Mad Ship

The Liveship Traders, Book 2

By: Robin Hobb

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

As the ancient tradition of Bingtown's Old Traders slowly erodes under the cold new order of a corrupt ruler, the Vestrits anxiously await the return of their liveship - a rare magic ship carved from sentient wizardwood, which bonds the ships mystically with those who sail them. And Althea Vestrit waits even more avidly, living only to reclaim the ship as her lost inheritance and captain her on the high seas. But the Vivacia has been seized by the ruthless pirate captain Kennit, who holds Althea's nephew and his father hostage.

Althea and her onetime sea mate Brashen resolve to liberate the liveship - but their plan may prove more dangerous than leaving the Vivacia in Kennit's ambitious grasp.

©1999 Robin Hobb (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The novel is tightly written, with few passages not devoted to characterization, world building or action. Again, Hobb gives high fantasy a salty nautical spin that will please a great many [listeners]." ( Publishers Weekly)

"Each volume in this series is a major undertaking, but those who enjoy original, epic fantasy, characters who grow and change believably, and fine writing will not want to miss The Liveship Traders. (Amazon.com review)

Enlightening!

Enjoyed this book. Again this series is stirring the memories I have of the Rain Wild Chronicles because I read that series first. I need to find this last book so I can absorb it as well. I so enjoyed the many characters of this book. I feel as though I am reliving their very lives.

This is fun

This is a really fun series and I'm having a lot of fun listening to it.

really enjoy the story

I've been eating up the books since reading the first series and am enjoying it.

Unexpectedly fun.

More than pirates and ships! I usually run away from the genre but the series continues to surprise me. It is a great continuation within this world. I recommend reading the books in the order they came out. I made the mistake of skipping over these to dive back into the continuation of the Fool. Don’t.

Pro tip - some people complain about the narrator, which I agree is a stylistic theatrical linguistic approach that is too slow and affected. I increased the playback to x1.10 and it reads much better for my patience.

I'm not finished but I'm already giving 5 stars.

I may need to edit this review when I finish the book, but I have every confidence in Hobb to do a good job with this series after finishing Ship of Magic. I almost never review a book before it's finished but I wanted to comment while this chapter is fresh for me.

I'm reading chapter 7 and just as I was thinking how fkn annoying Malta is as a character, seeing her thoughts and actions juxtaposed against her grandmother is just so hilarious. In my review of Ship of Magic I explain that this series does everything I was hoping to get from the Farseer trilogy. I was largely unsatisfied with those three books, but I'm so glad I continued on with this series.

Everything about chapter 7 is so funny I restarted the chapter and am listening to it again. It feels like Hobb has such a great command of nuance between each of her characters. She can so deftly switch between each of their motivations and perspectives it's very enjoyable to experience for the first time.

Even in consideration of the introduction of the POVs from the sea serpents, the Satrap, and the Rainwilds characters the book remains super comprehensible and connected while expanding the world in interesting ways. I'm super excited to continue on with this series and I don't expect to need to come back and change my review.