A Book Review of
“The Bone Shard Daughter”, by Andrea Stewart
The story is not without potential, but can use some good editing. In several places where tension needs to be built, the author digresses into too many irrelevant, distracting details. For example, when Lin goes to the locksmith Numeen for the second time, she is in deep fear of being found out by her father and that should be what occupies her thought. That is not a time for her attention to wander to the activities of street vendors. In other places where opportunities are posed for richer plots and characterization, the author just brushes them off. Why is the governor’s heir Phalue so quick to accept her lover Ranami’s involvement in the “Shardless” and agree to watch the subversive activity to overthrow her father? Because Ranami shows her some poor people’s food and housing? Were it in human nature that a wealth gap could so easily vex the rich, any wealth gap would have stopped existing a long time ago.
The story is set in an authoritarian regime where people are forced to surrender their bone shards to the empire, which are necessary to power the magical constructs to guard and rule, but the magic would also drain the donors’ life and cause premature deaths. The regime coerces and coaxes its people into submission. Soldiers and spy constructs watch them and keep them in line, and the empire promulgates the belief that shard donation is essential to protect the people from the external hostile force Alanga.
Despite the fictional setting of an authoritarian regime, it seems to me the author lacks experience or knowledge of what life under an authoritarian regime truly is like, and makes no attempt to mirror the history or the reality of authoritarianism in her plot devising. Generally, two types of things feel very out of context in the storyline: how authoritarian leaders treat plebeians and how plebeians think of themselves under such regimes.
The interaction between aristocrats and commoners is described in a way overly egalitarian. Lin makes a promise to Numeen that would risk her life and feels guilty for not keeping it. The governor’s heir Phalue jumps instantly at the opportunity to join subversive activities. The plot gives me an impression that the aristocrats do not feel entitled to their status and are eager to get rid of any unearned privileges. It is hard to believe any person in power will be so ready to give up power, just to feel “good”. The mindset has many similarities with the shout-outs of college SJWs —— “check your privilege! ”, and seems implausible to be held by real-life political figures. It is not only idealistic but also contemporary, and does not fit in the story background.
The author depicts a life in fear of the people under authoritarian regimes, when in fact it is only the people not living under such regimes who would observe from the outside with fear. The people who actually live in the regime would just have to live with it. As people learn to adapt, they tune out fear. They normalize and rationalize their state of living, no matter how oppressive and suffocating it is, and they stop thinking about their oppression entirely, as a form of self-preservation. In a real authoritarian regime, to feel fear means there is a risk of showing the fear, which means showing dissatisfaction and resentment, and that will warrant severe punishment by the regime. When the emperor’s daughter Lin reveals her identity inadvertently at the dinner with the Numeen’s, the author says the family shows fear and Lin leaves in guilt and shame, while in a real-life context, most commoners’ family under such situations would only show and feel a deep sense of gratitude to the regime and believe it is a rare honor to treat a member of royalty.
The beginning of the book raised much of my hope, but further into reading, I could not help being upset by the inadequate execution. It’s OK to have abnormalities in a story. But they require justification. Justifications of abnormalities give the characters depth and complexity. Sadly, the characters in this book are all behaving out of the norm, without the author giving any proper justification from their experience, backgrounds and internal struggles. It disappoints me more especially because the story is full of creative ideas and has the potential to be great. For a debut novel the author may not be aware of all the holes in her writing but a good editor should step in and offer proper advice.
