Major ad/promo.I’m not really sure what to say about Ship of Destiny. Like its predecessors, this is a masterful achievement. (Kennit, perhaps the most interesting character in the trilogy, clearly was developed with a good deal of scholarship about the history of piracy.) This installment leaves nothing to be desired: the subplots advance in parallel the nautical themes are handled splendidly and the characters (including one of the more engaging and terrifying dragons in current fantasy) and world-building are of the very highest standard. The most absorbing theme continues to revolve around Captain Kennit, his mistress, Etta (now carrying his child), and the conversion of Wintrow Haven into Kennit's heir as king of the Pirate Isles. Such a profusion of plotlines could have overwhelmed or slowed down the book, but Hobb handles them with such agility that the reader is likely to want not fewer but more stories. Hobb weaves together multiple storylines: there's Althea Vestrit's quest for her family's liveship, Vivacia the awakening of Paragon (the eponymous 'ship of destiny') the establishing of links between the liveships made of wizardwood and the sea serpents who, cocooned in wizardwood, mature into dragons the appearance of the dragon Tintaglia and the maturing of Malta Haven through rescuing the Satrap.

True, there are moments in this third novel of the Liveship Traders Trilogy (Mad Ship Ship of Magic) when things progress too easilyDthe folk of Bingtown, for example, seem to embrace diversity, equality and female empowerment too quickly to be believed. One has to use a jeweler's loupe to find a flaw or a dull moment in this splendid conclusion to one of the finest fantasy sagas to bridge the millennium. A masterful achievement.”- Publishers Weekly (starred review)ĭon’t miss the magic of the Liveship Traders Trilogy: A splendid conclusion to one of the finest fantasy sagas to bridge the millennium. It is a truth so shattering, it may destroy the Vivacia and all who love her, including Althea’s nephew, whose life already hangs in the balance. For her beloved Vivacia will face the most terrible confrontation of all as the secret of the liveships is revealed.

Meanwhile, Althea Vestrit, unaware of what has befallen Bingtown and her family, continues her perilous quest to track down and recover her liveship, the Vivacia, from the ruthless pirate Kennit.īold though it is, Althea’s scheme may be in vain.

“Probably the best fantasy trilogy of the past decade and a prospective fantasy classic.”- Booklist (starred review)Īs Bingtown slides toward disaster, clan matriarch Ronica Vestrit, branded a traitor, searches for a way to bring the city’s inhabitants together against a momentous threat. The final novel in Robin Hobb’s beloved Liveship Traders Trilogy

Ship of destiny by robin hobb