Reviews

i thought that the resolution to kennit's character was perfectly upsetting - robin hobb spending the entire trilogy by teasing us with a redemtion arc, making us hope for one! before having kennit do the unthinkable was heartwrenching, but not surprising. i've seen people complaining about how his "sudden" transformation into "pure evil" was out of character, but honestly, the pure evil has been there since the very beginning. his treatment of etta is all the evidence you need. it's a cycle - a pirate captain, a boy, a liveship for the taking - he was always going to become the abuser.

another thing i liked was the manner of kennit's death. i found myself imagining his death various times during the trilogy, and i always imagined him dying by the hand of someone whom he wronged. etta, wintrow, vivacia - althea. but him getting killed by a nameless background character so abruptly and unceremoniously was a genuine stroke of genious. even the tad bit of melancholy at the end with the paragon didn't feel like an attempt to redeem him - robin hobb is a better writer than that. the whole ordeal was unlike anything i've ever seen before.

on another note, i loved malta in this book. little queen! can't wait to see her and reyn again later on

the issues i had with this book can be narrowed down to a) the bingtown politics chapters were needlessly long and convoluted compared to how irrelevant that entire conflict ends up being. serilla and ronica's antics made my head hurt and b) some characters *cough* althea?? *cough* had underwhelming conclusions. not that i ever liked althea That much, but she felt so much...Worse in this book. i feel like more could've been done here (also i dislike how they never brought up the things grag told her about brashen...to brashen?) (like are they true? does she care? their relationship, while sweet at times, was frustrating to me at the end)

but yaay next trilogy soon!!! i want to see my little boys (fitz & foolito :)))

ameliabedelia96's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

ruhi_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

witchofoakandsky's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

allcapspyrex's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Easily the strongest book in the liveship traders trilogy for me, it wrapped up the story beautifully and left me excited to see where Hobb will take the series from here.

8bitlapras's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

alecsreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

More...