When I first heard about The Bone Shard Daughter being an Asian-inspired fantasy with an established sapphic romance and bone magic, I knew I had to get my hands on it! The magic system in this book is one of the most unique I’ve ever encountered – commands are written on bone shards taken from children’s skulls and placed inside the bodies of amalgamations of different animals, all controlled by the emperor. These animals are of no surprise to people living in the kingdom, but to readers they seem almost gruesome. We follow five different POVs throughout the book – Lin, Jovis, Ranami, Phalue and Sand – and as such we see so much of the world the book is set in, but I never felt like I was being bombarded by information all at once, which is impressive for such a complex world! I really loved little Mephi, Jovis’ talking companion, and I can’t wait to find out more about him! There are only two reasons why this isn’t a five stars, the first being that so much of the story is told from Lin and Jovis’ points of view, and I wanted more from the others, specifically Phalue and Sand. Secondly, I felt that at times the plot was a bit meandering and I wanted more action, more drama. Regardless this is such a strong new fantasy novel and I can’t wait to see where the story goes in book two!