The Bone Ships cover art

The Bone Ships

Winner of the Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Bone Ships

By: RJ Barker
Narrated by: Jude Owusu
Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

About this listen

 'Excellent . . . one of the most interesting and original fantasy worlds I've seen in years'
ADRIAN TCHAIKOVSKY

'Brilliant'
ROBIN HOBB, author of The Assassin's Apprentice

***Winner of the Robert Holdstock Award for Best Fantasy Novel***

TWO NATIONS AT WAR. A 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.

A brilliantly imagined saga of honour, glory, and warfare, The Bone Ships starts an epic new trilogy from David Gemmell Award-nominated RJ Barker.

'A vividly realised 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


'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 viciously exciting adventure. I loved every second of it'
TASHA SURI, author of Empire of Sand


'Swashbuckling awesomeness . . . a fascinating world and a twisty plot, both rooted in characters I came to care about. A definite winner'
JOHN GWYNNE, author of MALICE


'The Bone Ships has already built up plenty of anticipation - and with good reason ... Barker's previous series, the acclaimed The Wounded Kingdom Trilogy, was a powerhouse of gritty fantasy, and The Bone Ships promises to launch one of this season's greatest, grandest dragon sagas'
NPR©2019 RJ Barker (P)2019 Hachette Audio UK Dragons & Mythical Creatures Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Historical Mythology Dragons

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City cover art
The Scour cover art
The Will of the Many cover art
The Shadow of What Was Lost cover art
We Are The Dead cover art
Of Blood and Fire cover art
The Ember Blade cover art
Forsworn: A Powder Mage Novella cover art
The Malevolent Seven cover art
The Wolf of Oren-Yaro cover art
Aldair in Albion cover art
Tides of Gafforah cover art
A Touch of Light cover art
Rise of the Ranger cover art
Beyond the Deep cover art
Black Leviathan cover art
All stars
Most relevant
But I didn’t overly enjoy the performance. I found the gruff Meas’ voice grating and wouldn’t be surprise if an Arrr Jim Lad would have snuck in now and then. Comic pirate impersonation aside, the story grew on me and I quite enjoyed it.

Good story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The performance of the narrator was so-so. At times really good at setting the atmosphere and the different characters, but the grating sound of Meas, probably the most prominent character, and especially the guillame were painful to listen to. The world is interesting and a great departure from standard high fantasy settings, but I just couldn't connect with the story, nor did it grab me at all. I found myself spacing out with the depictions of different endless tasks carried out on a ship, the slow pace at which the story sets it's course onto the main objective and the different characters, of which I don't think I can name too many of. Interesting book, but not for me, DNF at about half-way.

Interesting premise, uninteresting characters

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Action packed adventure on the high seas with an original twist.
Just started the second book and I’m glad it’s the same narrator who did an excellent job.

Swashbuckling Adventure

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Characters and story are really good, entertaining. Characters have some depth and there's some interesting development in there too.

The narration is really hit and miss and is just about acceptable: for me it was very overdone with almost comic grating pirate voices and sonorous tones in spades. Every now and then there's a surprising mispronunciation to take you out of the story: (ochre pronounced as okra; bow (the action) pronounced as bow (like bow-tie); lobed pronounced lobbed etc.)

Hopefully the next instalment has a different narrator, if not I'll probably just read rather than listen.

Great story, grating narration

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrator is pretty bad to be honest. Makes a very good story feel cheap and lacklustre. You have to look past the performance for the book to shine.

Poor performance. Very cool story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews