This was great. It has a super interesting magic system: bone shard magic, where constructs must follow the orders carved into the bones. It reminded me of coding!
It does take a little while to get going and understand what's going on, but once I got my bearings, I was hooked. The characters are very well developed - even the more minor side characters. And there's a lot of interesting themes about identity and power and empire. One of the main characters, Lin, the emperor's daughter, has lost her memories and is trying to master bone shard magic in secret. The other main point of view, Jovis, is a smuggler with a fun animal sidekick who gives him super powers and is trying to figure out who he wants to be.
There's fun secrets to reveal, and the book does take some interesting twists and turns.