The Bone Ships by RJ Barker
The Bone Ships took me weeks to read despite being magnificent, so I'm hazy on early detail now - blame lockdown fatigue. However, the simple message is: read this book. If you like epic fantasy, or if you like adventurous tales of the high seas, and especially if you like both, you will love this novel. I happened to start reading it the same week my other half and I started watching Hornblower (late '90s adaptation of some CS Forester books, set in the Royal Navy in the late 18th century) on Britbox, and I realised how nicely they went together.
The Hundred Isles have been at war forever, it's what they do. The war ships are built from dragon bones but nobody's seen an actual dragon for generations. Until now. Whoever gets hold of that dragon will have a prize indeed.
That's the rough gist of the blurb and it was enough to grab me, having never read any of RJ Barker's work before. It doesn't even begin to do justice to the inventiveness of this world, however: the myths, rituals and religion; the vegetation, geography and animals. The characters. Oh, the characters: Joron Twiner, Meas Gilbryn, and the gullaime for starters. But it's so hard to say anything further without spoiling one of the many revelatory moments.
I could talk about the themes of bravery and loyalty, propaganda and political truth, environmental exploitation and unexpected allies. I could mention the fact that RJ Barker is, like me, from West Yorkshire (about as far from the sea as you can get in northern England), though I didn't find that out until after I'd started the book - an added bonus, if you will. I will note in passing that subtle shifts in language like calling all ships he instead of she, talking about wings instead of sails, and flying the sea rather than sailing, were effective in shifting this firmly into another world. And I will say again, if either ships or dragons are your thing you will love this book.
I had just finished reading the penultimate chapter of The Bone Ships when it won Best Fantasy Novel at the British Fantasy Awards 2020 and I thought yes, that makes perfect sense. Book 2 of the Tide Child Trilogy is Call of the Bone Ships, which came out in paperback at the end of 2020, and I will be getting it for the Kobo forthwith.
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