Review by rinnimini - The Mad Ship

rinnimini 's review for:

The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb

4.75

adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

reading this book was much easier and faster than the first one. i def enjoyed it a lot more could’ve been a five star if it wasn’t for reyn being a 20-21 years old. not only its extremely weird and uncomfortable it’s just doesn’t make any sense to me. if she just lowered his age to 15 it would’ve been perfect because he acts like a teenager and everyone treat him like one i honestly have no idea WHY she made him 20-21. this is my only major complain.

i think character that stood out the most in this book was maltha. she had an incredible development arc and her povs was so interesting to read. robin hobb def focused more on her this book.

wintrow on other hand shows less in this book compared to the first one. all his chapters were short and it seems like he was forgotten among kennit’s chapter. it’s interesting because in previous book it was really important to him to not forget his own identity. i’m really interested to see him in the last book.

speaking of kennit. i feel like robin hobb gave him more screen time this book. i didn’t count but to me it’s like he had the most povs out of all characters. he’s really interesting character because he’s the one who constantly moves the plot. nothing would’ve happened if it weren’t for him. a lot of characters just react to plot happening to them (like wintrow) but kennit is the one who makes the plot you understand what i mean right? i just think the parallels between him and wintrow could’ve been done better. also really wanna know what exactly happened to him in the past maybe after that i can understand parallels.

i really althea this book. she def has changed and matured but unfortunately i don’t think i can say much about her or ronica or keffria or brashen. they didn’t shine that much for me say something. really hoping it would change in next book.

about brashen. i def think his povs were the weakest part. sometimes it felt like he was just there 🧍

vivacia and paragon chapter also were really short and they had the least povs (except for serpents they had like 4 chapters) but ngl their povs were much more interesting than brashen sometimes

reyn and jani. i really enjoyed their pov it was really interesting and nice introduction to rain wilds. both of them actually likeable characters, but again reyn being 20-21 just ruins everything. since people in rain wilds dies a lot they’re marrying young and that’s why it makes a lot more sense if reyn were younger. it could’ve been nice parallel between maltha who’s still treated like a child by her mom and jani wanting for reyn to act like an adult but no unfortunately he’s 20-21 and this is freaking me out.

about plot.

i’m really satisfied with it. she finally answered my questions i had while reading assassin’s quest so i’m sooo satisfied. it’s really nice to see how all these series are connected. i wish for next book that she won’t forget war plot and it will be resolved nicely.

overall i really love this book the main con is probably with characters povs. she can’t focus on one’s character development without unintentionally robbing other’s screen time and unfortunately this is expected with so many characters.

Content Warnings