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kira_miller's review against another edition
- 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
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
emilb's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Murder, Violence, Classism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Xenophobia
Minor: War
chalkletters's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
Once Joron starts to learn people’s names, and there’s more going on than just him feeling sorry for himself and clashing with Meas, though, things really pick up. Who doesn’t love a story of a gang of misfits coming together, providing a semi-safe space for one another and learning to overcome their differences? Not only that, but Joron was growing as a person at the same time, slowly realising how hasty his prejudices against the Gaunt Islanders and the guiilame were. The Bone Ships delivered character development on multiple fronts and I loved it! It’s not all plain sailing, though. There’s conflict right up until the end, leaving me with delicious questions about how interpersonal relationships are going to resolve and change in future books.
RJ Barker clearly knows how to use repetition of phrasings to powerful effect. It reminded me of sea shanties and the poetry of John Masefield, both very appropriate cultural contexts. That said, I found the actual songs/poems included to be underwhelming. There were also points where weird mistakes had slipped through the editorial net — a character called Jion in one chapter, and Rion in another, for example. Again, it didn’t detract from the overall work, but it did pull me out of the book just a little.
Nonetheless, this was an excellent book! I’m going to mark it down very slightly for the slow beginning, but it still ranks as one of my favourite books that I’ve discovered through book club, and I definitely intend to read the rest of the series.
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Ableism, Alcohol, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Vomit, War, and Xenophobia
carolined's review against another edition
Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Xenophobia, Gore, Grief, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, and Ableism
An entire society explicitly based on ableism and child sacrifice presented as unquestioned by the characters.