An excellent sequel filled with brutal and bloody seafaring adventures, Call of the Bone Ships elevated the story with remarkable character work. There is plenty of action spread throughout Call of the Bone Ships both on the land and the sea. With his action scenes, Barker doesn’t shy away from depicting the visceral nature of the battle and the fights have a weight to them, a heft to the blows dealt where you can feel the bite of the blade into flesh. There are some absolutely stunning cinematic and large-scale set pieces throughout Call of the Bone Ships, dramatic moments too, but there are also smaller and more personal moments, ripples in the water that are weighted and have a huge impact. The settings are all vividly realised and Barker manages to easily evoke images of the locations allowing you to picture them in your mind. With his writing, Barker’s words are able to convey the emotions that the characters feel and there are moments that rend your heart. In Call of the Bone Ships, you find yourself cursing Barker for what he puts both his characters and his readers through as he breaks them in the name of the story. Quite simply, I am in love with not only the main characters in this book, but all the side characters that get presented as well. This book is a masterclass in character writing, both in making you cheer for the ones you like, and utterly despise the ones you dislike. Many new characters have been introduced here, and some have been given a much brighter spotlight. Megan Leigh (11 Oct 2019). "The Bone Ships by RJ Barker. Review". British Fantasy Society . Retrieved 8 Aug 2022. When the crew of the tide child intercepted a mysterious ship they know they are running out of time…

Tide Child trilogy - Wikipedia

I think the biggest compliment I can give the Tide Child trilogy so far is that I get the same feelings reading these books as I do when I read Hobb. The character work, especially here in book 2, is phenomenal. There are so many character moments throughout this book that gave me chills while reading them, and the only other author to consistently do that for me is Hobb. I think part of the reason these moments hit so hard is that Barker makes you feel like a part of the crew of the Tide Child. You really feel as if you share in their triumphs as well as their failures and when you see how far some of these characters have come it’s impossible to not get caught up in the emotion of these hard hitting moments. Dragons have returned to the Hundred Isles. But their return heralds only war and destruction. When a horde of dying slaves are discovered in the bowels of a ship,We’ll find water in the gion forest,” she said, “or we’ll tap a varisk stalk. My officers aren’t soaks.” A large part of why I enjoy these books so much is the characters, and the bonds between them. Joron is imperfect but oh so willing to learn and oh so ardent in his desire to do better. Meas is a hard taskmaster but a brilliant leader, with a firm understanding of right and wrong, even when those definitions contradict the societal norm. Gullaime, or should I say Officer Gullaime, is sweet, stubborn, and sometimes simply hilarious. Then there’s Anzir, Farys, Solemn Muffaz, Dinyl, Coughlin, Aelerin and more. None are perfect but all are loyal and their hearts are in the right place. For generations, the Hundred Isles have built their ships from the bones of ancient dragons to fight an endless war.

the Bone Ships: Book 2 of the Tide Child Trilogy Call of the Bone Ships: Book 2 of the Tide Child Trilogy

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. This was a much better structured book than the first, and I couldn't put it down, as much as the author hurt my heart in numerous occasions... It put me through the wringer and set up for the third and final book, which has me wanting to grab it right away, but I will be strong and give myself some time to process and put some distance by reading some fluffy and light books, because we need to take care of our mental health, right? 😎😃. As mentioned, less worldbuilding is required in this book, but it's still very much present as more parts of the map of the world are filled in and history and lore are expanded upon or hinted at. Personally, I hope we get to learn much more about the lore and that it is not left to the imagination, but I think the author will oblige us as there is surely a treasure trove’s worth of things we still don’t know about Gullaime and Arakeesians and the Song within Joron and I can hardly wait to find out all the things. At the end of the first book in the Tide Child series I just kinda teared up, at the end of this one of was full-on crying. Not bawling mind you, however, given the progression of the tear factor I have a feeling I'll be bawling at the end of the third one.

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So maybe he had, for once, woken with the idea of how wonderful it would be to have a little pride. And if there had been a day for him to give up the two-tailed hat of shipwife, then it was not this day. The pacing is steady throughout, with ebbs and flows, but the tale never loses the wind in its sails, taking on elements of the story as it mimics the swell of waves, moving along smoothly only to build to a peak multiple times throughout the book and bringing everything to a frothy head before crashing down again and then purposefully building up to the next crescendo. It makes for an utterly engrossing read and had all of us who read the book together devouring it swiftly. The next voice he heard was the challenge. Delivered while he kept his eyes closed against the tides of nausea ebbing and flowing in hot, acidic waves from his stomach. Finally, I have one more thing I’d like to say about RJ’s writing. I feel like we have seen such a scope of literary ability already in his two published series, but just like the above-mentioned lore, he has so much more in store for us. Call of the Bone Ships once again puts this talent on full display with brilliant writing all around, be it the use of certain literary devices, the tugging of heartstrings by the simplest of sentences or gestures of the characters, constantly subverting expectations, the quiet contemplative moments, the frenetic chaos and panic of being confronted with the ferocious force of the ocean’s fury, the deep despair of loss or the brutality of naval warfare; the man has a skilled touch and it’s a joy to experience. Joron is front and center in this story, and we learn more about him and his ability to “sing” and communicate (in a way) with the keyshan. Joron also has an interesting connection to the gullaime, the bird-like creatures who are revered by ships because of their magical ability to call forth winds. There is still quite a bit of mystery surrounding Joron’s talent, though, but I have a feeling we’ll get some answers in the next book. Meanwhile, it was satisfying to see his relationship with the