Intricate Fantasy

The first book of Robin Hobb's liveship series- 'Ship of Magic' introduces you to a detailed fantasy world with highly developed characters and a twisting, intricate plot. While the take off is slow, once in flow, the book moves smoothly, alternating a number of points of view that come together slowly to reveal the plot.

The story is set in Bingtown, where the old Trader families own ships that come alive. One such family is the Vestrits, and the plot takes off with the death of the patriarch and the passing of the legacy to the son-in-law Kyle Haven, instead of the younger daughter Althea. Althea must prove that being female is no impediment to becoming an effective trader. In the meantime, Kyle is faced with his recalcitrant elder son, who was forced to join his father aboard the ship, while he wishes to join the priesthood. Althea's mother must find a way to keep the family from losing their lands to debtors until they are able to raise money to pay them back, and also keep her young granddaughter out of trouble. In the meantime, the pirate Kennit is determined to win himself a liveship and become King of the Pirates, and finally there are the serpents who are looking for some destiny of their own. All these lives and stories come together to form the plot of this book.

The most interesting thing is that Robin Hobb is able to separate means and ends and keep the characters, their actions and the results separate- Kennit who's only looking for power ends up the unlikely savior of slaves, Wintrow, once a non-violent priest ends up enslaved by his own father, then leads to the capture of his own ship, and death of his ex-coworkers. Vivacia is torn between her needs as a young liveship and her growing knowledge of the world.

And in the meantime Althea must fight society's disapproval of women on ships which has deprived her of her inheritance. Its nice to see a fantasy book with an out and out feminist heroine- in most fantasies the heroine simply sits and waits to be rescued, or is effectively a prize for the hero at the end of his travails. Althea and her mother are both in their own way, action characters.

It says a good deal for the book that after finishing its 700+ pages, I feel the need to read the rest of the series- not tired of reading at all.