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

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This is the second volume of a maritime fantasy trilogy Tide Child. The 1st volume, The Bone Ships, won British Fantasy Awards and was reviewed by me here. The continuation is as good as the start.

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

A large part of why I enjoy these books so much is the characters, and the bonds between them. Joron is imperfect but oh so willing to learn and oh so ardent in his desire to do better. Meas is a hard taskmaster but a brilliant leader, with a firm understanding of right and wrong, even when those definitions contradict the societal norm. Gullaime, or should I say Officer Gullaime, is sweet, stubborn, and sometimes simply hilarious. Then there’s Anzir, Farys, Solemn Muffaz, Dinyl, Coughlin, Aelerin and more. None are perfect but all are loyal and their hearts are in the right place. Been a while since I read The Bone Ships, but it was a really refreshing and enjoyable read, so I was looking forward to seeing where this second instalment was going to go. I'm glad to say this was also a fun and engaging read. R. J. Barker creates a great nautical scene and atmosphere. It is expanding and the stakes are rising as the story gradually widens to become more epic, but still maintained an intimacy that explored the camaraderie of those on board the main ship, Tide Child. 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.Call of the Bone Ships by RJ Barker was another epic and outstanding novel that shows why Barker is one of the most impressive new fantasy talents in recent years. This incredible sequel to 2019’s The Bone Ships contains an exceptional and addictive story at sea, featuring rich and complex characters and all set within a creative and vibrantly dark fantasy world. The combination of these awesome elements helps to create a captivating and powerful read which turned out to be one of the best books of the year. I cannot recommend this novel enough. If you have not found out about RJ Barker yet, you are really missing out! Maybe. There were those to whom his continued living was an insult. Maybe they had become bored with waiting? This writing is spellbinding in quality. Everything is so intricately explained, the battles are so vivid in their depth and quality, and the character dialogue is just wonderful. The author can explain a calm scene on the water and just leave you captivated while nothing is happening, he's that good at his craft. It just oozes quality, and you will have a very difficult time peeling your eyes from the book.

The Bone Ships by RJ Barker | Waterstones

She had taken his hat of command from him, and though he had never wanted it before, it had suddenly come to mean something. Her theft had awoken something in him. Audacious storytelling, with an original, captivating world. After a slow start, I found it increasingly difficult to put this book down and I am on board for more. Her officers? What did she mean by that? And he added another item to a growing list of resentments in his head.Joron is front and center in this story, and we learn more about him and his ability to “sing” and communicate (in a way) with the keyshan. Joron also has an interesting connection to the gullaime, the bird-like creatures who are revered by ships because of their magical ability to call forth winds. There is still quite a bit of mystery surrounding Joron’s talent, though, but I have a feeling we’ll get some answers in the next book. Meanwhile, it was satisfying to see his relationship with the

The Bone Ships - RJ Barker - Google Books The Bone Ships - RJ Barker - Google Books

Maybe that is the true nature of prophecy—we can only change what is within our reach. So do not worry about the gullaime, do not worry about their prophechy. Hold close those you care for. Worry only about tomorrow, and the day after. Think not on the day after that for we fly the ship of the dead, and the Hag calls us all. To plan far ahead is to ask for the Maiden to thwart all you are. We are in the now. We fight for what we believe is right. We can do nothing else.” The Bone Ships (The Tide Child #1) Review". Publishers Weekly. 24 Jul 2019 . Retrieved 27 Jul 2022. 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.Dragons have returned to the Hundred Isles. But their return heralds only war and destruction. When a horde of dying slaves are discovered in the bowels of a ship, Shipwife Meas and the crew of the Tide Child find themselves drawn into a vicious plot that will leave them questioning their loyalties and fighting for their lives. For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war. The world was already established as being completely unique, fresh, and fun - but this book went above and beyond by taking the reader to many different locations and dumping more lore into this world. I'm going to be thinking about the world that was built here for many years, and it will be difficult for a fantasy book to come close to capturing the wonder that has been built here in the future.