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noeyy's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Trafficking, Gore, Child abuse, and Slavery
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Torture, Misogyny, and Kidnapping
Minor: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
backflippinwafflepancakes's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
2.0
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Slavery, Sexism, Pregnancy, and Death of parent
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Alcoholism, Violence, and Miscarriage
lazylys's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, and Slavery
missgarceau's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, Vomit, War, Excrement, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Slavery, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Bullying, Cursing, Drug use, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Blood, Kidnapping, Racism, Trafficking, Violence, Abandonment, Body horror, Misogyny, Classism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, and Toxic friendship
barry_x's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I picked up 'Ship of Magic' as a freebie in some online giveaway years ago but never got round to reading it before now.
It's the first book in the second trilogy set in Hobb's 'Realm of the Elderlings' setting and the focus is on seafaring, familial and generational drama with lots of piracy and a fair bit of my favourite word in the world- SWASHBUCKLING! Oh yeah, and living, talking ships - known as liveships.
I think I had only read a couple of Hobb's short fiction set in this universe, probably in one of the G.R.R Martin short story collections and to be honest I wasn't over enamoured, but I have changed my mind and hope one day to read more in this series.
The basic concept of a Liveship is that it is a living ship made of wizardwood which grants the ship sentience. They are intimately bound to their owners who are known as Old Traders - a form of settler colonial merchant class. They purchase the ships from Rain Wild Traders, a class of people afflicted by mutations and magic which take generations to pay back. The ships are immediately knowing to a degree but only truly gain sentience when they 'quicken', an act that only occurs once three generations of the owner's family die on ship. The ship then 'belongs' to a member of the owning family and their thoughts and feelings are inextricably entwined.
I loved the approach to this and the questions it poses. To what degree are the ships sentient? Are they a person and do they have rights? Bound to their owners to what degree can they consent to be built, to sail? Are they a slave to their owner or are they one and the same? What is the nature of love bonded through blood and familial love? It's very clever, it asks the reader to think and consider these thoughts. A ship can be viewed as a tool, a slave, a pet, a lover, a friend, a child and I can't help but feel reading this about how we treat our families and also non-human companions. That the liveships are sentient, well-formed characters in the story is beyond doubt, but the nature of them stayed with me long after reading.
The basic theme of the book is a patriarch dies, hands his liveship over to his son in law, bypassing his daughter who loves the ship. Needing a blood relative on the ship he installs his son, a priest who doesn't want to be there on the ship. The family are suffering financially so, 'hard, economic decisions' take place which impact on the family’s values.
So in effect the son-in-law is painted as a right bastard who sees the ship as a tool, he wants his son to man up and follow in his footsteps. His son has a deep bond with the ship but feels the pull of his profession more. Wintrow the son makes a lot of choices, all logically and morally correct for him, but none of which give him an easier life. I hurt for him, seeing how much trauma he endures, and his deep feelings for the ship is heart-breaking. Imagine loving someone so much with your core being, but knowing it isn't right for you and you need to be someone and somewhere else. It really got to me, pushing them buttons!
His Dad is a right shitbag and every decision he takes is wrong, but he's written so well, every decision he takes makes sense in his eye. I am not saying I have sympathy for him - he's a slaver, he rules with violence and his patriarchal authority in the family shouldn't be challenged, and yet it felt quite uncomfortable when I realised that this horrible villain is consistently doing what he feels is right. That's excellent characterisation because it would be so easy to portray him as an evil villain to be foiled.
Althea, the daughter is so much fun as a character. She's in her late teens, loves her ship intently and goes on a bunch of adventures essentially impersonating a ship's boy to prove her worth as a sailor to get her ship back. A little part of me loved her, and wanted her to succeed, although for such a large part of the book her quest seems to be filler to another story. I really appreciated her control over her sexuality too – whilst the threat of sexual violence is never far away disguised as a boy in a man’s world there is also an unashamed awareness of her sexual needs and desires, but also her control. There is a love interest, but she is not treated as a swooning damsel waiting to be swept off her feet and I loved the maturity in how this relationship was handled. I guess there are a few rather familiar ‘young girl on ship’ tropes in a man’s world but it’s done rather well and with a certain spirit that is really fun and easy to engage with.
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Bullying, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Gore, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual content
daisythebrownie's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Sexual harassment, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Cursing
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Alcohol, Animal death, Child abuse, Drug use, Grief, Misogyny, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexism, Murder, Physical abuse, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide attempt, Torture, Abortion, Suicide, and Child death
Minor: Ableism, Body shaming, War, Excrement, and Fatphobia
Needles (tattooing). Illness, unsanitary. Hunting and skinning. Slut shaming, discrimination against sex workers (frequent use of "whore"). Sexual/romantic relationships between pre-teen/teenage girls and adult men, with some victim blaming attitudes toward this. Forced abortion, stillbirth.magis1105's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
We follow a few different people:
Trader families, the Velstrit mostly, their family feuds and their economic struggles. One of the struggles is to pay off their liveship. Altea has grown up in the ship, her father taking her along his trips. Once the ship wakes, things fall apart around Altea.
WE see a lot of Malta, she is capricious, self-centered, and childish. But she so wishes to be seen as an adult. she keeps making the wrong choices, but to be honest, she doesn't know the reasoning behind her mother and grandmother's choices. The truth is not told to her she is expected to simply listen to her family and obey, they should know that's not going to work. Malta is not easy to work with, when her elders try to talk sense into her, she refuses to believe and ignores what's told to her if it doesn't fit with her opinion. The first time I read this book, oh I disliked her so much I could barely force myself to read the parts where she was the main focus. Now I still think her childish but my dislike is less.
I still hate Kyle, he is such a bad example of a father, husband, son-in-law. I just hate him.
We have pirates, a very ambitious one who wishes to become the King Pirates. And he has a big shining star on his side. Thanks to luck, things start to fall into place for him.
We follow the POV of the sea serpents, who are drawn to the liveships and are seeking one specific creature, but so far we get only a few snippets and not enough for us to guess the significance unless you already know the big reveal.
So yeah rereading allows me to value these clues a lot more than the first time around.
I can't wait to get to the next installment of the series.
Minor: Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore
kaziaroo's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic friendship, Drug use, Toxic relationship, Gore, Slavery, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Misogyny, Trafficking, Violence, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Murder, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Excrement, Confinement, Vomit, Sexual content, and Rape
Multiple graphic limb amputationsnadia's review against another edition
- 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
The last Hobb I read was in July 2020 and when I started this one I berated myself for leaving her books for so long, given how much I loved the Farseer Trilogy!
I was so immersed in this world, loved the variety of characters and storylines, and all of the different aspects covered. I'm so curious to see what happens next!
Graphic: Violence, Slavery, Blood, and Gore