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Megan Leigh (11 Oct 2019). "The Bone Ships by RJ Barker. Review". British Fantasy Society . Retrieved 8 Aug 2022. This one felt more like a grand, epic pirate fantasy with tons of twists and turns and with generous heaps of action throughout. My only criticism that I could possibly come up with in terms of this story is that I am sad that this is only a trilogy and that my journey in this world is soon coming to a close. She had taken his hat of command from him, and though he had never wanted it before, it had suddenly come to mean something. Her theft had awoken something in him. I'll confess, this sequel did not take me in any of the directions I was expecting at the end of The Bone Ships. I had thought we'd jump straight into the action, calling up the Arakeesians and taking down the Thirteenbern. What poor final words for me,” he said. “To die with another’s advice in my ear.” Did something cross her face at that, some deeply buried remembrance of what it was to laugh? Or did she simply pity him?
Tide Child trilogy - Wikipedia
They are not the sort of words that you expect to start a legend, but they were the first words he ever heard her say. The Bone Ships is excellent. Aside from the standout writing, it's one of the most interesting and original fantasy worlds I've seen in years." - Adrian Tchaikovsky The style is not bad, although it does not make big discounts for a better understanding of what is happening. Some events are depicted indistinctly and fragmentarily. However, the various positive aspects of the writing style offset these shortcomings. This writing is spellbinding in quality. Everything is so intricately explained, the battles are so vivid in their depth and quality, and the character dialogue is just wonderful. The author can explain a calm scene on the water and just leave you captivated while nothing is happening, he's that good at his craft. It just oozes quality, and you will have a very difficult time peeling your eyes from the book.
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A vividly realized high-seas epic that pulls you deep into its world and keeps you tangled there until the very last word." —Evan Winter, author of The Rage of Dragons And I would be remiss if I talked about an R.J. Barker book without mentioning the deep and vivid world-building. The Hundred Isles is a place that stands out in the pantheon of fantasy worlds. The fact that this world is also inhabited by sea dragons, and other incredibly cool beasts makes it all the better. It was truly a brilliant concept for this series to take place on the high seas because there are is always another amazing place to visit, you simply have to hop on your dragon bone ship and get there! I said before that the setting reminded me a lot of Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders series and that still somewhat holds true for me. Yet Barker has somehow managed to make his own story very fresh and different from that one by adding a level of warfare and intrigue much higher than Hobb's series. It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of RJ Barker's Wounded Kingdom series, and when I recently reread the first book in the Tide Child trilogy I was once again reminded how much I love his stories and I kept on thinking about the story and the characters long after that reread. So when the time came around for myself, TS and Petrik to resume our buddy read with the Call of the Bone Ships I was more than excited to plunge into this world again and I was overjoyed to find that it was every bit as good as I'd hoped. Joron is front and center in this story, and we learn more about him and his ability to “sing” and communicate (in a way) with the keyshan. Joron also has an interesting connection to the gullaime, the bird-like creatures who are revered by ships because of their magical ability to call forth winds. There is still quite a bit of mystery surrounding Joron’s talent, though, but I have a feeling we’ll get some answers in the next book. Meanwhile, it was satisfying to see his relationship with the
The Bone Ships by RJ Barker | Waterstones
Voices from outside, because even here, in the long-abandoned and ghost-haunted flensing yards there was no real escape from others. Not even the memory of Keyshan’s Rot, the disease of the boneyards, could keep people from cutting through. One of the things that I have been most impressed with for this series is the author’s ability to create a gripping and consistently well-written maritime story. Narratives that are primarily set aboard boats are notoriously hard to write, but Barker has risen to the challenge, writing a novel rich in naval and maritime detail, with a major fantasy fiction edge to it. Call of the Bone Ships contains an intense amount of intriguing detail about the coming and goings aboard the ship out at sea and Barker does an amazing job highlighting the various day-to-day actions a crew are expected to undertake, as well as all the unique features that makes a ship in this fantasy universe different from real-world ships. This impressive attention to detail translates extremely well into several naval battles and combat sequences, and it was cool to see the Tide Child engage in battle with other ships in some outstanding and beautifully written sequences. In addition, Barker ensures that every major character in this novel had a real nautical feel to them. Everything about these characters, from the way they spoke to how they act or think aboard the ship made you think of old sea-salts who had spent a lifetime on the waves, which helps to bring an interesting ring of realism to the story. I also really love the intense and encapsulating atmospheres that Barker creates with his excellent writing ability, and you get a real sense of the moods of the entire ship throughout the novel, whether it be despair at something bad that has befallen the ship, or the sense of repetitive boredom that arrives from the ship doing the same action day after day with no break in routine. All of this helps to produce a truly exceptional narrative, and I cannot emphasise how impressive the author’s various nautical inclusions are. Now, the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favor. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory but the war. In The Bone Ships RJ Barker gives us a story filled with unique world building and engaging characters. In a world where ships of war are primarily made from the bones of sea dragons, the two political powers continue to scrape together dragon bone though it has been ages since they have found any new dragons to harvest. But when news surfaces of a possible living dragon, the race is on to secure it as a military resource. Call of the Bone Ships raises the stakes even higher, new bonds are formed, and you better keep your eyes peeled because you can just never know when something unexpected will happen. And if you are like me, you’ll be cursing Barker along the way whether because he ends a chapter in a way that you can’t help but read on, or because of all of the emotions he’ll put you and his characters through. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler free for Call of the Bone Ships, but approach with caution if you have not read the first book, The Bone Ships The Hundred Isles has a matriarchal society in which citizens are valued for fertility and beauty. Women who survive childbirth and bear healthy children are elevated to Bern class. Healthy men may become Kept concubines by the Bern, but those with birth defects or other undesirable traits are relegated to lower castes. The firstborn healthy child from each family is sacrificed, and their soul is used to make a “corpse light” to light a white ship. Shipwife Meas and the crew of theTide Childfind themselves drawn into a vicious plot that will leave them questioning their loyalties and fighting for their lives. The world was already established as being completely unique, fresh, and fun - but this book went above and beyond by taking the reader to many different locations and dumping more lore into this world. I'm going to be thinking about the world that was built here for many years, and it will be difficult for a fantasy book to come close to capturing the wonder that has been built here in the future. Hachette Book Group is a leading book publisher based in New York and a division of Hachette Livre, the third-largest publisher in the world. Social Media
The Bone Ships by RJ Barker | Hachette Book Group The Bone Ships by RJ Barker | Hachette Book Group
RJ Barker managed to lay down a tremendous amount of worldbuilding in The Bone Ships and while this did impact the pacing slightly in that story, it’s now paying huge dividends in this second book, allowing him even more time to focus on character development. And wow, has he done an outstanding job of it. I laughed and cried and cursed as I followed the journey of the crew, characters I have come to love and hate. Farys, Coughlin, Anzir, Dinyl, Shorn, Cwell… So many feelings. It’s also a testament to the author’s adeptness at clearly portraying relationships in all their complex glory that my feelings about characters I once loathed are now... I don’t know! You’ve muddied the waters RJ! It’s complicated. And it’s fantastic.Worry only about tomorrow, and the day after. Think not on the day after that for we fly a ship of the dead, and the Hag calls us all. To plan far ahead is to ask for the Maiden to thwart all you are. We live in the now. We fight for what we believe is right. We can do nothing else.” One character that deserves a special mention is the magical and mysterious avian creature the Gullaime. Simply, the ever-curious and enigmatic Gullaime is a truly wonderful character. In Call of the Bone Ships we see the significant relationship between Joron and the Gullaime blossom and bloom, they are bonded, connected and we see a deeper level to that connection and relationship begin to develop over the course of the story. A large part of why I enjoy these books so much is the characters, and the bonds between them. Joron is imperfect but oh so willing to learn and oh so ardent in his desire to do better. Meas is a hard taskmaster but a brilliant leader, with a firm understanding of right and wrong, even when those definitions contradict the societal norm. Gullaime, or should I say Officer Gullaime, is sweet, stubborn, and sometimes simply hilarious. Then there’s Anzir, Farys, Solemn Muffaz, Dinyl, Coughlin, Aelerin and more. None are perfect but all are loyal and their hearts are in the right place.
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