Rating: /10

Synopsis

This epic fantasy follows the story of the Rakada, a fearsome band known as the Bone Raiders, due to their charming habit of wearing the bones of those they kill on their armour. But being a raider is tough these days, especially when the High Chieftain is trying to wipe out you and your kind. When Sayana, a young Rakada scout, finds herself face-to-face with a fire-breathing lizard of legend during a raid-gone-wrong, she comes up with an audacious plan to save the Rakada and preserve their way of life. A plan that involves convincing the lizard to let her ride it.

Quick Review

The Bone Raiders is an epic fantasy with tons of heart, equal parts serious and fun. I had a great time in the Tapestry, and can’t wait to see what Jackson Ford does with the sequel.

Full Review

Author Jackson Ford has been fairly open about how he was not happy with the original draft of this book, and rewrote it basically from scratch. I don’t know what sorcery he did, but it sure as hell worked. The Bone Raiders is easily slotting in as one of my favorite reads of 2025, I’m calling it right now. 

The Bone Raiders follows a small group of raiders as they travel around The Tapestry, a Mongolian-inspired fantasy setting. While their grievances mostly lie with the Khan in the city, their more present threat is the woman hunting them down over a personal grievance—who has the Khan’s resources at her beck and call.

The raiders themselves are all skilled fighters, savvy survivalists, but they’ve seen better days. It’s clear from the beginning that the Rakada are notorious and feared, but their numbers have dwindled over time, and now only a few women remain. Together, they make up a somewhat dysfunctional but delightful found family.

Along the way, we get a little raiding, a little romance, and a lot of adventure. The Rakada are brilliantly written, from Sayana’s dreams of freedom to Chimeg’s difficult role as the chief. Their banter had me laughing, and their arguments felt deadly serious. Their words have consequences, both good and bad. Balancing all of that isn’t easy, but Ford absolutely nailed it.

If you took one look at the cover, you’ll know that there’s some kind of dragon involved with all of this. The lizard shows up pretty early, and eventually Sayana hatches a scheme around the beastie. What follows is a genuinely harrowing tale of figuring out how to tame the lizard, something that’s never been done before, all while the Khan’s soldiers close in. I found it a really fun take on the dragon rider story, where the riders are breaking new ground and the dragons are smart—but still very animalistic.

I strongly recommend The Bone Raiders. I absolutely loved my time in The Tapestry, and I am thrilled with the ending of the book. Let’s just say that it felt complete while also leaving some interesting threads to continue with in book two. I cannot wait for book two (I can wait actually, my TBR is very intimidating, but when the sequel comes out I will be getting it).I’ll also add that I listened to the audio version of this, narrated by Anna Zhang, who did an incredible job. As much as I still want a copy of The Bone Raiders for my shelf, I absolutely loved Anna’s performance—and with this setting it helped to hear her pronunciations of the Mongolian-inspired names.