Reviews with content warning for Rape - Mad Ship

Power dynamics shift and collapse in the second volume of the Liveship Traders trilogy. New characters are introduced, others disappear only to reveal worse dangers than the ones they embodied.
Robin Hobb's character writing shines particularly brightly in the sequel to Ship of Magic. I'm thinking of one in particular, whom I can't stand in book 1 but start to tolerate i' book 2 (and will end up loving in book 3). I can't even imagine the effort it must have taken to orchestrate such a masterful chorus of voices, but it works. Now that we are more familiar with names and characters, the deeper currents of the story start to move closer to the surface and big mysteries are glimpsed through the moving tide.
CW: closed spaces, sexual assault, slavery, rape.

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binca's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kiandrareadsbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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genny's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

5.0

Guhhh.This was just excellent. The full truth about the dragons was slowly unveiled throughout the story; I already understood some of the links from the last book but everything came to light here (The Ringsgold chapter was masterful!). A+ character development, as expected...

Malta. Never have I felt the urge to slap a child as strongly as when I read her POV - but that somehow changed and now all I want is to protect her. I actually feel bad for wishing she would learn a lesson. What?! 😆 I suspect I'll grow infinitely more fond of her in the next book.
Out of all the "people" to be mad at, I found myself annoyed at Vivacia. And then eventually at Wintrow as well, because I hate that they're
siding with Kennit. I understand why, but I still hate it.
Props to Hobb for making me accept a character's motivations even though I disagree with them.
I love all of the Vestrits, but I especially love Keffria and Ronica's brand of quiet yet unwavering resolve. This, after being so irritated by Keffria's naivety in Ship of Magic. Haha.

There's more but I don't want to turn this into an essay on every character. Suffice to say that I love reading about them all (though I can't get over the ickiness of Reyn and Malta's age gap). I'm already sad that there's just one book left - these characters have imprinted themselves onto my heart. And they're not the only good thing about the book! There's worldbuilding, atmosphere, plot threads sewn together flawlessly. 🥰 It's a long read, but not one page was wasted IMO!

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brendag's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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

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szuum's review against another edition

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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

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podanotherjessi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.25

I literally wrote an essay about this book to send to the friends I read it with, so let me parse that down to a spoiler-free review...

The pacing drags in the middle of this book, but the ending makes up for it some.
The characters are fantasic. They're all comples, and they go through such amazing growth. I've seen some of the best character arcs in this series, and there's still one more book to go.
There are wonderful themes in this book that are fun to explore and think about. Slavery is handeled from many angles in a complex way. Identity is a constant struggle, and there's a lot of elements about control in different ways.
I really loved this book, and if it hadn't been so slow, it would be rated higher. Can't wait to finish the trilogy!

Characters: 10
Plot: 7
Setting: 9
General appeal: 8
Writing style: 9
Originality: 9
Ending: 8

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cmak's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious sad tense 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

4.5

A lot of the questions from Ship of Magic, especially in regards to the world’s lore. It also made me kinda like Malta (how is that possible?!?). Another enjoyable(?) (can that word truly be used in conjunction with Robin Hobb? It’s odd to say that watching people go through so much trauma is enjoyable...) book.

There are explanations for some of the things that happened in the Farseer trilogy in this book that I appreciated, specifically regarding Verity/the dragon in Assassin’s Quest. It was funny hearing the dragon talk about her opinion of elderlings putting their lives into stone statues to try to mimic her life for a short period of time. Also, it is interesting that Althea, arguably the main character from the first book, is not included in Amber’s fortellings. The “nine-fingered” one has done his task of releasing She Who Remembers, and Malta (with the help of Reyn) has released the dragon who will protect the serpents so they can cocoon. It was interesting seeing Amber’s own confusion that Althea was not fulfilling either of these roles. Maybe she did follow the wrong sister, but for the better as I think Paragon will continue to play a major role in the next book.

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