4.75 stars rounded up- published on goodreads.
Where do I even begin? The Bone Ships is, by far, one of the best fantasy books I have read this year. Why? Because it has absolutely everything you could want from the genre!
I will outline the book, structure and core ideas (with minimal spoilers!) and then say what I thought!
The Bone Ships is inspiringly original and incredibly intricate. RJ Barker has created a world that is dominated by the sea, rich in mythology and has an intricate caste systems that goes beyond the simple division of gender that dominates the fantasy genre.
The Bone Ships has a very intricate system of power based on strength and ability. Firstly, if your mother survives giving birth to you and you are healthy then she is respected and seen as having a strong bloodline and her firstborn child is given as a sacrifice to become a ‘corpselight’ for the ships (something I won’t go into much detail about in order to avoid spoilers but shivers went down my spine!) Secondly, if your mother dies in childbirth or you are born with a form of deformity, disability or disfigurement you are seen as having a weak bloodline and so are not destined to be respected, become a ‘corpselight’, or even to become part of a ship’s crew. Instead you are given ironic jobs (i.e. if you have no arm you become a tailor) and are made to be ‘stonebound’ (land dweller-less respected than those who are crew.) Though women are often the more dominant in this society, with the mythology being led by goddesses (like the Mother and the Sea Hag) and women being the leaders (status depending on how many children they have had-their stretch-marks being a sign of power ) it goes much deeper than this and I loved it.
Not only is the caste system intricate but so is the world itself. The Bone Ships revolves around an in-depth system of magic and mythology. The people believe in three key goddesses; the Maiden, the Mother and the Sea Hag. Each are respected but the Sea Hag is the dark goddess, the violent one that clutches the dead in the sea. However, the magic and mythology goes even deeper with Meas herself being considered lucky (hence the name ‘Lucky Meas’) as it is believed she is, in some way, favoured by the Goddesses. Moreover, the gullaime windtalker, a bird like creature, is incredibly important to the people of this world. Though seemingly unnatural and usually avoided unless needed, it is highly revered and people are incredibly superstitious in their beliefs towards it (for example, they will not hurt the guillame or even touch it as it is considered a gift from Skearith the Stormbird – God of all creation). The guillame can control the winds in order to aid the crew on their ships and so is crucial to the crew. The main guillame in the story is also an interesting character unto itself and, despite being an unnatural creature, you can help but connect with it and feel for it.
The final key element of magic and mythology is dragons. The dragons were hunted by both the Hundred Isles and the Gaunt Islanders, they compete and war with each other, in order to build their ships. The ships are built in different sizes and a referred to by the number of rib bones used, the more used the bigger and sturdier the ships. The ships are a reflection of the Shipwife and crew and are usually kept clean and shining in order to show off and highlight their status. However, the dragons were all killed and ships were being made smaller or not at all due to the lack of bones available. This story, however, begins when a lone, last living dragon is sighted. Joron and Meas go on a voyage to find this dragon as whoever finds it first will receive glory, but could also end or fuel the war between the islands.
I adored this concept and loved the mythology and magic that fuels this world. The intricate system, though confusing at first, is so interesting and influential that you can’t help but love it. Moreover, the ideas are masterfully executed and there are no dreaded info-dumps, instead you learn about the world naturally and organically through conversation and the characters personal beliefs and superstitions.
Furthermore, the divide in power is original and unique due to its focus on ability (as well as gender), as a disabled person I thought this was incredibly interesting and I loved to see how it panned out and I adored the characters that openly disagreed with this or defied the belief they couldn’t be crew and went on to be shipwife (the Gaunt islanders do not necessarily follow the same idea as the Hundred islanders in regards to deformity and disability)- the concept of a divide based on gender but also physical ability is one many authors would be worried to tackle but RJ Barker has done it so masterfully that it is such a unique way to create a caste system and truly makes the book stand out in the genre. The story is interesting and engaging and the characters are well developed. The characters are easy to connect with (despite largely being criminals) and are so interesting that every time there was a fight or danger my heart leapt into my throat – these are characters you want to survive but you know that there is no guarantee. The characters are incredibly diverse in ability, looks and personality and are essential to the world-building and the story moves along with them.

I will admit that initially it was difficult to get into The Bone Ships as there is a lot of terminology that I simply did not know because it was a sailing term or a term specific to the world in the book. However, DO NOT LET THIS PUT YOU OFF because boy oh boy is it worth it.
The story is a perfect blend of mystery, suspense, action, fantasy, and even comedy (Black Orris anyone? You’ll love him.) With so many elements blending perfectly it is hard not to love it! This is so original and enjoyable-it is a true star amongst the fantasy genre. I have so many questions at the end of this book and absolutely cannot wait for the next one!
*I received an advance digital copy from #netgalley (Little Brown Book Group UK - @Littlebrownuk - twitter) in exchange for an honest review*

I've tried reading this on several separate occasions, but each time I can't make it past the first few chapters.
I had this issue with RJ Barker's 'Age of Assassins' and I think it's time for me to admit that Barker's writing just isn't for me.
I struggled to make sense of what was happening and my mind constantly drifted away from the page and I didn't care for any of the characters.

This will definitely have its audience who will love this book, but unfortunately I'm not it.

The Bone Ships – RJ Barker

RJ Barker has a talent for creating utterly compelling fantasy worlds. His previous fantasy series, The Wounded Kingdom books were packed with fine detail, all of which felt natural and added to the fun. His latest work, The Bone Ships, pulls the same trick. Subtle details that create a world familiar enough to be engaging and yet they stack up, creating an immersive experience.

The Bone Ships is set in a world that is mostly ocean. The people of The Hundred Isles war against their rivals in the Gaunt Islands. Fertile land is scarce, and glory goes to those who brave the sea. The greatest ships are made from the bones of long dead sea dragons, and these mighty bone ships forma powerful fleet.

The story centres around Joron Twiner an unfortunate man who finds himself as crew aboard a black ship called The Tide Child. These are bone ships that have no glory, being essentially prison crewed ships destined to do the dangerous jobs. Fate changes when the legendary Lucky Meas Gilbryn boards the ship, turning its sorry crew into something she can use. Meas intends to lead this ragged crew on a mission that could change to course of history and onto glory. Or end in a very bloody, messy way.

It’s a story set in a harsh world. The people of The Bone Ships live in a place where death is common and most babies are born deformed. Status is dependent mostly on how many healthy people you can bring to the world, which means the story is crammed with women in places of power. In a genre populated with young male heroes and wise old bearded gentlemen, it’s good to see something that’s honestly different and it just makes the whole story more engaging and relatable.

Though the main characters, Joron and Meas, are always interesting, the rest of the cast (even minor characters) are memorable and fun. Particularly Black Orris, who is forever quotable. Barker populates his story with all sorts of different people with their own story, and this makes the world breathe. It’s a horrible world, but an all too believable one. It’s easy to empathise with the crew of the Tide Child, even the worse of them have some way of getting to you.
The language is deftly done. Little notes such as all ships being he rather than she, or crew being called deckchilder. It’s a strange world close enough to our own and though this a trick common to to fantasy, Barker’s lyrical style sells the strangeness. The story itself is a rip-roaring oceanic adventure, packed with violence and beauty. It’s about the beauty of the sea and brutality of humanity. As well as a tale of huge sea monsters and ship to ship battles. A perfect storm of fantasy storytelling.

9/10

A wonderful start to a trilogy. RJ Barker has crafted a gritty and visceral world that grips you from the outset and refuses to let go until the very end. Like Barker says in his afterword, I have always been fascinated by the sea, and I loved how the detail of the world building reflected both the otherworldly beauty of the ocean and its many moods (I especially liked the descriptions of the Windspire) and the supreme alien grossness of it all. I especially enjoyed the skeksis-ness of the Gullaime, and could honestly read another entire book focusing only on them.

However, that would be to lose Joron, who I loved in his journey from scared teenager to seasoned sailor. I found his growth and attitude to Lucky Meas and the mission extremely satisfying, and enjoyed seeing how his perception of the world and the people surrounding him widened and deepened throughout the story. And oh, Lucky Meas. There are still too few aging badass women in books, and she's a fine addition to the canon.

This is a great book and if any of you enjoyed Black Sails, Red Seas Under Red Skies, or Assassin's Creed: Black Flag (or even Sea of Thieves)- read it, my girls and boys!

The Bone Ships, then. A story of found family, of ships crafted from bones and magic skimming over icy waves. A story of honour and blood. A story of heroism, if not of heroes. Of sacrifices, hard truths, and a song of salt winds and dark waters.

Sorry to wax lyrical, but in more prosaic terms: this is a very, very good book.
As the title suggests, rather a lot of the story takes place on the sea. Specifically, on ships. More specifically, on ships crafted from the bones of dragons. Lets just take a moment to appreciate how cool that idea is. The dragonboats of this world are literally dragon-boats. The ships are crewed by reavers, hard men and women who go out into the world in search of battles and treasure. Well, mostly. The crew of our story are a little different. But I’ll come back to that. For now, it’s enough to imagine a ship crafted from the bones of a dead leviathan crashing through frigid deeps. The society these people come from is driven by scarcity and conflict. It sits in an ocean seemingly at the edge of nothingness – a cold, hard place. Farming is difficult. Keeping children alive, more so. The land is poisoned and poisonous – and as a result, the society that clings to these rocks is led by those with a proven ability to bear living children. And the women with that power, they are no less surgical, no less vicious, no less ruthless than anyone else would be. They keep a court of fertile men, and send the rest out to fight and die and live, however they can – seizing victory and glory on the tides. It’s a fragile world, one underpinned by loss and sacrifice. This is a stark, often brutal world, sure enough – but it’s one where you can feel the wind knife across your face on the spired isles, just as much as feel the blade in your back from the political manoeuvrings of the political elite. It’s a vividly imagined, detailed and entirely believable culture, one you can live and breathe while turning the pages.

Alongside this culture, one which is wrapped in constant war with its neighbours, we have the smaller, more intimate world of a ship and its crew. Here the personalities are important, the Captain, of course, but also those who manage the decks, the navigator, the lookouts, the brawlers. There’s a vitality to a good crew, and a febrile fragility to one that isn’t holding together. In both cases, the emotional tenor is here, and it comes out of the page in dialogue, in sarcastic asides, in banter, in orders given and obeyed (or not). The power dynamics of the enclosed space are implicit and complex, and here, in this story, you can live and breathe those dynamics, and see them play out. If the wider society is twisted upon itself, dependent on the ships and reliant on conflict – the ships themselves are something else. Even the worst are, if not families, the worst because they don’t have the bonds accepted by the best.

Really what I’m saying is, this is a really well-drawn, sharply observed world. It may not always be a very pleasant one, but you’ll find yourself lost in its intricacies, nonetheless.
Onto this stage step the crew of the Tide Child. When we first meet our interlocutor, Joron, he’s the captain of the ship. Of course, he’s also constantly drunk, scared of his own crew, and determined to drink himself to death on a beach before ever getting back on the ship. And the crew are disparate, cruel, lost. It doesn’t help, of course, that they’re on a so called “black ship”, all sentenced to death, with service taken as an alternative to execution. They are not, it must be said, a happy bunch. As the narrative moves, Joron’s relationship with the crew evolves, as does the man himself. As our eyes on this world, Joron is reflective, thoughtful, aware of his own fragilities and weaknesses – perhaps too much so. But that fragility also gives him a much needed humanity, when matched with the other central force of the story, Lucky Meas.

In another version of this story, Meas is the centre of attention. She’s smart, funny, lethal. She inspires courage, she inspires friendship she inspires her crews as heroes. A disgraced leader of fleets, a woman who would happily kick down the door to perdition if her goals lay beyond it. And don’t get me wrong, watching her stride across the page, taking absolutely no crap, is an absolute delight. But living it via Joron gives us a perspective, a detachment, a more grounded understanding. Meas is a force of nature, that’s true. But if she understands herself and her purposes, Joron does not – at least, not entirely. This helps maintain the narrative mystery, and also helps in keeping Meas human; Joron is not always entirely happy with the appearance of such a force of nature into his life, and his opinions help shape the way we see things.

The two of them, the phlegmatic Joron and the fiery Meas, will take the broken crew of the Tide Child into the path of matters of great portent. I won’t spoil those, but will say this – they do have a tendency to get bloody. But there are also startling moments of grace scattered through the pages, where a well-turned word or an indrawn breath can pierce the heart of the reader as sharply as any blade. Suffice to say that somewhere between the two lies our story, and it had be turning pages in that state where I desperately wanted to know what happened next, but also didn’t want the book to end. It’s a tale of found family, and of sacrifices and of challenges, and of friendship, blood and death. A story of trying to change the world, and a story about people, and what happens when they try to change the world.

It’s compulsive, compelling reading. I’m absolutely desperate to see more of the Tide Child, and I think once you’ve finished this book, you will be too. Go out and pick this one up right away.

Having read Barkers other series, I was super excited to get reading The Bone Ships as it sounded like something I would love. It’s got so much going for it too. Great writing, really detailed imagery and an interesting cast of characters. There is a lot to take in with The Bone Ships, but I you can jump that hurdle the payoff is immense. If you love epic fantasies, this one is for you!

Without question this is one of the best books I've ever read.

It has everything, good plot, superb characters and eloquent, flowing prose.

Every single character is written with an attention to detail that is impressive. I love the journey that they go on, both individually and as a group. The interactions between characters is wonderful and realistic. Gullaime is my favourite and I really hope we learn more about these creatures in the coming books.

The plot is good with highs and lows and areas of calm for you to catch your breath. The pace is perfect across all the changes.

I love the way the prose flows and is almost poetic at times.

Overall a brilliant book I will be highly recommending to everyone.

The Bone Ships were built using the bones of Sea Dragons, that were supposed to be extinct. But, suddenly, one sees one of them swimming in the ocean. And of course, they want to catch it.
This was a fantastic fantasy to read with an interesting concept. I'm especially fond of the pace, which was really fast and full of action. There wasn't a dull moment.
There are a lot of characters to root for, and they are well developed and interesting.

I definitely recommend it if you like adventurous fantasies.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in . exchange for an honest review.

Initially I found this book a little difficult to get into. It was more because of the slang terms used but once I got into the book and became familiar with them, all was good.

This is a story of interesting ships made from sea creatures called keyshans. It’s a strange society on the Hundred Isles that thrives on women giving birth to healthy unmarked children who then become ‘Bern’ aka the ruling class, if they give birth to marred children they are then ‘Berncast’ who are second class citizens. The first Bern child is sacrificed to the fleet and becomes a corpselight.

We are introduced to a woman called Meas who challenges the Shipwife Joron of the Tide Child to a duel to take over the ship.

The Tide Child is a ship condemned to the black and is now a home of criminals to serve out a sentence before their death. It’s their one last shot at redemption, though few ever escape this sentence.

After a successful change in leadership ‘lucky’ Meas Gibryn takes over the ship and sets about making the crew ‘ship-shape’. Meas herself should have been sacrificed herself as she was the first of 13 children born but was taken by a wave and washed ashore unharmed later. This is how she earned her life and lucky status.

I love Meas, I am always such a fan of a kickass female lead that abandons the traditional views of how women should be. Meas is hardened and wickedly clever. Joron on the other hand, I thought he would be quite annoying but he actually had a really interesting character arc. He started out as a bit of a weak and spineless drunk but turned into a respected leader in his own right. His feelings for Meas changed throughout the story and became a great deckkeeper.

Other characters that fascinated me were the Gullaime of the Tide Child. He’s unique and I loved the backchat both from him and Black Orris the bird.

Overall, once you get into the story it really is wonderful. You feel as if your part of this condemned crew and you root for them. The world building is great, a unique fantasy and once you’re in, you’re hooked. I can’t wait for the sequel.

This is an original fantasy set on the high seas, it's so packed full of action that you'll have to remind yourself to breathe.
The characters are larger than life - a real motley crew - my favourite is Gullaime, a Windtalker Weathermage.
The Bone Ships were built using the bones of Sea Dragons but the creatures were thought to be lost forever, until one is spotted swimming in the far away seas....
So begins the race to capture the creature.
I highly recommend this so grab on to the rigging and enjoy the voyage.

3.5 Stars

Audacious storytelling, with an original, captivating world. After a slow start, I found it increasingly difficult to put this book down and I am on board for more.

RJ Barker wrote one of my favourite fantasy series of all time, The Wounded Kingdom trilogy. So, when I heard that he was writing a brand-new series called The Tide Child trilogy, I was excited. And by excited, I mean I might have shouted about it to one or two, or seventy random people. I am a huge fan. You may wonder why it did not get a higher rating then. The truth is that this was a very good book in the end, but it took it’s time in getting there.

The story of the Bone Ships sets sail in a world where two seafaring nations are engaged in a never ending fight in what has almost become a war of attrition. The ships they sail the dangerous oceans upon are made from the ancient bones of sea dragons, but the last sea dragon was killed centuries ago, and their bones have become a very limited, priceless resource. When a whisper of a rumour is heard that a sea dragon has been sighted, the race to secure the future is on. In the war’s greatest battle, whoever kills the dragon, will have the prize of it’s bones and the mantle of victor. The two main characters of The Bone Ships, Lucky Meas Gilbryn and Joron Twiner, both recently condemned to a ship of the dead, or Black Ship, have been given the deadly task of capturing the sea dragon or arakeesian as they are commonly known. As truths became forgotten and legends turned to myth, much of what was known about sea dragons, including the methods of their capture has been lost to time though and they have to use every resource available to them in order to have even a minuscule chance at succeeding.

Fascinating, right?

I really could have loved this book, if it was not for the struggle I had with the first half of the story. RJ Barker has proven before that he can grip you right from the first sentence with an engrossing story and compelling characters. It is something he demonstrated again and again with every entry in the Wounded Kingdom trilogy, and he won many fans for it. With the Bone Ships though, I found myself continuously picking this up, only to put it down again a few pages later. The characters did not pique my interest and the plot meandered. I could not tell you for the life of me what the book was really about or where it was heading. I felt lost. While many fantasy books employ worldbuilding that just drop you into their strange new waters and ask you to sink or swim, they more often than not give you lots of support to stay afloat. This was the deep end my friends. Unfamiliar honorifics, terminology and strange idioms littered the pages. It was a slow read, but I did not give up, for this is an RJ Barker book.

Lo and behold, the tides of change arrived at around the halfway mark.

UNFURL THE MAINWINGS!

That great hunt I mentioned earlier? It rears its head here, and becomes the catalyst for The Bone Ships, kickstarting the actual plot. The significant amount of early worldbuilding that so hindered the ebb and flow of the tale becomes a boon, having already laid a solid foundation for everything else to expand upon. Queue the action! While most of the time was spent voyaging on the sea in pursuit of the arakeesian, the chase was not without skirmishes and very captivating ship battles and tactics. And as the pace sped up in tune with the pursuit, the characterization I was expecting from Mr Barker from page one also made a welcome appearance front and center. Where I was apathetic before towards Joron, Meas, the Guillame, the crew, RJ started pulling my strings and I found myself rooting for them and starting to enjoy the journey they were on, just as they themselves were starting to enjoy it. Yes! This was what I had signed up for.

It’s a weird thing trying to review a book that was a tale of two halves. I do not want to focus solely on the individual parts, but rather the whole. As with all things, I think it is about balance. The author took a risk with his approach, and The Bone Ships comes out on the right side. Just shy of great, it is a very good read and I would definitely recommend it, but with a caveat. Be warned going in that it is a slow build, and persevere. The read is worth the time. For an unknown author, I might have put this down. But I trusted RJ to deliver, and in the end he did. A wonderful testament to his skill and talent. I will be ready and waiting when the sequel arrives.

My immediate reaction reading this was that it was definitely different! Joron is the Shipwife of the Tide Child, a ship of the dead. It is a bone ship; that is to say it is made mostly from bone. "Lucky" Meas wants to take over the ship and become Shipwife and she does. She has a mission. Whether a somewhat decrepit ship crewed by criminals is likely to help her certainly seems a moot point.

In a sense this leaves the reader with far more questions than answers. Who are Meas and Joron? What is their backgrounds? What is the mission? How does all the new language work; Shipwife and calling ships "he" are minor compared to some of the ideas. I could go on. However if you like inventive writing you may decided that you would like to discover just what this is actually about. There are plenty of new things to find out about as we travel on Tide Child with Meas who decides she will allow Joron to take the post of Deckkeeper, her second in command.

We see Meas and Joron coming to understand one another maybe. Many of the crew are the original criminals. Meas adds some colourful characters who were known to her before. Maybe it's just me but I liked Black Orris :). Others join the ship for its mission. To call them a colourful crew would be a little understating it!

There is so much that is new and for me original here. The book has a small glossary at the back giving at least some of the naval terminology. However much of it you simply need to work out for yourself. This is not one of those fantasy book where everything is explained to you at or around the start and personally I like that.

The characters really are generally rich and varied. Obviously Meas and Joron play fairly major roles here. However the plenty more interesting characters who develop as the book progresses. The flora and fauna of this world are remarkable - it all adds to the inventiveness of this book.

One of the aspects of this I really liked is the role of Windtalker or Gulliame. It's a great idea. These are birds who travel on the ships and can control the wind at least to a degree. The one who travels on Tide Child may well be my favourite characters of this book. Equally it is probably almost the deciding factor in me continuing to read this series.

The writing here is very good. The characters and storylines are well worked. I guess at times I found the pace a little slow though it built up as the book progressed. There is much to discover here and that looks like it will continue it book 2. This is a very vivid tale which contains a great array of ideas, creatures, characters and the like. Fans of fantasy with a naval slant should find this an attractive read. Until about halfway I wasn't sure if I would want to read book 2 however the latter part of the book (& the Gulliame) convinced me.

I’m writing this review in July, and I have to say for me this is definitely one of the best books of 2019 so far. Then again, I do like a good maritime yarn, especially when it’s as full of adventure and action as this one.

The book opens with Joron Twiner, Shipwife (captain) of the Boneship Tide Child being divested of his title by the almost larger-than-life ‘Lucky’ Meas Gilbryn. Instead of dying on the point of her side like he expects, Joron finds himself being taken on as her Deckkeeper (first mate) where he gets to watch her take control of his crew of ne’er-do-wells and his somewhat dilapidated ship.

Following a less than impressive run-in with some raiders, the Tide Child is steered for home, where he (ships are identified as masculine here) is refitted and recrewed for what’s almost guaranteed to be a suicide mission, to intercept and escort the first sea-dragon seen in centuries through the channels of the Scattered Archipelago.

What follows is a maritime adventure in the finest tradition of Patrick O’Brien or C. S. Forester, except instead of the tall ships of the Napoleonic era we have ships crafted from the bones of long dead dragons and powered by wind controlled by the bird-like gullaime, and instead of cannons we have massive crossbow-like gallowbows for ship-to-ship warfare.

Despite a reasonably slow start introducing us to the characters and world of the novel, once the action gets going this is a rollicking good read. Barker shows off his wonderful world-building skills throughout this book, especially in the little details that might normally get overlooked. The world of The Bone Ships is a primarily a matriarchal world and this shows in the way things are referenced. Ships are referred to as ‘he’, the captain of a ship is the shipwife, and crews are addressed as ‘girls and boys’ or ‘women and men’. Little things, such as comparing the size of a gallowbow to the height of a woman, rather than a man, really help draw the reader into the story, while the bigger details, the broader strokes, paint a picture of a living, breathing world that you want to know more about.

Another strong aspect of this book is Barker’s descriptions. I could almost feel the spray of the waves on my face as the Tide Child is racing alongside the sea-dragon (referred to variously through the narrative as a dragon, a keyshan or an arkeesian). During the action sequences the writing becomes almost visceral, and I could hear the thrum of the gallowbows loosing, all but feel the shudder of the decks as bolts slammed into hulls. The excitement and fear of the crew as they fight for their lives becomes damn near intoxicating, and in one of the later chapters when the dragon breaches the sense of awe and wonder was, for me, thoroughly tangible.

I haven’t read Barker’s previous trilogy, The Wounded Kingdom, but if it’s even a half as good as this then I’m certainly going to be moving it up my to-read pile. Hopefully it will be enough to tide me over until the next outing of Joron Twiner, ‘Lucky’ Meas and the crew of the Tide Child.

ARC provided by the publisher—Orbit—in exchange for an honest review.

3.5/5 stars

Highly imaginative world-building with a large focus on sea voyages and naval warfare.

Let me begin by saying that I’m a huge fan of Barker’s debut series: The Wounded Kingdom trilogy. I gave each installment in the trilogy a 4.5 stars rating and ever since I finished King of Assassins, The Bone Ships has been on my list of priority books to read ASAP. This is why I’m genuinely sad that I have to give this book a below 4 stars rating, but I have to always be honest with my review. I still had a great time with the book but The Bone Ships is a totally different sort of beast—that’s sadly not too suitable for me—compared to The Wounded Kingdom and I had expected to love this book more. RJ, if you stumbled upon this review, please don’t read it.

“No sane woman or man wishes for war, and those that do never would if they thought it would leave paint on their doorsteps.”

The Bone Ships is the first book in The Tide Child trilogy by R.J. Barker. For generations, the two nations in the Hundred Isles have built their bone ships from the bones of supposedly extinct ancient dragons. The two nations used these ships to wage an endless war for supremacy and dominance in the high seas. Now, our main characters, Joron Twiner and Lucky Meas, heard that there’s a new sighting of a new sea dragon for the first time in centuries; nations participate in a race to shift the balance of power in their favor by catching the dragon. I won’t lie, I struggled through the first half of the book. I, as a reader, prefer characterizations first more than anything else. A focus on characterizations was one of the things Barker did immediately and exceptionally well in The Wounded Kingdom trilogy. The Bone Ships to me felt like it followed the opposite direction by focusing the narrative on heavy world-building first; characterizations came in the second half. The main premise regarding the appearance of a new sea dragon didn’t really begin until 40% in. Because of this, the first 40% felt like the plot was directionless. Thankfully, the second half was significantly better.

“The greatest revenge is not taken with a blade, it is that done by taking your enemy’s taunts and throwing them back in their face.”

The long amount of time required to get me to care about the characters was definitely the most disappointing aspect of the book to me. In The Wounded Kingdom trilogy, I cared about Girton immediately just from the first few chapters and my investment for him and the side characters continuously grew throughout the series. In here, Joron is a type of the main character that takes the role of an observer of a legendary figure; something like Bloodsounder’s Arc by Jeff Salyards. It took a while for me to care about him but I finally started to like the characters in the second half of the book. Seeing Joron Twiner, Lucky Meas, and the misfit crew of Tide Child gradually learn about duty, friendship, honor, and loyalty was simply a joy to read; the expert characterizations skill that was found in Barker’s first trilogy became more evident in the last 35% of the book.

“Loyalty. That is what makes a ship work – ties of loyalty. To each other, to the ship. And every time we fight together, we are bound closer together. It is your nature, Joron, to like people and to be kind. Do not think I have not seen the leeway you give.”

The one thing to highly praise about The Bone Ships, in my opinion, would have to be its inventive and intricate world-building. This isn’t an easy book to read, the learning curve is higher than usual and in the first half was totally a sink or swim situation; world-building, lingo, unique names were introduced rapidly—sometimes in an info-dump manner—that it took a long time for me to acclimate myself with the world and characters. I’m not particularly a fan of long sea voyages in a fantasy book; almost the entirety of the novel was spent on seafaring and this indeed became a hindrance to my enjoyment. However, this is also where the book excels. Not only is the gorgeous cover art similar to the UK cover of The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb, the setting was also reminiscent and yet it still felt refreshing and original to read. Gullaime (wind-mage or weatherman), sea dragon, bone ships, and the colossal Skearith’s Spine were some of the factors that made the discovery and sea voyage heavily prominent and awesome in the narrative; if you’re a fan of this kind of novel, this book would be a hit for you. The vivid imagery displayed when they were traveling on the sea was stunning, and the gorgeous map and chapter icons are done by Tom Parker also enhanced the strong atmosphere of the book.

If it weren’t because this is written by Barker, I probably would’ve given up reading the book in the first half; I’m glad I didn’t because the second half made the struggle worth it as every part of the novel starts becoming clearer. The vivid world-building and thrilling naval warfare concluded The Bone Ships on a high note. I recommend this book to readers who loved pirates, seafaring, and a fantasy book that prioritized world-building first.

“My advice is to judge them on who they are when you meet them, rather than on what you have heard from those to whom they are only stories.”

Official release date: September 26th, 2019 (UK) and September 24th, 2019 (US)

You can pre-order the book from: Amazon UK | Amazon US | Book Depository (Free shipping)

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

You can find this and the rest of my reviews at Novel Notions

I think I must be a bit over read on fantasy tales of late because I found it really hard to engage and be excited by this book, I’m not detracting from the hard work and time and effort the author obviously put into crafting this book but it is just not to my taste (at present) I will return to this book at another time and try again