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Ship of Magic
- The Liveship Traders, Book 1
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 35 hrs and 20 mins
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Ship of Magic
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Summary
From the author of the classic Farseer trilogy, Ship of Magic is the first part of the Liveship Traders. Set in a land bordering the Six Duchies, Robin Hobb begins her epic of pirates, talking ships, magic, sea serpents, slave revolts, dashing heroes and bloody battles.
Wizardwood, a sentient wood. The most precious commodity in the world. Like many legendary wares, it comes only from the Rain River Wilds.
But how can one trade with the Rain Wilders, when only a liveship, fashioned from wizardwood, can negotiate the perilous waters of the Rain River? Rare and valuable, a liveship will quicken only when three members, from successive generations, have died on board. The liveship Vivacia is about to undergo her quickening, as Althea Vestrit’s father is carried on deck in his death-throes. Althea waits for the ship that she loves more than anything else in the world to awaken. Only to discover that the Vivacia has been signed away in her father’s will to her brutal brother-in-law, Kyle Haven. . .
Others plot to win, or steal, a liveship. The Paragon, known by many as the Pariah, went mad, turned turtle and drowned his crew. Now he lies, blind, lonely and broken on a deserted beach. But greedy men have designs to restore him, to sail the waters of the Rain Wild River once more.
Critic reviews
"Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers…what makes her novels as addictive as morphine is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics." (The Times)
"Hobb is a remarkable storyteller." (Guardian)
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What listeners say about Ship of Magic
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- MISS A KALINAUSKAITE
- 27-02-22
Interesting story, but narration is horrible
It was very difficult to listen to the whole book, as the narration is so horrible. I do want to know how it all unfolds, but am dreading to another two books of the same narration. I will have to endure as the story is too good.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- digi-mech
- 02-01-20
Terrible narration
I couldn't get I to this. It might be a good book, but it's badly narrated, I didn't get past chapter 2 before giving up on it...
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 08-08-21
Great old school fantasy
Good story as are all of robbin hobbs' the nautical stuff is pretty spot on (classic wooden boatbuilders opinion) but the narrator lets it down somewhat. Why would you pronounce satrap say-trap or Chalced kal-sed? She also has a habbit of elongating the last syllable of a sentence like she's pretending to be a fortune teller in a cheap play
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 15-11-17
Amazing book, terrible voice actor.
The book is amazing! Robin Hobb is a genius! The voice actor however is awful...
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Matthew Le Breton
- 19-02-21
Great story, narration bit off, but not althat bad
After reading the fantastic first Farseer based Fitz trilogy I was wondering if this different seafaring context would be as good. Answer is a definite Yes! Just as engaging with a whole raft of new characters very much based around female protagonists instead of the men, which is a refreshing change. Highly recommend and a joy to listen to. A lot of people have said the narration is terrible. It is definitely a bit forced, particularly at the start but it does settle and some of the characterisations are really good. So I would say don't let that get in the way of you getting this and enjoying it immensely.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ulric Wolfshead
- 26-12-18
Magical
Enjoyed every minute of listening to this Audio book... looking forward to the next book
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jan Smart
- 28-02-23
A great listen
Well read, brought the story alive. I was initially sceptical when I first started listening, but as the story went on got better and better. I had listened to the 3 books in the Assassin series so maybe was not ready for listening to a women. As the story went on I thought she was very good and held the plot of the story well.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Ms
- 17-11-12
Good book, poor narration
Like the previous reviewer, I like Robin Hobb's books. Her style is flowing and characters accessible. However, the narrator is not a good match. There is little emotion in her reading, which sounds like a newsreader at times. I've not finished yet, and I'm open to her style growing on me, but at the moment it's actually getting in the way of the words. I suggest starting with one of Hobb's other series on this site.
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16 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sally
- 01-04-20
excellent review, annoying narration
really loved the story but found the narration very distracting with odd word pronunciation and tempo.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- MR LEWIS-GEORGE NASH
- 29-06-20
Strong first book in the trilogy.
This book feels like a character and world building tale but beautifully woven into the characters arcs. The seeds of the plot are set but not much seems to happen to progress this in the book. Instead we get to meet our characters at a pivotal point where their lives are about to change. Then we explore these characters, who at present seem separate from each other, grow and mature. This is really well done and I enjoyed the easy pacing and time taking to get us invested in these strongly built characters.
I love the idea of living ships and Robin takes the concept here in a very interesting way. But much like the rest of the story we are teased with much story hidden beneath the story still waiting to be explored.
I started the next book immediately.
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