The Bone Ships

By: RJ Barker

Narrated by: Jude Owusu

A brilliantly imagined saga of honor, glory, and warfare, The Bone Ships is the epic launch of a new fantasy from David Gemmell Award-nominated RJ Barker.

Two nations at war. One prize beyond compare.

For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war.

The dragons disappeared, but the battles for supremacy persisted.

Now the first dragon in centuries has been spotted in far-off waters, and both sides see a chance to shift the balance of power in their favour. Because whoever catches it will win not only glory, but the war.

Praise for The Bone Ships:

"A vividly realized high-seas epic that pulls you deep into its world and keeps you tangled there until the very last word." (Evan Winter, author of The Rage of Dragons)

"The Bone Ships is excellent. Aside from the standout writing, it's one of the most interesting and original fantasy worlds I've seen in years." (Adrian Tchaikovsky, Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning author)

The Tide Child Trilogy
The Bone Ships

For more from RJ Barker, check out:

The Wounded Kingdom
Age of Assassins
Blood of Assassins
King of Assassins

©2019 RJ Baker (P)2019 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"I absolutely loved it. A whole lot of swashbuckling awesomeness by RJ Barker. He has crafted a fascinating world and a twisty plot, both rooted in characters I came to care about. A definite winner for me." (John Gwynne, author of Malice)

"[T]he novel feels like one of Patrick O'Brian's richly detailed sagas of seamanship...a very promising beginning." (Publishers Weekly)

"The Bone Ships is a viciously exciting adventure. I loved every second of it." (Tasha Suri, author of Empire of Sand)

Incredible world

I absolutely love the idea of changing regular real life words in a fantasy book based on the world building in that book. The world of the bone ships is so cool!! Admittedly it can be a little confusing to understand who is talking because of the similar voices the narrator uses. You can piece together who said what most of the time anyway.

just fantastic!

Recommend, great writing.

this starts off strong and continues throughout. the writing is top-notch and the narrator does a wonderful job.

I loved the cast and seeing Meeze through the pov of Joran, as he grows and the crew grows under her command.

So many questions about the world, and you're plunged right in, but it doesn't take long to understand most of the words and way of things as you go through the story. onward to the second book.

Pirate ships made of extinct sea dragons..awesome.

The sea dragons are gone, but their bones are not. And they make an incredible fantasy story, living on, as the framework for the Fleet.
I was looking forward to this one for awhile. There was a lot of buzz on social media, but not having read any previous works by Mr. Barker, I tried to maintain no expectations.
I should also say that I had the audiobook version. I have almost 3 hours of driving back and forth to work every day and it’s a great time to get lost in a book.
This book was very impressive. The detail involved during the battles between ships at sea was entrancing. At times I really felt like I was tilting on the deck with them. The fear and adrenaline is really felt, partly because of the narrators touch I’m sure.
And now I understand why Mr. Barker is so highly respected by his peers. I was fully engaged in the characters and the world he creates. A majority of the setting is on an ancient sailing ship, made of “extinct” Sea dragons bones and crewed by the dregs of society, the “deckchilder”. Captained by one heck of a Leader, her Black ship, Tide Child is Her realm and you really dont want to get in her way. But I loved them all, including the parrot and the windtalker…So much more to say but you’ll find out when you read it, and you should! I really look forward to the next in the series and have some of his past work to read now as well.
I should also say that I am very new at this review thing, and was not provided this book for free to review…I paid for it by my big boy self.
Thank you for stopping by, I’ve gotta get ready to get the kids all dressed up the the small town halloween event tonight…wish I was going as the “windtalker”

My favorite book in a while

This is going to sound simplistic, but simply, I like many things about it, and I don't dislike ANYthing about it. I like the characters, especially as they developed. I like the plot. I like the narrator. I like the world and the nations.
Most importantly, as I said, I don't dislike any part of it. Even the device of replacing English words with slightly different made up words, which I usually find annoying, didn't bother me.
When that magical combination of many likes and no dislikes happens, it means I've found a new author, and that's a beautiful thing!

High Sea Adventure, Dragons, and a Crew's Loyalty

I picked this up because a review said that if I liked Robin Hobb's Liveship trilogy to pick this one up no questions asked. I was not disappointed. I couldn't put down the book for the last four hours and listened through to 2AM. I just bought the next two audiobooks, and you can bet I'm going to devour the rest of this trilogy the first chance I get.

Excellent nautical adventure!

Awesome story! Such an amazing world, and the underlying song (spoilers!) was beautiful. My issue was with the narrator. They were clearly unfamiliar with the book, and didn’t voice the characters like the author described (deep and growly voice when the described voice was creaky or reedy), and they didn’t always set the emphasis properly which made some of the story difficult to follow. The accents were beautiful, though. Very reminiscent of Caribbean accents. Truly an excellent story!

Bold and unique with a compelling story.

First off, know that I've rated this book higher than my personal enjoyment would suggest. This is because much of it is personal taste. The world itself and the writing style are not my favorite, though the author has created a unique world and an interesting story peopled with great characters.

Herein we have a bold take on an oft-used idea (hard luck wastrel kid is brought into the fold and learns to be a man) that takes place in a world quite unlike anything we've ever seen before.

While at first I loved Jude Owusu's work for the audiobook, it quickly became apparent that there's a problem: he makes no distinction between male and female voices. While each voice is distinct, they all sound male. His vocal inflections are pretty good, but there is almost no shifting of his reading tempo.

This is another book in which it took me some time to connect with the main character as in the beginning he's just not the kind of person I can easily identify with.

However, being largely a product of his environment, once he's shown a better way he becomes quite likable.

There is a lot of complexity to this story and a lot of character names that, if I'm being honest, even at the end I still wasn't keeping completely straight.

There is a strong sailing culture to this world, and some of the caste and socioeconomical norms seem quite unusual.

I have to admit that I find the whole idea of ships built from the bones of Dragons fascinating. Even moreso the (possibly?) superstition that the ships are still alive.

Except for the black ship, which is the focus of the book, of course.

The whole black ship, black armband, these folks being considered already dead by society thing is strongly reminiscent of the Night's Watch from Game of Thrones (not that this is a bad thing).

Now, the first thing that struck me is the writing style is simultaneously very lyrical and quite raw. Some parts were a touch on the clunky side, while at times the prose flirts with the edges of being purple.

That aside, my only real critique is there is a point near the end where the tense shifts from past to present and back and I can see no reason for it.

And now for the ending.
Well, it's kind of an ending.
In that there is a climax and a piece of the main story is resolved. However, there are still major pieces of the story that haven't come anywhere near a resolution and I find myself a little irritated by it.

I would recommend this book to lovers of nautical adventure and anyone looking for a unique world that doesn't feel like anything that's come before.

However, if you're looking for buttery-smooth prose or have an aversion to the lyrical this one might not be the best choice.

Perfect way to start a trilogy

great story and I was truly in suspense about what would happen at the end.

one of the best and most original stories

I just... it was great. it was original. it was compelling. there are two more books! I could say more but have to go listen to book 2 now!

worth it

I found the names hard to keep track of, but the story was good, and I really liked the performance.