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A review by branomir
The Bone Ships by RJ Barker
4.0
This was very much a part one of three. Some books that are part of a series stand very well on their own, but for this one I feel I won't know how I truly feel about it until I've read the rest because things that might feel lacking can still be picked up and things that sound promising can still disappoint. So I might be changing my score for this at one point or another.
Anyway. The Bone Ships is a novel that falls in that space between a Grimdark and a Noblebright. The world is dark and depressing, but the characters are not selfish and cruel and the plot isn't everything is shit and everyone dies. So while I steer more towards Noblebright, I can appreciate a novel like this. Another example is James Clemens' The Banned and The Banished series which I love despite how dark the world is. So I was "on board" with this one. (I'm hilarious, I know).
This is essentially a pirate story, again something that ticks my boxes. Now technically they are rogue privateers and they would take serious issue with anyone referring to them as pirates as they have an honour code, a greater purpose and a sense of duty. That being said for how the story works and evolves, for all intents and purposes it remains a pirate story so yo ho ho and a barrel of rum and let's crack on.
Despite it being a dark world where babies are sacrificed to the gods, diversity is a thing however. Our main character is of African ethnicity (or he would be in the real world) as are many others and the most important character in the story and the Captain of the ship is a woman. Didn't see anyone of Asian of Arab descent that I remember, though it was implied. LGBT+ characters are also a thing and we even had a Gender fluid rep, though that felt rather tokenish as the character has very little to do and doesn't seem to have any other defining traits other than being GF. Barker also went with They/Them pronouns which in my opinion is just unnecessarily confusing, I much prefer Xe/Xir.
The world in which our story takes place is very similar to ours but with some subtle twists which took some getting used just because they are so similar. Barker came up with a lingo that is in English but evolved according to the history, customs and religion of The Hundred Isles. A lot of the changes have to do with the world being matriarchical so you get things like ships being referred to in male terms and the a Captain is called a Shipwife regardless of their gender. When speaking they say women and men or girls and boys instead of the reverse as we use it. It's kind of cool but not everything worked. For instance they say "ey" instead of "aye" aboard ship, but "ey" has always been inquisitive for me so I could not get used to that and I just used "aye" instead. I think Barker got a little confused himself as well as he sometimes forgot his own terms. Sister becomes Sither but I’ve caught him using Sister once or twice still. He may have pushed it a bit. There is also a creature called a Gullaime which my mind kept turning in Guillaume which was annoying. The lingo and slang are interesting but you have to run to keep up as they throw you into it from page one with little to no explanation and the glossary in the back of my edition only covered the different ranks aboard ship. I am not surprised so many people complain about struggling to get through the first few chapters as I did too. I'm happy I persevered though, it all became clearer once you got going.
The plot is a relatively simple story of redemption and challenging the status quo. It wasn't the most innovating, not a whole lot of twists and turns, but it was fun and entertaining and for the most part well written. Joron was an interesting character to follow. Barker sticks with one POV though and that was the book's biggest weakness in my opinion. Joron gets some character development, but not too much and there were so many other interesting characters I would have liked to have seen more of and learn more about. As it is, most with the exception of Joron are a bit shallow. Even Meas who is the centre of the overarching plot.
As I know there are a lot of people that hate these, it might also be interesting for them to note that in this first book there is no romantic subplot of any kind. Personally I usually like something like that so it didn't help things for me. While the story didn't need it, I could have done with a bit more character investment in other people. As it is, it's more about duty and self than about anyone else. While not confirmed, Joron comes rather across as asexual/aromantic. But that is pure speculation on my part.
One thing that greatly annoyed me which isn't Barker's fault but Orbit's is the unacceptable amount of typo's, missing words, double words and other such thing that were still in this published work. This was one of the worst practical edits I have seen in a very long time. How something so sloppy got the green light is a mystery to me and it annoyed me none stop.
So all in all an intriguing start to the series. Good with the potential to become great and a whole lot of fun with some depth (in world building, sadly not so much in character yet). Definitely worth a read; try to get yourself through those first three chapters. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the sequels.
2022 Update: So turns out "sither" actually means "sibling", not "sister", so that one was on me. Also, Joron is most definitely not Ace, he is in fact Gay, Barker is just very subtle and lowkey when writing about attraction, though I feel silly now for knowing it. Incidentally, this means we have a gay, black lead who follows a woman into battle, however it isn't a story about a gay, black man, it is a story about a really cool character who also happens to be Gay and Black, showing that representation and good writing need not be mutually exclusive.
Having now finished the series, I'm happy to report that the quality stays up for the rest of the trilogy, so I can warmly recommend jumping into this series!
Anyway. The Bone Ships is a novel that falls in that space between a Grimdark and a Noblebright. The world is dark and depressing, but the characters are not selfish and cruel and the plot isn't everything is shit and everyone dies. So while I steer more towards Noblebright, I can appreciate a novel like this. Another example is James Clemens' The Banned and The Banished series which I love despite how dark the world is. So I was "on board" with this one. (I'm hilarious, I know).
This is essentially a pirate story, again something that ticks my boxes. Now technically they are rogue privateers and they would take serious issue with anyone referring to them as pirates as they have an honour code, a greater purpose and a sense of duty. That being said for how the story works and evolves, for all intents and purposes it remains a pirate story so yo ho ho and a barrel of rum and let's crack on.
Despite it being a dark world where babies are sacrificed to the gods, diversity is a thing however. Our main character is of African ethnicity (or he would be in the real world) as are many others and the most important character in the story and the Captain of the ship is a woman. Didn't see anyone of Asian of Arab descent that I remember, though it was implied. LGBT+ characters are also a thing and we even had a Gender fluid rep, though that felt rather tokenish as the character has very little to do and doesn't seem to have any other defining traits other than being GF. Barker also went with They/Them pronouns which in my opinion is just unnecessarily confusing, I much prefer Xe/Xir.
The world in which our story takes place is very similar to ours but with some subtle twists which took some getting used just because they are so similar. Barker came up with a lingo that is in English but evolved according to the history, customs and religion of The Hundred Isles. A lot of the changes have to do with the world being matriarchical so you get things like ships being referred to in male terms and the a Captain is called a Shipwife regardless of their gender. When speaking they say women and men or girls and boys instead of the reverse as we use it. It's kind of cool but not everything worked. For instance they say "ey" instead of "aye" aboard ship, but "ey" has always been inquisitive for me so I could not get used to that and I just used "aye" instead. I think Barker got a little confused himself as well as he sometimes forgot his own terms. Sister becomes Sither but I’ve caught him using Sister once or twice still. He may have pushed it a bit. There is also a creature called a Gullaime which my mind kept turning in Guillaume which was annoying. The lingo and slang are interesting but you have to run to keep up as they throw you into it from page one with little to no explanation and the glossary in the back of my edition only covered the different ranks aboard ship. I am not surprised so many people complain about struggling to get through the first few chapters as I did too. I'm happy I persevered though, it all became clearer once you got going.
The plot is a relatively simple story of redemption and challenging the status quo. It wasn't the most innovating, not a whole lot of twists and turns, but it was fun and entertaining and for the most part well written. Joron was an interesting character to follow. Barker sticks with one POV though and that was the book's biggest weakness in my opinion. Joron gets some character development, but not too much and there were so many other interesting characters I would have liked to have seen more of and learn more about. As it is, most with the exception of Joron are a bit shallow. Even Meas who is the centre of the overarching plot.
As I know there are a lot of people that hate these, it might also be interesting for them to note that in this first book there is no romantic subplot of any kind. Personally I usually like something like that so it didn't help things for me. While the story didn't need it, I could have done with a bit more character investment in other people. As it is, it's more about duty and self than about anyone else. While not confirmed, Joron comes rather across as asexual/aromantic. But that is pure speculation on my part.
One thing that greatly annoyed me which isn't Barker's fault but Orbit's is the unacceptable amount of typo's, missing words, double words and other such thing that were still in this published work. This was one of the worst practical edits I have seen in a very long time. How something so sloppy got the green light is a mystery to me and it annoyed me none stop.
So all in all an intriguing start to the series. Good with the potential to become great and a whole lot of fun with some depth (in world building, sadly not so much in character yet). Definitely worth a read; try to get yourself through those first three chapters. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to the sequels.
2022 Update: So turns out "sither" actually means "sibling", not "sister", so that one was on me. Also, Joron is most definitely not Ace, he is in fact Gay, Barker is just very subtle and lowkey when writing about attraction, though I feel silly now for knowing it. Incidentally, this means we have a gay, black lead who follows a woman into battle, however it isn't a story about a gay, black man, it is a story about a really cool character who also happens to be Gay and Black, showing that representation and good writing need not be mutually exclusive.
Having now finished the series, I'm happy to report that the quality stays up for the rest of the trilogy, so I can warmly recommend jumping into this series!