Name: The Bone Ships
ISBN: 9780356511832

R. J. Barker

Enter the Hundred Isles, where ships made from the bones of extinct dragons battle for ascendency on the high seas. Our hero Meas Giryn must unite a crew of condemned criminals for a suicide mission when the first live dragon in centuries is spotted in far off waters ... From David Gemmell, Kitschie and British Fantasy Award-nominated RJ Barker, author of Age of Assassins.

The Bone Ships

Jacob Atchison

RJ Barker

A brilliantly imagined saga of honor, glory, and warfare, The Bone Ships is the epic launch of a new fantasy from David Gemmell Award-nominated RJ Barker. Two nations at war. One prize beyond compare. For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war. The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted. 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 favour. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war. Praise for The Bone Ships: "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 "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, Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author The Tide Child TrilogyThe Bone Ships For more from RJ Barker, check out: The Wounded KingdomAge of AssassinsBlood of AssassinsKing of Assassins

Character development is ACE. This is a book about pirates, found family and finding courage within yourself. I loved this book but found myself very bored with the next book - it felt a bit repetitive and so I didn’t continue the series. I still felt like it was complete for me though, stopping at this one. 

Giulia

Nicholas Charriere

This was... really good.

A different vibe of fantasy writing. Great world building, strong characters, and good writing.

Danny Engström

'Excellent . . . one of the most interesting and original fantasy worlds I've seen in years' ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY 'Brilliant' ROBIN HOBB, author of The Assassin's Apprentice TWO NATIONS AT WAR. A PRIZE BEYOND COMPARE. For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war. The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted. 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 favour. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war. A brilliantly imagined saga of honour, glory, and warfare, The Bone Ships starts an epic new trilogy from David Gemmell Award-nominated RJ Barker. 'A vividly realised 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 'An epic tale of duty and obligation and honour, and what bravery really means . . . I can't recommend it enough' PETER MCLEAN, author of Priest of Bones 'A viciously exciting adventure. I loved every second of it' TASHA SURI, author of Empire of Sand 'Swashbuckling awesomeness . . . a fascinating world and a twisty plot, both rooted in characters I came to care about. A definite winner' JOHN GWYNNE, author of MALICE 'The Bone Ships has already built up plenty of anticipation - and with good reason ... Barker's previous series, the acclaimed The Wounded Kingdom Trilogy, was a powerhouse of gritty fantasy, and The Bone Ships promises to launch one of this season's greatest, grandest dragon sagas' NPR

Sunyi Dean

A sad, gentle murder-pirate must protec the chonky rainbow seaboi who is the size of an island. But grimdark, with copious child murder and violence and a brilliantly executed feminist bent.

Not a pirate fan but I loved this and enjoyed it very much.

The sea dragons are returning, and Joron Twiner's dreams of freedom lie shattered. His Shipwife is gone and all he has left is revenge. Leading the black fleet from the deck of Tide Child Joron takes every opportunity to strike at his enemies, but he knows his time is limited. His fleet is shrinking and the Keyshan's Rot is running through his body. He runs from a prophecy that says he and the avian sorcerer, the Windseer, will end the entire world. But the sea dragons have begun to return, and if you can have one miracle, who is to say that there cannot be another? 'Excellent . . . one of the most interesting and original fantasy worlds I've seen in years' Adrian Tchaikovsky

Book 3 of the Tide Child Trilogy

The Bone Ship's Wake

Powerful and moving conclusion 

... To a beautifully written world and its intriguing characters. If you enjoyed the found family themes in age of Assassins then you'll enjoy them here, too.

Nickie Mohler

I loved this book!

The best ships have been built with the bones of dragons. These ships have been used to fight an endless war. The ships outlived the dragons until now. There has been a dragon sighting. Both sides want to get their hands on it. Some to use for ships, some to finally stop the war.

This is one of those books that stayed with me even when I wasn't reading it. That tells me it is well worth 5 stars.

The story is fantastic. The characters are great and grow on you page after page. And I loved the gullaime!

This is my first time reading anything by this author and now I'm a big fan.

I was obviously meant to read and love this book because I won a copy here on Goodreads and was approved by Net Galley.

Heather Harrington

**I received a copy of this via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**

For generations, the people of the Hundred Isles have used the bones of slain ancient dragons to build their ships to fight in an endless war. Although, the dragons have all disappeared, the battle for supremacy has raged on between the two great nations. Now, the first dragon in centuries has been spotted, and the race is on to capture it and turn the tide of power in their favor. For whoever can capture the dragon, not only wins the glory but the war as well. Despite such an interesting premise, I was bored throughout this entire book. Nothing about the plot, characters, or writing interested me at all. I just found it so dense and slow. There wasn't technically anything wrong with the book, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

Kerri McDonald

“We fight in the hope that others will not have to, and we fight to keep those we have come to care about safe. We fight even for those who do not deserve it. There is no honour or greatness in what we do, except among fools. I fight, in the end, because I have no other choice” – she held his gaze with hers – “and neither do you. So remember this, if you hear tales of bravery and greatness, they are nearly always told by people who have only watched battle from afar.”

I want to say thank you to Netgalley, Orbit, and the author for sending me an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

We all know that I love fantasy, yes? This blog is so fantasy-centric it seems fairly obvious! And we know that I love a character-driven fantasy most of all. When I saw The Bone Ships up for request on Netgalley, it sounded like a book that would be right up my alley! We’re following a man named Joron Twiner who has been sentenced to a life on a black ship, large ships made of dragon bones that are crewed by convicts. He’s basically given up on life until Lucky Meas shows up and takes his command. He soon finds himself on a dangerous mission to find something that most people thought would never be seen again: a sea dragon.

So, to recap, we have seafaring adventures, potentially morally grey characters, and dragons. I was all set to love this! I started this book August 2nd, 2019.

I legit just finished this book last month 😬

What can I say? I started reading this and was almost immediately bored to tears. This is most definitely not a character-driven story, though I will say that the character development was one of my favorite aspects of the book. This book was all about extensive world-building and focused more so on the plot and establishing the world. Which would have been fine if it hadn’t had such a slow start! I just couldn’t bring myself to care and it felt like it took forever for anything interesting to happen. Every time I picked the e-book up to read, I would only get through a few pages before I would find myself fooling around on Twitter or doing something else besides actually reading. So I put the book down and, honestly, kind of forgot about it.

Then inspiration struck. Though I received an e-ARC of this book, it’s clearly been out for quite some time, so I figured I’d pick up the audiobook to see if that would make my reading experience better. Y’all… it was like night and day! I quickly found myself completely engrossed in the story! I got through the audiobook in just a couple of days and ended up really enjoying it. Once you get past the slow start, this was an epic tale about duty and prejudices and what people will go through to see an end to war. The sea battles were incredibly wrought and, as I mentioned, watching the characters grow and come together as a crew was my favorite part of the whole book. I’m so glad that I gave this book a second chance because I ended up quite liking it!

Just another reminder that anyone who says that audiobooks “aren’t reading” are not to be trusted. Because this audiobook helped introduce me to an adult fantasy series that I now wish to continue and it saved my Netgalley ratio!

Final thoughts: Though this book has a slow start, it’s worth pushing through! The world-building is thorough, the sea battles are heart-pounding, and watching the characters grow is incredibly satisfying. If you want a well-developed epic fantasy that makes you feel as though your walking the deck alongside the crew, definitely check out The Bone Ships. And, if you find yourself getting stuck, try out the audiobook!

Carla Aquino

So good that I want to already do a reread ! I can’t wait to read book two. It took a little bit getting used to nautical ship lingo but there’s an appendix so yeah...who doesn’t like books with appendices and maps?! Those are the best books!

Ben Nathan

The writing was good, sure, but the story just never captured me. I was supposed to care about things that happened to this character that I felt absolutely no connection to immediately. The first chunk of the book was a sea/fantasy version of technobabble. The action was really boring and repetitive. I don't recommend it, but maybe you'll like it.

Deborah Kerr

Apiecalypse Jen

Hannah Picken

Tim Beyer 

Lucy Richards 

Discover a brilliantly imagined epic fantasy of honor, glory, and warfare in this action-packed conclusion to the David Gemmell Award-nominated trilogy. Joron Twiner's dreams of freedom lay shattered. His Shipwife is gone and all he has left is revenge. Leading the black fleet from the deck of Tide Child, he takes every opportunity to hurt the Hundred Isles he is given. But his time is limited. His fleet is shrinking, the Keyshan's Rot is running through his body, and he hiding from a prophecy that says he and the avian sorcerer, the Windseer will end the entire world. But the Sea Dragons have returned, a miracle in itself, and who is to say that if you can have one miracle, there cannot be another? The Tide Child Trilogy The Bone Ships Call of the Bone Ships The Bone Ship's Wake For more from RJ Barker, check out: The Wounded Kingdom Age of Assassins Blood of Assassins King of Assassins