Mad Ship

Title: Mad Ship
Author: Robin Hobb
Published: 1999 by Voyager
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 906


Second book in the Liveship Traders trilogy! As if the first book wasn't a ride already, the story kicks up a notch as... well, spoilers. I'm having some trouble what to say because spoilers. Actually, the blurb at the back of book 3 is like one big spoiler, and I had to go and read it before I'd finished this!

Speaking of covers, these paperback editions have lovely covers by my old favourite Mr John Howe. I remember buying the whole trilogy on a school trip to London back in 2003, and so many summer evenings reading them on the balcony of the student house I lived in. Good times. Eleven fucking years...

Anyway. I'm afraid this and what I wrote about the first book don't do them justice. There are so many characters running and sailing around, so many point-of-views, and nothing's black and white. So Malta is an annoying, spoiled kid but you know what? She is a spoiled kid! Kennit wants to rule the pirates as a king and he has some damn fine points, but he's also plenty messed in the head. The nominal mad ship Paragon is, well, mad and dangerous, but hey, his family did dump him alone on the beach for decades. Wintrow is stuck between his own passion for priesthood and peace and the commitment to his family and Liveship that's in his blood. There are no easy choises, and sometimes there just aren't any right ones, either. The characters grow and develop as the pages turn, and sometimes even learn from their mistakes.


   A sour smile twisted Althea's mouth. 'No. I do not want to be the wind in his sails. That's what I want someone else to do for me.' She sat up straight suddenly. 'That is... that didn't come out right. I'm not explaining this very well.'
   Amber looked up from her work to grin at her. 'On the contrary, I think you are uncomfortable only because you have stated it so plainly. You want a mate who will follow your dream. You don't want to give up your own ambitions to make someone else's life possible.'
   'I suppose that's true,' Althea admitted reluctantly. An instant later she demanded, 'Why is that so wrong?'
   'It isn't,' Amber assured her. A moment later she added wickedly, 'As long as you're male.'
   Althea leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms stubbornly. 'I can't help it. That's what I want.' When Amber said nothing, Althea asked, almost angrily, 'Don't try to tell me that that is what love is, giving it all up for someone else!'
   'But for some people, it is,' Amber pointed out inexorably. She bound another bead into the necklace, then held it up to look at it critically. 'Others are like two horses in harness, pulling together towards a goal.'
   'I suppose that wouldn't be so bad,' Althea conceded. Her knitted brows said she did not entirely believe it. 'Why can't people love one another and still remain free?' she demanded suddenly.