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thecandlelightlibrary 's review for:
The Bone Ships
by RJ Barker
Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for sending me a free ARC copy in exchange for an honest review.
The Bone Ships, is a magnificent seafaring epic fantasy best-suited for readers who really enjoy world building. The first book in a new fantasy series, The Bone Ships was a story I wanted to savor and read slowly. The world building pulled me in, and even if parts of the culture were extremely disturbing, they were offset by the sheer wonder and uniqueness of this strange world.
Barker offsets the bleakness of the society in The Bone Ships by creating an incredibly colorful and vivid world - the plant life is no color you would expect to find (such as bright purple leaves and bright pink vines), and color is used to signify status in the characters. Meas is described as having long, grey hair that is dyed with streaks of bright reds and blues, signifying she is a shipwife and therefore captain of a ship. I wish there had been a few color illustrations to go with the sketches at the beginning of each chapter so I could have grasped the full depth of the world.
In terms of characters, I wasn’t a huge fan of Joron at the beginning of the story (he really wasn’t that likable), but he did eventually grow on me, as did several of the other characters. My favorite character was definitely Meas, with Black Orris and the gulliame (both the Tide Child’s and the race in general) taking close seconds. I loved Meas’ character: she’s intelligent, inspires incredibly loyalty from her former (and future) crew, and takes control of her future whenever she is able, usually without much outward consideration for others (but, since I didn’t like Joron that much at the beginning I didn’t really care). While The Bone Ships is told from Joron’s point of view, I’m not sure if it was the best choice. However, it could be because I’m such a fan of multi-POV narratives and preferred Meas’ character so much more than Joron’s.
The Bone Ships also includes a chapter index, a world map, sketches at the beginning of each chapter, a glossary, and in the acknowledgements the author gives a brief mention of some of the music that inspired this story (a cool touch that I hope stays in the final version).
However, the story doesn’t really seem to kick off until the 25% mark, which for some is too slow of a start. If you like jumping into the story in the middle of the action, this book may not be for you. However, since it’s an entirely unique and vastly different world than the one I’m used to, I appreciated the long beginning to acclimatize to the world and lingo. The dialogue and terminology were especially difficult at first, but the glossary in the back did help and sometimes I just needed to be content with not fully understanding an unfamiliar term before continuing.
In all, The Bone Ships was a magnificent adventure and I was completely enthralled with this tale, giving it a 4.5/5 stars. It releases September 24th and I’m already looking forward to reading the next book in the series! Thank you again to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.
The Bone Ships, is a magnificent seafaring epic fantasy best-suited for readers who really enjoy world building. The first book in a new fantasy series, The Bone Ships was a story I wanted to savor and read slowly. The world building pulled me in, and even if parts of the culture were extremely disturbing, they were offset by the sheer wonder and uniqueness of this strange world.
Barker offsets the bleakness of the society in The Bone Ships by creating an incredibly colorful and vivid world - the plant life is no color you would expect to find (such as bright purple leaves and bright pink vines), and color is used to signify status in the characters. Meas is described as having long, grey hair that is dyed with streaks of bright reds and blues, signifying she is a shipwife and therefore captain of a ship. I wish there had been a few color illustrations to go with the sketches at the beginning of each chapter so I could have grasped the full depth of the world.
In terms of characters, I wasn’t a huge fan of Joron at the beginning of the story (he really wasn’t that likable), but he did eventually grow on me, as did several of the other characters. My favorite character was definitely Meas, with Black Orris and the gulliame (both the Tide Child’s and the race in general) taking close seconds. I loved Meas’ character: she’s intelligent, inspires incredibly loyalty from her former (and future) crew, and takes control of her future whenever she is able, usually without much outward consideration for others (but, since I didn’t like Joron that much at the beginning I didn’t really care). While The Bone Ships is told from Joron’s point of view, I’m not sure if it was the best choice. However, it could be because I’m such a fan of multi-POV narratives and preferred Meas’ character so much more than Joron’s.
The Bone Ships also includes a chapter index, a world map, sketches at the beginning of each chapter, a glossary, and in the acknowledgements the author gives a brief mention of some of the music that inspired this story (a cool touch that I hope stays in the final version).
However, the story doesn’t really seem to kick off until the 25% mark, which for some is too slow of a start. If you like jumping into the story in the middle of the action, this book may not be for you. However, since it’s an entirely unique and vastly different world than the one I’m used to, I appreciated the long beginning to acclimatize to the world and lingo. The dialogue and terminology were especially difficult at first, but the glossary in the back did help and sometimes I just needed to be content with not fully understanding an unfamiliar term before continuing.
In all, The Bone Ships was a magnificent adventure and I was completely enthralled with this tale, giving it a 4.5/5 stars. It releases September 24th and I’m already looking forward to reading the next book in the series! Thank you again to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the privilege of reviewing an ARC.