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

Product Information

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

Call of the Bone Ships - Goodreads Call of the Bone Ships - Goodreads

At the end of the first book in the Tide Child series I just kinda teared up, at the end of this one of was full-on crying. Not bawling mind you, however, given the progression of the tear factor I have a feeling I'll be bawling at the end of the third one. How strange it felt to say those words, those fleet words that he knew more from his father’s stories of service than from any real experience. They were good words though, strong words with a history, and they felt right in his mouth. If he were to die then they were not bad final words for his father to hear from his place, deep below the sea, standing warm and welcome at the Hag’s eternal bonefire.

Fantasy Books Of The Year

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 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. 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.” Call of the Bone Ships is a superb follow up to the first book in the series, and in my opinion even better, raising the bar and laying down a challenge to Wake of the Bone Ships. It underlines why RJ Barker is one of the best writers in fantasy and together with Jen Williams, still one of the most underrated. Criminally so to say the least. I truly hope more people discover them and that they become the household names their work deserves.

The Bone Ships by RJ Barker book review - Fantasy Book Review The Bone Ships by RJ Barker book review - Fantasy Book Review

These women and men do not know it yet but they have volunteered to join us. Their ship wife is dead, and as of now so are they.” As she walked past the crew of the Maiden’s Bounty, she stared at them. “And the dead belong to me.” Eloise Hopkins stated that Call of the Bone Ships had "solidly crafted" dialogue and worldbuilding. She also stated that the inclusion of maps, illustrations, and sea ballads contributed to the novel's credibility. [6] Publishers Weekly gave Call of the Bone Ships a positive review, praising the development of its "fascinating personal concerns" as well as the "awe-inspiring set pieces" of its action sequences. [7] Only our crew is not going to stand for it. And a race to discover what exactly is going on and stop it ensues...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. A brilliantly imagined saga of honour, glory and warfare, Call of the Bone Ships is the captivating epic fantasy sequel to RJ Barker's The Bone Ships. For me, Barker is a must-read fantasy author, if you aren’t reading him, why not? He consistently delivers to an extremely high standard and is putting out some phenomenal work from his completed The Wounded Kingdom trilogy through to The Call of the Bone Ships the second book in his outstanding Tide Child trilogy. He keeps getting better and with each new release, he somehow manages to top and improve upon the previous book.

The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker - Goodreads Editions of The Bone Ships by R.J. Barker - Goodreads

This was a much better structured book than the first, and I couldn't put it down, as much as the author hurt my heart in numerous occasions... It put me through the wringer and set up for the third and final book, which has me wanting to grab it right away, but I will be strong and give myself some time to process and put some distance by reading some fluffy and light books, because we need to take care of our mental health, right? 😎😃.

Joron pilots Keesian Tooth to Slatehulme. Dinyl’s ship is destroyed by Slatehulme’s mangonel, and he is killed. Meas and Joron rescue the surviving prisoners from Safe Harbor. Slatehulme is besieged by Hundred Isles ships; they believe that Meas is the Caller. In exchange for Meas's surrender, the Hundred Isles ships allow the remaining members of the peace faction to leave the island. Joron assumes control of the fleet and becomes the temporary shipwife of Tide Child. Special thanks to my Patrons on Patreon for giving me extra support towards my passion for reading and reviewing! 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. Barker constantly amazes with not only his characterization but his plot and worldbuilding as well. I know I said this before, but Nautical Fantasy is really not my jam, but when you get to read a series like The Tide Child, that makes you question your preferences. As well as your own morals, because as you are reading about the struggles of these characters and the choices they make, you can’t help but wonder “how I would act in this situation?”. And when it comes to Joron, you just watch in awe as he struggles on, makes difficult decisions, gets punched over and over, and still keeps standing. And you think “wow, now that’s a person I would gladly fight for when it comes down to it”. He is the kind of character who quietly awes and inspires others around him. Or you just would like to go up to him and give him a big enveloping hug. Which probably would earn you a few odd looks.