Liveship Traders Review: A Nautical Fantasy Epic Adventure

Ship of Magic

After reading (and thoroughly enjoying) Robin Hobb’s first fantasy trilogy, Farseer, I was interested in checking out her next three books, which comprise the Liveship Traders. While Liveship Traders takes place in the same world as Farseer, besides a few mentions to events that occurred to the north, there is so far no connection between this first book, Ship of Magic, and those that came before it.

Ship of Magic features an entirely different cast of characters, a different magic system, and even has a different feel than Farseer. While Farseer took place in a medieval-type setting (which is common for many fantasy books), Ship of Magic is a nautical fantasy adventure. It’s definitely a bold decision by Hobb to decide to write such a different type of novel after the success of that first trilogy.

It was a wise decision though. I haven’t read too many pirate stories, but I’d still boldly allege that this is likely one of the best (if not the best) fantasy books centering around characters on ships ever written.

As with her prior books, Hobb’s gift for writing fantastic characters stands out. While Farseer really told Fitz’s story and we followed him throughout, Ship of Magic goes back and forth between several characters. Kennit, the villainous yet charming pirate captain, Wintrow, a young priest-in-training, and Althea, our heroine who stands to inherit the magical family ship (or so she hopes), are all outstandingly written. These are some of my favorite characters I’ve read in quite a while.

Ship of Magic is a long novel; the edition I read was 880 pages. It definitely didn’t feel too long to me though since we’re switching between several different stories. The novel reads almost like the excellent first season of a great new TV show. 

I thoroughly enjoyed Ship of Magic. It leads into the next book in the series – there’s not exactly a cliffhanger, but things definitely aren’t resolved, so this isn’t a stand-alone book. I understand that some readers might be intimidated by the length of the Ship of Magic, but I found it to be well worth the effort.

Grade: 9/10

The Mad Ship

In the first Robin Hobb trilogy I read each of the three novels featured the same characters, but the books individually very much stood on their own. With Liveship Traders, now having finished the second book of the three, I can say that’s not the case at all here. The Mad Ship picks up right where Ship of Magic left off and is a direct continuation of that story. 

I have yet to read the final book in the series (I write each review after finishing each book and then publish all three at once), but it seems as though Hobb basically wrote a three-thousand-word epic and then just broke it out into three novels so that the story could be somewhat easier to read. I say somewhat easier because a novel this long can be unwieldy, particularly when you’re near either the beginning or end of the story and you’re trying to hold this massive number of pages off to one side.

The Mad Ship is every bit as good as Ship of Magic. As with Ship of Magic, Hobb isn’t in a rush to tell her story. It’s a detailed book with fully explored characters. I think some readers will find the novel to be somewhat faster paced than its predecessor. That’s largely because we jump right into things here because we know all the characters already from the first book.

I feel basically the same about the high quality of The Mad Ship as I do of Ship of Magic. It’s great second book in what I hope I’ll be able to say is an excellent epic after I complete the third title.

Grade: 9/10

Ship of Destiny

Ship of Destiny is a fitting final chapter to Hobb’s Liveship Traders. As with the second book in the series, this final volume picks up right where we left off. If you’ve made it this far in the trilogy, I suspect that you’ll be satisfied with its conclusion.

I’ve always thought that Hobb’s strongest aspect as a writer is the depth of her characters and that’s further evident here. By the time you’ve reached Ship of Destiny, you’ll have already spent several hundred pages with this cast, but I never felt tired of them; I was only more curious where each of their journeys would take them (both literally, and in terms of each character’s personal self-development). 

Ship of Destiny is a long book, but it never feels boring. Since we’re following a large cast that we go back and forth between, the length feels merited. Unlike some books with a lot of characters, I never felt like any of the storylines were lacking when compared to one another. I was never anxious to just get back to a certain storyline that I liked more than the others.

I do, however, have two major complaints with the book. I need to venture into spoiler territory here, but I’ll try to keep things a little more vague. The first issue I took with Ship of Destiny involves how easily and quickly an antagonist is dispatched mid-book. Bolt seems like she’ll be a major threat, and that she’ll be crucial to the course of the story, but the way things are wrapped up with her comes across as both a bit sudden and unearned, especially after she was set up to be so powerful.

My biggest gripe with the books involves a major plot point that Hobb uses to set up Kennit as a major adversary to Althea. Hobb creates the dynamic between the two characters (and Althea’s bitter hatred of Kennit) by employing a fantasy trope that I would rather she have not employed. It just took me out of the overall fun, fantasy adventure feeling of the rest of the story. I understand why Hobb took the route she did, but I wish she would’ve done something different with the characters to set them up as enemies and to put a strain on Althea’s relationships with other characters.

Despite these issues, I still found Ship of Destiny to be a great novel. Hobb is a fantastic writer and I enjoyed the conclusions for just about all of the main characters. Overall, Liveship Traders is an excellent fantasy trilogy with some of the best characters I’ve ever read that also features a unique maritime setting. I’d definitely recommend it for anyone with any interest in fantasy books. 

Grade: 8.5/10