Reviews

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

aradi_yusuf's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

scottsforayintofriction's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.25

Book Review - Ship of Magic

Rating 8.5/10 ⭐️

After reading Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb and having mix views on that series, I was told by a number of people that The Liveships Traders might be more up my alley.

No better way to test that theory then diving head first into Ship of Magic.

Man I really enjoyed this book, Immediately gripped by the plethora of complex characters. This book was well balanced on its pacing albeit a little slow for my personal tastes. 

From the off I could tell I would love this series more than Farseer, pretty much everything was better, from setting to the characters and of course the magical ships.

One thing you’re guaranteed to get from a Hobb novel is the awesome writing and Hobb didn’t disappoint. 

In Ship of Magic we follow the story through multiple POVs.

The main focus is around the Vestrit family and the impending “quickening” of their Liveship, Vivacia.

For a Liveship to quicken 3 generations of family captains need to die upon the deck of their ship. 

Althea is the daughter of the current captain of Vivacia and one of my favourite characters. She was expecting to inherit the Vivacia upon her father’s death. Alas, this doesn’t happen, instead of sailing Vivacia as she was trained to do she takes us on a different adventure. 

Away from the Vestrit family, we follow the ambitious captain Kennit, a legendary pirate with dreams of sailing his own Liveship.  

He’s not a nice man, extremely selfish with a laser focus on delivering his dreams. 

There are plenty more characters to love and hate. All enhance the story and are there for a reason not to just fill pages even the spoilt bratty ones. 

If you didn’t love the Farseer Trilogy, I highly recommend giving Liveship a go. Actually, even if you did love Farseer you will probably love this series, so no reason not to read it.

I’m really excited to see where the story goes in book 2, The Mad Ship.

trademarktm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.5

loveat1stsite's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.5

notthemostreadthush3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

interphantom's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoy Robin Hobb, and loved her Farseer Trilogy. This series, while really well written, isn't holding my attention nearly as well. I can only take so much Treasure Island Pirates before I start to get bored. I'm going to finish the series anyway cause I love her world she creates, but it's becoming more work than pleasure.

salomlamouette's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense

5.0

AaaaAaAAAaaaah je vous aime Madame Robin Hobb <333

Merci pour vos histoires fines et si bien entremêlées, vos personnages SI BIEN ÉCRITS et d’une profondeur et d’une authenticité !!!! (j’ai voulu en frapper un TRÈS FORT, tellement que j’ai dû poser mon livre afin de ne pas paraître idiote et ne pas m’énerver mdr)

J’avais adoré la saga L’Assassin royal et j’appréhendais presque la lecture d’une nouvelle. J’avais trop en mémoire Fitz et toute sa ribambelle de personnages et son histoire MAIS EN FAIT on est dans le même monde (pas le même endroit) et c’est si agréable de retrouver cet univers. Et surtout ! Je trouve que l’écriture de Hobb a évolué, le fil narratif est super bien tenu tout du long et j’aime beaucoup la relire.

J’ai dévoré cette première intégrale et je vais dévorer la deuxième dèèèès que je l’ai !

nathaliagoncalves's review against another edition

Dnf 84%

COMO EU QUERIA TA GOSTANDO DE LER ESSE LIVROOOOO

Quando eu leio sobre o livro, ou penso sobre o que já li, que foi uma grande parte, eu penso “WOOW baita livro”, mas enquanto to lendo o livro eu não consigo aproveitar nada, a maioria das perspectivas eu não curtia ler, tirando os personagens que eu odiava ler e entendo que é o objetivo odiar esses personagens mas toda vez que chegava eles eu só tinha vontade de parar de ler e foi o que acabei fazendo, e os outros personagens eu fiquei indiferente, acho que o que eu mais gostei foi o Kennit.

O que eu mais amei nos livros do fitz foi ficar tanto tempo com ele, de uma forma que eu sentia por ele, e nesse livro e imagino na trilogia toda, é taanta gente que eu acabo não ligando pra nenhum

Passei quase dois anos tentando ler esse livro, eu tentei o suficiente

Mas vou continuar no resto das séries, vou ler resumos sobre essa e deu

miesebriese's review against another edition

5.0

the begining was very slow which i understand bc she had to introduce all the characters and all that but the first 200 pages it rly felt like nothing happened.... but after that it was so fun and interesting!!! i think you can definitely tell it was written by a woman the way she handled keffria and kyles relationship... if a man wrote that you would definitely hate keffria and think shes a dumb bitch which she isnt!!!! also the way everything kyle says is so invasive and disrespectful.. it felt so real like i could feel what it made the women feel he was talking to and how much everyone knows that he is a piece of shit... ALSO the ships (like a boat ship not otp) are so interesting especially traumatized haunted ship... i love you i wish you the best it will be OK. i wish this book had a conclusion or some kind of ending it just ended out of nowhere like i get it's a series but you still need to give us SOMETHING... NVM the german version which im reading is split into two parts

bhfine's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective slow-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

4.25