Nanyana R. (gypsybookworm) reviewed Ship of Magic (Liveship Traders, Bk 1) on + 27 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
This is one of my ALL time favorite Trilogies! It's a fun book with twists and turns, and tons of realistic characters....Hobb does a great job with them...some you love, and others you wanna slap....^_^
I loved it. It has adventure, coming of age legacies, a tad romance, mystery, magic and pirates...loved it and highly recommend.
I loved it. It has adventure, coming of age legacies, a tad romance, mystery, magic and pirates...loved it and highly recommend.
Helpful Score: 2
This was the fist book I read by Hobb. Stylistically, she reminded me of Melanie Rawn, but a bit more modern and original. A great mix of nautical/piratical tales with epic fantasy.
Michael G. (doctorslime) -
Helpful Score: 2
Book 1 of a three book series. Do not start this book unless you plan the read the entire 3 book series, Interesting female lead character, who grows and develops thru the arc of the three books. Sexy at times without blatant porn descriptions of romantic events. If you like fantasy, and period stories set in a trading coastal sailing setting then you'll enjoy this empire building/destroying piratical romp. Mysteries abound and you might have to wait to the next book to figure out exactly what is going on, so if you like long trilogies these books might be up your ally.
Elizabeth B. (Cattriona) -
Helpful Score: 1
I really enjoyed this whole trilogy (Ship of Magic is the first one). I liked the strong female lead character and the very imaginative world that the author created -- "live" ships, etc -- without making it feel foreign.
Helpful Score: 1
Good story, a little slow on the prose, but very imaginative.
Helpful Score: 1
Wonderful intricate writing that displays a wonderful intricate plot!
Helpful Score: 1
Ship of Magic
By
Robin Hobb
Althea Vestrit, wrongly denied her inheritance of the beautiful Liveship Vivacia, leaves Bingtown in order to prove herself as the true sailor she is and claim back her beloved ship from her brother-in-laws greedy grasp.
For Wintrow, Altheas nephew, Vivacia is nothing more than a slave ship wrenching him away from his religious studies so his father can have his son aboard his ship to inherit and keep Althea from coming into her inheritance.
But no one counted on Captain Kennit, a ruthless pirate captain who will stop at nothing to take control of the Pirate Isles and name himself as King of all Pirates. To do so he must first obtain a liveship, and when his and Vivacias paths cross, bloodshed is not far from the horizon.
I was riveted to Ship of Magic from the first few pages onward. Robin Hobb has created an old pirates tale that is so vivid and realistic that I was loath to wrench my eyes away from its pages for more than a few minutes at a time. Curse sleep, give me more of The Liveship Traders!
Hobbs characters truly came to life for me. Althea is a character that truly did grow throughout the book, someone who started off as a spoiled Capitans daughter turned slowly but surely into the courageous young woman she so had the potential to be. Wintrow, the haughty boy finds out that there are more things to life than just the religion he devoted his life to, and finds out that one can see religion in many different ways and lights and truly he comes into being as a man, and finds the person he wishes that he could be.
On the home front, Keffira, Altheas older sister is finding out how hard her mother actually works and how hard she is going to have to work to keep the family finances together while her husband is out to sea, and her daughter Malta in her rush to become a woman is soon over her head with a suitor that she should treat with caution.
On ever single page, there is drama, adventure, excitement, and suspense. I cannot wait to read the rest of Hobbs Liveship Trader series, and find out what is going to happen to all of my new friends, the Vestrit family and their lovely ship Vivacia.
Five Stars!!!!
By
Robin Hobb
Althea Vestrit, wrongly denied her inheritance of the beautiful Liveship Vivacia, leaves Bingtown in order to prove herself as the true sailor she is and claim back her beloved ship from her brother-in-laws greedy grasp.
For Wintrow, Altheas nephew, Vivacia is nothing more than a slave ship wrenching him away from his religious studies so his father can have his son aboard his ship to inherit and keep Althea from coming into her inheritance.
But no one counted on Captain Kennit, a ruthless pirate captain who will stop at nothing to take control of the Pirate Isles and name himself as King of all Pirates. To do so he must first obtain a liveship, and when his and Vivacias paths cross, bloodshed is not far from the horizon.
I was riveted to Ship of Magic from the first few pages onward. Robin Hobb has created an old pirates tale that is so vivid and realistic that I was loath to wrench my eyes away from its pages for more than a few minutes at a time. Curse sleep, give me more of The Liveship Traders!
Hobbs characters truly came to life for me. Althea is a character that truly did grow throughout the book, someone who started off as a spoiled Capitans daughter turned slowly but surely into the courageous young woman she so had the potential to be. Wintrow, the haughty boy finds out that there are more things to life than just the religion he devoted his life to, and finds out that one can see religion in many different ways and lights and truly he comes into being as a man, and finds the person he wishes that he could be.
On the home front, Keffira, Altheas older sister is finding out how hard her mother actually works and how hard she is going to have to work to keep the family finances together while her husband is out to sea, and her daughter Malta in her rush to become a woman is soon over her head with a suitor that she should treat with caution.
On ever single page, there is drama, adventure, excitement, and suspense. I cannot wait to read the rest of Hobbs Liveship Trader series, and find out what is going to happen to all of my new friends, the Vestrit family and their lovely ship Vivacia.
Five Stars!!!!
First book in The Liveship Traders fantasy trilogy. Set in Bingtown, a thriving port town built on trading and featuring âliveshipsâ that are made of wizardwood and come to life once three generations of the family who commissioned it have died on its deck. The story of Vivacia, the liveship of the Vestrit family, and several of the family members and others too of course. Also has plenty of good pirate action. Very enjoyable with a variety of interesting characters, surprising plot twists and read quickly considering the door-stop size of the thing.
If you love Robin Hobb you will love this book. She is a master fantasy writer (in my opinion!)
took a bit to get into it,but once you do, it was a great read
I think I loved this series more than Hobb's more famous Fitz series (of which there are, of this writing, two). It's still a series I think of, and I probably read it a few years back now.
This is the first book of the "middle" trilogy, and introduces a whole new set of characters. Reminiscent of Patrick O'Brian's naval adventures, if they had included magic, the well-drawn characters and intriguing plots draw you in to a world as only Hobb can do.
I'll admit, I somewhat prefer the adventures of Fitz and the Fool (in the Assassin books and the Fool books) but there are few writers that make me as happy as Robin Hobb. And yes, you will want to read the whole series.
I'll admit, I somewhat prefer the adventures of Fitz and the Fool (in the Assassin books and the Fool books) but there are few writers that make me as happy as Robin Hobb. And yes, you will want to read the whole series.
This book is incredible and since it is only the first part of a trilogy I am looking forward to much more ! :)
This IS a good Book. It plays on your emotions. I never before got so mad at a Book Character as I did at the Father who could see nothing but his view of the way things were.
Best fantasy series I have read yet. The Farseer series is awesome too, and I recommend reading that series first. But the three books that belong to the Liveship Trader series are extremely fun. I really don't think any of them were slow. Lots of adventure and so much on human nature. Hobb has caught humanness in its rawness. These books are a step above. The one thing I really enjoyed about reading this series is it never felt like I had to push through any spots of the book. It flowed really well. The character building is phenomenal. The worlds are great. I am having a hard time moving on after I finished this series of books. Ten!
This is a review for the entire Liveship Traders Trilogy (Ship of Magic, Mad Ship, Ship of Destiny) because I find it almost impossible to rate them as individual books.
This series falls in the gap between The Farseer Trilogy and The Tawny Man Trilogy. One or two characters overlap between the series (namely Amber, although her real identity is never truly revealed, only alluded to quite strongly...) and the rest are totally original but no less enjoyable.
This was also a very well written and complex series. I did not think I would find the subject matter of parates and nautical tales as interesting as her other books, but I was more than pleasantly surprised.
Hobb does a masterful job of creating yet another living, thriving, complicated world that is full of characters so well drawn that it is hard to remember that they don't actually exist.
The issues of politics, self-government, slavery, piracy, inheritance, gender roles, higher callings, dragons, serpents, blood oaths, luck, destiny, hidden secrets, forgiveness and self-discovery provide a glimpse of what these books are about. Oh yes, and there are lots of ships as well.
All three have the typical pacing of a Robin Hobb book: not particularly fast-moving, but undeniably compelling and emotionally draining. By the end of the series, you will feel that you have actually lived it. You will be exhausted. Then you will want to read it again.
This series falls in the gap between The Farseer Trilogy and The Tawny Man Trilogy. One or two characters overlap between the series (namely Amber, although her real identity is never truly revealed, only alluded to quite strongly...) and the rest are totally original but no less enjoyable.
This was also a very well written and complex series. I did not think I would find the subject matter of parates and nautical tales as interesting as her other books, but I was more than pleasantly surprised.
Hobb does a masterful job of creating yet another living, thriving, complicated world that is full of characters so well drawn that it is hard to remember that they don't actually exist.
The issues of politics, self-government, slavery, piracy, inheritance, gender roles, higher callings, dragons, serpents, blood oaths, luck, destiny, hidden secrets, forgiveness and self-discovery provide a glimpse of what these books are about. Oh yes, and there are lots of ships as well.
All three have the typical pacing of a Robin Hobb book: not particularly fast-moving, but undeniably compelling and emotionally draining. By the end of the series, you will feel that you have actually lived it. You will be exhausted. Then you will want to read it again.
Expecting to inherit her family's liveship, the Vivacia, Althea Vestrit now must defend this animate, intelligent treasure from both her scheming brother-in-law, who plans to use it as a slave ship, and a nation of ruthless pirates, led by Captain Kennit.
ANother excellent trilogy from Robin Hobb. I love this writer!
Bingtown is a hub of exotic trade and home to a merchant nobility famed for its liveships--rare vessels carved from the wizardwood, which ripens magically into sentient awareness. The fortunes of one of Bingtown's oldest families rest on the newly awakened liveship Vivacia. For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy unjustly denied her--a legacy she will risk anything to reclaim. For Althea's young nephew Wintrow, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard ship, the Vivacia is a life sentence. But the fate of the Vestrit family--and the ship--may ultimately lie in the hands on an outsider. The ruthless pirate Kennit seeks a way to seize power over all the denizens of the Pirate Isles...and the first step of his plan requires him to capture a liveship of his own and bend it to his will...
This is the second trilogy, very complete, well written.
