Although quite a bit of time has passed, CALL OF THE BONE SHIPS picks the story back up not far from where we left off, and it’s clear pretty early on that this is going to be a darker book than its predecessor. While still trying to evade Meas’s tyrannical mother & make the world safe for dragons again, the Tide Child happens upon a grim situation. A ship, full of malnourished, abused, and enslaved humans and guillaime. It’s…just horrifying.

This is sort’ve the catalyst for the remainder of the book, which takes on almost a mystery flavor, on top of the nautical fantasy bones (heh) of the story.

And then the pain really begins.

I mean. Fuck. On social media, RJ Barker seems like an incredibly kind & warm human being. Meanwhile, his characters are going through hell…oof. Joron especially is headed for lots of emotional and physical pain in this second book, but goddamn…he proves himself to have such undiscovered strength and goes through so much growth here. He’s sort’ve slowly becoming the leader he never really wanted to be, while further earning Lucky Meas’s trust.

To me, that bond, and that trust between Joron and Meas is what makes this trilogy so fucking special. These are two characters learning to be brutally open and honest with one another, not keeping secrets, and sacrificing so much for the good of their crew.

Something Barker addresses in the afterward of the book which was really cool is that, some similar themes to his first trilogy, THE WOUNDED KINGDOM (which is pretty spectacular) begin to pop up in THE TIDE CHILD. I definitely sensed some parallels between the two trilogies while I was reading, so that was kinda rad!

Lucky Meas Gilbryn is just one of those characters that I find myself randomly thinking about as if she’s one of my friends. There’s just something so unique and fascinating about this woman to me. This is a harsh, brutal fantasy world that Barker has created. And here is Lucky Meas, not cynical about it. Trying to do just one good thing, if it costs her everything. Like she’s sneaky this incredibly noble & good-hearted character, while also maintaining the appearance of the take-no-shit, salty AF sea captain. I just love her.

This trilogy is shaping up to be an all-time favorite for me. I’m just 100% absorbed in this salty, matriarchal, queernorm world that RJ Barker has created, and I’m sort’ve dreading/unbelievably excited for this trilogy’s conclusion!!

Many thanks to Orbit for the copy!!