Mad Ship (The Liveship Traders, #2)
About the book
Author: Robin Hobb
Publisher: Del Rey (most recent paperback edition)
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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My review
Dare I say every fantasy reader loves a pirate story? It’s true for me, at least! After thoroughly enjoying the Farseer trilogy and then loving the multi-POV, higher-stakes story in Ship of Magic, I thought I knew what I was in for. Reader, I did not. And you know what? I’m starting to understand that that’s a theme with Robin Hobb.
Mad Ship takes place not long after Ship of Magic leaves off. There are so many incredible characters, and I was deeply impatient to reunite with each of them (especially Althea and, separately, Brashen). In this book, the stakes get higher and higher and the Vivacia gets further and further away from who she would have been had she not been sundered from her family (save Wintrow). But more than that, this installment makes it clear that the Liveship Traders trilogy is not only about pirates and dragons, but also (perhaps more so) about the dangers of capitalistic greed, slavery, and the assumption that one living being can or should control another.
This book was BONKERS, y’all. Gone is my assumption that Hobb’s books start slowly and only end with a bang. This one had me captivated at every turn. And as I mentioned above, I had no idea what I was in for. Hobb’s ability to write a plot that is constantly surprising and yet also feels inevitable is unmatched in any other author I have ever read. I don’t mean plot twists, although there are certainly some of those. I mean, more simply, that things just never, ever seem to go the way I (or any seasoned reader) would expect them to. If you have an inkling that she’s setting something specific up to happen down the line, you will be wrong every time. This makes for such a fun and refreshing reading experience!
I also can’t help but marvel at her skill in the small moments, too. Any quiet, emotional conversation between two characters will deepen our understanding of those characters and raise the stakes of the plot all in one go. They’re the kind of scenes that make you go “WHEW.”
No spoilers, but I am absolutely at the edge of my seat to learn what will happen with Bingtown and Jamalia’s faceoff, and what will happen with the magical beings up the Rainwild River and out upon the seas. I can’t wait to read Ship of Destiny!
Content and trigger warnings
Rape (off-page)
Slavery
Violence and death
Drug use
