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stephanieridiculous's review
2.0
It pains me to rate this so low, but I just strongly dislike this trilogy.
The world? So interesting and fascinating. The Liveships? Exactly what I want them to be. The Dragons? Such a great take on them. The Characters??? W I L D L Y hit or miss.
We're still strugglin' and strainin' over the vastness of the cast, many of which you aren't supposed to like & Hobb does a great job of making that the reality. Our female cast continues to be used and abused, brutally and on page, and the suffering of all is boiling over at this point. I so desperately want to love this trilogy, and I do appreciate what it adds to the Realm of the Elderlings in a grander scale, but this segment has unfortunately shifted where Hobb stands in my list of favorites.
I appreciate that the Realm is populated by cultures with wildly different values and systems, but I just can't fathom the need for so much sexual violence on page. It is possible, believe it or not, to establish the struggles of women - and make really powerful commentaries on those realities - without abusing them on page. And certainly without repeatedly showing us that women are most effectively subdued by raping them. It's so unimaginative & unnecessarily triggering for potential readers. The cost of using such situations absolutely does not pay off for me; it mostly feels like lazy writing to invoke an emotional reaction that I know for a fact Hobb is capable of producing without resorting to such base tropes. The ongoing establishment of unbalanced relationships, be that via power or age or a combination, is a growing concern for me with Hobb's writing, and it's a sad discovery that I missed my first time through the Realm books, but is now a glaring issue at every turn. This existed in Buck with Verity/Kettricken, but is now coming to full heights with Malta/Reyn and Kennit/Etta, and I know continues with other pairings in later books. It's creepy, and I don't like it.
I sincerely doubt I will ever recommend the Liveship Traders series to people, and when discussing Hobb's work at large I'll be encouraging people to just read the wiki and skip it when engaging with the Realm.
The good here is a small list, but worth pointing to - Amber as always, I adore. Matla coming into her own is great. More dragons? Yes, please. More Rain Wilds? Heck yea.
I am committed to finishing this series, but I just can't wait to move on to Tawny Man.
The world? So interesting and fascinating. The Liveships? Exactly what I want them to be. The Dragons? Such a great take on them. The Characters??? W I L D L Y hit or miss.
We're still strugglin' and strainin' over the vastness of the cast, many of which you aren't supposed to like & Hobb does a great job of making that the reality. Our female cast continues to be used and abused, brutally and on page, and the suffering of all is boiling over at this point. I so desperately want to love this trilogy, and I do appreciate what it adds to the Realm of the Elderlings in a grander scale, but this segment has unfortunately shifted where Hobb stands in my list of favorites.
I appreciate that the Realm is populated by cultures with wildly different values and systems, but I just can't fathom the need for so much sexual violence on page. It is possible, believe it or not, to establish the struggles of women - and make really powerful commentaries on those realities - without abusing them on page. And certainly without repeatedly showing us that women are most effectively subdued by raping them. It's so unimaginative & unnecessarily triggering for potential readers. The cost of using such situations absolutely does not pay off for me; it mostly feels like lazy writing to invoke an emotional reaction that I know for a fact Hobb is capable of producing without resorting to such base tropes. The ongoing establishment of unbalanced relationships, be that via power or age or a combination, is a growing concern for me with Hobb's writing, and it's a sad discovery that I missed my first time through the Realm books, but is now a glaring issue at every turn. This existed in Buck with Verity/Kettricken, but is now coming to full heights with Malta/Reyn and Kennit/Etta, and I know continues with other pairings in later books. It's creepy, and I don't like it.
I sincerely doubt I will ever recommend the Liveship Traders series to people, and when discussing Hobb's work at large I'll be encouraging people to just read the wiki and skip it when engaging with the Realm.
The good here is a small list, but worth pointing to - Amber as always, I adore. Matla coming into her own is great. More dragons? Yes, please. More Rain Wilds? Heck yea.
I am committed to finishing this series, but I just can't wait to move on to Tawny Man.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Trafficking, Toxic friendship, Sexism, Sexual assault, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Rape
nadia's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.5
A great second instalment! I'm so eager to see how this all wraps up!
Some of the pacing felt off and I got a little confused with some facets of it, but soo invested!!
Some of the pacing felt off and I got a little confused with some facets of it, but soo invested!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Violence, Body horror, Blood, and Medical content
Moderate: Sexual assault
bluejay21's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Confinement, and Misogyny
szuum's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Drug use and Blood
aseaoftomes's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
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
May 2021 reread
For those of you who don't know me, the Realm of the Elderlings (RotE) is a series that means everything to me. It's impossible to review something I love and adore as much as I do. Anything I say about this book won't encapsulate the overall feeling and story, so I'm not going to do my normal routine (fully).
This is the second book in the Liveship Traders trilogy and the fifth book in the overall RotE series and we continue to follow several characters, mostly from the same family (the Vestrits) with a few exceptions. This takes place in another part of the world - primarily Bingtown and we also get an added Rain Wild portion. As with the first book, it's full of feminism, pirates, dysfunctional families, political intrigue of a different kind than we had with Fitz and complex relationships of all kinds.
Every element I normally do in my breakdowns (writing, plot, characters and world building) is just phenomenal. Hobb's characters and world building in particular are some of the best I've read. It's not a simple act of reading these books, you live them.
For those of you who don't know me, the Realm of the Elderlings (RotE) is a series that means everything to me. It's impossible to review something I love and adore as much as I do. Anything I say about this book won't encapsulate the overall feeling and story, so I'm not going to do my normal routine (fully).
This is the second book in the Liveship Traders trilogy and the fifth book in the overall RotE series and we continue to follow several characters, mostly from the same family (the Vestrits) with a few exceptions. This takes place in another part of the world - primarily Bingtown and we also get an added Rain Wild portion. As with the first book, it's full of feminism, pirates, dysfunctional families, political intrigue of a different kind than we had with Fitz and complex relationships of all kinds.
Every element I normally do in my breakdowns (writing, plot, characters and world building) is just phenomenal. Hobb's characters and world building in particular are some of the best I've read. It's not a simple act of reading these books, you live them.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence
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