Robin Hobb

Bingtown is a hub of exotic trade and home to a merchant nobility famed for its liveships-rare vessels carved from wizardwood, which ripens magically into sentient awareness. The fortunes of one of Bingtown's oldest families rest on the newly awakened liveship Vivacia.For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy unjustly denied her-a legacy she will risk anything to reclaim. For Althea's young nephew Wintrow, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard ship, Vivacia is a life sentence.But the fate of the Vestrit family-and the ship-may ultimately lie in the hands of an outsider. The ruthless pirate Kennit seeks a way to seize power over all the denizens of the Pirate Isles...and the first step of his plan requires him to capture his own liveship and bend it to his will.

Ship of Magic

Ship of Magic (Liveship Traders)

Emma Lechner

I debated between 4 and 5 ☆ for the longest time (4.5 would not do, this has to be squarely either one) so let's sit here for a while.

This incredibly beautifully intricate, if slow. And to be honest, I did not have issues with the pace per se - it was just that Kennit (#NotMyPirateKing) and Kyle were simply unbearable and with Malta I had a love-hate relationship; two of those were POV characters and having to sit through their sections was challenging, to say the least. But then everything else was an absolute delight.

I particularly enjoyed how the novel explores the place of women in its fantasy society. We have a matriarch, we have a dutiful wife and mother, we have a tomboy-ish daughter, we have a savvy business-owner, etc. - all of whom are represented as having deep inner worlds and motivations for their actions. It was so entirely refreshing. (Wintrow is also an absolute sweetheart).

The only thing that was really daunting for me was the sheer size of this novel. I have to acknowledge that I have perhaps developed a bit of an addiction towards the dopamine hit from finish a book (especially a good book). And I must acknowledge that reading the very long November pick of my monthly book club must have also impacted the way I viewed the runtime of this novel. There is no way for this novel to have been shorter than it is but maybe I will not pick up the next one until I have at least halved my current pile of library loans.

I debated between 4 and 5 ☆ for the longest time (4.5 would not do, this has to be squarely either one) so let's sit here for a while.

This incredibly beautifully intricate, if slow. And to be honest, I did not have issues with the pace per se - it was just that Kennit (#NotMyPirateKing) and Kyle were simply unbearable and with Malta I had a love-hate relationship; two of those were POV characters and having to sit through their sections was challenging, to say the least. But then everything else was an absolute delight.

I particularly enjoyed how the novel explores the place of women in its fantasy society. We have a matriarch, we have a dutiful wife and mother, we have a tomboy-ish daughter, we have a savvy business-owner, etc. - all of whom are represented as having deep inner worlds and motivations for their actions. It was so entirely refreshing. (Wintrow is also an absolute sweetheart).

The only thing that was really daunting for me was the sheer size of this novel. I have to acknowledge that I have perhaps developed a bit of an addiction towards the dopamine hit from finish a book (especially a good book). And I must acknowledge that reading the very long November pick of my monthly book club must have also impacted the way I viewed the runtime of this novel. There is no way for this novel to have been shorter than it is but maybe I will not pick up the next one until I have at least halved my current pile of library loans.

Hanna Rybchynska

This is such an amazing book. I love all the stories and the world. 
Usually I don't like stories of pirates an ships, however there is something about this story that makes me want to read more and more.

Expecting to inherit her family's liveship, the Vivacia, Althea Vestrit now must defend this animate, intelligent treasure from both her scheming brother-in-law, who plans to use it as a slave ship, and a nation of ruthless pirates, led by Captain Kennit. Reprint. AB.

James Winduss

I was hesitant starting this as I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to part with the Farseer characters for an entire trilogy, but Robin Hobb proved me wrong. I loved this book! Loved, loved, loved it. I love being able to engage so deeply with the characters with the altering perspectives, particularly those of Althea and the Liveships. I will say, I didn’t think I would be able to hate a character more than Regal and then Malta and Kyle came along and low and behold, they’re so much worse. I am very intrigued by the serpents and am very much looking forward to moving onto the next book.

Sade A

It will never cease to amaze me how writers can take words, spin it and make you care about characters that exist only in books, make you care about the words these characters utter, how because of words on a page, you're rooting for a character to be better, stronger, braver. It's awe inspiring and just amazing.

Robin Hobb is one of those writers that weaves magic with her words. and it's curious, it's not like her books at least the few i've read have an insane amount of gore or are especially grim. but somehow she's captures the essence of a character so thoroughly. You can feel the selfishness of Malta, the apathy that dictated Keffria life, the strength that was Ronica Vestrit, the confusion peppered with shadows of strength, wisdom and the occasional dose of stupidity that was Wintrow, the stinking mess of insecurity that was Kyle Haven, the fire cracker that was Althea Vestrit and the ships, gosh the ships.....

I did feel sometimes descriptions ran a tad too long but having read the Farseer trilogy, i've come to recognise that as signature Hobb story telling..
All in all a truly delightful book that does not disappoint.

Love it! I love the characters much more than in the first trilogy. And there are multiple POVs and all of them are interesting.

andrea

25/4 update increased my original 4-star rating to 5 because i think it's well deserved. liveship traders you will always be famous.

really good and fast-paced if you compare ship of magic to the first one of the farseer trilogy. robin hobb’s improvement in her writing and characterisation is obvious, and reading a book written by her in 3rd person narrator with multi-povs was exactly what i wanted. ship of magic is an amazing introduction for the new trilogy, establishing the main cast (which you get to know very well) and the plot that is going to be expanded in the next ones. there is a lot going on since the very beginning, we follow many members of the same family of merchants and a pirate, each one with their own individual conflicts and goals. the worldbuilding is great and unique, and very interesting. 

apart from the narrative style, the thing that is evidently different from farseer is the introduction of a large cast of characters, each of them with their own point of view chapters and we, as readers, get to be in their heads, listen to their thoughts, and see through their eyes for a while. this is one thing i wished was done in farseer (i would have paid to have kettricken, verity and patience povs in certain points of the story). because of this, you get to know their motivations very quickly, you get familiar with them and can easily imagine how they are going to react to a certain situation, or how they feel towards the conflicts they are facing. i like this a lot, and i like it even more that in this trilogy we follow characters that end up meeting in the end, crossing paths and having to work together.

overall, i liked it a lot! maybe it is because i felt more connected to fitz and his life story, but i kind of still like assassin’s apprentice better, which i think is a bit of an unpopular opinion. i think liveship traders is very promising and the ending has opened so many questions and interesting plotlines that i can hardly wait to pick up the next book.

This is the opening of the second trilogy in the Realm of the Elderlings. It is very different from the Farseer trilogy because it is in a very different area of the world and there is a lot of travel. Bingtown is where the traders settled and were given exclusive permission to sell the magical and unusual materials and goods from the Rainwild. A dangerous and some say cursed area of the world.  They also have exclusive access to wizard wood which allows them to build magical ships that can quicken and become sentient. But to do this, three generations of the family that owns it must sail on the ship and die on it's deck. It also puts the family in deep debt for generations because these ships sail faster than any others. But economics and politics are changing. Slavery is spreading and new traders are arriving and putting lots of pressure on the original trader families. Ship of Magic is multi-pov wheras in Farseer we are always in Fitz's head and see everyting through his experiences. I really like how the world opens up and we get to meet some very interesting new characters and different politics. The characters are a mix of those you love and those you love to hate. All of them are interesting and feel like real people. Hobb even manages to make sentient ships full characters that are not simple or cartoonish. The are fully realized personalities. We are not as intimate with the ensemble here as we were with Fitz, they have to share page time after all. Things do happen and there is plot, but it is getting the pieces into place for things to really take off. This book also gets us invested in the characters and oriented to this part of the world. It feels faster paced than Farseer did, because we are shifting between a number of POV's and they are in different places. The map was very helpful.

Cheryl Hedlund

Kirsten Simkiss

It took me a while to get attached to any of the characters and one of them makes me want to hit him every time there's a chapter from his perspective, but the world is very intriguing. I'm not sure if I'll continue, though I am curious as to what happens to the characters - particularly the living ship who was the character I loved most. Stylistically, the narrative is set up much like the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, though with better written intimate scenes and less back stabbing for power.

Marisa Petri

Absolutely incredible, original and mysterious.

Hannah Derzanovich

It's been ages since I read a lengthy fantasy novel that I genuinely enjoyed and got so immersed in that I was sad when it ended. I foolishly didn't think far enough ahead to order the second - or third - book before I finished those last pages, and I've been sitting here stressing out about what happens next.
The characters were so fantastically hateable and loveable and properly flawed enough to make them feel real, despite the setting. I could sympathize with Althea's fall and felt fear every time Etta bared her teeth (that woman is going to be a wrench in the machine further down the road, I KNOW IT), I wanted Kennit to succeed as much as I wanted him to be eaten by a serpent. I DESPERATELY wanted Wintrow to just go back to his quiet, peaceful life as a priest, but needed Vivacia to be happy with her Vestrit. 

God. What a good book. *stares anxiously at my tracking updates*

Xavier Roy

This series had been on my radar ever since I read the Tawny Man trilogy and the first book has been a great read.

Alex

It was ok, and I'm still gonna read the next one... It's just that nothing much happened in this book. If I didn't know the author arleady I wouldn't read on, but as it's Robin Hobb, I think I might even finish the series. I'm mostly reading it so I don't miss anything important in the series, althrough I'd rather just go straight to more Fitz and Fool books. I like the characters most of the time but I think this much character developement would be good maybe in the second book of the series, not the first, since I don't know them well yet and the lack of plot is just boring. Thankfully, I'm listening to this series on Audible, so it's easier to get through it. Anyway, hopefully more will happen in the next one!

dead line

She did it again.

I would say that this book is too long, but I love the attention to detail and the time we get with the characters.

There are so many little things that add up to this being fantastic. I can't name them all, but one thing I loved was the perspective changes, and getting different characters' views on the same situation. Kennit was the most fun mostly because of his pure unbridled narcissism.

Hobb has a way of writing that makes you feel the gravity of situations. The horrors of slavery, amputation, isolation, ship life, are all written in a way that is almost confrontational. Nothing is glossed over.

Malta - although a 13 year old girl - is just the worst. Very well written.

This is easily on a par with the Farseer trilogy so far.

4/5

Jade Flynn

Just what I wanted. Immediately ordered the second book Mad Ship. I never thought my favourite characters in a book of many would be three ships. Paragon, Ophelia and Vivacia. The only critisim is it could've been maybe 100-150 pages shorter and it would've still been the exact same book. I’m not a fantasy reader at all. I’ve only completed two fantasy series in my life - The Mistborn Trilogy and Game of Thrones so hopefully, I end up enjoying The Liveship Traders just as much.

Nickie Mohler

Another 5 glorious stars for Robin Hobb! I absolutely loved this book! 
I find the concept of wizard wood to be brilliant. The Liveships are so interesting. I love Althea and Wintrow. I detest Kyle and Malta. I could just picture Bingtown. And I can't wait to hear more about the Rain Wilders.
This is quite the chunker, but it is so good that I flew through it. I'm so glad I finally read this.

André Nóbrega

The last third of this is a 4.5 book for me. Sadly it took far too long to get there and I honestly don't think we got as much world building and character building as would need all those words. Don't get me wrong, this is a character driven book and we do see good character development in some characters and we do get to understand a small part of the world and how it works (not as much as I'd like for a 900 page story), but it dragged for far too long. What saves this from being just a good fantasy book is the second half of Althea's and Wintrow's story, Keffria and Ronica's relationship (despite Malta, who's parts just annoyed me to the bones - probably because they were well written and believable, that child would always get on my nerves) and curiosity about Paragon and Amber. Moreover, the fact that it is undoubtedly a pleasure to read Hobb's writing, has me convinced I want to read more, in spite of having hated one specific part of the final development (I won't comment to avoid spoilers). 
The 4 stars are more a reflection of my state of mind at the end of the reading and not throughout (3-3.5) but I imagine that with some edition this might have been a 5 star book for my liking.
I'd recommend Ship of Magic only for people who enjoy long books, centred on multiple characters and with more character development than world building.

celeste

ahhh i love the smell of great characterization in the morning!

i always say that robin hobb's books are very lowkey, very chill fantasy novels that hit you in the face with incredible character development and this one was no exception. it took me a month to finish it but there's something that's so rewarding about hobb's writing that made me wanna keep reading even if the chapters were 40 pages long. does anyone write better characters than her in the fantasy genre? i don't think so.

the concept of the liveships? slapped. brashen and althea? SLAPPED. wintrow reminding me of aang with his pacifist attitude on life? slapped. pirates? slapped. gigantic sentient serpents? slapped even tho i have no idea what's going on with them. kyle? should have been food for serpents but it's aight, he'll get what he deserves in the next couple of books, i'm manifesting it!

Melea Mullican

Brent Nef

Compelling plot and characters, unfortunately the story suffers from too many points of view and insufficiently resolved issues (which I'm sure will be resolved in the next two books)

Lauren James

Full review on my blog, Storied Adventures !

4.5 Stars!

I LOVED this book! It took me a little while before I got into it because I was confused at first BUT once I did, I couldn't stop! 

Likes: Character development is really strong 
Writing is really well done
Plot is EPIC, dragons, talking ships, sea serpents, magic, intrigue, drama, romance, high seas adventure, pirates

This series might end up being one of my favorite series ever!

Matt

Rachel B

‘As addictive as morphine’ THE TIMES From the author of the classic Farseer trilogy, SHIP OF MAGIC is the first part of the Liveship Traders. Set in a land bordering the Six Duchies, Robin Hobb begins her epic tale of pirates, talking ships, magic, sea serpents, slave revolts, dashing heroes and bloody battles.

Ship of Magic

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