Reviews

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

leeman_reads's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

hannah0120's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-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

nocosmo's review against another edition

Go to review page

I tried so hard to keep reading, but even though it has so many fantasy elements and things I love, including the wonderful prose, I just keep finding reasons not to read it. Maybe at a different time. 

fruitface's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.5

aradi_yusuf's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

Go to review page

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

Go to review page

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

Go to review page

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

Go to review page

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

Go to review page

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.