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Amazon.co.uk Review
This is one of the most satisfying heroic fantasies of recent years, simply because it is about difficult choices and complex emotions, while Hobb's tight plotting and fast-moving storytelling are fascinating in their own right.--Roz Kaveney
Amazon.co.uk Review
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Customer Reviews
The setting, slightly outside the normal run of high fantasy, is clearly inspired by colonial America. The pioneer Trader families have prospered for several generations in the bustling entrepot of Bingtown, thanks in large part to commerce undertaken with the Liveships - magical, self-aware vessels built of a particular wood only found upriver from Bingtown, crafted for the Traders by their mysterious kin who live there. But theirs is, naturally, a precarious existence in a frontier land. They are dependent upon trade for much of their food and other supplies, and remain politically subordinate to their former homeland; the society that has developed in response to the challenges is a deeply conservative one; and there are other opportunists who desire the same chance at making their fortune, who are willing to use slave labour to get it.
The concerns, then, are familiar ones; this is all about a society in the painful throes of transition, forced to confront issues of privilege, hierarchy, and access to power. This is played out in a number of ways, one of the most pointed and nuanced being the status of women, as expressed through a diverse range of major characters. There is Althea, who dreams of captaining her family's new Liveship, but finds herself out in the cold when the inheritance goes to her brother-in-law, the new man of the house; her sister Keffria, torn between being a good Trader wife and the desire to protect her children; her mother Ronica, struggling with the loss of status brought on by widowhood; Etta, a former whore who finds a whole new world opening up to her as she learns to read; and many others. All of them are beautifully-drawn, fully-rounded individuals, filled with dreams but mired in mistakes; they are individuals with their own compelling stories who each embody a facet of who women are and can become in this world.
Leaving aside the specifics of the plot, the third and final volume is a more than worthy conclusion to a complex, magical, multi-layered saga - and confirms again my belief that nothing can quite make my heart and my imagination soar like well-written fantasy!
The multiple storylines that began with the first book are brought together in the final few pages of this, which does lead to some frantic reading. I only hope we are to see the return of these characters in future books as I felt that their possible futures were dangled tantilising before me. What of the dragons??
The comedy that is written within these books will bring a smirk to your face, this element of fantasy fiction is often forgotten as I am sure comedy exists everywhere, including the unforgiving seas of the Pirate Isles.
Great epic, I will never look at a snake the same way again.
i) The story seems very hurried ii)There are characters that are given more to do but not developed adequately for us to understand their metamorphosis. iii)One of the main characters motivations and strangeness which have been alluded to throughout the books was never explained (in the end the character seems more confused than the reader! ) iv)The neat conclusion to the story seems like something out of the Waltons, it was terrible!
This has been a great series let down by the final book.
I have not read a book as enjoyable (with the exception of Christopher Hinz's Liege Killer) as the first story in the trilogy and I can only hope that Ms Hobb improves and learns from the mistakes of Ship of Destiny.
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