How are you today? I hope you’re well!
I’m so, so, so sorry that you haven’t heard from me in MONTHS!!! Believe it or not, I’ve been reading the same darned book for ALL that time, but it has been a VERY long, dense fantasy so that’s why! Anyway, what book has it been, I hear you ask? — “The Mad Ship” by Robin Hobb — which, I also haven’t loved :( but I never DNF a book, so…I’m sorry if this review is a little all over the place, too. It’s gonna be a long one…I did enjoy the last chapters more than the beginning and middle. They were exciting!
3 Stars!
We’re again on the ocean for the majority of “The Mad Ship.” At the end of “Ship Of Magic,” book 1, I said I hoped that a relationship would develop between 2 characters, Wintrow and the actual Liveship, Vivacia. This didn’t happen, which was a shame. Vivacia really doesn’t have a big role in “The Mad Ship,” which I think was a missed opportunity. She was one of the best characters from book 1 for me. I still think it would have been good if the Vivacia had become a real person through Wintrow’s feelings for her but that doesn’t look like it will happen now. Anyway, a character I DID end up loving in “The Mad Ship” was Malta, Wintrow’s spoilt little sister! When I say spoilt, she’s that way because her father, Kyle, treats her soooooo much better than Wintrow, who he treats like a serving boy! Wintrow is religious so that might be why because Kyle doesn’t want that, and to be honest, Kyle is just a horrible character anyway. Malta never actually is on the ocean for an extended period of time in “The Mad Ship.” She certainly still has her flaws as were evident in “Ship Of Magic,” but I felt sorry for her too, in “The Mad Ship.” She becomes engaged in this second book of “The Liveship Traders,” to Reyn, a 20 something year old boy. Reyn is like hero of “The Mad Ship,” I’d say, although I won’t write why here. He goes through some bad things but ultimately comes out on top! How? You’ll need to read the book to find out! His family are horrible, though. His mother is controlling and his brother is like a Kyle 2.0. I hated both of them! Keffria, Wintrow and Malta’s mother has more of a role to play in The Mad Ship, which was nice to see.
Also another storyline in “The Mad Ship” is Althea, Amber, Brashen and Paragon, the Mad Ship needing to go to save Vivacia, as they don’t know what’s happening to the ship. It’s the Vestrit ship! Not Kyle’s, even though he clearly took it at the end of “Ship of Magic.” Kennit takes control of it at the beginning of “The Mad Ship.” He’s not evil but we question his motives a few times throughout this second book in “The Liveship Traders.”
“The Mad Ship” does become even more fantastical when dragons are involved towards the end of the novel. Now, I’m really not a big lover of dragon books, like I know a lot of people are! They bore me as a creature, if I’m being honest. That might of hindered by like of the book too, slightly.
Lastly, before the spoiler part, Kennit, the pirate that we meet in Ship of Magic, has a large part of the plot. He is on the Vivacia with Wintrow throughout the book.
There are literally so many plot points in the Mad Ship that this review would be VERY long if I covered them all so I’ll just sum up the most significant ones.
Spoilers below
“The Ludlucks are right, Amber. They should sell me to be chopped up.” Despair washed over him, colder and deeper than any storm wave. “I’d like to be dead,” he declared. “I’d just like to stop.
“You don’t mean that,” Amber said softly. He could hear in her voice that she knew he did.
“Would you do me a favour?” he asked suddenly.
“What?”
“Kill me before they can.”
He heard the soft intake of her breath. “I . . . No. I couldn’t —”
“If you were coming to chop me up, you could. I will tell you the only sure way. You have to set fire to me. Not just in one place, but many, to make sure they cannot put it out and save me. If you gathered dry wood, a little each day and put it in piles in my hold . . .”
“Don’t even speak of such things,” Amber said faintly. Distractedly, she added, “I should put the mussels on to cook now.” He heard her scratching at her fire, then the sizzle of wet seaweed on hot coals.”
Paragon, the Mad Ship as the title of the book suggests is worrying about his life. He doesn’t want to be killed. As a liveship there’s only one way to die, through being burnt. He doesn’t want to be burnt, especially by the Ludlucks who don’t care about him. The Ludlucks are minimal characters in the book. There’s a scene where one of the Ludlucks comes to relinquish Paragon to Amber and Althea. I felt sorry for Paragon throughout the beginning of the novel. He’s scared because he thinks that no one cares about him. Amber, however does, as well as Althea. Althea wants to sail on Paragon to save her ship, Vivacia…can she get Paragon to agree to take her?
The Vivacia, Althea’s ship gifted to her from her father, Ephron Vestrit, who died in “Ship of Magic,” is being captained by Kyle Vestrit at the beginning of The Mad Ship. Kyle isn’t a very good captain, however. He looses control to Kennit, the pirate I summed up above. Kennit isn’t necessarily evil or a bad person, like Kyle, but he’s set in his ways. For example, he wants his girlfriend Etta to have a baby. Why? We don’t know in this second book in the trilogy. He wants the baby to be Wintrow’s child as well, not his. Again, we don’t know why. The author sews a lot of breadcrumbs/leaves a lot of unanswered questions in “The Mad Ship,” which will hopefully be resolved or answered in the final book of “The Liveship Traders” trilogy, “Ship of Destiny.” I personally feel like “The Mad Ship” SHOULD have been at least 2 books. It was just too long in my opinion. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but really tedious to read at the same time. Some of the plot was exciting but most of the beginning and middle was very boring, I thought. It didn’t hold my attention, like for example, Sa’Adar, an evil priest like figure being killed and drowned by Kennit. I hated Sa’Adar so his death didn’t need to be described in detail for me.
The best bit of the book for me, came at about three quarters of the way through. This is when the ball that Malta attends happens. This is a coming of age ceremony, that all Trader families like the Vestrit family go through. Reyn Khuprus, Malta’s intended also attends, although he’s late. He doesn’t appear to care about Malta much here because he has issues in his family. As I said above, again, his mother and brother aren’t very nice people. Malta has to dance with the Satrap, something which Davad organises. Davad was a character in “Ship of Magic,” as an alright character. I didn’t love him or hate him there. However in “The Mad Ship,” I did hate him. He becomes controlling and works with the evil Satrap. Why? You can read for yourself. What happens to Davad? Well, let’s just say he gets what he deserves!
Ronica and Keffria also attend Malta’s ball. Ronica doesn’t really have a big role to play in the Mad Ship. Keffria, however has more character. It’s clear she wants what’s best for Malta after they have an accident on the way home from the ball and she saves her. Also, Reyn basically comes and demands that Malta return with him to the Rain Wild lands when Bingtown, the town the Vestrit’s live in is under pillage. Keffria tells her to go with Reyn. She goes too, as well as Selden, Malta’s little brother. Ronica stays in Bingtown. We don’t hear about her again after the pillaging. I wonder if she’ll appear in “Ship of Destiny”?
A part of “The Mad Ship” that I enjoyed was at the end where Wintrow discovered a sea serpent and was bitten by it. I really want Wintrow to undergo a metamorphosis into a sea serpent but I don’t think that will happen. I enjoyed reading this because it was more fast paced than the rest of the book. I also enjoyed Wintrow’s reaction to finding this sea serpent too. He seemed to care about it, which was nice to see.
“It’s gills worked as frantically as its gasping jaws. He did not know how long it could survive with its head out of the water. There was already an air of desperation to the lashing tail. If he could just loosen one more bar, perhaps it could slip back into the pool. It wouldn’t be free, but it wouldn’t be dead.
If he hurried, he might live too.” Wintrow is trying to help the sea serpent escape here. He doesn’t want to die himself but he tries to save the serpent although he still may die. He’s very self-sacrificing as a character, the total opposite to his selfish father.
“Althea met his gaze squarely. She could not show fear. Her mind was racing. Even if she screamed, no one would hear her down here. The ship might be aware of her, but she couldn’t count on Paragon. He had been so weird lately, imagining serpents and floating logs and yelling out sudden warnings that most likely no one would pay attention to him. She would not scream. Artu was looking at her, his little eyes shining. He’d like her to scream, she realized. He and she both knew that when he was finished with her, he’d have to kill her. He’d try to make it look like an accident, falling cargo or whatever. Lop would say whatever Artu told him to say, but Brashen would not be fooled. Brashen would likely kill them both, but she wouldn’t be around to watch him do it.
The cascade of thoughts tumbled through her mind in less than a breath. She was on her own here. She’d sworn to Brashen she could handle this crew. Could she?
“Let’s go, Artu. Last chance,” she told him evenly. She managed to keep the tremor out of her voice.
He backhanded her with his free hand, the blow so swift she never saw it coming. Her head snapped back on her neck. She was stunned for an instant, dimly aware of Lop’s distressed, “Don’t hit her,” and Artu’s, “Naw, that’s how she wants it. Rough.”
His hands scrabbled over her body, pulling her shirt loose from her trousers. Her revulsion at his touch was what brought her back. She struck out at him with all her strength, body punches that he didn’t seem to feel — his body was as hard as wood. He laughed at her efforts and she knew an instant of despair. She couldn’t hurt him. She would have fled then, but his grip on her arms was tighter than a vice, and the disarray of cargo made a quick escape impossible.”
This part of the story I enjoyed because Althea declared herself second in command of the Paragon. Brashen, who is the captain of the Paragon is fine with this. However, some other members of the crew are sexist pigs and don’t think a woman should be second. I enjoyed reading the above where if you keep reading that part of the book, Althea puts one such member, Artu, in his place! It was good to see an empowering woman written about so well!
Below is where the dragon comes into the story, towards the end of the novel. Now, as I said, I don’t like dragons but the one below will have attitude I think. She’ll have something to say, instead of just being a character for a short time, I think anyway.
“Awkwardly she rolled from side to side, trying to get her feet under her. She leaned on her untried wings like crutches, splatting mud with them as she struggled to right herself. She unlimbered a long neck, lifting her head blindly towards the sunlight and opened her mouth as if she could drink the light. Thick white lids crossed her eyes. Her head swayed on her neck as she yearned toward the light. She shifted again, to reveal a long tail bunched beneath her. The remains of wizardwood were vanishing rapidly. The heavy mud was already lapping in to replace it. Reyn watched helplessly. She would be engulfed before she had ever flown.
Then, with a sound like wet canvas unfurling, she raised her wings. Mud smeared them. She flapped them awkwardly, and a heavy reptilian odour wafted over Reyn and the boy. Pulsing veins were outlined briefly in the stretched membrane of her wings. Then, like dye spilled in water, colour flowed through them. Her wings went from transparent to translucent to a rich sparkling blue. As she waved them slowly and unevenly, Reyn could see the strength building in them. She unloaded her eyes suddenly; they glinted silver. She looked at herself. “Blue. Not silver, as I dreamed. Blue.”
“You’re beautiful,” Reyn breathed.
She startled at his voice. She coiled her neck to stare intently at Reyn and Selden. Selden scuttled into the shelter of Reyn’s body. “It’s going to eat us!” he wailed.
“I don’t think so,” Reyn breathed. “But lie still. Don’t move.” The boy remained plastered against his side. Reyn slowly put an arm over Selden to reassure him. He kept his own eyes fixed on the dragon.”
This, the main fantasy element of “The Mad Ship,” other than the talking liveships, which appear in book 1, comes in at the end, but it’s spoken about throughout in pretty much all of Reyn’s parts of the book. He knows there are dragons, however his mother and brother are convinced there aren’t. This is again another point of contention in the novel. Reyn keeps arguing that dragons exist, when his family members are adamant there aren’t any. However, are they lying? I’m not sure if we’re meant to trust Jani, his mother. His brother, Bendir, is another controlling, evil character, I believe.
Well, overall I didn’t hate reading “The Mad Ship” but I didn’t love it, either. As I said above, it was too long in my opinion. It took too long to read. The book had a lot, maybe too much depth and plot. I didn’t think EVERYTHING that was a part of the story was necessary, like, the description of some deaths. Just tell us the characters died. We didn’t need whole chapters dedicated to them.
I’m going to read a contemporary novel next, while it’s still summer! The Mad Ship took too long to read so I just want something that’s quick and easy. I might not review it in depth, I don’t know but I’m excited to read it as it’s a book I’ve wanted to read for YEARS. Want to know what it is…wait and see! A clue, the main girl character has the same name as me, Hannah! I promise it won’t take as long to read as The Mad Ship did!
Speak to you then!
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