The Mad Ship

Llegó bien empaquetado y en perfecto estado.

After I read "Ship of Magic" for this first time I was conflicted. I loved the writing style and the story but couldn't stand some of the characters. In fact, I hated them so much that I made it about one fifth of the way through "Mad Ship" before putting it down for something happier.But then months later the rain wilds chronicles came out and I was too curious to pass them up and knew I needed the back story of the Liveship Trader Trilogy to really understand it. So back I went to all three books.This time I discovered that the characters I couldn't stand so much weren't much of an issue in "Mad Ship" which primarily follows three members of the Vestritt family. There is Wintrow, onboard the captured and newly awakened family liveship Vivica (who is being successfully wooed by the charismatic pirate Kennit) walking a fine line between being a captive of or for admiration of the pirate, who freed him from the slavery his own father bought him into. Malta, his sister, who is enjoying her first courtship in Bingtown-even if it from a Rain Wilds man she may have no choice to marry to save the family financially after the loss of their liveship. And Althea, who always expected to inherit her father's ship, hatches the most daring plan of all with the Vicica's former first mate Brashen, to take the abandoned and blind liveship Paragon-who killed two of his crews and is mentally unstable-out to find Vivica and attempt to ransom her back or recapture her.At the same time political strife is stirring with Bingtown's homeland as their leader, a young and foolish man, prepares to visit the colony. Up the strange rain wilds river the origins of the fantastically strong wizardwood liveship are constructed out of is hinted at. In Bingtown itself trouble is caused by the increasing slave population. A strange prophetess with a way with wood befriends Althea and Malta and joins on to save Vivica. And the sea serpents continue their mysterious but all important search for both "she who remembers" and an illusive goal none of them can quite recall-but know the absolute importance of all the same...This is really a great book and only enhances the mystery and overall excitement of the trilogy further. It's every bit as wonderfully descriptive as "Ship of Magic" in both landscape, history and characters but fortunately some of the more hateful characters have way less face time in this novel, or actually manage to grow a little so you don't feel like smacking them. I enjoyed this immensely and raced eagerly towards the third.Five stars. And have the last book "Ship of Destiny" ready at hand-the ending is such you won't want to waste any time.

This is one of those books where you just want to bang a couple of characters upside the head and shout, "Will you two just hop into the sack and get it over with!" Other than a certain frustration with the romantic pace, "Mad Ship" is hypnotic reading. Even for someone who has to wear an anti-nausea patch on her neck on a slow old tub of a ferry and who would certainly not care for weevils in her biscuits, author Robin Hobb makes me want to sing: "Whate'er the final harbor be /'T is good to sail upon the sea!"There are no final harbors in "Mad Ship" as it is the second book in the trilogy "Liveship Traders." All of the characters who survived "Ship of Magic" are further developed, even (or most especially) the sea serpents who finally sort out who they are, but not where they're going---they don't actually figure that out until Book III. As I said, there are no final harbors in the middle book, just lots of pain and suffering and personal development. The main character from Book I, Althea Vestrit develops the least, merely bangs about on the high seas in an attempt to return to her liveship, Vivacia with whom she had mystically bonded. Vivacia herself falls in love with the pirate king ('it is it is a wonderful thing...') Kennit who has captured her. The pirate is also holding Althea's nephew, Wintrow (the somewhat wimpy would-be priest) hostage, along with Wintrow's hateful father (who doesn't develop at all, just remains despicable through all three books).Althea's niece Malta, who was an absolute bitch (she could have played one of the Plastics in "Mean Girls") in Book I grows remarkably interesting in "Mad Ship," mainly through losing her father, her family's fortune, and (almost) her life. She has to flee Bingtown and live with the mutant Rain Wild River Traders in their tree houses and sunken Elder city. Here there be dragons and other fascinating creatures, and Malta and her brother Selden survive quakes, cave-ins, hallucinations, a whiny Satrap, and (in Malta's case) true love.Paragon, the mad ship of the title unwillingly sails again, still uttering an occasional threat to murder his crew--not idle talk on his part as he did kill his first two crews. He tangles with the sea serpents, and with all of us readers who finally begin to realize what live ships really are. Author Robin Hobb brings it on slowly through 850 pages, but does not spoil her climax with too many hints.Sail on, dear Reader to Book III, "Ship of Destiny." You won't be needing your anti-nausea patch.

Ursprünglich hatte ich nur nach etwas gesucht, das mir die Zeit bis zum Erscheinen von George R. R. Martin’s neuem Buch der "Song of Ice & Fire“-Saga vertreiben würde, dabei bin ich jedoch (via Amazon-Empfehlungen) über die "Liveship"-Trilogie gestolpert. Ich bin nun inzwischen –viel zu schnell, wie mir scheint- in der Mitte des 3. Bandes angelangt, und ich liebe es noch genauso wie von der ersten Seite an! Robin Hobb's Tempo ist nach wie vor unvermindert hoch, dennoch nimmt sie sich genug Zeit, um ihren vielen Charakteren (es dürften so um die 10 Hauptcharaktere sein) diese wunderbare Tiefe zu geben. Diese sind durch die Bank vielschichtig und interessant, und sie entwickeln sich weiter- es ist vollkommen unmöglich, sie in "Gut“ und "Böse“ zu unterteilen, und gerade dies macht sie so realistisch."Ship of Magic", Buch 1, ist sozusagen die Einleitung, in der die Charaktere vorgestellt werden und die Story aufgebaut wird, "Mad Ship" ist Buch 2 und das Buch der Wendepunkte, nach dem nichts mehr so sein kann wie es einmal war, und "Ship of Destiny" ist das Buch der Auflösungen, in dem sich die Schicksale der einzelnen Charaktere erfüllen- sowohl in die eine als auch in die andere Richtung.Daß ich solch eine reiche Fantasy-Welt vorfinden würde, damit hatte ich trotz der positiven Bewertungen wirklich nicht gerechnet. Die Handlungsfäden ziehen sich im Laufe der Reihe immer weiter auseinander, sind aber dennoch miteinander verbunden, so daß es einem nicht schwerfällt, den einzelnen Charakteren auf ihren Abenteuern zu folgen. Besonders gefällt mir, wie nach und nach das Geheimnis um die Liveships gelüftet wird- das ist einfach wunderbar gelungen.Lebensnahe Charaktere, faszinierende Fantasy-Welten, und das alles auch noch mitreißend geschrieben- Fantasy-Fans kommen um diese Bücher nicht herum. Nachdem ich jahrelang aus Mangel an interessantem, originellem Lesestoff der Fantasy-Sparte ferngeblieben bin, bin ich nun wirklich begeistert, zuerst George R. R. Martin und nun auch noch Robin Hobb entdeckt zu haben. Und das Beste ist: die "Farseer“-, "Tawny Man“- und die neue "Soldier Son“-Trilogien liegen alle noch vor mir!Ein Wort noch zu Martin (da die beiden ja oft zusammen genannt werden): im direkten Vergleich zur "Ice & Fire"-Saga würde ich sagen, daß die "Liveship Traders"-Reihe genauso reich und interessant, allerdings weniger dunkel und negativ ist. Während Martin's Hauptcharaktere seit 3 Büchern ständig vom Regen in die Traufe kommen, gibt es bei Robin Hobb hin und wieder auch mal kleinere Lichtblicke. Qualitativ stehen sich beide Autoren in nichts nach.

Robin Hobb's Liveship series is one of my all-time favorites. The characters are compelling and the story and action are unmatched. I've tried other fantasy fiction and always come back to this series, like a comfortable old friend. I've reread it multiple times. This is book two in the series: Ship of Magic is the first, followed by Mad Ship and finally Ship of Destiny. But there are links to the characters in Hobb's other series including the Farseer books and the Dragon Keeper series. Together, these volumes lead you into an amazing world of Human strengths and failings, sinister evil forces and animals that are key to much of the narrative. Her writing is meticulously spot on, engaging and detailed. If you are looking for hours of thrilling fantasy entertainment, this is the series to read.