Reviews

The Bone Ships by RJ Barker

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stelladallas's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

This is great-- good prose and a fully-realized world. Not 100% up my personal alley (not really a boat/pirate gal) but I respect the hell out of this.

I did find that it felt incomplete in the way of a "first book that's already intended to be part of a trilogy". I like it better when the first book feels complete and a sequel expands on it. I also had a hard time with the characters, a lot of them blurred together for me. But still, the world here is so great that my takeaway is "wow". It's not all the time you read a fantasy that feels this distinct.

I also like the small, thoughtful touches towards gender equality, sexuality, etc.- both logical for the world and also, I'm just glad to not be reading my 15,000th generically sexist fantasy universe.

nathanfife's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

andi885's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Wow, what a wild ride. I absolutely loved this book. Well written. I'm a huge fan of swashbuckling pirate stories and this book certainly delivers. The characters are well written, with heartwarming personal development. The crew of Tide Child are brutal, uncouth, and somehow still so endearing. I found myself rooting for their development as the book continued.
The relationship between the crew and the creatures we are introduced to made the book that much more enjoyable. All around phenomenal. 4.25 because I found it difficult to keep the characters straight. I would have enjoyed a list of characters in the glossary. I also struggled to keep up in the battle scenes (but maybe that was a me issue).

oh_rachel's review against another edition

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I’ve been trying for weeks and I just can’t get into this which is really disappointing because I really love the concept. I don’t really have anything that makes me want to keep reading at this point, even with my questions about the world. Maybe I’ll try again later :/