Wyrd & Wonder is hosting a monthlong readalong of Andrea Stewart’s The Bone Shard Daughter. Week One covers chapters 1 through 10 11. (While I was proofreading this post, I realized chapter 11 is included. I had not read ch. 11 at the time I answered these questions.) Beth @ Fantasy Hive wrote this week’s questions. Check the Goodreads thread for the schedule. The next batch of questions (covering ch. 12 to 23) will be posted midweek.

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Discussion Questions

1) Welcome to Stewart’s glorious world! What are your initial impressions?

Love it! I read the first 70 pages without distracting myself. Apparently I love an archipelago-based fantasy. The characters as well have been intriguing so far, sharing just the right amount of information about themselves to pique my interest while maintaining some mystery (especially, see Q4 below). I could make a similar statement about the worldbuilding. I love what I have learnt so far about the magic system and the floating island and the hints of the Empire’s past.

2) What do you make of the magic system and the world-building?

This ties in to what I answered above. It made a great first impression! Well-catered to my tastes in fantasy.

3) Is there a character you’re particularly drawn to so far?

The smuggler dude haha whose name escapes me right now. (Jovis.) So far, he embodies a lot of classic tropes that I enjoy. His current quest seems to have the most unknown variables of all the characters we’ve been introduced to so far (how are the women chosen? why the coins? what’s that blue sail ship up to?), so I’m curious to find out what he learns and also hopefully learn more about his background.

4) What do you make of Lin’s motivations? How much do you think she’s driven by a desire to save her Empire – or are her motivations more selfish?

This is a great question and something I’m super curious about! It doesn’t seem at all clear to me so far. She did comment once or twice about her father’s failing rule and danger ahead for the empire, but this doesn’t necessarily showing that she wants to do things differently – especially given her keen interesting in learning the bone shard magic. Does she want to learn it so she can prove herself to be a good ruler or does she have other plans for that magic? Hmm…

5) Jovis tends to tell lies when faced with truths he doesn’t want to face. As a first person narrator, how reliable do you feel this makes him?

Hmm again – this did not occur to me at all. I am a very trusting reader and often blindsided by unreliable narrators. Unless I already know to be suspicious going into the story (see When We Were Liars). 😛 I guess the answer is for now, I still consider him reliable haha.

6) MEPHI 😍 Any guesses/wild theories about Jovis’s new furry friend?

Something to do with the Alanga, perhaps? 👀 My main question of interest right now is why Mephi wants to stick with Jovis. (Never mind what Mephi is or is up to, haha.)

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If you’re participating in the readalong, please share your post or answers to any of these questions in the comment! If you’ve read the book before, please avoid commenting on anything that happens after chapter 10.