The Bone Ships

RJ Barker

Sep 2019 · Sold by Orbit

About this ebook

"Excellent. One of the most interesting and original fantasy worlds I've seen in years." —Adrian Tchaikovsky, Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author

A brilliantly imagined saga of honor, glory, and warfare, The Bone Ships is the epic launch of a new series from British Fantasy Award winner, RJ Barker.

*British Fantasy Award for Best Fantasy Novel, winner

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 favor. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory but the war.

Praise for The Bone Ships:

"Brilliant." —Robin Hobb

"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 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
 

Ratings and reviews

(Edit: I guess RIP to all the spaces I had in this review...) "What is your crime?" "I punched my officer, D'keeper." 'He seemed inordinately pleased about it.' LOL. If you love the pirate setting and humor threw in some places, you'll definitely love this book. It's a very well written book minus a few words that weren't caught in the revision like 'the the' but it's nothing. I do have some issues with it but it's my opinion and it won't affect my rating of this great book but those opinions will be at the bottom of this review. Now let's get into it, you are most likely gonna be confused as soon as you start, so here is some background and I promise it's not gonna ruin the book for you, it'll keep you from going back and re-reading, but as for handles - Deckkeeper, Wingwright, Shipwife, etc, those are listed in the back of the book for you, but enough time wasted, here we go: 2 nations attacking eachother over the course of years and years; they both are killing Arakeesians, serpent dragons. Fleet ships; this is the primary weapons of destruction, ships that are created from the bone of Arakeesians, that, well, are ships. You know, war ships. These ships being coated in thick dragon bone. The war has been ongoing due to the Arakeesians, the more bone you obtain, the bigger and more deadly is your fleet. Black ships; they are fleet ships that I suppose were decommissioned. They get painted black (used to be white, white due to the bone), and those they aren't worth a darn to the fleet or those that have committed, I'm assuming heinous crimes, are tossed on them. They sail until they die or do something great that is worthy of getting released from the ship. I guess they could become a pirate ship (...) and wreak havoc but you gotta remember, these people have no respect for the law, (that's why they are on there) so you wouldn't expect them to become buddy, buddy, but I guess they could disband on the next island, I'm not sure on that part, I'm just going to assume they'll be hunted down my Fleet. There are also these people called the Bern and the Kept. The Bern are those born with a perfect body (no missing fingers, scars, etc or the mother dies in child birth - those are Berncast) and the Kept are those that are basically 'manwhores': men who are chosen to sleep with the women after the women borns a Bern. Making that women a Firstbern (born one Bern); a women borning her second Bern is called a Secondbern and so on. All first Bern babies are killed to become a Corpelight for ships; Corpselight is a light that hovers around the top of a mast iirc, and is basically for crew morale; the more lights, the happier the crew and vice versa. END OF REVIEW: BUT, here is my problem, it has to do with the Kept and the women Bern; that's kinda messed up. "Killing babies isn't?" no, that's equally messed up but your mind doesn't really wrap around that part, at least not for me since I didn't think on it too much since it's one scene then gets barely touched upon. But Kept, basically dudes being chosen for sex and sex only. But this is the world they live in and what the author built and I respect that, just had to voice my opinion. Also, Corpselights; they make no sense. Yeah, they increase the morale of those on the ship since it tells them their ship is in tip-top shape but isn't kinda like health bars? If you had 8 and now you got like 1 + 1/2 of another from a battle, wouldn't that cause you to be targeted by pirates on your way back? I guess if they didn't have the knowledge about Corpselights and were foolish enough to take on a Fleet ship then by all means...

This book was a very wonderful surprise. The writing and use of words and language is nothing like I've ever read. love it so much

A book that goes out of its way to shirk both fantasy and high-seas tropes. The first several chapters are fairly miserable, but set up a story that is worth it if you stick with it. Many editing problems in the ebook copy.

About the author

RJ Barker is a softly-spoken Yorkshireman with flowing locks. He lives in the frozen north with his wife and son, and divides his time between writing and looking after his son.