of the adult titles nowadays. This has all the intricacies that you’d expect from an adult fantasy, but it would still be good for younger or more sensitive readers. There’s still death and other sad scenes in this book, but it’s not overly gory or descriptive. 

One major complaint I had: this book desperately needs a map. I know that it’s very likely that the finished edition will have one, so I can’t fault the book for that since I read an early copy, but this is a story that relies on the reader knowing the placement of the islands in the Empire in relation to each other. I was constantly itching to reference a map that wasn’t there, so I’m looking forward to seeing what it will look like once the book is published. 

The Bone Shard Daughter is hard for me to rate because most of it was three stars for me—I liked it but I wasn’t wowed—but parts of the middle were two stars, when I thought it was just okay but nothing special, and parts of the end were four and even five stars, when the reveals started happening and I started getting more invested in the characters and their journeys and really started enjoying the book. I’m going with three, maybe 3.5, stars since that is the average of my feelings, but don’t look at that as a bad rating. This is still a fantastic debut that I would definitely recommend. 

Review: A BEAUTIFULLY FOOLISH ENDEAVOR by Hank Green

Rating: 5/5 stars

I didn't know what to expect going into this book, the sequel and conclusion to An Absolutely Remarkable Thing, but it lived up to and surpassed all of my expectations. Easily one of the best books I've read all year. 

The story follows Andy, Miranda, Maya, Robin, and even April May after the events of the first book, which leaves us on a huge cliffhanger. This book picks up right where that one left off and everything spirals into craziness from there. The plot didn't go at all where I thought it was going to go, but I loved every minute of it. Now that the Carls are gone and the Dreams are no longer available, many people are left wanting more, and that leads one company to try to recreate the Dream for its users to re-experience it--for a price. 

One thing I love about Hank's books is that they focus so strongly on a central theme. The first one was about the effects of fame and social media, and this one is about how technology can be both a benefit and a huge detriment to society, but also how society banding together can create something great. I love the conversations and hidden meanings in these books. 

The characters were just how I remembered them, which I loved. Oftentimes in sequels, it can feel like the characters are not being themselves and it makes the story feel contrived and unrealistic, but that was luckily not the case here. I loved that we got to see more of Miranda and Maya specifically in this installment. The only weird character development was that with Carl. I won't say more so as not to spoil anything, but Carl was very different in this book than he was in the first book, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. . . . 

A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor is a very intellectual book and one that I absolutely loved. It involves technology, friendships, capitalism, video games, books, monkeys, social media, and lots of hijinks. I love this duology so much and I know it's one I'll be returning to in the future. It's so well-crafted and fun. 

A note on the audiobook: I read this book along to the audiobook, which is what I'd recommend. The audiobook is full-cast narration, which is awesome, especially since all the voice actors actually sound different so it's not hard to keep everyone straight, but also because this book has lots of interviews, social media posts, video transcripts, and dialogue formatted in a way that makes listening to it feel more real. I read along while listening because I wanted to see some of these non-prose sections with my eyes for enjoyment's sake but also for clarity's sake. Also, at the end of the audiobook, there's a special 45-minute conversation between Hank Green and fellow science-fiction author Cory Doctorow, only available in the audiobook version of this book. They have a really interesting conversation about writing techniques, social media, and the dark side of advertising, among other topics. I would highly recommend checking out the audiobook for this conversation alone because it was wonderful. 

Review: OFF THE WALLS by Getty Publications

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

This fun art book wouldn't have happened if not for COVID-19. Getty Publications wanted to see how art would be "a tonic for people through these uncertain times," so they put out a challenge: recreate your favorite art piece using materials from around your house. 

There are seven different sections of art:

—Home, Sweet Home, which features portraits of people in and around their house.

—Life Holds Still, which features paintings of scenes and objects without people.

—Strike a Pose, which features people in different poses.

—Creature Comfort, which features pictures of animals or recreations using animals.

—Culinary Arts, which features pictures of food or recreations of art using food.

—High Drama, which is an eclectic section with some abstract art, some famous art, and dramatic reinterpretations of them all.

—Child’s Play, which features art recreations using children or children's toys.

I loved seeing a wide variety of art in this book. We see recreations of some of the most famous paintings, but we also see recreations of many lesser-known paintings, some I had never even heard of before. Some recreations were more faithful than others. Some were very detailed and serious, while others were simplistic and humorous. Some even incorporated the spirit of quarantine in there, communicating how all of us have felt these past few months. It was interesting to see how people around the world interpreted different artworks and what focal points they chose to make stand out. 

My personal favorite piece of art in this book was a recreation of Van Gogh's The Starry Night using spaghetti. So creative. I also really enjoyed the COVID reinterpretation of Michaelangelo Buonarroti's The Creation of Adam. 

One issue I had with this book was that the original artwork was not always presented first. On some pages, the original artwork would be printed after the recreation, and I found this confusing at times because I kept expecting the original to be first and then I was taken aback when it wasn't. Just something to be mindful of when you read the book. 

This exciting art book, created while everyone has been in quarantine, can remind us all that even when we’re faced with uncertain times and stress in our lives, we are still able to create happy moments at home and find joy and peace in art. I recommend Off the Walls for anyone who even remotely appreciates art and creativity, or for anyone who simply needs to enjoy a happy and relaxing afternoon. 

Review: THE SILVER ARROW by Lev Grossman

 

Rating: 1.5/5 stars

I was looking forward to reading this book because I tend to love middle-grade adventure stories. They usually feel so carefree and magical to me. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the same about The Silver Arrow, and I ended up being very disappointed.

This book sort of feels like a mix of The Polar Express and The Chronicles of Narnia, but not done well. It honestly felt very contrived and forced, which really hindered my enjoyment of it.

The story starts out with rich Uncle Herbert gifting his niece Kate with a train—a real, metal, life-size train. Although her parents were initially upset about this gift, Kate and her brother Tom set out alone together on an adventure on this train, which is called the Silver Arrow.

I thought the beginning was very slow and weird. Just the fact that the uncle got her a real train for her birthday that he put in her backyard (like, what?) and the parents were angry but were still like, “Okay have fun playing in it,” rubbed me the wrong way for some reason. The story just felt very forced to me at that point, like Lev Grossman had a cool idea about two young kids getting lost on a magical train adventure but didn’t know how to actually introduce the train into the story so he invented a rich uncle to just hand-deliver it to them. That was not believable at all, and my absolute least favorite thing about any fictional story is when the story is not believable within the boundaries of its own world, and I felt like this book suffered from that at the very beginning.

So Kate and Tom go on this adventure and meet all kinds of talking animals, who tell them all about themselves. The Silver Arrow feels like an ecological novel for kids. Lev Grossman tells us about different animals from around the world and explains details like the animal kingdom hierarchy and what happens if it gets out of balance, what animals eat, what their habitats are, what they like to do, why they migrate, and why humans need to help preserve them from going extinct. 

This sounds like a cool concept, but honestly, the whole book felt very contrived to me, like Grossman’s hidden agenda was to indoctrinate children with the desire to make a good ecological impact on our planet. Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important to teach children (and adults) the importance of caring for animals and nature and protecting our planet, but I don’t like how that information was presented here. I felt like this whole concept took away from the actual plot of the book because every scene had to be paused so one animal could talk about their natural habitat or their predators or how human impact was harming them. It was very obvious, as an adult reader, what Grossman was trying to do here, and it put me off a lot. 

I honestly just felt really bored with this story. It was very slow-moving for how short it was and it had me rolling my eyes at some of the scenes in it. It read very young for its intended audience of kids ages 8 to 12, and it felt pretty silly to me at times. This seemed like a kind of story someone tells their young kids before bed but not one that was ever supposed to be published. That sounds kind of harsh but there are so many similar stories out there that are much more interesting and well-written, ones that communicate the same messages in a more natural and engaging way. I honestly don’t think if Lev Grossman was already a best-selling author that this book would have been published at all. 

Besides the aforementioned issues I had, I also thought that the writing was unimpressive and unenjoyable to read. Lev Grossman’s Magicians trilogy has been on my to-read list, but after reading this book, I honestly don’t know if I even want to read that series because the writing style in this book really got on my nerves and I suspect that what I didn’t like here will be present in his other works as well. 

I listened to the audiobook for The Silver Arrow and I thought the narrator, Simon Vance, was alright. Good but not great. The way his voice sounds when he narrates almost reminded me of a knock-off Jim Dale narration because of his British accent and the inflections he used to tell the story, and some of the character voices sounded similar to me. The story takes place in the modern-day but his voice made me feel like it was a story of the past. I particularly didn’t like how he narrated the adults at the beginning when the train gets introduced because they sounded whiny and strange to me. Eventually, I did feel like the narration got better as the story progressed, and I would listen to more books narrated by Simon Vance in the future, but he’s not my favorite narrator. 

The Silver Arrow has adventure, talking animals, magical trains, and lots of presumably factual ecological information. I would recommend this book for kids ages 5 to 8 who want an easygoing adventure on a magical train ride that will teach them real facts about all kinds of animals from around the world, as well as teach them how to be more eco-conscious. 

Review: UNRAVEL THE DUSK by Elizabeth Lim

Rating: 2/5 stars

I enjoyed Spin the Dawn a lot so I was looking forward to reading Unravel the Dusk.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t as good as the first. I’m so so sad about this because the first book was really good.

What I loved about Spin the Dawn was the Mulan similarity, that Maia had to pretend to be her brother to enter the imperial tailor competition, and that she then had to sew dresses from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. I loved that unique yet impossible task, and those two plot points were what drew me into the first book. Unravel the Dusk loses both of those aspects and turns into a completely different story.

*Spoilers here for Spin the Dawn but not for Unravel the Dusk*

At the end of Spin the Dawn, Maia has been cursed by Bandur, a demon, while trying to save Edan, her one true love. The entirety of Unravel the Dusk takes the outcome of that event and runs with it. The whole plot here is about how Maia’s going to break the curse and how she and Edan can truly be together in the end. The three dresses of the sun, the moon, and the stars are still present in this book, but the way in which they’re incorporated felt unrealistic to me and I just couldn’t get on board. Basically, what started as a unique concept has turned into every other young adult fantasy series and becomes all about the romance. This was super disappointing to me because I really did think Spin the Dawn was a standout entry in the YA genre.

Ultimately, I think that Unravel the Dusk is too homogenous to the other romance-heavy YA books out there, and it doesn’t offer anything new to the table like Spin the Dawn did. I would say that you should know what you’re getting yourself into before you start this series because the reasons I initially liked it are not present in this installment. I didn’t dislike this book—mostly I was just disappointed, but my constant feelings of “meh” while I was reading are why it’s getting only two stars. I’m glad this was only a duology because if there were any more books, I likely wouldn’t be reading them.

Review: WHITE FRAGILITY by Robin DiAngelo

Rating: 3/5 stars

I have heard many people say that White Fragility should be required reading for white people, and I agree. I think everyone can learn something here, regardless of who you are or where you come from. But like I said earlier in an update, the kinds of people who most need to read this book are the kinds of people who are least likely to do so, and that’s so sad.

Robin DiAngelo is a white woman who is a sociologist. I love that throughout the book, she shares many stories with us of how she herself has been racist in her life, even though her job is to actively work against racism and help to create equality. She was racist and acknowledged it and apologized to the person she harmed and asked them to help point out when she was making these mistakes because sometimes innocent intentions can be offensive and we should become aware of when those moments occur so we can change our actions in the future. She really communicates here that every single person is racist, whether intentionally or unintentionally, whether you know that you’re being racist or not. It’s a fact of life: everyone is racist. It’s a lifelong work to change. You don’t just suddenly become not racist one day and then you’re done, you don’t need to work anymore. No, it’s a constant progression, a constant education, and I really love how she highlighted this concept in this book.

“Unaware white racism is inevitable.”

The point of this book is to be able to recognize our racist actions and work to change them. The concept of white fragility comes in here because so often when white people are pointed out as being racist, they take it as an attack on their entire character, and they say they can’t possibly be racist because of X, Y, or Z reason. Even if you grew up in a poor neighborhood, were raised to treat everybody as equals, or have black friends or a black partner, you can still be racist at times. It doesn’t have to be intentional or even known for it to happen. The moral of this book is that white people need to become comfortable with discomfort, and when someone points out that you’ve been racist in a certain situation, recognize that as an opportunity to change and apologize instead of getting defensive and lashing out.

“Stopping our racist patterns must be more important than working to convince others that we don’t have them. We do have them. And people of color already know we have them. Our efforts to prove otherwise are not convincing.”

You will make mistakes. But the important thing is to learn from your mistakes to become a better white ally in the future. If you can’t first be aware of when racism exists, then how can you work to eliminate it?