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sironigiri's review against another edition
5.0
What an amazing book.
Hobb have really improved everything from the first farseer trilogy.
Worldbuilding, characters I think even the prose have stepped up.
All characters are interesting, all are flawed and you get sucked into their unreliable perpective so easily. Often needing other characters to show you what is not told.
The story is the bestk ind of slow-burn where it takes it's time but you learn something interesting every chapter. A lot of things are seeded in a very interesting way.
Finally! I think this is the best book I've ever read when it comes to broken home or abusive relationships and slavery. Both subjects are handled in a way that chilled me to the bone and makes the issue bury itself deep into your conciousness. Perfect moments that I will keep with me forever. Read this book!
Hobb have really improved everything from the first farseer trilogy.
Worldbuilding, characters I think even the prose have stepped up.
All characters are interesting, all are flawed and you get sucked into their unreliable perpective so easily. Often needing other characters to show you what is not told.
The story is the bestk ind of slow-burn where it takes it's time but you learn something interesting every chapter. A lot of things are seeded in a very interesting way.
Finally! I think this is the best book I've ever read when it comes to broken home or abusive relationships and slavery. Both subjects are handled in a way that chilled me to the bone and makes the issue bury itself deep into your conciousness. Perfect moments that I will keep with me forever. Read this book!
thesuperiorlot's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
acereviews's review against another edition
adventurous
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
feckless_dullard's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
lewisct's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
keairarose's review against another edition
3.5
FINALLY OMG ... this took me so so sososossosososo long.. I mean it is 830 pages but thats LIGHT WORK for me, there were many times where I was like okay lets move on then other POVs where I was super engaged.
Overall I was more engaged than not so 3.5 because I really love Althea and I want to see her thrive
Overall I was more engaged than not so 3.5 because I really love Althea and I want to see her thrive
brynalexa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Brilliant! Everyone I’ve heard say that this trilogy is the worst of the Elderling group is wrong! 😅
The character work is amazing- you hate every character at one point or another but you know why they are the way they are.
The way Hobb takes on slavery, greed, coming of age, passion, religion, and probably other themes I’m not remembering, is expertly crafted.
When I first started I thought “why is she writing about men again?!” But she isn’t 😀
The ending was wrapped up so smoothly with a lot left to ponder on for the next book.
The character work is amazing- you hate every character at one point or another but you know why they are the way they are.
The way Hobb takes on slavery, greed, coming of age, passion, religion, and probably other themes I’m not remembering, is expertly crafted.
When I first started I thought “why is she writing about men again?!” But she isn’t 😀
The ending was wrapped up so smoothly with a lot left to ponder on for the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
seekerxr's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I struggled heavily with this book. My enjoyment of the Farseer Trilogy vs my enjoyment of this book is like day and night. I can honestly say there was only one POV character that I actually genuinely liked, and all the rest fell on a scale of disliked to actively loathed. This entire book just felt like a constant cycle of 'good guys' going through it with no end in sight, which was depressing and boringly repetitive to a reader, and 'bad guys' doing bad things and somehow getting away with it every single time, to which I have the same complaint.
Wintrow, I liked. I liked that he tried to stick to his ideals and to who he really was despite everything he went through. I wish he had been firmer and maybe a bit more ruthless if only to keep people from using him, but he is only 13/14 so I understand why he couldn't really do that yet. Hated where his story went.
Althea, I flipped between sympathizing and being incredibly annoyed with her. Yes she was naive and inexperienced but I felt like even passively acknowledging that would let all the sexist jerks in the story win so I was at a crossroads. She made some stupid decisions that I think she should've known better than to, but she's also only 18 and somewhat spoiled. I'm conflicted on my final feelings on her.
Everyone else, I really didn't like. Breshen was insufferable, Ronica had all the wisdom to know better and chose not to, Keffria was spineless when she didn't have to be she literally CHOSE to, and Malta was especially irritating and had me disgusted at her even though she's the youngest cast member at only 12 and should've gotten leeway from me. She didn't. She's an awful person and I hated being in her head, even though her scenes were actually interesting sometimes. I actually liked Kennit more than most of the 'good' characters because being in his head was interesting. He never acts like anything else other than who he is, at least in his own head. He's not interested in being a good person, just acting like one so he can get what he wants.
The lore was pretty much the only thing that had me pushing through until the end. I want to get back to Fitz and the Fool and I know there's lore I just can't miss in this book that I need to continue the story. Otherwise I would've DNFed. Even though there were parts I actually enjoyed, which earned this book its 3.25, I was still heavily skimming by the end and just wanting it to be over.
I honestly have no clue how I'm going to get through the rest of this trilogy.
Wintrow, I liked. I liked that he tried to stick to his ideals and to who he really was despite everything he went through. I wish he had been firmer and maybe a bit more ruthless if only to keep people from using him, but he is only 13/14 so I understand why he couldn't really do that yet. Hated where his story went.
Althea, I flipped between sympathizing and being incredibly annoyed with her. Yes she was naive and inexperienced but I felt like even passively acknowledging that would let all the sexist jerks in the story win so I was at a crossroads. She made some stupid decisions that I think she should've known better than to, but she's also only 18 and somewhat spoiled. I'm conflicted on my final feelings on her.
Everyone else, I really didn't like. Breshen was insufferable, Ronica had all the wisdom to know better and chose not to, Keffria was spineless when she didn't have to be she literally CHOSE to, and Malta was especially irritating and had me disgusted at her even though she's the youngest cast member at only 12 and should've gotten leeway from me. She didn't. She's an awful person and I hated being in her head, even though her scenes were actually interesting sometimes. I actually liked Kennit more than most of the 'good' characters because being in his head was interesting. He never acts like anything else other than who he is, at least in his own head. He's not interested in being a good person, just acting like one so he can get what he wants.
The lore was pretty much the only thing that had me pushing through until the end. I want to get back to Fitz and the Fool and I know there's lore I just can't miss in this book that I need to continue the story. Otherwise I would've DNFed. Even though there were parts I actually enjoyed, which earned this book its 3.25, I was still heavily skimming by the end and just wanting it to be over.
I honestly have no clue how I'm going to get through the rest of this trilogy.
nnnamiko's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
lauraeydmann82's review against another edition
4.0
I have read these books before, a long time ago, but fancied reading them again, especially as I have the new books by Robin Hobb which are part of this world. I only remember bits of the books, so this was a good re-read.
The book takes place in a mystical world where a substance called wizardwood is used to make ships. These ships have figureheads that come alive or “quicken” after 3 generations of a family die on the decks. They also take on the personalities and memories of the 3 generations. They are owned by Trader families in Bingtown, and apart from the mystical fantasy element of the story, there is also a lot of politics with agreements between the Bingtown traders and other cities, whether or not slavery should be made legal, as well as the pirates who roam the shores.
We follow the story of the Vestrit family whose Liveship is quickened very early in the book. There are problems within the family straight away as we realise the boat has been bequeathed to the eldest daughter’s husband and tension’s begin to rise. The boat goes off on her maiden voyage as a Liveship with tensions onboard and an unhappy figurehead.
At home, we see the rest of the family dealing with the problems of debt, and an unruly teenager who gets herself in trouble by lying to both her grandmother and mother, and becoming the love interest of a Rain Wild Trader. The Rain Wild Traders are a strange and mysterious people who moved up the Rain Wild River and have become disfigured and unable to live for long.
Finally we also follow the story of Kennit the pirate, who wants to be King of the Pirate Isles, and plans to fulfil this by stealing a Liveship…
A good start to the trilogy, I really like these books, the characters are easy to believe and likeable. The mythology behind the books, the lore of the wizardwood, the Rain Wild Traders and the weird sea serpents which follow the liveships and eat the dead slaves thrown from the ships, is really interesting and I’m looking forward to the next book.
The book takes place in a mystical world where a substance called wizardwood is used to make ships. These ships have figureheads that come alive or “quicken” after 3 generations of a family die on the decks. They also take on the personalities and memories of the 3 generations. They are owned by Trader families in Bingtown, and apart from the mystical fantasy element of the story, there is also a lot of politics with agreements between the Bingtown traders and other cities, whether or not slavery should be made legal, as well as the pirates who roam the shores.
We follow the story of the Vestrit family whose Liveship is quickened very early in the book. There are problems within the family straight away as we realise the boat has been bequeathed to the eldest daughter’s husband and tension’s begin to rise. The boat goes off on her maiden voyage as a Liveship with tensions onboard and an unhappy figurehead.
At home, we see the rest of the family dealing with the problems of debt, and an unruly teenager who gets herself in trouble by lying to both her grandmother and mother, and becoming the love interest of a Rain Wild Trader. The Rain Wild Traders are a strange and mysterious people who moved up the Rain Wild River and have become disfigured and unable to live for long.
Finally we also follow the story of Kennit the pirate, who wants to be King of the Pirate Isles, and plans to fulfil this by stealing a Liveship…
A good start to the trilogy, I really like these books, the characters are easy to believe and likeable. The mythology behind the books, the lore of the wizardwood, the Rain Wild Traders and the weird sea serpents which follow the liveships and eat the dead slaves thrown from the ships, is really interesting and I’m looking forward to the next book.