Mad Ship
From the Liveship Traders Trilogy series
Book 2 of the ASHE Reader series
Book 2 of the Liveship Traders (Paperback) series
Notes
Complex characters: That's what makes a book, for me. Plot is necessary and a good one is obviously best. Believable world building, whether fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, horror, literary or any other genre, is vital.
But complex characters are the engine that keeps fiction going, and Robin Hobb's books have some of the more complex, convincing characters I've ever run across.
In "Mad Ship," the story continues from "Ship of Magic." In it, we keep up with the obsessed Althea Vestrit, frustrated with the limitations of being female in what seems to be an increasingly male-dominated world; convinced she's been robbed of her family's ship and her life, and willing to go to extreme lengths to try and regain them. Brashen Trell, disgraced eldest son of a well-regarded Trader family, waffling between proving himself and just giving up. The mysterious Amber... what is she? He? It? Other than a fine woodworker?
Then there's the pirate Kennit, a man driven by a need to command and control, who dreams of building civilizations but spends his life terrorizing the seas. Wintrow Vestrit Haven, a boy who just wanted to be a priest and lead a peaceful life, kidnapped into a world of hardship and terror.
Malta Vestrit, a girl on the cusp of womanhood, spoiled and selfish, but slammed into a world that makes no sense; who wants to believe in magic and romance but finds those dreams shattered at every turn.
That's just some of the characters who amaze me with their fullness and complexity. I love it when I can't decide whether I like a character or despise them. Are they truly cruel and heartless or are the hints of kindness and grace their real self peeking through? Do we first meet their real selves, or will time reveal them to be something more? Something different.
Most of all are the liveships - sentient sea-faring vessels made of wizardwood - rare and coveted but bound to the families they've served for generations. All of them stand as individuals but the most complex, entertaining, and heartbreaking of them all is Paragon, a ship abandoned by his human family and driven insane by something that caused him to kill his entire crew. Twice. Who spends his time beached for decades, unable to rot, unable to move, despised and bypassed by the city and ships that surround him, unable to live and unable to die.
On top of all those fascinating characters is a fully-formed world wrestling with economic challenges, political intrigue, a rise in slavery, the old versus the new, a mysterious culture tucked away from all the rest....
And sea serpents, who might be sentient but are definitely confused.
And maybe dragons.
God, I love these books. Can you tell?
*****
But complex characters are the engine that keeps fiction going, and Robin Hobb's books have some of the more complex, convincing characters I've ever run across.
In "Mad Ship," the story continues from "Ship of Magic." In it, we keep up with the obsessed Althea Vestrit, frustrated with the limitations of being female in what seems to be an increasingly male-dominated world; convinced she's been robbed of her family's ship and her life, and willing to go to extreme lengths to try and regain them. Brashen Trell, disgraced eldest son of a well-regarded Trader family, waffling between proving himself and just giving up. The mysterious Amber... what is she? He? It? Other than a fine woodworker?
Then there's the pirate Kennit, a man driven by a need to command and control, who dreams of building civilizations but spends his life terrorizing the seas. Wintrow Vestrit Haven, a boy who just wanted to be a priest and lead a peaceful life, kidnapped into a world of hardship and terror.
Malta Vestrit, a girl on the cusp of womanhood, spoiled and selfish, but slammed into a world that makes no sense; who wants to believe in magic and romance but finds those dreams shattered at every turn.
That's just some of the characters who amaze me with their fullness and complexity. I love it when I can't decide whether I like a character or despise them. Are they truly cruel and heartless or are the hints of kindness and grace their real self peeking through? Do we first meet their real selves, or will time reveal them to be something more? Something different.
Most of all are the liveships - sentient sea-faring vessels made of wizardwood - rare and coveted but bound to the families they've served for generations. All of them stand as individuals but the most complex, entertaining, and heartbreaking of them all is Paragon, a ship abandoned by his human family and driven insane by something that caused him to kill his entire crew. Twice. Who spends his time beached for decades, unable to rot, unable to move, despised and bypassed by the city and ships that surround him, unable to live and unable to die.
On top of all those fascinating characters is a fully-formed world wrestling with economic challenges, political intrigue, a rise in slavery, the old versus the new, a mysterious culture tucked away from all the rest....
And sea serpents, who might be sentient but are definitely confused.
And maybe dragons.
God, I love these books. Can you tell?
*****
Amber to Brashen Trell: "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."
*****
A ruler to a woman he'd given to be raped: "I do not see that you took great hurt from it. You are walking and talking... You women make so much of this! After all, it is what men naturally do to women. It is what you were made for.... Rape is nothing but an idea women created, to pretend that a man can steal what you have an infinite supply of. You took no permanent harm from it."
(I hope this f*** comes to a bad end. Maybe a really bad end. With luck, a painful, lingering end.)
*****
Wintrow Vestrit: "You still believe that the evil that befalls another is nothing to you. Let another man be taken slave, let another town be raided, let someone else be slaughtered on the beach right in front of you. It won't matter to you until it's your own throat being slit, and we haven't time to wait for that."