Ship of Magic (The Liveship Traders, Book 1)
The first novel in Robin Hobb's beloved Liveship Traders Trilogy
"Even better than the Farseer Trilogy--I didn't think that was possible."--George R. R. Martin 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. Now 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. For Althea's young nephew, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard the ship, the Vivacia is a life sentence. But the fate of the ship--and the Vestrits--may ultimately lie in the hands of an outsider: the ruthless buccaneer captain Kennit, who plans to seize power over the Pirate Isles by capturing a liveship and bending it to his will.
"A truly extraordinary saga . . . The characterizations are consistently superb, and [Hobb] animates everything with love for and knowledge of the sea."--Booklist Don't miss the magic of the Liveship Traders Trilogy:
SHIP OF MAGIC - MAD SHIP - SHIP OF DESTINY
"Even better than the Farseer Trilogy--I didn't think that was possible."--George R. R. Martin 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. Now 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. For Althea's young nephew, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard the ship, the Vivacia is a life sentence. But the fate of the ship--and the Vestrits--may ultimately lie in the hands of an outsider: the ruthless buccaneer captain Kennit, who plans to seize power over the Pirate Isles by capturing a liveship and bending it to his will.
"A truly extraordinary saga . . . The characterizations are consistently superb, and [Hobb] animates everything with love for and knowledge of the sea."--Booklist Don't miss the magic of the Liveship Traders Trilogy:
SHIP OF MAGIC - MAD SHIP - SHIP OF DESTINY
BUY THE BOOK
Community Reviews
I honestly didn't expect to like it as much as the Farseer trilogy, and I guess my rating is one star lower than assassin's apprentice, but this was a great book. We still have the world Hobb started building in the Farseer trilogy, but now we get to see an entirely different conflict in a completely different place. Again, Hobb manages to make a "villain" that I find myself hating with every fiber of my being, while also somehow making another villain who more directly fits that role that I find myself with conflicted feelings on.
The characters are diverse and the unique system of magic continues to develop. I had looked up whether or not I could skip this trilogy and get right back to Fitz and The six Duchies, but I'm so glad I decided to read this. It adds more color to the world and the conflicts take on quite a different shape. It somehow mixes a pirate-feeling, ship-based adventure, with classical fantasy elements, and even somehow contains political elements crafted in a way I never thought possible (that is, in a way that makes them interesting and gets me thinking about them).
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