Ship of Magic

3.75 out of 5 stars – see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Ship of Magic sheds the traditional high fantasy habitat and fixed perspective employed by the Farseer trilogy to tell a seafaring tale with multiple points-of-view. Moving south from the Six Duchies, we're introduced to the Vestrit family, whose bloodline has been in possession of a Liveship, a sentient vessel who has recently awakened. Such an awakening is a great blessing for a trading family, but the Vestrit's can't anticipate the pirates, sea serpents, and family divisions that come alive, as well.

With the added flexibility of multiple POVs, Robin Hobb deposits her new characters across the map and deftly moves them about to do her bidding. There is no significant forward momentum towards the larger story arc, but each character's individual story was compelling enough to hold my interest. Most plot lines feel rich with potential, but I had hoped for a more complete story to take shape.

Something Hobb does especially well in this new territory is establishing legitimate threats to the characters across several levels. On a personal level (Jerk son-in-law Kyle Haven, Malta the brat), a regional level (the overindulgent Satrap, enterprising pirates), a physical level (pirates and conniving sea serpents), and an unknown level (the mystical Rain Wild river folk) – All combine to form a daunting maze for our heroes to navigate. This was a good start to the trilogy and I suspect the next two installments will build on the foundation that Ship of Magic establishes.

I jumped into this book after finishing the Farseer trilogy. Like that series, Hobb takes her time to set things up. I felt this book started a bit slower than [b:Assassin's Apprentice 45107 Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) Robin Hobb http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320339497s/45107.jpg 171715], but like that book, once it really got going, it was hard to put down.This book uses 3rd person, with multiple perspectives compared to the single first person perspective of Farseer. With all that was going on, I think the change of style was warranted.Hobb introduced an interesting ensemble of characters. The likable characters took me a while to warm up to. However, the unlikable characters of Kyle and his ignorant and arrogant daughter Marta had me screaming at my book. I think that's a great sign of how well she was written. Kennit provides an interesting villain so far.So far there is little connection to the first trilogy, though I have my suspicions about some things that will tie in to the Fool as this trilogy unfolds.Unlike [b:Assassin's Apprentice 45107 Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) Robin Hobb http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320339497s/45107.jpg 171715], this book's ending left me unfulfilled. I think it was certainly written with the intention of a trilogy. It reached a good stopping point, but nothing was resolved. I feel like should could have easily tacked on “To Be Continued...“Overall I'd say if you like Farseer trilogy, this will be worth your time, before moving on to Tawny man.I'm eagerly looking forward to the next two books, but taking a short break for some other reading.

If you've read Fareseer, be aware this is a very different book and series. Not dissing the Farseer trilogy at all - I love it - but the complaints some people have about it - that it's slow, that there's not so much action, that the first person perspective is difficult - are all answered in The Liveship Traders.

This is simply an amazing book. I've just finished my 2nd read, and although I'd intended to do some useful things today, and finish it tomorrow, I was unable to stop. It's that engaging. Multi-POV and with plenty of edge of your seat action, Hobb still firmly reenforces her right to the crown as Queen of fantasy characterisation.

I strongly recommend everyone read The Realm of the Elderlings entire, and in order. However, if you've tried Farseer and weren't that into it, give this book a try. I find it hard to imagine you won't love it and eagerly dive into the rest of this trilogy.

I knew from the Farseer books that Robin Hobb had incredible characters, but in Ship of Magic she also gives you an exciting and enthralling plot.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. Every character and every POV is great. She delivers some great action and tense moments, and she even made me love a naval story when I don't think I ever have liked one before. Can't wait to read the rest!

This is the 2nd Robin Hobb book series I have started and honestly I have to say I like it better than the Farseer trilogy. As I understand this book takes place in the same world as Farseer

I love the idea of these live ship traders and their live ships being sentient beings with a magical connection to their families. The idea of a ship having feelings, intellect, ability to go mad, have mental illness but also be uniquily tied to or bonded to their families is just a really awesome idea

One thing I will say is that the one character Kyle, I can't stand that guy and honestly if one can hate a fictional character I do hate this guy lol, but for me that is a sign of good writing if a author can make you hate or love a character as Robin Hobb has done here.

Althea's plight is one I just wanted to keep getting back to as well as Wintrow and how they deal with things and overcome their trials and struggles, however the side plot with Malta is not something I cared a whole lot for, but also can't help but wonder if this side plot will come to have more importance in future books, which I get the feeling it might

The magic system in this story is so much fun, but my biggest struggle is that I just don't really like any of the characters. I haven't found anyone whom I've connected with in this story.

Content warning for my friends: This is a book for adults and does have some sex scenes and a lot of violence.

Another 5 glorious stars for Robin Hobb! I absolutely loved this book!
I find the concept of wizard wood to be brilliant. The Liveships are so interesting. I love Althea and Wintrow. I detest Kyle and Malta. I could just picture Bingtown. And I can't wait to hear more about the Rain Wilders.
This is quite the chunker, but it is so good that I flew through it. I'm so glad I finally read this.

Holy Mother of Sa, this is a masterpiece of a book if I've ever seen one.

Reading Ship of Magic is like finding the best cookie out of a cookie jar, savoring the best type of pizza, and having the refreshest of refreshments you'll ever drink, all in one. Hell, this book will just make you insanely hungry for more. Maybe I'm just hungry. Whatever the case, i believe you'll only experience a book like this only a few times in your life. An instant classic, a death book (a name I just came up for books to read before you die; side note: consider a name change).

I love myself a great epic aquatic fantasy, and this book is, by far, the finest of the lot of them. And that involves some of my favorite stories. The first book of the Liveship Traders is a fantastical story of talking ships, pirates, serpents and family turmoil. A reason I think books that involve pirate ships and aquatic battles are one of a kind is the tension built between characters who are confined in a small space. A rarity when the setting actually affects character arcs. A recipe for madness. Each and every character is specifically unique in this story, and you can't deny a talking figurehead on legendary ship is so amazing to have as a POV.

Ship of Magic is one of the greatest books I've read. So much so that it's one of my top 3 favorite books; currently up there with Words of Radiance and The Hod King. I'm psyched up to continue with this series asap!

Guys, Robin Hobb is a master at her craft and has been inducted into my imaginary Fantasy Writer HOF. This book was stunning.

Set in the same world as The Farseer Trilogy, but far away from the Duchies, we follow a family of traders who own a Liveship. A Liveship is basically an anthropomorphic ship that is created using a very rare wood called wizardwood, and then quickened by having 3 people from successive generations die on it's deck. Liveships are incredibly pricey. When the Vestrit family's Liveship is quickened, the youngest daughter Althea expects to inherit. However, her mother convinces her father to pass it on to Althea's brother-in-law. What follows is an expansive adventure as different branches of this family go their separate ways.

Guys, Hobb doesn't pull any punches. I always say a book needs stakes in order for me to enjoy it. And boy oh boy did this one have stakes. I felt so personally connected to every one of these characters. I was really nervous going into this book because it doesn't follow the same characters as The Farseer Trilogy, but I honestly think this book is better than the first 2 books in the Farseer Trilogy, and probably about tied with the last book. This book is definitely longer than the books in that series, and I totally understand why. By the end, I felt like these characters were my family and I was rooting for them every step of the way. They all had such well developed character arcs, and I am dying to continue.

I loved seeing the difference in this society than the society in the Duchies, as well as their opinions on that area. I also really loved exploring more of the magic in this world. Whenever something connected back to the farseer trilogy, this was me.

The tie ins were few and far between, but still made me very excited. I'm sure I missed a few too.

All in all, Robin Hobb is amazing and I will read all of her books.

CW: ableism, abusive relationship, alcohol, amputation, assault, blood, bones, bullying, child abuse, death, drugs, gore, misogyny, murderer, needles, physical abuse, profanity, sexism, slavery, terminal illness, violence

The storytelling is absolutely brilliant! At first, I was worried because I missed Fitz. But I shouldn't have doubt the author's spectacular character work.

The characters in this book are seriously amazing. They were so well-developed and interesting. I found myself getting emotionally invested in their journeys, through all the ups and downs.

The idea of living ships and them having their own feelings was awesome. Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by how seamlessly the author integrated these new concepts into the story.

Robin Hobb is quite the master of the slow burn. This entire book is basically just there to set up the characters and their history and their motivations, and only at the end it all comes crashing down. Sort of. A bunch of things happen right before the end and then it's over.
I'm not sure I'd be jumping with excitement to get to the sequel if it hadn't been for the Realm of the Elderlings connection, but I hear it gets really great, and the characters are all pretty well developed (even if I don't like a great deal of them), and I am actually pretty curious on where it's all going next.

Robin Hobb I have beef with you. The last 70-ish pages of this book is where everything really starts clicking. Up until that point I didn't really connect with any character nor did I really enjoy where the story was going. But those last 70 pages? Fantastic stuff. This book DRAGGED and I was not looking forward to continuing the trilogy. Just gimme Fitz back! But the ending made me excited for the rest of the trilogy, though I still really do wanna check in with my baby Fitz. I still think this book could have been about 300-500 pages shorter but I'm hoping the rest of the trilogy will justify this one's excessive length. 

I’ve never read a book where so little goes right for its characters. Within the first part, they’d all taken an emotional and physical beating. Most had both. In a lot of books, that would be followed by some sort of recovery. Not here. Robin Hobb sees those characters laying on the deck and just keeps hitting them with haymakers. There were a couple instances where I thought things were looking up for a character, but I should have known better because every single time they got knocked right back to where they were, or worse. While that is my main takeaway, it’s not what brings this rating down. I felt that Hobb got caught up trying to tell too many stories at once, and they all suffered for it. This is completely different from the farseer trilogy which I complained needed more characters, but it modulated too far the other way. I really wish I could have spent more time with Althea and kennit as those two characters had exclusively enjoyable chapters, but there wasn’t enough time devoted to them. All that being said, I feel the three star rating I gave is slightly harsh and doesn’t entirely reflect my reading experience. There was enough there that I’m certainly going to continue at some point, despite the low rating.