Hey ForeverBookers,
How are you all doing today? I’m sorry that I seem to have been gone for a LONG time again, but I’ve FINALLY finished “Ship of Magic” book 1 of the “Liveship Traders” trilogy by Robin Hobb! I’m making it sound like I didn’t enjoy it but I really DID! It’s a very long book, not as long as IT by Stephen King but still long, with lots of elements to make it up.
I only read Ship Of Magic for one readathon, which was:
* Reading Rivalry - page points - I read from page 533 to page 880 in May!
* PopSugar Reading Challenge, 2021 - A book featuring three generations - Ephron, Keffria/Altthea and Wintrow/Malta.
* It doesn’t work for any of my left over Cardcaptor-a-thon prompts, unfortunately. My next read will, though!
This adult fantasy is a part of the “Realm Of The Elderlings” series by Robin Hobb. It’s book 1 to the 2nd trilogy of it, the “Liveship Traders.” It follows Althea Vestrit primarily, as she loses her father, Ephron Vestrit near the beginning of the story. What follows on from there is a whirlwind of events that I don’t want to spoil here (I will put some minor spoilers in the spoiler section below). The other characters are just as important in building a good plot. I’d say “Ship of Magic” at least is more a character driven story than a plot driven story, much like the “Farseer Trilogy,” which precedes the “Liveship Traders Trilogy.” However, where they differ is in that of the perspective they’re written in. The “Farseer Trilogy” is written in first person, following Fitz, whereas the “Liveship Traders Trilogy” is written in third person perspective, following lots of different characters set Bingtown, a setting in the Farseer Trilogy, and other surrounding places too. I don’t normally like third person stories, I know I’ve said before in some of my other reviews, but here I didn’t mind jumping from one character to another. We’re sometimes on a ship, following a character and sometimes on land following another character.
Spoilers Below
We start the story following Kennit and Gankis. We learn from about ten pages in that Kennit is a pirate, and that he wants to find his riches. Gankis is a very minor character, only in the book for a few pages.
“Next to himself, he treasured his ship above all other things.”
Kennit values his ship most, after himself. He’s looking for a liveship however, as this is what he thinks will make him look most important. Will he find one? You’ll have to read to find out!
Althea Vestrit is introduced in the second chapter, along with Ephron (her father,) Kyle (the main antagonist) and Brashen, a deckhand that Althea grows close to throughout the story. Other significant characters include Althea’s family, Ronica, her mother, Keffria, her sister, Wintrow, her nephew and Malta, her niece. I found myself intrigued by Wintrow and Malta more so than the other characters maybe because they’re younger. Ronica and Keffria kind of bored me. They’re parts were few and far between though so it wasn’t that bad. As for Kyle, I found him captivating to read about too, as he’s the character we’re meant to hate.
As I wrote in the introduction, Ephron Vestrit dies early on in the novel. It’s Althea’s dream to take on his role as Captain of the Vivacia, his ship and the ship she grew up thinking she’d one day be own. However, her family don’t see this as right because girls weren’t seen as equals to men in those days (“The Realm Of The Elderlings” books are fantasies set somewhere in history). Therefore Kyle takes over the reigns. He’s a nasty man, who only thinks of himself, however. His son for example, Wintrow Haven, wants to become a priest, as he believes that this is his calling. However, Kyle thinks his place should be aboard the Vivacia so he has no choice but to join the crew heading out for Jamaillia, the city where Kyle plans to hire slaves. While aboard the ship, he gets to know the figurehead, Vivacia, herself. These were my favourite parts of the whole book, where Wintrow and Vivacia discussed things happening in the novel. I liked seeing the development of their relationship and I really hope it continues to grow in The Mad Ship, book 2 and “Ship of Destiny,” book 3. Wintrow is thirteen when the novel starts, which is young to know what you want from life, but for him, it isn’t being a part of a ship’s crew. It’s being a priest, as I said above. His father doesn’t agree with this and so forces Wintrow to stay aboard the Vivacia to work as a deckhand. Kyle is quite violent towards Wintrow often when he doesn’t get his way. He can also see that the figurehead of Vivacia gets on well with Wintrow and so uses this to his advantage and tells Wintrow to get aboard the Vivacia and to “help” the ship.
“As she drew near and overheard Kyle’s savagely low tones of anger, it touched a spark off in her as if it were flint against steel. He was berating Wintrow.
“It’s simple boy. There’s the hole, there’s the peg, here’s the catch. Push the catch to one side and shove the peg in the hole and release the catch. That’s all. I’ll hold onto you. You needn’t fear that you’ll fall into the bay, if that’s what’s cowing you.”
The boy’s voice rose in reply, too high still, but gentle, not weak. “Father, I did not say I could not. I said I would not. I do not feel it is my right, nor proper as a servant of Sa for me to make this claim.” Only a slight tremor at the end of this speech revealed how difficult it was for the boy to keep his aplomb.
“You’ll do as I damned well tell you,” Kyle growled. Althea saw his hand lift in the familiar threat of a blow, and heard Keffria gasp out, “Oh, Kyle, no!”
Althea has heard Kyle threaten Wintrow into making the ship quicken, something that Wintrow doesn’t want to do. As I said above, I enjoyed reading about Wintrow’s blossoming relationship with Vivacia. The quickening of a liveship is significant in the books as it’s how the figurehead of each ship comes alive. Kyle is only interested in bringing Vivacia to life, he’s not interested in her happiness or caring for her, as Wintrow becomes.
Another signifcant story within “Ship of Magic,” is that of Malta, Wintrow’s little sister. She is 14 when the book starts, like Wintrow. But her personality is SO different from that of her brother. Where he is devoted to helping others and being kind, she is very much a spoilt little brat. I thought of her like her father, Kyle and Wintrow, like his mother, Keffria throughout. Malta is very selfish. We see this in
“How did one choose, how did a woman know? There were so many kinds, and yet in her whole lifetime, a woman could possess but one. Or two, perhaps, if her husband died young and left her a widow while she could yet bear children. Still, she supposed, if one truly loved her husband, she wouldn’t hope for that to happen, no matter how curious she might be. Still. It did not seem fair.”
Here, Malta is thinking why should she only be with one man forever. Why can’t she have lots? What’s stopping her. This is very much her very spoilt, greedy personality, much like that of her father. This carries on throughout the novel. I’m excited to see if Malta will get redeemed somehow in the later books, and/or series featured in the “Realm of the Elderlings.” That is if she survives the events of the “Liveship Traders” trilogy. Malta has a choice to make towards the end of “Ship of Magic” concerning a certain item of great value to a specific tribe of people. Will she make the right choice or get in further trouble? You’ll need to read to find out...
Malta was one of my favourite characters to read about. I love reading about characters who act like a damsel in distress when they’re really just trying to make everyone else suffer. This description fits Malta perfectly, I feel. She wants and almost demands that Cerwin, a young male character to care about her. Her best friend, Delo is his little sister. Does he? You’ll have to read to find out. All she wants for the latter part of the novel is for her father to return and see that she is really the young Haven with power, I belive.
“I shall be so glad when my father comes home,” she declared sulkily.”
This is Malta, letting Ronica, her grandmother and Keffria, her mother know that she looks up to her father more so than either of them. They might as well not even be there. I thought Keffria was FAR too easy on her daughter. If she’d been a little stricter, Malta wouldn’t have such an attitude problem, I don’t think. But of course, Keffria is the soft sister who just let’s everything happen. She doesn’t ever stand up to her husband, Kyle or even her mother. The closest we get to seeing her confront anyone is Althea over the loss of Vivacia, which she sees as Kyle’s more than anyone else, apart from Kyle himself, who of course sees himself as the righteous and victorious captain!
Althea is the main protagonist, I’d say, which is why I’ve left her until last to discuss. She is very like her father in that she wants to travel the world on Vivacia, which she considers her liveship, NOT Kyle’s or ANY Haven’s. She sees that Wintrow has a bond with Vivacia, much like she does, but still Vivacia was her father’s so it’s only right that the ship go to her, right? Wrong! The ship, it’s decided between a sick Ephron and his wife and Althea’s mother, Ronica will go to Keffria, the eldest daughter who has no interest in sailing, whatsoever. This therefore means that Kyle gets all he’s ever dreamed of, or does he?
“Then as Althea set the bowl and cloth down next to him, she saw the boy take control of himself. In half a dozen breaths, his features relaxed, and for a fleeting instant she glimpsed not only a strong resemblance to her father but to her own image in the looking-glass. It shocked her into silence.” Althea sees herself in Wintrow. I was left thinking here that maybe they might work together, with Vivacia to bring down Kyle. Does this happen? You’ll need to read to find out!
“You were my easy daughter,” Ronica conceded. “Perhaps because of that, I undervalued you. Over-looked you,” is what Ronica says to Keffria, and is what I saw as an apology for not being there for her. She was too busy looking after Althea, to worry about her eldest daughter. I actually think this is very unfair on Althea. How was she to know the ship wouldn’t go to her? I don’t think any of Althea’s blood family or Kyle, obviously, were very nice to her throughout the events of “Ship of Magic.” She always seemed to be the character that nobody cared about.
There are other minor characters that aren’t anything to do with the Vestrits or the Havens as well. Like Paragon, who is a liveship that is marooned on a beach and Amber, the person that wishes to own him. Will she as she isn’t from his family? You’ll need to read to find out! I think that Amber and Paragon will become like Wintrow and Vivacia, relying on each other to succeed in what they need to do. “Ship of Magic” doesn’t really focus on them, but The Mad Ship, book 2, might because Paragon was called the Mad Ship. However there are parts to this book that have me thinking that Vivacia might become a Mad Ship. I don’t know but I’m excited to find out...
“There was no sweeter flattery than the brush of her hand against his chest. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.” His fingers travelled slowly from one head to the next, finding new details of texture and shape.
“From what I’ve heard, the figurehead of a liveship is painted. But when the ship quickens, the figurehead takes on colour of it’s own. As you have. But . . . how? Why? And why only the figurehead, why not all the ship’s parts that are made of wizardwood?”
“I don’t know,” he said uneasily. Sometimes she asked him these sorts of questions. He did not like them. They reminded him too sharply of how different they were. And she always seemed to ask them when he was feeling closest to her.
“Why are you the colours you are? How did you grow your skin, your eyes?”
“Ah. I see.” She was silent a moment. “I thought perhaps it was something you willed. You seem such a marvel to me. You speak, you think, you move . . . can you move all of yourself? Not just your carved parts, like your hands and lips, but your planking and beams as well?”
This is Amber getting to know Paragon. He doesn’t like answering her questions but feels compelled to do so because of a bond they share, much like Wintrow and Vivacia. Amber even goes so far as to offer to buy Paragon, so that she can forever keep him.
“If you buy me and keep me here, I will hate you for ever, and I will bring you ill luck such as you cannot even imagine.”
Paragon is telling Amber here, that he’ll hate her if she buys him. He doesn’t want to be owned, I believe. He wants to be free. What he doesn’t see is that Amber buying him she IS, in reality setting him free. Does she buy him? Is he worth it? You’ll need to read the “Liveship Traders” trilogy to find out. It’s not revealed in “Ship Of Magic.”
Overall, then I LOVED reading ‘Ship of Magic!” There are lots of bits that I’ve left out of this review but if you love adventure with a dash of danger and romance, this is a series for you. I love all three of these things, hence my five star rating. I would definitely advise reading the Farseer Trilogy first, however. No characters overlap here, yet but in the third and fourth trilogies to “The Realm Of The Elderlings,” and maybe the second and third books to the “Liveship Traders,” they do. I’m so excited to read more set in this world over the coming months! I’m reading a contemporary story next to break up the fantasy. I hope I love it! Stand by for my review coming soon!
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