Ship of Magic / Robin Hobb

Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been looking forward to this book and returning to the world of the Farseer Trilogy. Imagine my surprise at how completely different this story was. Oh, there was a reference to the appearance of dragons at some point in the recent past, but there was otherwise no overlap.

The Liveships are a wonderful idea—with their frames made from wizardwood, they eventually gain some level of sentience & personality. Once quickened, the ship is able to assist its captain and crew. As the book progresses, we learn more about the mystical bond between a Liveship and the family that commissioned it. Mystery seems to be a detriment to the current situation, as the uninitiated don't appreciate the needs of these amazing beings for a living link to their owners. And it is made clear that there is a definite link between the production of Liveships owned by the Bingtown traders and the Rain Wild River people, with their disfigured faces and their great wealth. There is a mysterious contract which both sides must adhere to, blood or gold.

You can read the book just as a tale of family dynamics, a family business having difficulty with the process of succession, or you can interpret things more deeply. What to make of Kyle Haven, who desperately wants to be a respected patriarch but doesn't realize that control doesn't mean lording it over everyone else in the family. He criticizes Althea as spoiled and then turns around and makes his own daughter, Malta, infinitely worse. A man who is willing to transport slaves and expects slavish devotion from his family & crew. I can't help disliking the man, but also find myself pitying him.

Also interesting are the sea monsters that plague those who sail the oceans. They seem to be merely predators, but we are privy to some of their thoughts in short vignettes and we watch their behaviour shifting during the course of the book. Their ultimate fate (and their relationship with the ship Vivacia) is merely hinted at in this volume.

I will definitely be reading on when I get a chance. What happens to Althea? Does the mad ship Paragon make nice with anyone? Do Althea and Brashen find their way back together? (That's a foregone conclusion, I would guess). What does Malta make of her Rain Wild River suitor? Will Wintrow ever recover some kind of relationship with his family? Or will a pirate conquer the Vivacia's heart?

Hobb leaves us with so many interesting questions. She is very skillful at manipulating my emotions and leading me on to the next book.

Book number 377 of my Science Fiction & Fantasy Reading Project.


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