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Tomorrow's Bones
Captain Cire and her dedicated crew sail the Ninth World’s seas aboard a living (and opinionated) ship called Nye. But when Cire uncovers an artifact that makes her question her friendships, her past, and even herself, it sets her on a dangerous voyage to a place she promised herself she’d never go: home.
In Kaparin, the man known only as Ebon has dedicated his life to protecting the orphaned children of his beloved city. When a friend from his past arrives on the city’s shores, bringing news of impending destruction, he finds himself caught between everything he loves and everything he fears.
Together, the two must brave the deepest reaches of the sea, fight off the many dangers of the Ninth World oceans, and save each other from the clutches of an ancient enemy.
Living ships, kick-ass pirates, gay romance, tiny time travel, weird machines, and four-winged ka-drakes of death and candy kisses. And a fast-paced, delightful story of the Ninth World’s seas.
Tomorrow’s Bones is the third official novel set in the Numenera world, and is presented in this deluxe, limited hardcover edition.
In Kaparin, the man known only as Ebon has dedicated his life to protecting the orphaned children of his beloved city. When a friend from his past arrives on the city’s shores, bringing news of impending destruction, he finds himself caught between everything he loves and everything he fears.
Together, the two must brave the deepest reaches of the sea, fight off the many dangers of the Ninth World oceans, and save each other from the clutches of an ancient enemy.
Living ships, kick-ass pirates, gay romance, tiny time travel, weird machines, and four-winged ka-drakes of death and candy kisses. And a fast-paced, delightful story of the Ninth World’s seas.
Tomorrow’s Bones is the third official novel set in the Numenera world, and is presented in this deluxe, limited hardcover edition.
- GenresFantasy
240 pages, Hardcover
Published December 1, 2019
3 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Shanna Germain
147 books130 followersShanna Germain claims the titles of writer, editor, leximaven, vorpal blonde and Schrodinger's brat.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 13, 2021
A quick and easy to read book. Very entertaining and had me hooked for more.
October 21, 2020
Tomorrow's Bones is a wonderfully easy read and it feels like a love letter to classic adventure stories like those written by Burroughs. Tales of wonder and adventure set in a world pulled from our imaginations, populated by wonders that both excite and intimidate the senses. If what you're looking for is just that, than I can't recommend this enough, but if you're looking for more, I still recommend it, as I will expand on below.
The story follows 1.75 characters, its largely the story of Cire but there is enough of the character Ebon that he has a noted influence on the story (the .75 isn't an indication that he is a subpar character, just that this is most definitely Cire's story more than Ebon's).
Cire is the captain of a living whale-like ship called Nye and a crew of characters leapt straight out of the gimmick diverse cast of a saturday morning cartoon, Thekla the Aeon Priest (tech historian/geek) who uses a mechanical set of legs or hovor chair, Dughan the doctor and caretaker of animals who will knock you out if he has to, Jaal the mapmate who is constantly bathed in signals from the Datasphere (super-future internet), and many others, each with their own unique traits.
Ebon is the leader of the Street Rats, orphan children who live in a port town and have to steal to survive, and while he has his own cast of underlings with quirks like Pluck, mostly he interacts with an unmistakably antagonistic individual named Pivica in a way that rings out of getting the short end of a Faustian bargain.
The story is basic enough in structure that it lets the characters caught in the struggle shine through more, there isn't a complex political web, there isn't deep lore nor layers of intrigue. Plain and simple, fetch a mcguffin, find out that something bad is going on, fetch the other mcguffins that will stop the bad thing from being bad, there are good guys, bad guys, and a whole lot of strange locations along the way. The scenes early on are some of my favorite, the crew of the Nye just bantering and chatting are warm and you can feel the camaraderie of everyone, or Ebon trying not to dote on all the kids under his care and you can feel from the writing that he knows his dealings with Pivica are bad ideas but the other choices are worse so he takes the choices that slowly chip away at him so the younger rats can have a chance at a better life.
For parents out there, there are some intimate scenes, nothing sexual but there are scenes where the love and love-like feelings and actions are prominent, so as long as your ok with a geeky girl having the obvious hots for a fisherman or a ship captain platonically whole-heartedly loving two men who I think are husbands or at least dating than nothing to worry about. There is also some swearing but its super-future swear words like "Skist" so we recognize that its supposed to be but even the most uptight of teachers probably wouldn't catch it if your child said it. I plan on reading it to my daughter once I'm done rereading it so for what my opinion is worth I think kids could enjoy it if you read it to them.
The story follows 1.75 characters, its largely the story of Cire but there is enough of the character Ebon that he has a noted influence on the story (the .75 isn't an indication that he is a subpar character, just that this is most definitely Cire's story more than Ebon's).
Cire is the captain of a living whale-like ship called Nye and a crew of characters leapt straight out of the gimmick diverse cast of a saturday morning cartoon, Thekla the Aeon Priest (tech historian/geek) who uses a mechanical set of legs or hovor chair, Dughan the doctor and caretaker of animals who will knock you out if he has to, Jaal the mapmate who is constantly bathed in signals from the Datasphere (super-future internet), and many others, each with their own unique traits.
Ebon is the leader of the Street Rats, orphan children who live in a port town and have to steal to survive, and while he has his own cast of underlings with quirks like Pluck, mostly he interacts with an unmistakably antagonistic individual named Pivica in a way that rings out of getting the short end of a Faustian bargain.
The story is basic enough in structure that it lets the characters caught in the struggle shine through more, there isn't a complex political web, there isn't deep lore nor layers of intrigue. Plain and simple, fetch a mcguffin, find out that something bad is going on, fetch the other mcguffins that will stop the bad thing from being bad, there are good guys, bad guys, and a whole lot of strange locations along the way. The scenes early on are some of my favorite, the crew of the Nye just bantering and chatting are warm and you can feel the camaraderie of everyone, or Ebon trying not to dote on all the kids under his care and you can feel from the writing that he knows his dealings with Pivica are bad ideas but the other choices are worse so he takes the choices that slowly chip away at him so the younger rats can have a chance at a better life.
For parents out there, there are some intimate scenes, nothing sexual but there are scenes where the love and love-like feelings and actions are prominent, so as long as your ok with a geeky girl having the obvious hots for a fisherman or a ship captain platonically whole-heartedly loving two men who I think are husbands or at least dating than nothing to worry about. There is also some swearing but its super-future swear words like "Skist" so we recognize that its supposed to be but even the most uptight of teachers probably wouldn't catch it if your child said it. I plan on reading it to my daughter once I'm done rereading it so for what my opinion is worth I think kids could enjoy it if you read it to them.
May 20, 2023
I was driven by the premise (talking ship? Hey yo!) and the setting (I love Numenera and the Ninth world), so I started reading this as homework/prep for my TTRPG endeavors.
Shanna Germain knows her craft and the story is a competent one, with some interesting ideas and the Numenera outlandishess. But they never go more than skin-deep. The living ship offers little to the plot, which made me feel cheated.
There is a lot of telling vs showing, and the telling that the reader is already aware of. Specially on the emotions department: ithe story explores quite emotional themes of abuse and belonging, but if often read like psychology textbook. On the other hand, there is some lacking of telling of things the reader needs to know - cyphers, numenera, the setting's numenclature that readers ought to know to better understand the setting.
It's competent, reads fast, but doesn't do much more than that. Sadly.
6/10
Shanna Germain knows her craft and the story is a competent one, with some interesting ideas and the Numenera outlandishess. But they never go more than skin-deep. The living ship offers little to the plot, which made me feel cheated.
There is a lot of telling vs showing, and the telling that the reader is already aware of. Specially on the emotions department: ithe story explores quite emotional themes of abuse and belonging, but if often read like psychology textbook. On the other hand, there is some lacking of telling of things the reader needs to know - cyphers, numenera, the setting's numenclature that readers ought to know to better understand the setting.
It's competent, reads fast, but doesn't do much more than that. Sadly.
6/10
March 16, 2020
The third Numenera tie-in novel is stand-alone like the other two, and would be a fantastic introduction to the world and setting. I thought it perfectly captures the weird and technological elements of this world.
It's diverse, with a gay couple, people of color, and ticks the boxes if you like high adventures at sea. As a fan of the Into the Deep supplement for Numenera, I enjoyed exploring above and beneath the sea. I liked the two protagonists, Cire, the captain of a living ship, and Ebon, her former friend who she ran around the streets of Kaparin in the Sea Kingdom of Ghan with as a street rat.
It was a lighter read than The Poison Eater, and I highly recommend it as a great tie-in and introduction to the Ninth World. Thumbs up!
It's diverse, with a gay couple, people of color, and ticks the boxes if you like high adventures at sea. As a fan of the Into the Deep supplement for Numenera, I enjoyed exploring above and beneath the sea. I liked the two protagonists, Cire, the captain of a living ship, and Ebon, her former friend who she ran around the streets of Kaparin in the Sea Kingdom of Ghan with as a street rat.
It was a lighter read than The Poison Eater, and I highly recommend it as a great tie-in and introduction to the Ninth World. Thumbs up!
January 2, 2025
I really tried to give this story a chance. I found it difficult to keep my attention and immersion when Cire is being needlessly secretive about things and keeping pertinent information from her crew. The part about Ebon was decent and seemed like the better story with actual stakes involved as his charges are being abducted.
What finally killed this story for me is page 121 at the line "Do you tell your beautiful, sexy crew everything, Captain?"
Seriously, who speaks like that? It was the final lingering thread of my interest cut.
What finally killed this story for me is page 121 at the line "Do you tell your beautiful, sexy crew everything, Captain?"
Seriously, who speaks like that? It was the final lingering thread of my interest cut.
February 7, 2022
This was an interesting fantasy novel that made me a little sad that the most outlandish features of the book were not the living ship, mutant pirates, or time travel, but the amount of affection, sincerity, uncertainty, and in general emotional openness. Sadly I was caught by surprise also by the fact that one of the central couples are homosexual. Which just shows how underrepresented these topics are.
August 7, 2023
Starts a little slow but the payoff is so worth it. Perfect exploration of the Numenera setting!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews