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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.