Robin Hobb has established herself as one of the masters of fantasy fiction And nowhere is that more apparent than in this powerful, poignant, swas...
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Jun 05, 2008
Nikki
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Jan 05, 2011
Brian
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3/11/04 - 8/10
Book 3:
selden comes out of nowhere. serilla completely changes as well - fccussed on hersulf vs bingtown comes together in a pretty exciting conclusion in last 200 pages. ending a little drawn out (like rotk) and pat, esp compared to farseer. lots of three's company type misunderstandings that all work out in the end.
Series 8/10:
Hobb's second series takes place in the same world as the Farseer series. A couple Farseer characters appear in minor roles, but for the most part th More...
Book 3:
selden comes out of nowhere. serilla completely changes as well - fccussed on hersulf vs bingtown comes together in a pretty exciting conclusion in last 200 pages. ending a little drawn out (like rotk) and pat, esp compared to farseer. lots of three's company type misunderstandings that all work out in the end.
Series 8/10:
Hobb's second series takes place in the same world as the Farseer series. A couple Farseer characters appear in minor roles, but for the most part th More...
Jun 23, 2011
Michelle
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This book is the last in Hobb's Liveship trilogy (though to be honest, it seems to leave many loose ends not satisfactory tied) and as such, it delivers the finale that readers had been expecting for quite some time.
Hobbs sees to focus more on character development than fast-paced action, which is perfectly reasonable except that she tries to bring each character to his / her own seminal moment (turning point) and after breaking them down to a point of no return, recast them into new More...
Hobbs sees to focus more on character development than fast-paced action, which is perfectly reasonable except that she tries to bring each character to his / her own seminal moment (turning point) and after breaking them down to a point of no return, recast them into new More...
Sep 05, 2010
Benjamin
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Robin Hobb concludes her Liveship Traders trilogy in fine fashion, weaving an incredibly vibrant tapestry of pirates, dragons, romance, danger, and political assignation. In particular, the second half of this book is packed full of action as the author deftly maneuvers her characters through rough seas, both literally and figuratively, and brings the entire epic to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion.
Essentially, the book begins, with bringing us up to speed on the three major plots that h More...
Essentially, the book begins, with bringing us up to speed on the three major plots that h More...
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Feb 09, 2010
Chip
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This review is really for the whole trilogy, which I read back-to-back, and so think of as one longer story than three individual books.
So-so at best. In the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies, Hobb had created not only a great, realistic world, but a fantastic narrator in the protagonist. In this new series, she went from first person to third, which I have no problem with, but also shifted from having just on point of view, to having far, far, far too many! There were AT LEAST SEVE More...
So-so at best. In the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies, Hobb had created not only a great, realistic world, but a fantastic narrator in the protagonist. In this new series, she went from first person to third, which I have no problem with, but also shifted from having just on point of view, to having far, far, far too many! There were AT LEAST SEVE More...
Jul 15, 2010
Hazel
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Can't agree with my friends who liked this. I thought it was a disappointing conclusion. Hobb lost control of her characterisation. New characters were flat and old ones inconsistent, and I lost interest in them. I was particularly dismayed to find that the Satrap went to bed one night as a whining, self-centred, childish excuse for a prince, oblivious to his political milieu and woke up the next morning asking relevant questions and demonstrating resolve. (But then Malta had done something simi
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Dec 09, 2011
Lisa
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It's pretty rare that I rate one of the later volumes of a trilogy/series more highly than the first (the only instance I can think of off the top of my head is Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide, the sequels to Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game.) In this case, it's probably because all of the niggling little loose ends Hobb tossed out in the first two volumes got tied up rather neatly, and not just expediently. That said, I still think that she could have trimmed these books substantially and ma
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Oct 28, 2011
Laura
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Jan 16, 2009
Kaelie
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Richly detailed AU, absolutely stuffed with complex characters who change and grow over time in a very refreshing way -- characters I disliked in book one became my favorites by book three, and visa versa.
Great ending to this trilogy, and I was so involved with the characters that I really wanted more. I'm heading directly over to Hobb's next trilogy, which is taking me back to characters I got to know if the first trilogy. Book seven of nine, here I come!
Great ending to this trilogy, and I was so involved with the characters that I really wanted more. I'm heading directly over to Hobb's next trilogy, which is taking me back to characters I got to know if the first trilogy. Book seven of nine, here I come!
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Jul 18, 2011
Věrka
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I shared most of my impressions of this trilogy in the Ship of Magic review. So. At the end, I like how most of things turned our. <spoiler>And most of all - Paragon. And he surely does look dashing now :) But what of Kennit? Not that I really liked him from the beginning, it was evident how manipulative he was, but the stuff with Althea...I still don't know what to think. It kind of defies all logic - although Hobb herself admits that. I'm just not a fan of torturing characters needlessly
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Nov 02, 2011
Cv
rated it: 
Written for the mentally deficient. Yes, this series hit so many of my pet peeves that I'm sure I won't cover them all here. The reason I gave this one star and not two is that it disappointed me so much - you see, the basis of the story is such a good idea and then Robin Hobb ruins it.
There isn't a single twist in the story that the author didn't telegraph. You know what the ships are hundreds of pages before this amazing secret is revealed in twenty-five excruciating pages of multipl More...
There isn't a single twist in the story that the author didn't telegraph. You know what the ships are hundreds of pages before this amazing secret is revealed in twenty-five excruciating pages of multipl More...
Jan 11, 2010
Trickey
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This series was part of a "Best Science Fiction/Fantasy for Female Readers" list I found on the internet. It was also recommended to me by a man go figure.
The very first part of the first book made me think I was going to hate it, but low and behold I finished all three in under a week. While there are definitely strong characters and lots of things to like as a female reader, the author also suffers from a tendency to embellish the writing with the same missives over and o More...
The very first part of the first book made me think I was going to hate it, but low and behold I finished all three in under a week. While there are definitely strong characters and lots of things to like as a female reader, the author also suffers from a tendency to embellish the writing with the same missives over and o More...
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May 27, 2011
Caroline
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Ship of Destiny opens where Mad Ship left off. The Trader Vestrit family is still struggling to keep afloat financially; their problems are complicated by a general collapse of society. The Sartrap (emperor) has disappeared while on a diplomatic mission to their town, they are accused of being traitors, and enemies threaten to invade. Meanwhile, not too far away, Kennit is still attempting to become the legitimate King of the Pirate Isles, using the liveship, Vivacia, which he stole from the
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Dec 12, 2010
Troy
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The Liveship Trilogy suffers from a lack of world building. Some things in the world simply don't make sense, or are unsustainable. Most are just unknown or unseen. The Advantage to having a poorly defined world is that you can make things up as you go along.
That is what I felt when I read the conclusion to this saga. The characters are hit or miss. Some are much more interesting or realistic than other, but the addition of the life cycle of the dragon, new creatures, new pla More...
That is what I felt when I read the conclusion to this saga. The characters are hit or miss. Some are much more interesting or realistic than other, but the addition of the life cycle of the dragon, new creatures, new pla More...
Sep 15, 2010
Jorge
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Jun 16, 2010
Ryan
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This series had potential and lived up to some of it. The maritime theme sets it apart from many other fantasy books and the author added enough believable detail to indicate she knows what she's talking about. I enjoyed the whole serpent/dragon/liveship relationship and the premise that the Rain Wilders created their fantastic wealth by "robbing" a long dead city unbeknownst to the population of the world at large. The first two books were slow but solid and well-written. I never
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Apr 12, 2011
Monderwa
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Jul 12, 2010
Joshua
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This it the third book in the Liveship Traders series by Robin Hobb. Like the previous two volumes, this one was good. All of the various plotlines (and there were many) came together and a generally believable way (I'll get to the hesitation here in a moment) and I really think that the character arcs ended where they should have ended. Nearly everything that happened in the previous two books was set-up for this novel, which takes all of that and ties it all up. By that I mean that there w
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Jul 29, 2011
Mortalform
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A well woven conclusion to the trilogy.
"Recall the old true worship of Sa. Male and female, bird, beast and plant, earth, air, fire and water, all are honoured in Sa and Sa manifests in all of them. If the divine is also female, and the female is also divine, than she understands that woman is more than mother, more than daughter, more than wife. Those are the faucets of a full life, but no single faucet defines the jewel." p22
"...whether a person was what oth More...
"Recall the old true worship of Sa. Male and female, bird, beast and plant, earth, air, fire and water, all are honoured in Sa and Sa manifests in all of them. If the divine is also female, and the female is also divine, than she understands that woman is more than mother, more than daughter, more than wife. Those are the faucets of a full life, but no single faucet defines the jewel." p22
"...whether a person was what oth More...
Jan 16, 2012
Jana
rated it:
Robin Hobbs' "The Realm of the Elderlings', 4 sets of trilogies which include, in order, "The Farseer Trilogy," (which includes, "Assassin's Apprentice, "Royal Assassin, "Assassin's Quest,"); "Liveship Traders Trilogy," (which includes, "Ship of Magic," "The Mad Ship," "Ship of
Destiny"); "The Tawny Man Trilogy," (which includes "Fool's Errand," "Golden Fool," "Fool's Fate,"); More...
Destiny"); "The Tawny Man Trilogy," (which includes "Fool's Errand," "Golden Fool," "Fool's Fate,"); More...
Jun 07, 2010
Kate
rated it:
I'd give it a much higher rating but I hadn't read the first two books and was lost for much of the first third, even though I'd read books of another liveship series. Probably not Hobb's fault that seller didn't clearly mark that it was third of three books. But the fact that I had trouble getting into the story for the first part of the book because I didn't know what was going on (or why I should care about these people) was an issue.
Makes me realize how tough writing a series mu More...
Makes me realize how tough writing a series mu More...
Dec 31, 2011
Diane
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I really loved this book. Lots happened in this book and the author did a superb job of gathering up all the loose ends. I love how Ms. Hobb does such wonderful characters. I had emailed Ms Hobb telling her how much I loved her Farseer Trilogy and how much I was looking forward to reading her Tawny Man Trilogy, which has many of the same characters as her first trilogy. She very nicely suggested that perhaps I might want to read the Liveship Traders books, since they take place in the same world
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Mar 01, 2011
Suz
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Jul 03, 2009
Nikki
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This series took me longer to get into than the Farseer Trilogy, but ultimately, the characters won me over.
I only have a couple complaints. The first is Malta. I don't think I buy that the Malta from the first book and the Malta from the third book are the same person. I know it's supposed to be character growth, but there is very little hint of the original Malta in the character we ended up with.
My other complaint was with how neatly everything was wrapped up in the More...
I only have a couple complaints. The first is Malta. I don't think I buy that the Malta from the first book and the Malta from the third book are the same person. I know it's supposed to be character growth, but there is very little hint of the original Malta in the character we ended up with.
My other complaint was with how neatly everything was wrapped up in the More...
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Jan 07, 2012
Caroline
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Kennit wound up being one of my favorite villains in a fantasy series in a long time, and I actually ended up liking him more than Althea...oops. Great conclusion to the series!
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Jan 31, 2012
Angela
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I was honestly not that excited to start this trilogy after finishing the Farseer trilogy. I felt like I was abandoning Fitz and I just wanted to get through this series fast so I could get back to The Tawny Man and pick up with the characters I loved. Boy was I wrong! It took a little bit to get into the whole idea of the "liveships" and the Rain Wild folk, but once I did, I was completely hooked and could not stop reading until I finished Ship of Destiny. Robin Hobb has such a gi
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Feb 07, 2011
Beth A.
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This series was a lot of fun to read. I loved how the characters had complex motives and frequently made mistakes; that made them more interesting and the plot less predictable. I adored the liveships and their multifaceted personalities.
I thought the magic was intriguing and loved how different this setting was than Fitzchivalry's, although they are supposed to be the same world. I kept searching for connections between the two. The book in this series seemed less hopeless and trag More...
I thought the magic was intriguing and loved how different this setting was than Fitzchivalry's, although they are supposed to be the same world. I kept searching for connections between the two. The book in this series seemed less hopeless and trag More...
Jun 09, 2010
Amerydbaker
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Aug 11, 2011
Hanneke
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Though I like a happy ending as much as the next person, I found this happy ending a bit too happy for a book like this. It's possible that I've read too many books by Joe Abercrombie, but I found it difficult to deal with the <spoiler> too convenient deaths of Kennit and Kyle. Both deaths felt a bit like; Well, I don't need these guys anymore, so *poof* there goes Kennit, and *poof* there goes Kyle. The same goes for the death of Roed. They won't be bothering our good and righteous main c
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Apr 19, 2011
Neil
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Hobb finishes her Liveship Traders trilogy in grand form. This isn't fantasy for readers who can't stomach the dark intrusion of realistic plot elements like slavery, rape, child abuse, subjugation of women, or the effects of such cruelties on their victims. Body image and emotional manipulation are also prominent here, and in every case, Hobb excels at showing how personal affronts become geopolitically relevant as powerful players turn their personal psychodramas into strategy and policy.
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