Reviews with content warning for Death - Mad Ship

What a romp! I loved the character development in this one - watching Malta become an interesting and practical person is so satisfying after the first book. I’m so curious to see where it goes! I’m definitely not as attached to these characters as the Farseer ones (except for Kennit I’m obsessed with him) but I am genuinely interested in the story.

This one does suffer from the middle book curse, and I was never super excited to pick it up, but once I did I was wrapped up in the story wholeheartedly. I love the experience of Hobb’s writing. She makes everything real and desperate and exciting. I’ll probably take a minute before the last instalment but it won’t be too far behind.

I loved the explanations in this one that tie to the Farseer books, namely with Verity and the stone dragon. And watching Amber’s prophecy come true with the release of She Who Remembers ala Wintrow (the nine fingered boy) and the Tintaglia from Malta and Reyn. I’m curious as to Althea’s role in the next book. Where does she go from here? Does she get Vivacia back from Kennit? Will Vivacia even want her back? Will the serpents take her down? Will Wintrow want to return to a monk’s life? Will he and Etta fuck?? So many questions.

Content Warnings

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

genny's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Guhhh.This was just excellent. The full truth about the dragons was slowly unveiled throughout the story; I already understood some of the links from the last book but everything came to light here (The Ringsgold chapter was masterful!). A+ character development, as expected...

Malta. Never have I felt the urge to slap a child as strongly as when I read her POV - but that somehow changed and now all I want is to protect her. I actually feel bad for wishing she would learn a lesson. What?! 😆 I suspect I'll grow infinitely more fond of her in the next book.
Out of all the "people" to be mad at, I found myself annoyed at Vivacia. And then eventually at Wintrow as well, because I hate that they're
siding with Kennit. I understand why, but I still hate it.
Props to Hobb for making me accept a character's motivations even though I disagree with them.
I love all of the Vestrits, but I especially love Keffria and Ronica's brand of quiet yet unwavering resolve. This, after being so irritated by Keffria's naivety in Ship of Magic. Haha.

There's more but I don't want to turn this into an essay on every character. Suffice to say that I love reading about them all (though I can't get over the ickiness of Reyn and Malta's age gap). I'm already sad that there's just one book left - these characters have imprinted themselves onto my heart. And they're not the only good thing about the book! There's worldbuilding, atmosphere, plot threads sewn together flawlessly. 🥰 It's a long read, but not one page was wasted IMO!

Content Warnings

podanotherjessi's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I literally wrote an essay about this book to send to the friends I read it with, so let me parse that down to a spoiler-free review...

The pacing drags in the middle of this book, but the ending makes up for it some.
The characters are fantasic. They're all comples, and they go through such amazing growth. I've seen some of the best character arcs in this series, and there's still one more book to go.
There are wonderful themes in this book that are fun to explore and think about. Slavery is handeled from many angles in a complex way. Identity is a constant struggle, and there's a lot of elements about control in different ways.
I really loved this book, and if it hadn't been so slow, it would be rated higher. Can't wait to finish the trilogy!

Characters: 10
Plot: 7
Setting: 9
General appeal: 8
Writing style: 9
Originality: 9
Ending: 8

Content Warnings

aseaoftomes's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

May 2021 reread

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 second book in the Liveship Traders trilogy and the fifth book in the overall RotE series and we continue to 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 and we also get an added Rain Wild portion. As with the first book, 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.

Content Warnings

achingallover's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Hobb is incredible, and I love this trilogy for all of it's characters but the women really make it. So much here that you gain on a reread and so much slots into place and is set up for the final book. (more detail to follow when I have time)

Content Warnings

More...