Call of the Bone Ships ( The Tide Child #2)[July 1, 2023]

[Yanique, Thread Master]

This is a Buddy Read for Call of the Bone Ships by R.J. Barker starting on July 1, 2023.


Happy Reading!

[Rob]

ah finally found this thread. Is anyone else joining in? I was going to start today.

[Nirkatze]

It's next on my list! Should be here by the weekend. I've also been waiting for other people to start things before starting. ^^

[Rob]

Hmmm. Maybe I'll get ahead for a change ;)

[Nirkatze]

LOL Gogogogogogo!

[Rob]

Challenge accepted!

Chapter 1-2 (view spoiler)[: I wasn't sure time had passed at first, but it has, possibly as much as a year with Tide Child refitted. Not sure what their current mission is. Maiden's Bounty - ok totally something dead or dying on this ship. Ooh forgot about Black Orris and his foul mouth. Wonder what Maiden's Bounty mission was. No idea.. (hide spoiler)]

[Rob]

Lawn mowing and doing yard work for an hour and a half last night was great for audiobooking this.

Chapter 3 (view spoiler)[Ok, eww. Sounds like a slave ship from the 17th-18th/19th century, but they're not slaves? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 4 (view spoiler)[ So Guillaime too. Unwanted aptly named chapter but Meas' mom must have some plan for unwanted people. Windshorn, feels like some "untouchable" class in Guillame society, what is the dynamic here? (hide spoiler)]

[Rob]

Chapter 5 (view spoiler)[Ok, "windshorn" is very literally just that. Some are quick to try to ingratiate and subservient to humans (though they seem to think they are sly when they are not) and one who seems guilty about something. Guess we're going to get an info dump somewhere down the line! (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 6/7 (view spoiler)[Not good. Safeharbor gone. Learn they put the people of the town on a similar ship to Maiden's Bounty, so they're up to something, gathering more "unwanted". Nice to get another voice in the story. (hide spoiler)]

[Rob]

Chapter 8-10 (view spoiler)[Biggest takeaway is - when will the other shoe drop between Cewell and Joron, et al? At some point, and it has been alluded to, Joron will get his own ship atsome point and how they react to that will be telling (or a mutiny). Cewell giving up Joron's sword though seemed, like the only viable option. The author took pains to note he brought it with him. Maybe Cewell is an allie with a mean streak? (hide spoiler)]

[Rob]

Annoyed this book doesn't have whispersync. err.

[Nirkatze]

Started! In Chapter 2. I really like the narrator's rendition of the audiobook. Even though all the women sound like salty men, especially Meas, it's still pretty good in character. I really like the Galain, (view spoiler)[imagining it saying "Don't like, Joron Twiner!" while resisting being dragged out into the rain... I mean, maybe I'm pitiless, but that image made me smile.

And Caffis saying "Men don't have the tits for command." LOL (hide spoiler)]

Thanks for the summation on time span! I wasn't even thinking of paying attention to those details...

[Nirkatze]

Rob wrote: "Lawn mowing and doing yard work for an hour and a half last night was great for audiobooking this.

Chapter 3 [spoilers removed]

Chapter 4 [spoilers removed]"

re: Chapter 3-4--Oh, so that's how you spell it! (view spoiler)[Guillaime--would never have guessed. Really interesting dynamic with the Windshorn... definitely untouchable-esque vibe. Like, if they don't have the wind powers, then they're obviously lacking their god's blessing... much like the lower castes--children of mothers who die in childbirth like Jorah, or who have defects... (hide spoiler)]

I'm on a weekend trip with my mom right now, so I'm sneaking bits of audiobook in when she's not looking... going much slower than normal. LOL.

[Nirkatze]

Through Chapter 9--(view spoiler)[I thought it was really interesting how the Fisherwoman told her story, with all the little interjections, like "no, shipwife, I was not brave"--cutting out the comments and only getting one voice through the end of her tale.

Yikes, Safe Harbor gone and the sea serpents back? I mean, we kind of knew sea serpents were coming back. How can the little peace group protect them all?

I imagine the prisoners will be used somehow for more death magic, like the babies and corpse lights... (hide spoiler)]

[Rob]

re chapter nine - i had been wondering something similar.

Didn't get a chance to read much today but I think I'm up to chapter 18 now/30% in.

[Nirkatze]

Up to Chapter 20--Yikes... (view spoiler)[well, damn. It's the poison.. they are gathering the Safe Harbor people to use to make more of the poison... (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Up to Chapter 29--(view spoiler)[Well, the showdown between Cwell & Joron happened, it was painful, and now it has passed. Whew! I don't think I'd trust Cwell at my back either...

The Courser's story is interesting--I always find worldbuilding that includes LGBT aspects as part of the culture interesting.

Glad Meas is back on board, and it's validating to see how far Joron has come from the beginning of book 1. But things just keep looking more and more dire... (hide spoiler)]

[Rob]

I just got up to 23 (view spoiler)[No sooner than they rescue him there is a mutiny and so many dead, Azir, etc. agh. Assuming they get out of this, I mean a mutiny had to happen at some point in this series, but wow. I have some audiobook timing coming to me this afternoon to find out. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Rob wrote: "I just got up to 23 [spoilers removed]"

It just felt so stupid--(view spoiler)[so selfish! The mutiny wasn't because they disagreed ideologically with what Meas was doing, but just because Cwell wanted power... and I suppose if you are crewing a boat of condemned criminals, you can expect there to be a bunch of idiotic asses. (hide spoiler)]

[Rob]

Nirkatze wrote: "Rob wrote: "I just got up to 23 [spoilers removed]"

It just felt so stupid--[spoilers removed]"

Precisely.

[Rob]

ch 23 (view spoiler)[Feels like something that we all knew was coming, that just needed to be dealt with to get out of the rest of the way of the plot of the series. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Yeah, point there. Still want to smack people over the head...

[Rob]

Not as much as that Guillame voice on the audiobook makes me want to slap the narrator. I feel like he's bordering on Jar Jar.

[Nirkatze]

LOL I actually like it! I think it's cute... but then, I liked Jar Jar too. Sacrilege, I know.

[Rob]

Nirkatze wrote: "LOL I actually like it! I think it's cute... but then, I liked Jar Jar too. Sacrilege, I know."

My kids like Jar Jar to my bafflement. Ahmed Best was good though in the latest season of the Mandalorian.

Anyway.....Just got past 26 - my reading has sloowed.(view spoiler)[I guess the mutiny did have a point in making the crew his. No more looking over his shoulder, focusing the storyline and his confidence, so it was character building for everyone. (hide spoiler)]

[Rob]

Ok, wandering around my office, setting for a meeting and saying "D'keeper!" aloud for no apparent reason. My underlings are unresponsive. Sigh.

[Rob]

And I picture Mease as the mob boss mom from The Goonies (and he mom from Throw Momma from the Train)

[Rob]

Finished.(view spoiler)[LIkedit quite a bit, but perhaps not as as the first. Obviously the big thing of the book is this Guillame prophecy of the Caller and the Windseer and talk of destruction. Whenever I hear "death" as an omen, my mind goes to Tarot cards and death meaning change, so I'm going with that which isn't to say there won't be plenty of death along the way as this book certainly didn't shy away from. In some ways, kinda made up for the lack of named character death from the first book. Solid cliffhanger to make me come back with he prophecy and Meas' fate and what Joron ends up doing now that is technically a shipwife. (hide spoiler)]

[Nirkatze]

Rob wrote: "Ok, wandering around my office, setting for a meeting and saying "D'keeper!" aloud for no apparent reason. My underlings are unresponsive. Sigh."

LOL That is AWESOME! I mean, you were awesome. Your underlings are unappreciative of fine culture.

And I need to watch the Goonies...

[Nirkatze]

Rob wrote: "Finished.[spoilers removed]"

I've been finding I like the second book a lot better when I do audio--and I'm not sure if that's the quality of the book or me getting more used to the narration and having a better grasp of the story. (view spoiler)[I like your interpretation of "death"--it gives me some hope! I'm very curious to see how all these prophecies come together in the last book.

I really liked Joron's growth in this book--or maybe throughout the series... and like many mentor-mentee stories, at some point the mentor has to be taken out of the picture. Still makes for a great cliffhanger though. (hide spoiler)]

I also just got my copy of Barker's newest book Gods of the Wyrdwood in the mail yesterday! That made me happy, though it'll be a while before I pick it up for reading....

[Rob]

Re (view spoiler)[Agreed, Joron's character growth has been quite compelling and it looks like book 3 picks up a year from he events at the end of the 2nd, so it'll be interesting to see how he's grown for even the start of that book. (hide spoiler)]