I like books, I like to read, I like to collect, I like to write horrendously poorly written reviews and then put them on the internets (yep, you fell for it buddy). So what does this mean to you? Well, it’s simple, if you’re not smart enough to leave (or if you’re one of the many people I’ve payed to visit this blog) then you have to listen to me go on about the book I’ve just finished reading. Ship of Magic is Robin Hobb’s first book of The Liveship Traders trilogy. It’s set in the world from her first series The Farseer Trilogy. However while the Farseer books are great they’re in no way essential to read before starting this book (though you should give them a read simply because they rock!).
Written in 1998 the book has a very dark feel to it that highlights futility and celebrates despair. The overlaying message seems to be about coming out on the other side of darkness as the characters seem to somehow rebuff all attempts to break them (well obviously, otherwise the characters would all die and the book would end in four chapters 
). It actually reminds me a lot of The Watercourse Trilogy by Philip Athans which I did not like at all, however despite that unfortunate comparison I thought this book was quite a good read (perhaps that’s because Robin Hobb has the sense to pick you up before she drops you back down again).
Ignoring the prelude, the book kicks off through the eyes of Athlea Vestrit of the Vestrit Family – A noble trader family fallen into debt. Athlea is a young, willful girl slated to inherit her family’s ship: Vivacia. Ship of Magic follows Athlea’s struggle to inherit, the family’s will to keep from going under, a boy’s journey to become a priest, and a pirate’s goal to become king. It contains very strong themes of slavery and the morals behind it and blurs enough lines on the way to make an poorly focused snapshot look sharp.
The closest this book gets to a finish is to end on a high note with the promise of more to come, and judging by the current pattern of ‘things-must-go-bad-after-they-go-good’ the next book will get pretty glum pretty fast. Though I predict it’ll still be a strong, compelling read.
Note: Despite generally hating cliche, I tend to prefer books with a happy ending.
Ratings
Plot Development: 6/10
Character Development: 6/10
World Building: 7/10
Writing Style: 9/10
Overall: 7/10
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One Comment
I wish I could read as much as you
The book sounds alright though, I still have Assassin’s Apprentice e-book somewhere on my laptop, haha.