Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

19 reviews

maithaalfalasi's review

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adventurous emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

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josiah17's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad 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

4.5

I really wanted to love this, and I'm so glad I did. I was particularly excited to experience Hobb's writing in third person, and it was wonderful. Her prose remains top quality and very immersive. 

This is overall just fantastic nautical fantasy with exceptional character writing, as well as complex and entertaining family dynamics. I enjoyed almost every POV for one reason or another. Hobb writes characters that you can root for here, and some that you vehemently despise. I cannot stand Kyle and Torg. Malta really annoyed me even though I understand she's still a kid, I just hope she learns and develops as a character. And I was always rooting for Brashen, Althea, and I really came to sympathize and feel attached to Wintrow. He deserves better, but unfortunately his father is beyond awful.

The additional worldbuilding for the Realm of the Elderlings with the liveships was also very interesting and unique. The idea of a sentient ship bonded through familial blood is amazing, especially because two ships have their own POV's and we get some insight into their perspectives. I'm very curious to learn more about the Rain Wild Traders as well. The relationships they have with the Bingtown traders is interesting, and I hope the sequels explore some of the actual Rain Wild territory. And I have a suspicion about the serpents, but I still don't really know what's going on with them. They're cool though.

Even though the plot was pretty non-existent for most of the book—per usual with Hobb so far—this was surprisingly just addicting to read. The blurb on the cover says "as addictive as morphine," and that's a pretty apt metaphor for my experience. Nautical fantasy just works so well for the visual movie I have running in my brain when reading, and it seems to scratch an itch. Paired with fantastic writing and captivating character dynamics, this is an amazing read. I could see myself bumping it to 5 stars depending on how the trilogy pans out.

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allcapspyrex's review

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adventurous 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

4.5

Definitely a strong follow up from the farseer trilogy which I loved.  Hobb has done a great job of expanding the world she started in her first trilogy, showing there is a lot of story left to tell. The book makes great use of multi-pov storytelling to really make the reader invested in the characters, and there aren't any I didn't have strong feelings for as their individual stories unfolded and contributed to the overall plot. It's definitely very slow paced, which is the only thing stopping it being a full 5 stars for me, but absolutely worth your time and effort to read, and I'm looking forward to the next two in the series. 

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missgarceau's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • 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


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chloebear21's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0


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smokingchagga's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced
  • 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? Yes

4.0

I stopped reading this book after looking up what event the hard trigger warning for book 3 of the trilogy was for. I don't mind having spoiled it for myself but I had to think long and hard if I was willing to read that. Needless to say, I couldn't stop thinking about this series and had to continue. 

Note: sexual violence is a major thing in this particular series. The threat of it is quite heavy and it can absolutely be a deal breaker for someone who is sensitive to it. There were also a few instances where an assault or the direct aftermath of one was explicitly shown. 

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lunafrmoon's review

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4.0


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barry_x's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

 
I really enjoyed this. After quite a slow start where I thought I wasn't going to stick with this I am so glad I did.
 
 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. 

 

Back home Althea’s estranged family have drama of their own to deal with.  Her mother is trying to hold the families fortunes together according to the traditions of their Trader family status.  Althea’s sister, and wife of the man who ‘stole’ her ship is trying to balance the wishes of her husband, her own needs and her rather appalling daughter reaching womanhood.  I really liked the character progression of Althea’s sister throughout the novel and she’s another character who I think has such a depth to her one can really feel all the different forces she is trying to manage.  Her daughter makes choice after choice which seem designed to torment her mother.  In some ways it mirrors some of those well-known themes of teenage girls pushing back against their mother that feel very familiar. 

 

There are a couple of other sub-plots that feed into the main story.  There’s a liveship which has had its eyes cut out, which is deemed bad luck and is grounded and their story kind of has that, ‘we’ll sort this in the next book’ vibe.  There’s also a rather delicious villainous pirate who seems to have an awful lot of luck.  There’s a plot where he thinks he is getting one over on his crew but is accidentally becoming a hero to the people freeing them from slavery.  He’s a horrible character but he kind of screams danger and excitement.  He’s a massive caricature of a typical SWASHBUCKLING pirate but honestly these chapters are so much fun. 

So, it felt like quite a while for the different plots to form and for the characters to become established, and in a big book like this it did require a bit of perseverance to hook me in.  Once I bought into the book, I really began to love it, and the last third or so was brilliant!  The reader can clearly see the different plot threads coming together and you can see it all coming to a conclusion, all the stories that seemed different sailing the seas to the same place.  As a reader you can’t wait to see the inevitable happen and there is a sense that you are in on the story with the author, observing the characters come together.  I really enjoyed it. 

 

The world is rich, the cultures well developed and understood as part of a consistent world.  The plot is brilliant interwoven with the characters and by the time I reached the end I was pretty determined that I’ll read the rest of the series one day.  

 

Really glad I went back to this.
 
 


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talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • 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


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cathepsut's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring relaxing sad slow-paced
  • 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? Yes

5.0

I approached this book with a lot of trepidation, as I didn‘t finish The Farseer Trilogy. Assassin's Apprentice was too much of a coming-of-age story, focused on one person. And it was depressing. I finished, but never picked up the sequel. Which is a bummer, as it seems to be Hobb‘s most beloved character.

This one here is very much a coming of age story as well, at least for Althea, Wintrow and Vivacia. But I liked the world much better, with it‘s sailors, pirates, conscious ships and the mysterious Rain Wild Traders (already looking forward to the Rain Wild Chronicles). The various port cities were fun to read about. The „whaling“ ship and it‘s trip to its hunting destination was really well drawn. And the descriptions of the slave trade and the slaver ships were fascinating as well. Having the different characters on different paths and plots really gave Hobb ann excellent opportunity to show off the Cursed Shores. 

Althea really is a spoilt brat at first. Things happen. Wintrow was not love at first side either, but he started to grow on me. Those two are probably my favourite characters. Although Kennit, Amber and Paragon developed nicely as well along the course of this doorstopper. I am really looking forward to all of their continued adventures in The Mad Ship. I feel really invested in the liveship Vivacia as well and so hope that she will have a HEA at the end of the third book…

The plot developed slowly, but that is to be expected in a book of nearly 900 pages, followed by two equally hefty tomes… Patience was needed—something in short supply for me when reading books. I want a speedy plot and action. But here it didn‘t really bother me all that much. I knew I was in for the long haul, with 2689 pages across 3 books. And I really became invested in the lives of the characters—as opposed to the Farseer Triolgy, where I didn‘t really care all that much. 

Not so fun:
The questing serpents were really odd parts of the narrative from the start, I enjoyed their chapters the least. But I guess they really are serving some greater purpose.
And Malta really annoyed me. I think I know what is in store for her, including a very rude awakening. I hope it will make her a better person.

The secret of how liveships are made and where their wizardwood comes from will hopefully be revealed eventually. I also hope that something will come of that wooden pendant that Althea received from Amber!

Well done, Ms. Hobb. I can‘t promise to read everything—I might make a wide turn around Fitz—but for now I am at least partially sold… 

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