The Bone Ships: Winner of the Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel (The Tide Child Trilogy)

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Just like this debut series, Barker's writing was always engaging and never failed to pull at the heart strings. Although the narrative was dark and brutal, there was also a lot of heart which made it even more captivating. This book put me through the wringer many times, and from what I've come to expect from the author, the finale will likely be even worse. Call me a fool as I'm all for it, because nothing beats an emotionally powerful conclusion that rips my heart to pieces. The story was interesting and full of action and I'm really intrigued to see where we go with book three, especially after a surprising ending.

The Bone Ships (Tide Child Trilogy, book 1) by RJ Barker The Bone Ships (Tide Child Trilogy, book 1) by RJ Barker

I was a Hundred Isles shipwife, boy. How many innocents do you think fell to my blade? Too many. You think I would throw away the one person I genuinely care about for those who I know nothing of? Those I care nothing for?... No, never.” And?” she said, taking a practice swing with her heavy blade, contemptuous of him, barely even watching him. “How does a fisher get condemned to a ship of the dead? Never mind become a shipwife.” Another practice slash at the innocent air before her.He knew these thoughts as offspring of the drink, the melancholy it brought he had only ever been able to drink through, running toward oblivion to escape himself. But he could not drink now. Not in front of her. He would keep going even if just to spite her. If she put him to cleaning filth from the bilges he would do it, biding his time, waiting for his moment. RJBarker 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 its time in getting there. We’ll find water in the gion forest,” she said, “or we’ll tap a varisk stalk. My officers aren’t soaks.”

Call of the Bone Ships by RJ Barker – The Unseen Library Call of the Bone Ships by RJ Barker – The Unseen Library

I…” His head refused to clear; the world swam before him in a thousand bright colours that twisted like his aching guts. 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. 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. Joron Twiner is Meas' second in command and he has a bond with the guillame. This story has Joron featured just as much as Meas as they come upon the strangest ship they'd ever seen with the strangest cargo ever beheld. Desperation has birthed evil. Officer Gullaime?” “I suppose,” said Joron, unsure quite what he had promised. “Get shiny badge? Get dye for feather?” “I am sure it can be arranged.” The gullaime trilled, a high-pitched fanfare of delight. The it span in a circle. “Officer Gullaime!”The flukeboat resembled a cocoon. Built from gion leaves which had been dried and treated until they became soft and pliable like birdleather, then wrapped around a skeleton of fire-hardened varisk stalks and the whole thing baked in the sun until it was bone hard. Flukeboats were brown to start with, until their owners painted them in lurid colours: symbols of the Sea Hag, Maiden or Mother, eyes of the storms or the whispers of the four winds. This flukeboat was little more than a rowboat, big enough for ten but light enough for one to row if they must. Flukeboats ranged as large as to hold twenty and sometimes thirty and more crew, with large gion leaves, dried and treated to act as wings, catching the wind above and powering the boats through the sea. Joron opened his mouth to tell her she was wrong about him and his ship, but he did not, because she was not. 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. I liked the first book, but I thought the author had some issues with pacing and a ton of world building, which was understandable, since he was introducing us to a very ugly world, harsh and unforgiving, where women are revered for having healthy children, and men who are able to father children without flaws are given desired positions, as long as they keep trying to father such on other proven women... The majority of people are crippled from birth, or if, as in the case of our protagonist Joron T, the mother dies at birth, they are considered low class and undesirable, never given a chance to rise above their birth. The world is mostly ocean, and people live on scattered islands, with the two major unions of such islands being constantly at war. The way they wager war and have commerce is by ships. The biggest, best ships are built with the bones of long extinct water dragons. But those big ships are now old and it seems with their disintegration, the never ending war might be coming to an end. This is what Joron and his crew want most of all. However, it seems some of those long lost water dragons seem to be awakening from a deep sleep, and both sides would do anything to be able to kill them and harvest their bones again for their ships. Only it turns out this is not easy to do, and a horrible recipe might be the only way.