Reviews with content warning for Sexual violence - Mad Ship

Reviews tagging 'Sexual violence'

Mad Ship by Robin Hobb

20 reviews

lizziaha's review against another edition

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes

4.0

One thing I absolutely love about Robin hobb’s writing is that you get to see how the characters grow and develop—and the exact paths they took to get there. It’s a benefit to having books this long—they’re long enough for her to have room to do that. To have room for Malta to grow out of her childish petulance, and to see how that journey is hastened along by her family’s hardships. Room for Kennit to learn that building up can be just as ruthless as tearing down. Room for a priest to bend his god to another’s will. Room for a ship to remember. The time pushing inexorably on as it molds the characters into new shapes.
And as exquisite as the characterization was, the pacing of the plot was a little off. The most climatic moment of the book (

when Althea baits a sea serpent with a rapist and Malta takes the worst carriage ride of her life

) came a full 100 pages before what is technically the climax of the story. It felt like the book should’ve ended soon after that, and it was hard to garner as much enthusiasm for the second (somewhat less interesting) dramatic event.

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onalark's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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marymayne's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

Another great installment in the Liveship Traders.

I liked this one more than the first. The characters motivations were clearer, making even the bad or wrong decisions feel justified.

The plot was great, continuing the story, adding more twists and turns and unravelling the mystery further. It felt less in this book like bad thing after bad thing was happening, and there was less (although still some) sexual violence - which had felt excessive to me in the first book.

There were some pacing issues as other reviews have mentioned, the 2nd and 4th quarters were great and engaging, but the 1st and 3rd felt super slow, which made it hard to pick up sometimes ~ especially given it is 900 pages lol

Really excited to read the 3rd book!

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ameliabedelia96's review against another edition

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adventurous 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

4.0

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josiah17's review against another edition

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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

5.0

Hobb's writing is finally really clicking with me in this trilogy and I'm very glad. I love how atmospheric her writing is and how it conveys such wonder and magic. Especially when our characters are on liveships.

Speaking of characters, I enjoyed more of the cast this time around in comparison to book one. I loved Althea and Wintrow again, but I started to find Kennit's development really compelling and enjoyable, as well as Etta. Malta was continuously annoying initially, but she might be coming around too based on the last 15% of this book.

Ultimately I think I'm enjoying this series immensely mostly due to the character interactions and seafaring, and how it's all tied together and grounded by such fabulous prose. I love me some good nautical fantasy, and family drama has never been so addicting.

(I also liked this book more than the first thanks to the limited page time for Kyle)

"Half the evil in this world occurs while decent people stand by and do nothing wrong. It's not enough to refrain from evil, Trell. People have to attempt to do right, even if they believe they cannot succeed."

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