I received this from the publishers via netgalley. I had heard quite a lot about this book most of it favourable. I decided I had to read it and I wasn’t disappointed. I have never read anything by this author so I was pleased to read something a little different from the usual seafaring yarn. Excuse me if I get a little carried away I will try to avoid spoilers.
It begins with our erstwhile hero Joron in a very dark and abject place trying to forget his shame and drown himself in drink. He has fallen as low as he can get having been sent to the black ship Tide Child which is little more than a prison ship. We are gradually introduced to the world to which he has the unfortunate fate to be a part of which is cruel and unforgiving to those of his station.
The story progresses from misery and no hope to something with a purpose and even a kind of honour between unlikely characters. The bone ships of the fleet are white and pristine with well trained crews. The ghost lights which light them up are created by the sacrifice of people for whom it is deemed an honour. This is not the case of the black ships which are usually allowed to rot, however a new ship wife named Meas has other ideas for the Tide Child and is taking Joron along with her to sink or swim. So it begins, his life is about to change.
A book that takes no prisoners and doesn’t shy away from fighting be it the nasty denizens of the deep such as the longthresh or the tunir on land. There are also those who want to stop them achieving their goal but slowly the crew of misfits and violent men and women seem to find a tenuous respect for both Meas and Joron and the enigmatic, crazy gullaime who is uncooperative and perhaps a law unto himself. The characters are diverse and interesting and and the world building is excellent.The idea behind the bone ships is interesting and the light relief is supplied in the form of Black Oris who is a rude bird with a foul mouth. If this stirs up your interest go find this book. I am definitely interested to see how this enfolds.

When it comes to fantasy tropes, one of my absolute favourites is the bunch of misfits working toward a common goal. Whether it’s Kaladin’s Bridge Four or Kelsier’s crew (Brandon Sanderson), Alathea and her ship (Robin Hobb), Locke and his Gentlemen Bastards (Scott Lynch) or Tracker and his barely tolerated companions (Marlon James). Something about that group dynamic, shifting alliances, friendships and rivalries just really captivates me.

The Bone Ships absolutely nails that and everything else. The world-building is complex and captivating, slowly revealed as the story progresses and never dumped upon you. The characters are rich, multi-faceted and interesting and the dynamics and interactions between them are what really brings the first book of this exciting new series to life. The theme is overall a bit on the grim side (something I can sometimes struggle with) but the book is littered with enough wry humour, sarcasm, likeable characters and flashes of triumph that I remained totally invested in the trials and tribulations of the black ship and her crew.

The one thing I will say, less as a criticism and more of a head’s up, is that not a great deal happens in terms of the plot. It is largely the tale of a group of ragtag misfits trying, with mixed success, to become a functioning crew broken up by a number of exciting battles and altercations. I suspect that, like the first instalments of lots of series, the primary purpose of this book is to set the scene, tone and give us a little taster of what’s to come. A really, really promising start so I’ll be anxiously anticipating book two!

This book is a combination of a traditional nautical adventure, think Patrick O’Brian for example, and a fantasy adventure. There is a certain air of piracy about the crew of the Tide Child but there’s also some big sea battles (with lots of cunningly deadly weaponry and all the resultant blood and destruction); life at sea is described in great detail but we also travel into jungle-like forests and cities full of politics and criminal underbellies. There are fabulous characters – Joron Twiner, the ship’s original Shipwife, a very young man left angry and lost after the death of his fisherman father and Lucky Meas Gilbryn, an acclaimed shipwife and firstborn child of the ruling family, are the main two but there are plenty of others. My favourites are the Gullaime, an odd bird-like weather mage, and a foul-mouthed parrot. Every seafaring novel needs a foul-mouthed parrot: fact. It isn’t necessarily an easy read though as the world is subtly different from our own in so many ways – the first half of the book is spent working out a new vocabulary of words for both parts of a ship and its crew, and fitting this into a whole world’s worth of creation myths, natural history, politics and societal norms. I, personally, love letting a world build up in my head as I read but if this is something you struggle with there is a glossary. The detail I enjoyed most was the shift in gender power – ships are masculine, rulers are female (there are so few whole and healthy children born that any woman who produces them has vast power in her own right) and their male consorts are referred to as the Kept. Nice touch…Anyway, if you stick with it you will be rewarded with a proper page-turner full of adventure, danger and quite a few laughs with the promise of a couple of sequels.

I first came across RJ Barker at a FantasyCon where he gave one of the most entertaining author readings I’ve ever experienced. It was a perfect example of the author being their best marketing asset. I was sold.

Age of Assassins was the first book in Barker’s Wounded Kingdom trilogy, and the beginning of a love affair with his writing. The series was utterly refreshing, following the protagonist across several decades as he grew and changed. The characters were exquisitely painted, the plots enthralling and complex, and each book felt whole whilst satisfying part of a greater narrative. As such, it should come as no surprise that I was practically chomping at the bit for The Bone Ships.

Kicking off a new planned trilogy, The Bone Ships swaps the traditional land-locked fantasy tale for the harsh mistress that is the sea. We follow the story of Joron, a man condemned to a life on the Black Ships among criminals and no-hopers. His drunken fog of an existence is rudely interrupted by a naval legend, Lucky Meas, who takes command of Black Tide from Joron. The ragtag crew of rejects is then charged to protect the sea dragon, last of its kind, as it makes its way through the Hundred Isles. But the Black Tide isn’t the only ship after the beast, whose survival could be the turning point in a long and bloody war.

"Hag’s breath, he wanted to drink.
Maiden’s blessing, he wanted to."

Barker’s world-building is so accomplished you don’t realise how much new information you’ve soaked in until you are drowning in it (in the best possible way). The society in The Bone Ships is as inventive as it is well-developed. Barker builds a matriarchy, focusing on the pure power exhibited by women and their ability to give birth. Small, seemingly-throwaway cultural details – such as referring to ships in the masculine – layer to build a rich world full of nuance and depth.

The truly magical element of The Bone Ships is the gullaime. Part skeksis, part pirate mascot, the gullaime makes up for any personality failings in the protagonist ten-fold. Getting to know the gullaime brought me so much joy I was like a giddy kid on Christmas morning.

While The Bone Ships’ world is possibly even richer than The Wounded Kingdom, I found the characters less engaging. Joron is a protagonist in the vein of Fitzgerald’s Nick in The Great Gatsby – more of an observer than someone who drives the plot. Would the story be all that different without Joron? Perhaps not. Lucky Meas, on the other hand, is a wonderfully fun character who I particularly liked for the representation of older women in positions of power and seeking out adventure. And while by the end of the novel I was thoroughly invested, it took me longer to fall in love with the characters than in Barker’s first trilogy.

“Shall pay true honour to the Maiden, Mother and Hag. To go against this is punishable by death.
[…]
And woman may lay with woman and man may lay with man, but woman may not lay with man and risk a child aboard ship. To go against this is punishable by death.”

On occasion, the pace is halted by indulgent technical relaying of all the actions required to make the ship go. This is one of those aspects that will depend on whether you have an interest in boats, but I found the detail bogged down the action when I should have been swept along by the tension of the scene.

Verdict: The Bone Ships is one of the most delightful and refreshing fantasy reads I have ever picked up. While I may have some reservations about the bland protagonist and a slow start, the world and supporting characters make the novel something to treasure.

My full review was published on Fantasy-Hive.co.uk, but the short version here is that this is a fantastic fantasy adventure in a unique and wonderfully-drawn world. Great for fans of the author, because, though somewhat different in style and tone, this is still very much an RJ Barker book - but also new fans who want a bit of nautical fantasy. I'll be looking forward to the next one with great anticipation.

Fantasy tends to love the land not the seas. Tolkien saw it as a way to wave off characters than have the battles. Yet there is a richer set of novels from the likes of Robin Hobb’s Live Ship Traders or Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey and Maturin series that have seen the sea as more than just a landscape; they’re a battleground between humanity and nature and a place of intrigue and mystery. RJ Barker fresh from his very successful Wounded Kingdom series of murder mystery, political intrigue and land-based battles now moves into a different world and has created a maritime epic action adventure tale that is both hugely enjoyable and deliciously ambitious.

This time the setting is the high seas and a world surrounded by epic storms in which most people live on series of islands. On one side of the world we have the Hundred Isles and on the other the Gaunt Islands. They have fought each other for supremacy; and each accuses the other of starting the raids each other performs that result in the capture and murder of children. This war however is fought via the sea and so ships are the key to victory and in this world the best source of a ship is the bones of a ‘Keyshan’ essentially a sea dragon; but these days Keyshans are rare and the fleets on both sides are seeing the end of shipbuilding and with it the end of their warfare. Into this world we focus on the Hundred Isles ship The Tide Child – its known as a ship of the dead painted stark black in contrast with most ships bone-white purity. Its crew are the condemned and they’re always at the back of the queue in terms of resources, respect and quality. This particular ship was originally commanded’’ by Shipwife Joran Twiner a young drunk who is running away from his crew and his life. That is until in the first chapter of the book he is challenged for his Shipwife’s hat by the legendary ‘Lucky’ Meas a woman who is one of the most accomplished leaders in the fleet and who now herself has been condemned to the ships of the dead. Joron is going to be dragged unwillingly into the race for the last remaining living Keyshan and the fates of the world will end up being reliant on one of the worst ships in the fleet.

There is a huge amount to unpack in this tale. Even my summary doesn’t even start to scratch the surface of this world and the people in it. As you can tell this is a very different variation to our own world and as a consequence it’s got its own vocabulary and culture all to one side of our own. This is on the advanced side of the worldbuilding and that can sometimes appear disorientating. To compensate for this the first half of the book goes for a more episodic approach where we meet Joron and Meas; the crew of the Tide Child and the state they’re in! Then we visit the capital and understand more how Meas fts in this world and her mission. In each section as well as giving us glimpses of the character and story we see how this world and particularly the Hundred Isles work. This introduces us to the slang of the Bone Ships and the world they inhabit. I really liked this as the often-shared culture of books set in quasi medieval world is something fantasy readers have absorbed unconsciously for years this is something different. The slow pace here really sets up for a blistering second part. Once the main mission is underway the book picks up speed and it’s the crew versus the opposition to get to that Keyshan and we move into a beautiful set of sea and land battles where everything is put on the line; loyalties tested and the story moves to full on heart. Barker has an amazing ear for making you feel the pressure and chaos of a battle and the final section just soars but you need to know and understand the world before hand so a bit like the huge missiles the ships fire each other the structure of the book is to load the weapon; tighten the plot with lots of tension and then full on let loose and fly!

The word building itself is brilliant. The Hundred Isles is a matriarchal society; men are prized for their looks and fertility and women tend to be in positions of power hence here Captains are Shipwives; a ship is always a ‘he’ and there is a tolerance towards both people of different ethnicities (Joran himself is a person of colour) different genders and sexualities. Even the main religion uses a trio of Maiden, Mother and Hag to rule all of them and as the story progress little myths and sea traditions really makes this world come alive. Yet as a same time this society is horribly ableist condemning those born with disabilities to the Black Ships or the lower ends of society and most disturbingly it’s a deeply religious society which prepared to sacrifice the first born for the glory of the ships. It’s full of power struggles and intrigue and as the story develops, we see the Gaunt Islanders match them for complexity too. The whole feeling is a of world on the edge of a massive conflict and a corrupt set of leaders who care only about their own power. The Tide Child is in the literal firing line for being in a potential position to change all of this with its new captain.

With Joran and Meas and it’s a fascinating evolving double act. Joron is a lost soul with various secrets that led to his condemnation and drunken stupor only originally installed as shipwife by his crew as he was felt to be pretty harmless. Joran initially just wants revenge and his role back but then he realises that Meas really is a true Shipwife. Meas is the thunder and lightning compared to Joran’s more amiable nature. She’s fascinating to watch in her scenes, and we see there is the element of the performance as an indominable and perhaps uncaring leader compared with a more intimate side which she only shows to those she trusts. Driven herself by a personal agenda she has a point to prove and nothing is going to get in the way. With Joran demoted to first mate over the course of the novel Meas and Joran have to work together to get their crew to function. There is that classic trope of a ragtag troupe being turned into a fighting force and be it in Cornwell’s Sharpe, or Pratchett’s The Watch or say Django Wrexler’s Shadow Campaign tale it’s a theme I always love as we get people to show they’re better than the elite think and people suddenly gain confidence in themselves. Joran actually for the first time gets to know his crew (not all though are on his side) and there is a host of characters we meet, and we care as they live and die in the adventures to follow.

The final theme which I would say is only just emerging in this volume is that this world is magical and also itself changing. The Keyshan is a mysterious unknown entity and the Tide Child’s crew gets to witness their incredible power and also awareness of them – both inhuman and yet totally sentient. But I also loved the mysterious Gullaime – essentially a talking, walking featherless bird hidden in robes. Incredibly scruffy and viewed as unlucky they can control the wind of the ship – on the Tide Child their own is viewed as defective but as the story evolves we see the Gullaime has their own agenda and it also ties into a theme of humanity’s cruelty is not letting this world evolve as much as it could.

I think this series has got off to a blistering start and I loved it. I admire that this is not the Wounded Kingdom Part 2 - it’s a very different novel and approach but still carries on Barker’s ability to create and combine great characters and worldbuilding with a fantastic plot. My advice would be to soak up the first half and then be prepared to go full sail when the ship sets sail; but you’ll notice a lot of points I suspect are key to this novel and the wider series are being seeded. I am now totally on board this ship ad ready to see where the crew goes next.

I loved Barker’s debut trilogy – The Wounded Kingdom – and forgive me for blaspheming but this was even better, The Bone Ships takes various fantasy tropes and weaves them into something fresh and engaging. I can go either way of fantasy books set on the high seas (didn’t like Robin Hobb’s Live Ship Traders series for that reason) but here it really works for me. Barker’s characters are always compelling and his world building is rich, immersive and beautiful. This is one of the best fantasy books of 2019. Highly recommend.

Earlier this summer I read and loved Barker’s debut novel, Age of Assassins, so I was extremely excited to have the chance to read and review his latest book. Not only does The Bone Ships have a stunning cover (and you know I’m a sucker for a good cover), it takes place on huge ships made of sea dragon bones. Basically, this book is Justine catnip and dove into it with extremely high expectations.

I’m just going to start out this review by saying I absolutely loved this book. It was everything I could possibly want, and didn’t know I wanted, from a fantasy novel. Fun fact about me: I grew up near-ish to the ocean and used to sail regularly with my dad and my sister -- I could sail before I could drive. I’ve always had a strong connection to the sea and this book was such a delight to sink into. The atmosphere Barker creates was just so fantastic -- it sounds so cheesy to say but I could feel the wind on my face and the spray of the sea. This book pulled me into the happiest seafaring memories.

There was also something so perfect about The Bone Ships that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I pondered and pondered until I saw Hiu from The Fantasy Inn say that this book has ‘an undercurrent of optimism.A belief that people are mostly good,’ and that’s exactly it. The Bone Ships is a book set in a grim and brutal world, however it still feels uplifting and optimistic through character actions.

The worldbuilding in this book is just fantastic. One of my main worries going into The Bone Ships was that it would be a confusing and/or dense read, as many books set on ships are. You basically have to learn an entirely new vocabulary to figure out what’s going on (looking at you, Patrick O’Brian). However this wasn’t the case at all. The book is filled with nautical terms, but twisted to suit this world and in a way that’s easy for the reader to pick up on. A ship’s captain is a shipwife, the bow is the beak and the stern is the rump, the sails are wings, and so on. Something else I picked up on was the place of gender in this world -- ships are referred to with male pronouns rather than female ones, a shipwife is the captain’s title regardless of gender, and even the phrase ‘men and women’ is ‘women and men’. I found this incredibly effective not only for making sense of the world and the gender politics that are at play,

In terms of plot, The Bone Ships feels like the opposite of Age of Assassins -- where Age of Assassins has a strong and pacey plot and lighter worldbuilding, The Bone Ships is lighter on plot, more closely examines the world and the characters, and is definitely a book to be savoured. If you’re a reader who prefers a plot-driven book then this might not be the one for you. However, readers who love character-driven books will delight in the deep insight into characters and their story arcs. I think this may be a dividing point among readers and wanted to point it out.

Much of my love for this book also comes from Joron, our former shipwife of Tide Child who has his command taken by the famed Lucky Maes. Watching his story arc unfold was one of the most rewarding reading experiences I’ve had in ages. He is a deeply flawed character recovering from trauma -- he’s far from perfect, but that’s why I absolutely adored him. He’s a completely different person at the beginning of the book than he is at the end, which is always a favourite trope of mine. Much of the book’s optimistic undercurrent comes from Joron and his characterisation. I am also officially obsessed with Maes. She’s the seafaring badass leader of my dreams! I always love strong women, particularly older women, in fantasy. I’m always on the lookout for these characters in books and I feel I can really rely on Barker to deliver on this.

The Bone Ships is an astonishing start to a new fantasy trilogy, and I cannot tell you how much I loved this book -- it is undoubtedly one of my favourites of the year. Barker is an incredibly talented writer who fills his stories with so much heart and a great sense adventure. If you’re looking for a unique fantasy world filled with fantastic characters, I urge you to pick up The Bone Ships. I cannot wait to read the next one!

CW: Disability, PTSD

4.5 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2019/09/30/the-bone-ships-by-rj-barker/
I have to say that I loved The Bone Ships, it was just chock to the brim full with all the goodness that really rocks my boat (sorry)! The world building is excellent, the characters even better and this is a story predominantly set on the high seas with plenty of action. It’s an excellent read and one that clearly demonstrates the confidence the author feels in being able to take the time to establish the people and place in such a way that they come away fully rooted in the reader’s mind. Very impressive. I will try to show restraint but there may be gushing.

The story gets off to an immediate start. We meet Joren, who will in effect become the storyteller. Joren is a Shipwife aboard the Tide’s Child. The Tide’s Child is a black bone ship which effectively means it’s sailed and manned by those convicts sentenced to death. They sail on the sea and go where commanded, no matter how risky, until they die and the sea hag claims them for one of her own. A stay of execution if you will but a death sentence all the same.

Anyway, I say that Joren is a Shipwife but that role is a very short lived one for him as his command his challenged, and taken, by a newcomer, Meas Gilbryn or Lucky Meas as she is more often known. Now, at this point we know little of Meas or her motivations but all will be revealed as the story progresses. The one thing we do know about her is that she has confidence, skill and knowledge and coupled with a certain privileged self belief in her own worth and substance she’s a character that is difficult to ignore. All of this is just as well because getting this bunch of reprobates, that currently pass as crew aboard the Tide’s Child, ship shape will not be easy.

So, Meas selects Joron as her second and immediately embarks on making the ship ready to sail. At this point we discover exactly what it is that Meas seeks to achieve and it’s no small feat, it’s also a mission that demands secrecy and so there will be no spoilers here.

I’m not going to go too much further into the plot. Suffice to say that there is a good deal of fighting caused primarily by the desirability of dragon bones. Those ships made from bones are stronger and faster and the disappearance of the dragons has caused a shortage of materials to work with causing a rift and constant wars between the two nations at play here. It’s one of those vicious circles, each nation craves the bones to make their ships the best, so that they can win the wars caused by the desire to own the bones in the first place!

The world building here is really quite something. We have the (almost) extinct dragons and the whole supply and demand market that their extinction has driven. On top of that this is a world where certain needs have created a harsh class system. I’m not sure exactly the history or whether I missed something, but this is a place where women who have proved themselves capable of birthing healthy children become revered and are looked after in comfort – although to be honest, they’re really little more than breeding machines by all accounts. The Kept are similarly those males of society who are perfect specimens and are also kept in relative comfort awaiting selection as ‘mates’ by the women. Joren’s mother, for example, died in childbirth therefore meaning that Joren became the lowest of the low. There is so much more to this world, the climbers, the politics, the in-family fighting for superiority and the reasons why these two nations are constantly at war but, again, these things are best discovered by the reader for themselves.

For me, this is a great adventure on the open seas. There is very little land action although occasionally the Tide’s Child does put into port. I loved all the seafaring adventures though and I particularly enjoyed seeing the crew and the characters change as the story progressed. The bonding and pride that started to grow as each person started to gain self-worth. Joren in particular has a great character arc in which he goes from resentment and scheming to gratitude and an ability to forgive. Meas – well, she’s a great character and I absolutely loved her. I couldn’t help it. She’s just so self assured, she pulls this crew together in a way that was almost unbelievable and she just has this swagger that could be annoying but actually is endearing.

And, lets not forget the sea dragon – wow. I loved this beast. Loved. It.

If you’ve read RJ Barker before then you will probably expect to find characters that you can love and similar to the Wounded Kingdom we have a very strong female lead who acts almost like a mentor to Joren. We also have a critter to fall in love with that may not have antlers but does have sea horns. The similarity ends there though. This is a totally new world and the characters themselves are also unique and stand proudly on their own.

In terms of criticisms. I didn’t really have anything but I will point out that the story, the world and the abundance of characters and seafaring do take some time to get underway. In some respects it feels like we’re thrown head first into the world but then at the same time it feels like the oars are raised and the ship is at sea waiting for a strong wind. Personally, I loved that the story took a little time to develop because it gave me time to build my own relationships with the characters and to become familiar with everything else. I only mention this as a small warning to temper expectations. Like I said, I loved the build up and thought it was necessary.

What more can I say, sometimes you just read a book and it fits. It feels right. You sink into the world and you have difficulty stopping reading and returning to reality. This book just took me on a really immersive journey. It had whisperings from the classics, particularly as crew members muttered and conspired to mutiny and also in terms of the sea dragon and the intelligence it seemed to demonstrate. Reading this I could almost feel the author’s love of adventure and it took me back to some of my younger reads although I will say that this book does not attempt to mimic anything that has come before but stands admirably on it’s own merit.

I just loved this world and the characters and can’t wait to see where the author takes us next.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks. The above is my own opinion.

Tell of the sea, Topboy...

Well.

This book wasn't just a read, it was a journey.

A voyage.

A passage.

If, like me, RJ Barker burst onto your SFF radar a couple of years ago with his Wounded Kingdom trilogy, stories of assassins and cursed magic, then you will be expecting good things - and you won't be disappointed. But you might not be expecting something quite so nautical as The Bone Ships. It seems a risky thing for an author to take to something so different - such. different element - but it's a risk that has paid off here, in a rollicking story that succeeds, and more than succeeds, that triumphs, with bags of aplomb, heart-thumping tension and (of course) much dark humour.

Barker has, you might say, conquered the seas.

The Bone Ships is set in an oceany world, a world of islands and reefs where two powers - the Hundred Isles and the Gaunt Islands - are perpetually at war. In this world there is no wood: ships - necessary for trade and for war - are built from the bones of great sea-dragons, Arakeesians, which have, inconveniently, been hunted to extinction. So the two nations' fleets squabble, seizing ships back and forth as the stock of bone for beams and spars dwindles. Other things are seized as well. It's a harsh world, where child sacrifice is bound with the safety of the Fleet and the place of every woman and man is determined by fitness for breeding or for service in the Fleet.

Barker really gets under the skin of his invented world, laying out details of the bone- built, slate-decked vessels, of the culture, the religion, the taboos and shame. Walking that world is his hero Joron Twiner, condemned, like many others, to service on a Black Ship, to infamy and eventual death. Joron has suffered a loss that leaves him fearful and addicted to drink and he leads a crew of murderers, thieves and scoundrels - yet it's this beggarly lot who are chosen to hunt the last Arakeesian when rumour of it comes back to Shipshulme. But not before Joron loses his command and finds a mentor, the redoubtable and mysterious Shipwife, Lucky Meas, herself condemned to the Black Ships

As the crew are hammered into shape by Meas, RJ embarks us on a great adventure, complete with naval battles, spies, treachery, and strange alliances. Reading this gave me a feeling I haven't had for years, the same sense of space and possibility and achievement as when I first read CS Forrester's Hornblower stories. Like those books, The Bone Ships is as much about the building of human connections as it is about spars, wind or salt waves. It's about forging trust, about men and women developing competence, learning to work well together, overcoming differences and creating routines that will withstand the ultimate tests of battle and storm. It's about a crew forming, and how you can make that happen. This is all, at first, mysterious to Joron - he begins as a rather self-pitying creature - so the story is very much also about his growing up.

Barker captures all this perfectly, as he does the particular rhythms and cadences of a whole way of life. I don't know how but in writing of Tide Child and the other ships he has created an authentically nautical language, full of wind, waves, orders, shipboard terms and behaviours that simply convinces but - and this is the important bit - without coming over as sub Treasure Island pirate talk. It's a recognisable language but doesn't use terms you will have heard. The ship's sails are "wings", the ships have "seaward" and "landward" sides, sailors are "deckchilder" and so on.

Barker makes it all so real, whether he's describing how to handle one of the great crossbow mounted on Tide Child's deck, how the ship is cleared before battle, or the rituals and moments of ship life - the Shipwife leading prayers, or the singing of a shanty:

I've always loved the sea, my love
So deep and blue and true
I've always loved the sea, my love
As much as I loved you

Barker could - as much as Melville, Forrester or London - be reporting what he'd seen and heard aboard ship himself, so convincing and engaging is it. I don't think he's served three years before the mast, but you never know...

And that's not all this book has! It has layers and layers besides. There is the pitiless, endless war. There is (some) chance for peace. There is suspicion. There is a whole aspect of the plot to do with the origin of the arakeesians, and the strange, and sad, weather-manipulating creatures called the Gullaime.

And there is the most involving, gut-clenching naval combat I'd read for years.

The Bone Ships simply took my breath away, especially in its second half, where we face one shock after another and see Joron, no longer a cast-off wretch, facing dark choices and taking responsibility. It's an enthralling read and is one of my favourite books of 2019 so far.

To be honest I'm still reading it but I was so impressed by this novel that I wanted to share my impression at soonest.
It's an amazing novel with an amazing world building. It's not one of those novel where you discover things a bit at a time, you start and you're immerse in this unknown universe you learn to love page after page.
The character building is amazing and the atmosphere reminded me of a Dali picture, don't ask me why but there's a sort of surreal atmosphere that I couldn't help loving.
It's page turner that it's hard to put down.
A more detailed review will follow.
It's highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

The Bone Ships is an epic fantasy, the first of what is intended to become The Tide Child Trilogy. The Tide Child is the ship where most of the story plays out. Inanimate object though it may be, it’s actually a very important character throughout the story. It’s called a bone ship, because it’s made of the bones of dragons, and it’s a black ship, which means that its crew is made up of castaways and criminals. I really loved the premise and the cover, so although not my go-to genre, I was happy with the chance to read The Bone Ships.

However, truth be told: it took me a while and a bit of effort to get into the story. One reason, I’m sure, is the fact that I’m not used to the genre. It’s been a minute and a half since I’ve last read adult fantasy, so while I’m no stranger to fantastical elements and world-building, I was in no way prepared for the elaborate way it’s been done in The Bone Ships.

Another reason is that there was no wading gently into this particular ocean. The reader is catapulted into it, and there is so much vocabulary to get used to (for example the captain of a ship is called the Shipwife) and no time to familiarise yourself with it, because the world is right there, it’s detailed, it’s intricate, and it’s being built upon further with every new chapter. To be fair, it’s really not that complicated, it’s just overwhelming (or it was to me anyway), but when I got to the end of the book, I found a glossary, so note that! I would have noticed it in a paperback but I was reading this on my Kobo, so I didn’t know, but I think it would have come in handy.

Right from the get-go, I was impressed by Barker’s writing, his vivid imagery and his intricate world-building, I was practically in awe of the way his sentences flowed like the seas he was telling me about. Yet, I feared I was not the right audience and at one point very early on, I even contemplated DNF’ing, as I felt I couldn’t take the waves, and I felt ship-wrecked and drowning. Kids, I was wrong. I was so so wrong. See, this is why I generally don’t DNF: some books you fall in love with at first sight, other books make you work for it, they demand you take them out on a few dates before they show you their true colours but in the end they might be the most rewarding of all. The Bone Ships? Case in point why one should not draw conclusions hastily because I ended up not only enjoying this story, I ended up loving it.

At one point, I just realised how utterly invested I had become in the well-being of the characters. I was rooting for Joron, from whose perspective we see the story unfold, Shipwife Lucky Meas, who’s tough as nails but smart and fair, sweet little Farys, scarred and scared but brave, and weirdly, the Gullaime, a creature like a large bird of prey, blinded but able to talk to the wind and in that way either help the crew or thwart them.

The Bone Ships is in no way the typical first instalment of a series where nothing happens and it’s all about setting the board for the next book. A LOT happens. There’s politics, there’s betrayal, there are battles, and ohmigod that first glimpse of the sea-dragon / keyshan / arakeesian!

Parts of The Bone Ships also struck a nerve, like the Sea Hag who is seen as a goddess, worshipped, war is fought in her name, but like one of the characters so aptly puts: no one has ever actually met the Sea Hag, it’s women and men who decide what she says and hagpriests who speak for her. This is just a tiny sliver of conversation and I can’t be sure if the author meant it this way, but this, among other seemingly casual remarks, really stood out to me and added another layer to the story, one that dares the reader to take a closer look at their own reality, their own society and not be afraid to be critical of it.

Despite our somewhat rocky start, I thoroughly enjoyed The Bone Ships and I can’t wait for the second instalment! Recommended to fans of epic fantasy!

Many thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

Content warnings: discussions of miscarriage, deformity

I read this book a few days ago, and the thing that has really stuck with me since then is how one of the characters is forced quite early on in the book (within a chapter or so, it's not a spoiler) to give his command over to a woman (more on her later). He does it rather begrudgingly but then the book continues and not that long afterwards he essentially goes:

Oh, I guess she is much better in this leadership position than I am, good job she took on that role I'd be really bad at dealing with this situation. 

Honestly, I can't think of a time where any transition of power hasn't been used to create a huge amount of conflict - particularly when it's a woman taking power from a man. I am a big believer in being honest about what skills you do have and letting the people who are good at certain things be good at those things and this hit me right in that sweet spot. 

Let's talk about the woman in question, Meas. Essentially I love her. She is the pirate (ok they aren't technically pirates but they basically are) queen we all need in our lives. I love a main character who gets things done and Meas is absolutely one of those. She's relentlessly competent and it is just wonderful. 

In this world, women who bear children are the upper strand of society, the higher the number of children you have the better and if they are born weak or deformed or something then you are seen as terrible within society. That's partly why I added that in as a content warning. Obviously, I'm coming at this from an able-bodied perspective but it's quite clear from the way the book is written that this is not the best way of doing things - but that it is nonetheless an integral part of the worldbuilding at this stage. I'll be interested to read the viewpoint of a reader with disabilities. Thinking about it now, while it is a key aspect of the world and is important for the backstory of a number of main characters, it isn't the focus or main driver of the plot so it possibly doesn't warrant the level of scrutiny this big paragraph seems to be giving it. 

Peppered throughout the narrative are songs, little rowing songs and folk songs that begin some of the 'parts' of the book. I adored these and have said on Twitter that I might take the time to write melodies for them if I'm ever stuck on a rainy day. This was just another way this book looks at what life on the sea would be like, so much music comes from ships and sailors and I loved that it was included in this book. What I also liked was that those little musical interludes also served the plot - but I won't spoil it for you. 

Now, on to my favourite aspect of this book (other than all the other things I've already mentioned that I loved), the Gullaime (a kind of bird/magician that can call the wind). I want you to experience this aspect of the story for yourself but it does another one of my favourite tropes - exposing something that is the cultural norm by doing something different and it works much better - that was a mess of a sentence but YES TO THIS PLOT POINT. 

I may have shed a tear or two. 

This book manages to capture the 'miscreants out on the sea completing a task' perfectly. It strikes that magic balance between plot, atmosphere and characters and all those other tiny parts of a book that can so easily overwhelm each other. 

It reminded me that I don't read enough boat-based books. 

I loved it. 

My rating: 5/5 stars

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars.

Bold and inventive, R.J. Barker sailed through new, uncharted waters with The Bone Ships and emerged with a brilliant tale of seafaring adventure and deeds of derring-do.

With The Bone Ships, Barker's sophomore series is quite a departure from the tone and style in his debut The Wounded Kingdom, which I loved, but the most important that remained is his engaging voice. Let me first state this pertinent fact - I am not typically a fan of seafaring stories - be it in the medium of books or movies. To set some context before I proceed, I have not read The Liveship Traders by Robin Hobbs and not seen the movie, Master and Commander. Why? Because ships. Throughout my many years of reading, whether it's fantasy or otherwise, I usually dreaded the part of the story where the main characters had to undertake a sea voyage, always hoping that it'll be as short as possible. There had been exceptions where I've found it to be more than just agreeable, but these were rare and usually do not make up the bulk of the narrative.

As such, I was actually pretty anxious going into this book. I would say that over 90% of The Bone Ships took place on a ship and in the sea. And, I loved reading every minute of it. Honestly, I was quite blown away by how much I enjoyed this book. Not only was the narrative predominantly seafaring - the very culture, religion and economy of this world are centred around it. To top it all off, Barker even created a whole slew of new sailing jargons. However, due to his deft skills in contextualising these terms in the narrative, I found myself struggling less than I usually do with our real-world sailing jargon. Barker's lyrical writing pulled me into the story effortlessly notwithstanding how foreign this world of the Scattered Archipelago was.

On that note, I just want to take a moment here to praise the incredible worldbuilding. Even accounting for the fact that I've not read much seafaring narratives, the worldbuilding in The Tide Child feels unique stacked against other fantasy settings. The building blocks of this world - religion, culture, economy, mythology, even the flora and fauna - are rooted in the seagoing life of its people and shaped by the never-ending war between the two major nations in the Scattered Archipelago. All these are so well-crafted that even such foreign environment came alive in my mind. I don't have the right words to describe how everything seemed to just fit and work well, from ships made from the bones of sea dragons to an avian God, and the worship of feminine deities.

The world is decidedly matriarchal. For example, ships are referred to as "he" as opposed to the typical use of the feminine pronoun and the captains are called shipwife. The social structure is built upon a blatant and absolutely awful discrimination between those who are born normal and those with deformities, however slight. To be part of the fleet is an honour granted to the privileged and strength is perceived from lack of deformity. This is just one of the many harsh realities in The Hundred Isles - life there is hard and brutal. One element of Barker's writing which stayed true to The Wounded Kingdom is the significance of animals or creatures in the narrative. As an animal lover, I love having them strongly represented in stories, and one of my favourite characters in The Bone Ships is an avian creature.

Now on to the most crucial part of any storytelling, and it is the characters. The Bone Ships differ from Age of Assassins most of all in the way it deals with characterisation. In Barker's debut, the narrative was so highly character-driven that the plot and worldbuilding seemed secondary to the character arc of Girton Club-Foot. In The Bone Ship though, the balance between characterisation and worldbuilding has shifted with the latter taking more precedence given how unique the setting is. I thought that it was managed remarkably well the perspective of Joron Twiner, our main protagonist. Joron was brought up with ingrained prejudices and preconceived notions, pretty much like most of the people in The Hundred Isles.

The story started with Joron being usurped from his position as shipwife (i.e. captain) of the Tide Child, a black bone ship whose crew is made up of the condemned, and hence known as a ship of the dead. Through Joron, I was able to understand the way of life in The Hundred Isles in all its brutal glory and be part of a compelling journey in his character development. Lucky Meas, a well-known ex-shipwife of a famous bone ship, became the shipwife of Tide Child after defeating him easily in a duel. With her competent leadership, we get to witness Joron's growth, both in his strength of character as well as in his awareness of how wrong some of his earlier prejudices are.

"It diminishes no commander to learn from those which know more. Weak commanders dare not ask. Strong commanders know no fear of learning. And, just so you know, Joron, if I am in a competition I like to win, and as you are my second in commond I expect you to win for me. So do not expect me to be soft on you.

Lucky Meas is a fantastic character. A formidable ship captain who demonstrated solid leadership, competence and well-placed empathy. While we don't get much of her backstory, enough was revealed to know that her luck could either be from providence or self-made. I would like to believe it's both. There are some strong leadership lessons in this story that's for sure, and it was especially captivating because the characters we follow are stuck in a dark place.

I've always been enamoured by stories about people rising above what life has thrown at them. Those condemned to the ship of the dead are not necessarily all criminals, but they are essentially deemed as dead the moment they take on the black armband of the crew. Nonetheless, under the right leadership, to be given the trust and the chance to prove oneself, and to then take pride of job done well, even the dregs can rise from the bottom. I found myself caring for the survival of some of these supposedly rogues or curs, and feeling equally moved by the stirring speeches delivered by Lucky Meas and the courage of the Tide Child crew as they prepare to face the battles in an almost-suicidal mission.

"To be fleet is not do so what is possible, it is to do what you must."

The sea battles in The Bone Ships are magnificent. Never have I been able to imagine battles between ships so vividly. Never have I been so engrossed in the ship manoeuvres and fully appreciated the power of wind in seafaring. Even in handling the aspect of wind, the wild and wonderful imagination of Barker shines through. There is magic involved here, and that's all you'll ever get out of me for now. If you like seafaring adventures, do yourself a favour and pick up this book, for even one who's not normally a fan of like me enjoyed it immensely. Before I end this review, I also have to make special mention of the stunning map (which I've referred to numerous times during my read) and evocative interior art created by the ultra-talented Tom Parker.

An enthralling story in a fascinating yet brutal world and its harsh seas, The Bone Ships is yet another winner from R.J. Barker.

The Bone Ships takes you onto an adventure aboard a bone ship that is magical and amazing with the world it builds through the story and stories it tells.

You get taken onto a journey into a world of seafaring, adventure and magic with magical creatures and dragons, with ships, of course, and a nation that lives by its myths and beliefs. You also get quite some blood and gore and death and an interesting main character, Joron Twiner, who I would say it is safe to say, sets out onto the adventure of a life time.

I loved reading this book. It's world building has to be earned as at the beginning you meet quite a few terms that relate to seafaring as well as to the world this story is told within. Over the course of this book you also get introduced to the social layers of this world, the myths, stories and beliefs that rule this world.

And then there is a sea dragon and a ship, and a story unfolds.

More than anything I loved the story that I got to read. It is so very well told. And it kept me glued to the pages until the very end.

And now, I definitely want more. More of Joron and Lucky Meas and the gullaime and all the other characters and the magic that rules this world.

This review refers to the eARC I received from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

This is fantasy at its best, so much I can see it being a classic to me. The world building is epic, the writing strong and the characterisation is fabulous. I loved the twists on mythology, the maiden mother and sea hag, the strong female based society, the representation, everything is just a joy. You want to read one of the best fantasy books this year, read this.


Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Dos naciones enfrentadas durante largo tiempo. Un mundo donde conseguir acabar con un dragón puede marcar la diferencia en la eterna contienda entre ambos territorios. Hasta que el rumor empieza a correr entre las ciudades costeras de estas naciones: se ha avistado uno de estos seres.


Ninguno de los barcos que navegan los mares de este mundo había conseguido ver uno de estos dragones marinos durante un prolongado período. Sus huesos son altamente valiosos por su tamaño y calidad dado que permiten la construcción de más y mejores barcos con los que enfrentarte a tu contendiente. Quien consiga capturarlo tendrá en su mano las mejores cartas para la partida que se disputa día tras día en alta mar.

Cuando hace un tiempo descubrí a RJ Barker, su primera trilogía The Wounded Kingdom se encontraba a medio publicar y no encontré momento para ponerme con ella a pesar de los buenos comentarios leídos. The Bone Ships da inicio a una nueva saga que me ha permitido, y nunca mejor dicho, subirme a su barco y conocer de primera mano su literatura. Y puedo asegurar que el resultado ha sido satisfactorio y, sobre todo, entretenido.



Los dos protagonistas de The Bone Ships han sido condenados, por diversos motivos, a formar parte de un Black Ship llamado Tide Child. Es un barco “negro” porque su calidad de huesos no es la mejor y, quienes son enviados a formar parte de su tripulación, son personas condenadas, sin honor, y cuya navegación en ellos puede resultar su último servicio a la vida. Lucky Meas Gilbryn será la capitana de un barco donde Joron Twiner, un chaval de poca monta y demostrado pésimo capitán, se encargará de cuidar de que todo lo que suceda en cubierta siga el mandato recibido por la líder. La novela comienza cuando ella toma las riendas de la embarcación tras resultar exitosa en su desafío al propio Joron, quien a duras penas ejercía de capitán de la nave. Ambos, junto a un buen puñado de personajes secundarios que habitan el barco, navegarán por diversos puntos del amplio mapeado que se presenta en busca de confirmar si los rumores que se están extendiendo son ciertos o, por el contrario, una falacia en busca de venganza.

La novela dedica buena parte de su primera mitad a contarnos, de manera más o menos forzada según el momento y la conversación, como es el mundo que rodea a nuestros protagonistas. El worldbuilding, en este sentido, es apabullante. La cantidad de nueva terminología que vamos a recibir sobre cómo se estructuran las islas, las naciones, los roles dentro del barco, los distintos seres mágicos que habitan el mundo, etc. hacen de las dos o tres primeras horas de lectura todo un desafío. Por otra parte, aunque resulte mucha información y muy de golpe, he de reconocer que a mí personalmente el mundo que me ha detallado me ha gustado y algunos personajes como el Gullaime (una especie de mago ciego que proporciona viento en las zonas donde se encuentra) me ha interesado especialmente.


La segunda mitad de The Bone Ships cambia significativamente de registro, teniendo lugar en su gran mayoría en alta mar. La terminología marina se incrementa mientras consolidamos muchos de los conocimientos adquiridos previamente e incluso el nombre de los días o del astro solar que ilumina este mundo resulta nuevo. La atención sigue siendo necesaria mientras el navío protagonista se echa a la mar en busca del ansiado dragón que cambie el sino de la contienda. Y los acontecimientos se sucederán dando poco respiro hasta el final de la mismísima última página. No creo que haga ningún spoiler si digo (¡oh!, sorpresa) que las escenas de persecución y captura del dragón marino son un gran aliciente y hacen que la lectura merezca la pena.

Como comentaba anteriormente, en general me he divertido leyendo The Bone Ships. El worldbuilding que se describe da una de cal y una de arena debido a la gran cantidad de nueva información que se nos presenta de golpe y porrazo, aunque a mí me resulto lo suficientemente interesante, original y bien construido que tenía curiosidad por continuar leyendo y profundizar en detalles. Pero también puedo entender a quien se le haga pesado dada la longitud de estas presentaciones, la gran cantidad de nuevos términos y las palabras inventadas que se utilizan sin apenas introducción y que son introducidas, en ocasiones, a las bravas. A nivel de acción la novela tiene escenas bien planteadas y un buen equilibrio de sorpresas y traiciones que termina por completar el primer volumen de una nueva trilogía a la que seguiré la pista en su segunda entrega.

Bone Ships was something that, as soon as I saw it was on Orbit’s list for release, I knew I had to do everything within my power to get early. Much like the author, I am addicted to the ocean and love novels, series, films etc … set on the sea. So, it’s fair to say my excitement was high going into this one.

My excitement, nor my expectations, were let down. From start to finish Bone Ships is one heck of a gripping read. It’s not just the overall plot of chasing a giant sea serpent to protect it from having its bones harvested that was decent, it is everything within the pages. If I’m honest, I cared about the plot least of all due to how good the characters were.

This book has some of the best character development of any book I have read in quite some time. It’s incredible to see how the crew goes from what it was to what it becomes whilst leaving you with the impression that there is still more growing to come besides. Admittedly, some of the motivational speeches felt a bit cliché and shoe-horned in at places, but they worked in some odd way.

One thing a reader needs to get used to is the jargon used. Not ship jargon as we know it, but ship jargon as it appears in Bone Ships. For instance, the feminine is predominant. A ship’s captain is known as ‘the Ship Wife’ (I’m assuming that all ships are male and their captains are essentially their ‘spouse’). General crew is known as ‘deckchilder’. The word for brother is brother but, sister is ‘sither’ (despite one instance where it wasn’t … but I got an early copy and imagine such little mistakes will be ironed out). The only really jarring thing about the terminology that bothered me was, instead of using ‘men and women’ he used ‘women and men’. Now it isn’t a sexist complaint, it’s a ‘this does not work alphabetically or in order as far as syllables go,’ complaint. You do get used to it, but it just feels jarring and breaks the flow of a sentence up due to the fact that it isn’t the order of wording I have had drilled into me from a young age.

The ship dynamics was something new and interesting. It made me think back to one of my favourite ocean-based series (Live Ship Traders by Robin Hobb) however the dynamic for this series is far different to that one. The bones of great sea-serpents are used to forge incredibly durable ships and (morbidly so) sacrificed infants are used to give ‘corpse lights’ to strengthen the ships in some ways. The Black Ships (ships of the dead) do not have the grizzly benefit of corpse lights. And the ship we follow in the Tide Child series is a Black Ship so we don’t have that darkness lurking on our favoured ship. We do however have a ship that is crewed by criminals that have been sentenced to die in service to their lands. So bit of darkness either way.

This still will go down as easily one of the best things I have read this year and has more than done enough to convince me that it will be the stand-out opener to a series for 2019 and possibly some time after. I got genuine sadness that, as an early reader of it, it means I’ll have to wait that little bit longer for the sequel. This will certainly be a series I look forward to more than most.

With a starting line in the synopsis of ‘A crew of condemned criminals embark on a suicide mission to hunt the first sea dragon seen in centuries’ there was no way that I was not going to be excited about this. A group of misfits who are rightly not good are my favorite kinds of crews and dragons make everything better. The cover is also stunning. Unfortunately I am disappointed by this book.

Our book focuses on one main character, Joron in third person point of view, who feels like he is mainly there to show us how things started. He is the man looking on someone great. The one who will become a legend. That can be a very interesting dynamic but I don’t think it entirely worked out the way the author wanted too. Especially in the first half of the book I was left increasingly bored as we get a lot of Joron’s thoughts and endless feeling sorry for himself. It was hard to get through that to see the story when up to 40% there was little direction to the story.

It doesn’t help that world building wise, this world is complicated with many different terms to learn and remember. Some of it was dumped on us at the start and it took a lot of time to get a good grasp on this world as a whole.

After that however the story did start to pick up and especially the last 20% of it was very good and captivated me. I wish the whole book had been like that.

I think the books downfall is that for the longest time I did not care about the characters and even by the end, I only cared a little. One could have died and I would have just said: ‘Oh, too bad.’ That is not what you want to achieve as a writer. Especially having Joron as a main character made this book less appealing to me because I could not get to liking him. He was an alcoholic when we met him and while there was some mention of his withdrawal I feel like there really wasn’t enough of it to make it feel realistic. His development however beyond that was somewhat interesting to see. From being inadequate to being a good second to his captain.

There was however one section where he talked about suicide but that he was from an island where they were strong of character so he would never do that. It was infuriating. As someone who is depressed that hurt, as if I am not strong for how I feel, for having had those thoughts. And also not how it works. The implication that those who commit suicide or think it are weak is wrong.

Meas is the character who we are looking on who might become a legend, which in a way she already is as everyone knows her. She comes from a difficult position of power but seems to want peace. As we are looking upon her it is harder to get a good grasp on her. It makes her mysterious and there is still a lot left to discover with her.

I think I liked some of the side characters more, especially those that allied himself with Joron rather quickly. Their loyalty was inspiring to be honest.

And the dragon, well we didn’t get as much as I would have liked (but when don’t I complain about that?) but the depiction of this sea dragon was wonderfully epic and beautiful. I was pleased.

So all in all I wasn’t quite taken with this book. However the ending redeemed itself enough for me to be once again curious where this as a whole will be moving forward to. So I would like to read the sequel to this.

Firstly, I love the concept of the Bone Ships, ships made from the bones of dragons. I bet they would look so cool and I like that Barker is doing something slightly different. It’s not just a ship based fantasy, it’s a ship based fantasy with ships made of dragon bones. Cool stuff. Secondly, the little illustrations at the beginning of the chapters also look really cool.

The story follows Joron Twiner, a young man who is condemned to a ship for convicts, called the Tide Child, after killing someone in a duel. He basically spends his days drunk until the ship is taken over by Meas Gilbryn who is given the job of hunting down a newly sighted dragon because its bones could help win a war. The story is interesting enough and I think it is a good set up to what is going to happen in future books. It’s not new or original but it’s a lot of fun and very readable. Barker has a writing style that I get on very well with, it is easy to get through and it flows well. The plot never feels like it drags or is boring, it’s just basic.

As for worldbuilding, this is where it feels more original and deep. The society is matriarchal which is very interesting. Your status in society is based on whether your mother managed to successfully give birth and how many times she managed it. The leaders of society are all women who have many healthy children and the lower orders of society are people who were either born deformed or their mother died in childbirth. It’s an interesting concept and it does put women in a higher position than men but it does somewhat perpetuate the idea that all women are good for is having children, which is also an interesting thing to consider. As for the rest of the world building, Barker does a good job of describing things and it feels suitably epic.

Joron makes a sympathetic character. His backstory is suitably tragic and he grows enough throughout the story so he doesn’t become irritating. I liked reading the story from his eyes and I am looking forward to see where he is heading next. Meas was also an interesting character and, again, I am looking forward to seeing her story develop, particularly if you find out more about why she’s on a ship of condemned criminals and her relationship with her mother and the rest of her family.

I feel the same way about The Bone Ships as I did about Age of Assassins. It’s a good start with room to progress and go so if this series goes the same way as The Wounded Kingdom trilogy then I will be in love by the next book. I do like a good ship based fantasy so hopefully this turns out to be one. I like the characters and the world is very interesting. The pacing of the novel was good, it didn’t drag and it wasn’t boring but it was just a little bit basic. Hopefully the story becomes more complex in the next novel because The Bone Ships was an enjoyable beginning to the series.

Post will go live on hobbleit.wordpress.com on 18/9/19