A review by stelladallas
The Bone Ships by RJ Barker

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.