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The Bone Ships

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The Bone Ships

Written by: RJ Barker
Narrated by: Jude Owusu
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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 TrilogyThe Bone Ships
For more from RJ Barker, check out:
The Wounded KingdomAge of AssassinsBlood of AssassinsKing of Assassins
 Action & Adventure Dragons & Mythical Creatures Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Mythology Royalty Adventure War Dragons
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What the critics say

"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 Bone Ships is a viciously exciting adventure. I loved every second of it."—Tasha Suri, author of Empire of Sand
"[T]he novel feels like one of Patrick O'Brian's richly detailed sagas of seamanship...a very promising beginning."—Publishers Weekly
"The first in the Tide Child trilogy presents a unique and memorable world-harsh and brutal and full of fully realized, powerful female characters. Barker has managed to craft a story inspired by Moby Dick, Game of Thrones, and pirate lore, and readers will be drawn in and fascinated."—Booklist (starred review)
"Simultaneously gritty and full of a sense of wonder, The Bone Ships is the perfect adventure for anyone who's ever had dreams of the sea-or of dragons ... an excellent book for any reader in search of a fantastical journey."—BookPage
"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
"An epic tale of duty and obligation and honour, and what bravery really means... I can't recommend it enough."—Peter McLean, author of Priest of Bones
"A thrilling bit of high seas fantasy that sets the stage for what is doubtless to be a riveting trilogy from a tremendously talented and imaginative mind."—Spectrum Culture

Continue the series
Call of the Bone Ships cover art
Call of the Bone Ships Written by: R. J. Barker
The Bone Ship's Wake cover art
The Bone Ship's Wake Written by: RJ Barker
All stars
Most Relevant
I loved the strong female characters. Both men and women in the book had atypical gender roles.
The storyline was gripping and full of exciting twists and turns. Awesome fantasy world and culture development!
The narrator’s voice really drew me into the story! Magnificent performance.

Excellent nautical adventure!

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Loved this excellent start to this adventure. Refreshing ideas well executed. Character work is great especially between the two main crew, but the whole ship seems alive with interesting personalities. Has me looking forward to the second in this series.

A breath of fresh air

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The best nautical fantasy I’ve read in ten years! Superb world building, characters that live and breathe. I’m buying the next immediately!

A brilliant sea story!

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For the first several chapters of this book, I barely got through it, and was planning to return the book unless things picked up.
The narrator was overly dramatic and smug sounding in my opinion, and there were a lot of adjectives flying around, when really I just wanted something with a plot. . Thankfully, the narrator eventually toned it down, and the plot became more apparent,, just in the neck of time.
I ended up listening to the whole series of three books.
There are quite a few ups and downs in the quality of the story throughout, so it seems to me. But some parts were very good and it’s all worth listening to, for those parts.
I found the politics annoying and distracting The writer is striving to make a point of normalizing a host of gender politics, disability politics, racial, politics, and other current woke social issues. Which is all good, and somewhat groundbreaking I suppose. But really I’d rather listen to a good story than be beaten over the head with the wokeness of it all for three whole books. An approach which fails to normalize these issues IMO. A subtler approach would do much to make it more normalized within the story.
However, obviously tastes greatly vary, and no doubt many people will love this aspect of it.
Overall, a worthwhile listen, especially if you like nautical themes.

A good tale though some aspects got tiresome

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