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craines's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
High seas adventure and a beautiful writing style.
The book caught me early with a lovely hook, then took its time with world and character building. The early parts of the book were often a bit confusing due to all the new terms and description of the world, but didn't linger on any one for too long. By the 30-40% mark I found myself quite comfortable in this new world and enjoying it. The bits and pieces of the world coming together one at a time, forming a clearer and clearer picture pulled me through the pages.
The characters are fun and deep. While Joron is the PoV, I loved learning about the other characters as the story progressed, more than Joron himself for a good portion of the book.
The action was fun and engaging without being drawn out. I am quite excited to read the rest of this series.
The book caught me early with a lovely hook, then took its time with world and character building. The early parts of the book were often a bit confusing due to all the new terms and description of the world, but didn't linger on any one for too long. By the 30-40% mark I found myself quite comfortable in this new world and enjoying it. The bits and pieces of the world coming together one at a time, forming a clearer and clearer picture pulled me through the pages.
The characters are fun and deep. While Joron is the PoV, I loved learning about the other characters as the story progressed, more than Joron himself for a good portion of the book.
The action was fun and engaging without being drawn out. I am quite excited to read the rest of this series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
awaterswadesthrough's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Ableism, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Child abuse, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, and Trafficking
kylieqrada's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
My brain is just a pile of goo at this point in my pregnancy, but even though this took me altogether too long to read, I enjoyed it. The first section was a tad confusing due to the worldbuilding, but I ended up loving it. I'm curious to see where the discussion of gender goes in the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Blood, and Ableism
Moderate: War, Child death, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, and Vomit
_forestofpages's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, and War
Moderate: Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, and Panic attacks/disorders
drace556's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, War, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Classism, Child death, Vomit, and Panic attacks/disorders
Minor: Sexual assault and Fire/Fire injury
kira_miller's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Really enjoyed this book! The world building was incredible, with all kinds of animals, plants, systems, titles, etc all new to the reader! Absolute need more dark, high fantasy pirate books like The Bone Ships. I was a little confused towards the beginning due to the unfamiliarity of the world, but as the book continued I began to get a better understand of everything. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys fantasy, especially books on the darker side of the genre!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Xenophobia, Ableism, Blood, Death, Classism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Alcohol, Vomit, and Grief
totallyshelfaware's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
Moderate: Child death, Death, and War
icarusabides's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
After an interesting start The Bone Ships pretty quickly becomes a rather dull slog. The writing is fine but there's no great depth to it and it feels rather clunky and obvious in how the characters motivations are portrayed, everything feels a little too signposted.
The characters for the most part are incredibly flat too, Joron has the most development over the course of the book but it doesn't feel earned and no one else is really given any depth. Meas stays the same incredible badass character she starts out as but nothing about her ever actually feels inspiring. Everyone else, bar the underused Guilame, has no actual characterisation beyond their often stated injuries, deformities, and birth defects etc which play a huge part in the hierarchy of this world. Presumably this was intended to mark just how cruel this world is meant to be but that never really landed and the author really likes bringing it up, characters like Farys are rarely mentioned without some accompanying line about their burnt face and they seem to have no other aspect to their character.
There are also quite a few typos and plot holes throughout. The Ship wife of the Cruel Waters being a Gaunt Islander with one leg, something treated with disdain and banishment to a life of begging or shoe making in the Hundred Isles frequently being invited aboard Tide Child and at no point any of the crew wondering hang on that's a bit strange. The Gaunt Islanders having no four rib ships meaning therefore Tide Child will be quickly recognised as an enemy ship being is a plot point despite previous and subsequent mention of Wavebreaker the Gaunt Islander four rib ship...
Chapter 33
“I only saw them from a distance but the four-ribber, I think it is the Wavebreaker"
Chapter 34
“The flag will not fool them, not for long. Once someone who knows the ships of the Gaunt Islands well is consulted they will know they do not have a four-ribber."
Chapter 35
"Meas kept Tide Child on a course converging with the Gaunt Islanders, level with the leading four-ribber."
Sigh
As for the positives, the world building is quite interesting initially but even that is somewhat overdone to the point it interferes with the flow of reading given just how many aspects of this world the author wanted to make unique. It's not terrible but it is a disappointing read overall.
The characters for the most part are incredibly flat too, Joron has the most development over the course of the book but it doesn't feel earned and no one else is really given any depth. Meas stays the same incredible badass character she starts out as but nothing about her ever actually feels inspiring. Everyone else, bar the underused Guilame, has no actual characterisation beyond their often stated injuries, deformities, and birth defects etc which play a huge part in the hierarchy of this world. Presumably this was intended to mark just how cruel this world is meant to be but that never really landed and the author really likes bringing it up, characters like Farys are rarely mentioned without some accompanying line about their burnt face and they seem to have no other aspect to their character.
There are also quite a few typos and plot holes throughout. The Ship wife of the Cruel Waters being a Gaunt Islander with one leg, something treated with disdain and banishment to a life of begging or shoe making in the Hundred Isles frequently being invited aboard Tide Child and at no point any of the crew wondering hang on that's a bit strange. The Gaunt Islanders having no four rib ships meaning therefore Tide Child will be quickly recognised as an enemy ship being is a plot point despite previous and subsequent mention of Wavebreaker the Gaunt Islander four rib ship...
Chapter 33
“I only saw them from a distance but the four-ribber, I think it is the Wavebreaker"
Chapter 34
“The flag will not fool them, not for long. Once someone who knows the ships of the Gaunt Islands well is consulted they will know they do not have a four-ribber."
Chapter 35
"Meas kept Tide Child on a course converging with the Gaunt Islanders, level with the leading four-ribber."
Sigh
As for the positives, the world building is quite interesting initially but even that is somewhat overdone to the point it interferes with the flow of reading given just how many aspects of this world the author wanted to make unique. It's not terrible but it is a disappointing read overall.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Ableism
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
rowan_reviews's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
My actual rating would be 3.5 stars.
I enjoyed this, but I didn't LOVE it. There are some cultural aspects of the society that aren't challenged & made me feel... uncomfortable. Despite the culture being largely matriarchal, if a woman dies in childbirth her child is considered "weak" and "berncast", so they can never really advance in the society. Children born with birth defects have assigned careers based on what the birth defect is. Having any kind of "deformity" is seen as a negative thing, including from accidents during someone's life (i.e., burn scars). There are some hints that the MC might challenge the acceptance of this aspect of his society maybe in future novels, but tbh I'm not sure that I'm quite willing to stick it out in hopes of that.
The MC also has very little confidence & basically does what he's told & strives for approval from his captain. I'm not saying that wanting the approval of someone is a bad thing, just that it feels he lacks agency for a large portion of the book. That may be purposeful because of the background, and is somewhat understandable, but it gets tedious. It does build some tension towards the end as I kept hoping that he would go against orders.
The parts I enjoyed most were the magic surrounding the guillaime and arkesian - which weren't a large enough part of the novel to keep me hooked.
I haven't decided whether or not I'll read book 2 at this point. I have a long TBR and given that it took me a lot longer than it usually would to read a book of this length, I don't think I will.
I enjoyed this, but I didn't LOVE it. There are some cultural aspects of the society that aren't challenged & made me feel... uncomfortable. Despite the culture being largely matriarchal, if a woman dies in childbirth her child is considered "weak" and "berncast", so they can never really advance in the society. Children born with birth defects have assigned careers based on what the birth defect is. Having any kind of "deformity" is seen as a negative thing, including from accidents during someone's life (i.e., burn scars). There are some hints that the MC might challenge the acceptance of this aspect of his society maybe in future novels, but tbh I'm not sure that I'm quite willing to stick it out in hopes of that.
The MC also has very little confidence & basically does what he's told & strives for approval from his captain. I'm not saying that wanting the approval of someone is a bad thing, just that it feels he lacks agency for a large portion of the book. That may be purposeful because of the background, and is somewhat understandable, but it gets tedious. It does build some tension towards the end as I kept hoping that he would go against orders.
The parts I enjoyed most were the magic surrounding the guillaime and arkesian - which weren't a large enough part of the novel to keep me hooked.
I haven't decided whether or not I'll read book 2 at this point. I have a long TBR and given that it took me a lot longer than it usually would to read a book of this length, I don't think I will.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcoholism, Ableism, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Death, Colonisation, Classism, Child death, Violence, War, Genocide, and Alcohol
Moderate: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, and Fire/Fire injury
nymreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
inspiring
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Alcoholism, and War