Ship of Destiny (The Liveship Traders, Book 3)
by Robin Hobb
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robin HobbIllustrator: Stephen Youll
Edition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-11-27
ISBN: 0553575651
Number of pages: 800
Publisher: Spectra
Book Reviews of Ship of Destiny (The Liveship Traders, Book 3)
Book Review: Score is for the series as a whole
Summary: 5 Stars
Robin Hobb is a master. In a genre plagued by stories impressive only because of their sheer bulk, Ms. Hobb sticks to the straight and narrow of high fantasy but does it SO well.
With Hobb's books, I started out right. I did not make amateur mistakes of fantasy readership: I read the series (and books in each series!) in order; I did not skim chapters; I read no spoilers. Reading Assassin before Liveship and henceforth Tawny Man I think is the best way to do this.
Subtle as they are, a number of small details in Liveship are explained by the world-building and events in Assassin. Did you find yourself wondering what makes Six Duchies dragons so inferior to Cursed Shore ones? Were you flabbergasted by the nature of Amber the Woodcrafter? There you go. Read the series in order!
My main criticism of Ship of Destiny as a book is that it is dragged down by tonnes of political dialogue between characters. Were I rating this book alone, I would give it a four because of this. [Spoiler: While I do not fault Robin Hobb for the necessity of thoroughly debating the nature of the events surrounding Bingtown's disaster and its subsequent revival, I wish she could have found some way not to take up one third of the final book in the series with boring debate about immigration laws and labour agreements.] I felt like I was sitting in on a boring business meeting half the time. At one point, even Althea agreed with me on this! The Bingtown policies should have been taken care of in a more active way, or pushed back to the second book somehow.
But- when the action and intrigue and unravelling of plot teasers finally did begin in the last three hundred or so pages of the book, I could not put it down, and it took its rightful place at the level of suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat mastery of Mad Ship, Ship of Magic and the Assassin Trilogy.
Let me say that contrary to some of the other reviewers, I had a strong affinity to Althea Vestrit and was pretty much an ecstatic follower of her taboo relationship with Brashen. I really love me some cheesy sexual tension, and this book delivers with that spot on, whereas FitzChivalry's romance in the previous series was slightly less risque and more whingy. If you like these fantasy love story subplots (Richard and Kahlan anyone?), you're in for a treat. Althea's plain awesome; everytime she threw a nice vulgar retort at one of her aggravators I resisted the urge to scream out 'Go, you wayward sailor girl of noble birth!'
Reyn and Malta are another really cool couple, for lack of a better word. I found the transformations undergone by Reyn, Malta and her little brother enthralling but perhaps a tad excessive. Selden's transformations seemed unbelievable (this like six year old suddenly had better diction and vocabulary than myself) and thrown in for want of something for the character to do or be. I would have been happy had he remained a 'seen but not heard' toddler.
Kyle made me very uncomfortable, but he got what was coming to him. One might say, the character was diffused over the course of two books. Kennit made me very uncomfortable too, but his character was layers more complex than Kyle's and I thus enjoyed the navigating of his twisted mind. The liveships Vivacia, Ophelia and Paragon had very spunky, interesting characters and Robin Hobb pulled off the explanation of the mysterious materal wizardwood flawlessly and creatively.
Wintrow sort of bored me. [Spoiler: I do not understand what Amber saw in him that was on a par with the Fool's naming of Fitz as catalyst. I tried to trace important events to Wintrow's decisions, but other than his freeing of She Who Remembers, I thought he was rather less catalystic than others in his family]
Finally, I really, really want to live on an old school merchant ship now. Or be a pirate. Ms. Hobb has awakened a calling in me.
This series is meaty. Read it, then read Tawny Man. Robin Hobb writes excellent three part series. I love that she does not need eleven books to cover a plot.
Summary of Ship of Destiny (The Liveship Traders, Book 3)
In the powerful conclusion to the Liveship Traders trilogy, Robin Hobb weaves the spellbinding story of a once-thriving city on the brink of ruin, a glorious and mythic species on the edge of extinction, and the Vestrit clan, whose destiny is intertwined with both....As Bingtown slides toward disaster, clan matriarch Ronica Vestrit, branded a traitor, searches for a way to bring the city?s inhabitants together against the Chalcedean threat. Meanwhile, Althea Vestrit, unaware of what has befallen Bingtown and her family, continues her perilous quest to track down and recover her liveship Vivacia from the ruthless pirate Kennit.
Bold though it is, her scheme may be in vain. For her beloved Vivacia will face the most terrible confrontation of all as the secret of the liveships is revealed. It is a truth so shattering, it may destroy Vivacia and all who love her, including the boy-priest Wintrow Vestrit, whose life already hangs in the balance....
Robin Hobb concludes her nautical fantasy epic with Ship of Destiny, set in the world of her Farseer series. It lives up to its predecessors, Ship of Magic and Mad Ship in every way: the characters continue to develop, the plot moves swiftly, and the setting is vividly realized.
Again, three generations of Vestrit women are at the heart of the story. Ronica, the matriarch, stands alone against accusations that her family is responsible for the chaos that has overtaken Bingtown. She fights to uncover treachery and maintain the Trader's Council. Her daughter, Althea, sails on the disturbed liveship Paragon, hunting for Vivacia, the Vestrit's liveship, now the flagship of a pirate fleet under Kennit, who is both ruthless and compassionate. Her granddaughter, Malta, has disappeared following an earthquake in the ancient treasure city by the Rain Wild River. Her fiancé, Reyn, and her brother, Selden, are trapped while seeking her. They are rescued by the dragon Tintaglia, whom they helped liberate. Reyn asks Tintaglia's aid in finding Malta, but Tintaglia has her own urgent mission to accomplish, one which will change everything. Hobb weaves these plot threads into an exciting and satisfying conclusion. This is an original trilogy well worth reading! --Nona Vero
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