lunafrmoon's review against another edition
4.0
Graphic: Child abuse, Drug use, Violence, Blood, Child death, Death, Torture, Slavery, and Misogyny
Moderate: Bullying, Sexual content, and Sexual assault
Minor: Excrement and Suicidal thoughts
barry_x's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I picked up 'Ship of Magic' as a freebie in some online giveaway years ago but never got round to reading it before now.
It's the first book in the second trilogy set in Hobb's 'Realm of the Elderlings' setting and the focus is on seafaring, familial and generational drama with lots of piracy and a fair bit of my favourite word in the world- SWASHBUCKLING! Oh yeah, and living, talking ships - known as liveships.
I think I had only read a couple of Hobb's short fiction set in this universe, probably in one of the G.R.R Martin short story collections and to be honest I wasn't over enamoured, but I have changed my mind and hope one day to read more in this series.
The basic concept of a Liveship is that it is a living ship made of wizardwood which grants the ship sentience. They are intimately bound to their owners who are known as Old Traders - a form of settler colonial merchant class. They purchase the ships from Rain Wild Traders, a class of people afflicted by mutations and magic which take generations to pay back. The ships are immediately knowing to a degree but only truly gain sentience when they 'quicken', an act that only occurs once three generations of the owner's family die on ship. The ship then 'belongs' to a member of the owning family and their thoughts and feelings are inextricably entwined.
I loved the approach to this and the questions it poses. To what degree are the ships sentient? Are they a person and do they have rights? Bound to their owners to what degree can they consent to be built, to sail? Are they a slave to their owner or are they one and the same? What is the nature of love bonded through blood and familial love? It's very clever, it asks the reader to think and consider these thoughts. A ship can be viewed as a tool, a slave, a pet, a lover, a friend, a child and I can't help but feel reading this about how we treat our families and also non-human companions. That the liveships are sentient, well-formed characters in the story is beyond doubt, but the nature of them stayed with me long after reading.
The basic theme of the book is a patriarch dies, hands his liveship over to his son in law, bypassing his daughter who loves the ship. Needing a blood relative on the ship he installs his son, a priest who doesn't want to be there on the ship. The family are suffering financially so, 'hard, economic decisions' take place which impact on the family’s values.
So in effect the son-in-law is painted as a right bastard who sees the ship as a tool, he wants his son to man up and follow in his footsteps. His son has a deep bond with the ship but feels the pull of his profession more. Wintrow the son makes a lot of choices, all logically and morally correct for him, but none of which give him an easier life. I hurt for him, seeing how much trauma he endures, and his deep feelings for the ship is heart-breaking. Imagine loving someone so much with your core being, but knowing it isn't right for you and you need to be someone and somewhere else. It really got to me, pushing them buttons!
His Dad is a right shitbag and every decision he takes is wrong, but he's written so well, every decision he takes makes sense in his eye. I am not saying I have sympathy for him - he's a slaver, he rules with violence and his patriarchal authority in the family shouldn't be challenged, and yet it felt quite uncomfortable when I realised that this horrible villain is consistently doing what he feels is right. That's excellent characterisation because it would be so easy to portray him as an evil villain to be foiled.
Althea, the daughter is so much fun as a character. She's in her late teens, loves her ship intently and goes on a bunch of adventures essentially impersonating a ship's boy to prove her worth as a sailor to get her ship back. A little part of me loved her, and wanted her to succeed, although for such a large part of the book her quest seems to be filler to another story. I really appreciated her control over her sexuality too – whilst the threat of sexual violence is never far away disguised as a boy in a man’s world there is also an unashamed awareness of her sexual needs and desires, but also her control. There is a love interest, but she is not treated as a swooning damsel waiting to be swept off her feet and I loved the maturity in how this relationship was handled. I guess there are a few rather familiar ‘young girl on ship’ tropes in a man’s world but it’s done rather well and with a certain spirit that is really fun and easy to engage with.
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Bullying, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Gore, Death of parent, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Pedophilia and Sexual content
kfox's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Grief, Emotional abuse, Blood, Bullying, Injury/injury detail, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Slavery
Moderate: Death of parent, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Blood, Abandonment, Bullying, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, and Trafficking
Minor: Abandonment, Toxic friendship, Rape, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Torture, and Sexual assault
emily_mh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Child abuse, Slavery, Medical content, Sexism, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Murder, Blood, Animal death, Physical abuse, Confinement, Sexual content, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Drug use, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Ableism
Minor: Alcohol, Child death, Suicide, Excrement, Addiction, Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Body horror, Abortion, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, War, Self harm, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Bullying, Police brutality, Body shaming, Toxic friendship, Torture, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Cursing, and Pedophilia
Moderate content warnings for loss of a loved one, illness, toxic masculinity, eye trauma. Minor content warnings for epidemic, suicidal ideation, a depressive episode, child brides, a stillborn birth, menstruation, hunting, hazing, earthquake, insects.kabrahams's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Drug use, Injury/injury detail, Alcohol, Blood, Child abuse, Slavery, and Violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Bullying
Minor: Sexual assault
rayreyes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Slavery
Moderate: Colonisation, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Murder, Physical abuse, and Sexism
Minor: Alcohol, Bullying, Blood, and Excrement
wolfthorn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Gore, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Slavery
Moderate: Addiction, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Drug use
Minor: Alcohol, Death, Excrement, Gore, Physical abuse, and Violence
toniibelle's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Grief, Death of parent, Death, and Slavery
Moderate: Abandonment, Bullying, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, and Trafficking
aseaoftomes's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
For those of you who don't know me, the Realm of the Elderlings (RotE) is a series that means everything to me. It's impossible to review something I love and adore as much as I do. Anything I say about this book won't encapsulate the overall feeling and story, so I'm not going to do my normal routine (fully).
This is the first book in the Liveship Traders trilogy and the fourth book in the overall RotE series and we follow several characters, mostly from the same family (the Vestrits) with a few exceptions. This takes place in another part of the world - primarily Bingtown in this first book and Bingtown is home to merchant families - traders who own these magical ships called liveships (ships that come to life after the third generation of a family member dies aboard the ship). It's full of feminism, pirates, dysfunctional families, political intrigue of a different kind than we had with Fitz and complex relationships of all kinds.
Every element I normally do in my breakdowns (writing, plot, characters and world building) is just phenomenal. Hobb's characters and world building in particular are some of the best I've read. It's not a simple act of reading these books, you live them.
Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Animal death
Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Drug use, Excrement, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content