Review by nhollie - Ship of Magic

nhollie 's review for:

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

3.0

dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

This book didn't need to be as long as it was. The characters kept taking the same Ls and just became more pitiful but did not gain any insights from their experiences (and if they weren’t so naive literally one L should have been enough to teach them the lesson). At about 1/3 of the way through I was becoming exhausted by how long every plot line lingered. I’m fine with a meditative and slow paced novel—and can appreciate the breadth of the world Hobb crafts that may require a longer book—but because of the naivety of the characters and the repetitious (foolish) mistakes, I felt that the storytelling was bloated and long winded without enriching the story itself.

The most frustrating part was that not a single character seemed to understand their own experiences within the universe of the book. Althea was the most annoying. I simply cannot why she seemed to think sexism wouldn't impede her ability to sail a ship. From the jump, she (and her mother) are aware that Bingtown is becoming more conservative and women's rights are being stripped. But for some reason she was gagged that every man is like "No women on board." It is repeated to her again and again from the moment she is introduced. Like it was truly staggering how many times it took her to learn the very clear (in universe) lesson that men aren’t gonna love a woman sailor!!! Don't even get me started on her confessing to the captain of the hunting ship that she was a woman for no reason. At no point did that experience or that character (that we never met) suggest that he would be okay with a woman sailor. She keeps talking about how sexist people are but is surprised by sexism! Wintrow similarly became exhausting with his level of naivety. The scene where he is told that he isn't welcome on whatever island and is shocked that he <i> really </i> isn't welcome was tiresome. Also, I was floored that he--with no money and knowing he has been attacked for his stature and demeanor AND was unwelcome in the last city he went into--decides to walk through a slave market (which he again and again says is immoral/evidence the city is corrupt) and is shocked the evil enslavers are gonna enslave. Like??? And him saying he is a priest of Sa never worked before but again and again he takes the same L and never learns.

It’s okay for characters to be naive but I don’t understand why so much of the ensemble cast lacks any sort of wisdom, clarity of their own situation, or ability to logically ascertain the consequences of their actions.

ETA: Just remembered, I HATED Wintrow and Vivacia getting on their high horses about literally slaves killing their enslavers. There’s so much vile stuff happening in this book, but this is one of the few places where a hard moral stance is drawn. I'm struggling as a reader to understand why the only time enslaved uprisings are shown in a positive light is when the pirates are the catalyst, but God forbid the enslaved people actualize their own freedom. It blows my mind when authors demonize enslaved people for fighting back or having no empathy for their enslavers.

I really really wanted to like this book, so I’m bummed that it wasn’t for me.

Content Warnings