4 of 5 stars
https://lynns-books.com/2025/08/04/review-the-bone-raiders-the-rakada-1-by-jackson-ford/
My Five Word TL:DR Review: Entertaining, fast paced, bit shallow

Okay, I will say that I had a very good time reading this, it was a lot of fun and definitely entertaining. It has a certain’ set up’ quality to the story but I enjoyed the way events unfolded and I would love to read more from these characters.

The Bone Raiders, similarly to other raiders, are being slowly wiped out by the new Khan. As we begin the story we meet Sayana, one of three povs but clearly the leading character. She’s come a bit unstuck during a scouting mission and finds herself in a prickly situation – shortly to become much worse by the arrival of an araatan – a fire breathing lizard that’s bigger than a house. Managing to avoid death in the most spectacular way imaginable gives Sayana a big idea and so begins this new adventure.

I don’t really want to say too much about the plot. I found the story really entertaining, for me there was never a dull moment and I really enjoyed the banter between the raiders. To be fair, I had a brief moment where I felt like I shouldn’t really be enjoying the Bone Raiders’ company as much as I did, at the end of the day, as funny and high spirited as these characters may be, they’re not exactly living the life of a hero. They take from others and they kill those who try to defend themselves – although they do keep their killing to a minimum and their fearsome reputation does much of the work and prevents bloodshed – but, make no mistake, they raid villages and kill those who oppose them, wearing their bones as trophies. And, one of the other characters from the story goes to lengths to point this out. So, be aware, these characters are not really the good guys – and yet, I enjoyed their story and had fun reading about their exploits. They’re all a bit bats**t crazy and take terrible risks, made necessary by the fact that their numbers are so depleted.

In fact the characters really make the story. This little bunch of ‘found family’, all original with different back stories and motivations. My absolute favourite was Khun – don’t ask me why. She’s always muttering and doing strange things but she stole the show for me. For a bunch of raiders this story has a surprising amount of ‘heart’ and I really did find myself becoming attached to the characters and fearing for how this would all end.

In terms of the setting, the world building is perhaps a little bit light, in fact I mentioned above that this feels a little shallow and at first I thought I might struggle a little but my fears were unfounded as I very quickly became immersed in the read and the Bone Raiders’ adventures.

A highly entertaining story with amusing characters, plenty of action, a little bit of ‘How to train your Lizard’ and a heap of creativity, plus a touch of double crossing and a ‘nasty’ antagonist. I really did have fun with this one – come for the fire breathing lizard and kick ass females (of which I hope for much more in the future) and stay for the framily feels.

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

Did I enjoy this book?
I loved it.

Do I recommend it?
Yes!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 and it did not disappoint. It’s an action-packed story that grabs you by the collar and does not let go. Full of Ford’s signature humour the story made me laugh but it also made me want to fling the book across the room. Ford’s ability to weave the hardships and emotions of everyday life into the absurd is second to none. The cast of characters is top notch, with one character’s story arc being truly excellent – I can’t wait to see what happens next with them. There is a found family element which feels very realistic. It’s messy and dysfunctional and makes for very compelling reading. Combine these with a beautiful setting and a very nefarious villain and you have a wonderful story. This book will make you want to strap bones to yourself and ride off into the sunset on a giant lizard and who doesn’t want that?

Any criticisms?
I think knowing that they were going to train the giant lizards (or at least try) from reading the blurb made the first half of the book feel a little slow. I knew what was going to happen and wanted to get there faster.

Will I read it again?
Yes. Just writing this is making me want to reread.

Will I read the sequel?
A herd (gang, pack?) of giant lizards could not stop me!

For fans of:
The Frost Files
The Black Prism
The Hunger Games
Disc World

The Bone Raiders was an unexpected delight—fun, fast-paced, and full of heart. Going in, I’ll admit I had my reservations. The blurb leaned heavily into a snarky tone that can sometimes teeter into overkill, and I’ve been burned before by male authors writing female characters poorly. Fortunately, none of those fears materialized.

This book is, at its core, a wild, often violent, sometimes tender sapphic adventure—imagine How to Train Your Dragon with fire-breathing lizards, mercenary politics, and complicated women trying to survive in a brutal world.

The characters are easily the strongest part of the story. Sayana is fierce, stubborn, and deeply layered—her journey is emotionally satisfying, even when her recklessness made me want to scream. Khunbish is chaotic in the best way, blending absurd humor with surprising emotional depth. And Yesuntei? She’s terrifying. Cold, ruthless, and unflinching, she adds real menace to the dynamic—and a twist involving her completely floored me.

Representation is handled with care. There are moments of sweetness and vulnerability between characters that contrast nicely with the grittier aspects of the plot. Backgrounds and world building are woven in gradually, avoiding heavy-handed exposition. Some plot points were a little difficult to follow, and there were moments where characters’ actions didn’t fully align with earlier development, but these were minor bumps in an otherwise gripping story.

Overall, The Bone Raiders is sharp, surprising, and full of heart. It balances violence with humor, trauma with friendship, and action with emotional growth. If you enjoy found families, deadly women, and monster companions, this one’s worth your time. I’ll definitely be picking up book two.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all thoughts are my own.

Well, this was a pleasant surprise!

I'll admit to being a bit wary going into this. I think I'm far from the first woman to have been burned by the men-writing-women-badly trope, and the fact that there's a subreddit with over 580k members dedicated to this supports my trepidation. Add in the synopsis, which was written in a style that I could see becoming grating at best and going into full edgelord humour at worst, well, I had some concerns.

Which were unfounded! The main characters were all complex, their own selves, and well-written women, and the humorous writing style used in the blurb was used sparingly throughout the book. The characters were easily the best part of this book, and while this works well as a standalone, I'm so glad we get to see more of these women in the future. On top of all that, this was just a lot of fun.

This was essentially a sapphic How to Train Your Dragon and I could hardly be more delighted about that.

Thank you to the publisher, Orbit, and to NetGalley for the ARC.

unfortunately this was a DNF for me at about 60%. I honestly can't even pin down what it was that didn't quite work for me, I adored similar titles like King of the Wylds which was somewhat similar in tone and humor. I really wanted to like this story but no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't really get into it. It's likely a me issue though. I have rated it 3 stars because though it was a miss for me I can absolutley see this story finding it's audience and becoming a hit as it is well written.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the Arc. I am leaving a review voluntarily. I will not share my review to public media as I do not feel it is fair since it did not quite hit the mark for me and I do not wish to lower the star ratings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I gave it 3.5 ⭐️ (rounded up to 4)

This is the first book in a new series, and I had a fun time with it! It’s a fast-paced epic fantasy that doesn’t take itself too seriously, full of action, humor, and strong female POVs. The world-building was great, and I really appreciated the deaf representation. The writing style is easy to get into and well done, even though this isn’t the kind of epic fantasy I usually go for. I enjoyed it, but it’s just not fully my taste.

That said, the story wraps up in a satisfying way, and even though it’s part of a series, it reads almost like a standalone, which I really liked.

✨ Tropes & elements you’ll find:
• Found family
• Dark humor
• Giant, fire breathing lizards
• Mongol inspired world building

This was a fun read ☺️

It starts slow but then picks up and the characters are lovable.

I love the found family trope and this book delivers 💝

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and publisher for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

As someone who loves epic fantasy, and action and adventure novels, reading work by authors of nationalities different from my own, and novels about or inspired by cultures from across the globe, I was beyond delighted when I received the emailing letting me know that my request for an e-arc was accepted for The Bone Raiders I was delighted.
I loved the humour sprinkled throughout the story, as well as the tender, sweet moments between the central characters, which the author gave the reader; they broke up the violence that frequently occurs, due to the nature of what the Radaka do to survive and circumstances outside of this. I also appreciated the way the key characters’ backgrounds were incorporated into the story, spread out, rather than all in one go in an info-dump. I found that a number, if not most, of the delicate, sensitive situations were handled well, and appreciated the representation, although I can’t speak for the accuracy of the disability representation.
All of that being said, there were parts of the story I found a little hard to follow, and I had to go back and re-read certain passages before continuing on and there were a few instances where, based on what was mentioned, or happened, earlier on in the book, some of what happened later such as characters’ actions didn’t match up, or match what I’d learned of their personalities, including a twist I did not see coming.

Onto characters!
I found Sayana to be a very complex character with more to her than what you get at surface level, and loved her determination- when she set her mind on something, she saw it through and, although I despaired at her recklessness at times, I enjoyed seeing her character arc. Khunbish was hilarious; some of her lines were so random or didn’t make sense, and the way she acted sometimes was a little wacky, but at the same time there was a deeper side to her that threw me for a loop because you wouldn’t be able to guess at it from the outset. Yesuntei? She kind of terrified me a little bit; she was very ruthless, cruel and brutal both in personality and her approach to getting things done- and how she treated a particular character at one point? My brain short-circuited.
My favourite character has to be the araatan, or fire breathing lizard, Sayana attempts to ride- she is fascinating, and I loved learning more about her and the araatan as a species as the story progressed.

At the end of the day, I had a great time with this book and am very much looking forward to book 2 ☺️.

Thank you very much for the ARC copy !! I really liked it ˆˆ
The Bone Raiders was a surprising and refreshing read for me ! I don’t usually go for this genre, but as it was picked by a book box, I wanted to know if I was going to buy it. And I’m really glad I gave it a shot. It’s fast-paced, full of energy, and has a sharp, irreverent tone that kept me hooked. 🤩 I especially enjoyed the main character’s grit and the wild creativity of the world. Overall, it was a really fun ride that made me want to explore more books like this.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for approving me to read this book, it’s 5 stars for me.

This book is insane and I’m so fuming my job got in the way of me devouring this read sooner.

The multi POV works so well in this, it gives us a well rounded story. The fighting, political elements and complete chaos from the factions of groups within this world created a wonderful epic fantasy. The touches of sapphic romance in this added a lovely side plot as well.

This reminded me strongly of the Poppy War and The mistress of Lies for the war and stragetic vibes with betrayal and a strong female(s) character at the heart of the story.

That ending had me by the neck, what do you mean it ends there and how did I not see that coming?? Again this was brilliant and I cannot recommend it enough.

Mix a badass-female-wild-band with stupidly dangerous ideas and fire-breathing lizards, then sprinkle some bad luck, heartbreak, sarcastic wit, banter, betrayal, lots of actions… and you’ll get this epic fantasy!
You get throw right into the action from the start (that first line HAHA!!) and the end of Chapter 1 had me slack-jawed!
Most of all, this chaotic group of sharp-tongued raiders is one of the best found-family ever!

Thanks for this ARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars!

I loved the Bone Raiders! We kick off in the middle of the action when Sayana, the raiders scout has been caught and just when it looks like it’s all over for her, help comes in the form of a giant fire breathing lizard, that was actually looking for lunch not a rider! A chaos filled ride on the back of the lizard gives her the idea that the Rakada could become araatan riders and gain the upper hand in the tapestry and fight back against the khan. This did slow down a bit in the middle but the banter kept me reading through the less action packed parts.

What I loved in particular:
- the dark humour, the raiders run into some seriously comically bad luck! Who else could accidentally kidnap the sister of the terrifying Yesuntei who likes burying people up to the neck in sand to interrogate them. The banter between the raiders is also perfection.
- the characters, I loved Hogs and Hoofmonster, and the delightfully offbeat Khun.

Thank you to NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for the opportunity to read this ARC.

Giant fire-breathing lizards? Check. Sharp-tongued raiders with bones on their armor? Double check. The Bone Raiders is chaotic, heartfelt, and full of teeth—literal and emotional—and it kicks off Jackson Ford’s new fantasy series with a bang.

At the heart of this blood-soaked ride is Sayana, a raider scout with a reckless streak and a plan that no one in their right mind should agree to: tame the wild, fire-breathing Araatan beasts to ride them into battle against a growing imperial threat. The odds of being burned alive are high, but so is the potential payoff. Teaming up with Tuya, an animal-whisperer with a mysterious past and zero patience for Sayana’s nonsense, the two form an uneasy alliance as sparks, of several kinds, start to fly.

This is not your typical epic fantasy. The tone is irreverent, the dialogue crackles with sarcastic wit, and the pacing never lets up for long. It’s got a found-family vibe that works beautifully, especially in the quieter moments between the chaos. Sayana and Tuya’s dynamic is a particular highlight: reluctant trust, moral tension, and a slow-burn connection that feels earned rather than forced.


It’s not perfect—some secondary characters could’ve used more development, and the humour occasionally veers a little too close to snark, but the sheer energy and originality carry it through. The final act delivers a fiery payoff and sets the stage for an even more ambitious sequel.

This action packed epic fantasy is absolutely fantastic!! It kept me hooked all the way through, is full of complicated characters and is such a female empowerment book with POVs from three female characters. There is lesbian rep too, but let’s be clear the romance is the smallest bit of the plot. There is no spice. I loved how Ford didn’t take his adventure too seriously in his writing style and had sarcastic banter, lots of sass, but also maturely handled anxiety, personal growth, grief and other subjects. This book was the absolute PERFECT epic fantasy to me and I loved the aatarangs! Princess for the win!

DNF at 30-ish%. I really struggled with the lack of world building which it made it quite difficult to picture anything. “Grass” and “cliff” simply aren’t enough for me to grasp the world that I’m in. I also felt quite disconnected to the characters. However, the humour in this book is on point, but that isn’t enough for me to carry on reading.

This book is definitely for someone but sadly that someone is not me.

Rated 3 stars because I didn’t finish.

The Bone Raiders is a fast-paced, chaotic adventure packed with wild twists and sarcastic humor. Jackson Ford brings his signature voice to a world full of cursed relics and offbeat characters.

While the premise was fun and the action nonstop, it wasn’t quite my cup of tea. The humor felt a bit over-the-top at times, and I struggled to connect with the characters amid the constant chaos. Still, fans of quirky, high-energy stories will likely enjoy the ride.

I always love books with strong female characters. and this book is FULL is badass strong female characters.
So well written and such a fun ride.
Loved it!

Thank you so much for the ARC!

For the first 20% of the book I wasn’t too sure if I would enjoy this story as much as I did. I struggled a little bit with the multiple POVs at the beginning, however as the story progressed I began to enjoy the multiple POVs.

I really enjoyed the Rakada clan and watching the trials that they went through and how they dealt with them. The humor throughout the book really helped me connect to the characters a bit more and made the story seem more “believable”.

The aspect of training a massive fire breathing lizard was also really enjoyable to follow the journey!

4,5 Stars // With The Bone Raiders, Jackson Ford presents the explosive start to a new fantasy saga that is angry, funny, emotional and uncompromising all at the same time. I mean, the very first sentence "You are so fucked." - awakens the feeling that nothing here will be harmless. And this is confirmed in the best possible way.

At the centre are the Rakada - a group of tough women who refuse to give up their nomadic way of life. Instead of bowing to the new Khan, they bet everything on one last, crazy idea: a fire-breathing monster - the Araatan - is to be tamed in order to confront the empire. Chaos, blood and a surprising amount of heart follow.
Ford achieves something special: an all-female main cast that is credible, complex and never stereotypical. Instead of cringe "women written by a man", we meet angry, funny, vulnerable and strong personalities - first and foremost Sayana, a former princess, and Tuya, the animal-whispering outsider. Their cautious relationship remains morally credible and emotionally comprehensible. Secondary characters such as Hogelun and Erhi - a deaf warrior in a relationship - also provide depth and lovely queerness.
The plot is fast-paced, exciting and humorous. Even though the middle section flattens out briefly, Ford soon picks up the pace again - towards a furious finale full of fire, blood and surprising emotions. The Araatan, these fire-breathing beasts, are more than just monsters - they are the symbol, weapon and centrepiece of the story.

Points of criticism? A few minor characters become a little blurred, and some readers might wish for a little more worldbuilding. However, this hardly matters in view of the successful characters, the clever messages and the great mix of action, humour and emotion.

The Bone Raiders is a powerful, clever, captivating fantasy novel with fire, heart and attitude. For anyone who loves character depth, moral grey areas, snappy dialogue and fire-breathing lizards - a must-read. And the next volume can't come soon enough.

This was such a blast to read! Full of chaos, charm, and genuinely brilliant banter. The pacing is relentless in the best way, and the worldbuilding is super fun without ever feeling overwhelming. Jackson Ford nails that perfect balance of humour, action, and heart. Can’t wait to see what comes next in this world.