Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Bone Ships by RJ Barker

18 reviews

kmountain's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

godelewa's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

In the beginning I was strongly reminded why I prefer to read high fantasy in my native language, it took me a couple of chapters to work out which unknown words are just the nautical vocabulary that my English lacks and which are Barker's unique Hundred Islands words. I got there, eventually - but never got used to ships being male in this world, even though it makes sense in context of the world.
The worldbuilding is the strength of this book. I'm not the most avid fantasy reader anymore, but at least to me the ideas seemed fresh and creative. They make sense, fit well together and we get a vivid glimpse into a world that is very different from ours, but not less harsh. 
Unfortunately, the prose itself is just not very good. The style feels clumsy while desperately trying to be regal and maybe even poetic and in the end it just reads pretentious without any real finesse. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Alcoholism, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

odunayo_y's review against another edition

4.75

Alien and weird just how I like my fantasy! Peak!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

kastix's review

adventurous dark 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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

browncoat4720's review

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, and Alcohol

Minor: Child death and Sexism

Child sacrifice implied but not shown. Author does a good job giving you just enough information to know what happened but not explicitly describing it.

rheagoveas's review

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Violence, Blood, and War

leafandlore's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Violence, and Xenophobia

Minor: Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

diredreamings's review

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Very slow start, only picks up in the last third of the book but that last part is compelling enough to make me want to continue the series.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence and War

Minor: Child death

Nearly all first born children are sacrificed to their goddess for good fortune and the health of their ships, warring countries take each others children prisoner and sacrifice them to avoid having to sacrifice more of their own. Their bodies are used as lights indicating the health of the ships. Not explicit but continuously referenced.

craines's review

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

saltycoffee's review

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail