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  • The Mad Ship

  • The Liveship Traders, Book 2
  • By: Robin Hobb
  • Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
  • Length: 33 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (809 ratings)
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The Mad Ship cover art

The Mad Ship

By: Robin Hobb
Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
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Summary

The second volume in this superb trilogy from the author of The Farseer trilogy continues the dramatic tale of piracy, serpents, love and magic.

Althea Vestrit has found a new home aboard the liveship Ophelia, but lives only to reclaim the Vivacia as her rightful inheritance. However, Vivacia has been captured by the pirate, ‘King’ Kennit, and is acquiring a keen bloodlust.

Bingtown becomes embroiled in a violent political upheaval against the corrupt Jamaillian leader, while the fading fortunes of the Vestrit family lead Malta deeper into the magical secrets of the mysterious Rain Wilds Traders.

Beyond Bingtown, enigmatic wood-carver Amber dreams of re-launching the Paragon, The Mad Ship, despite the history of death and despair that surrounds him.

Secrets will be revealed – secrets forgotten by sea serpents, hidden by the disfigured Wild Rain Traders, buried deep in wizardwood coffins – secrets with startling, dramatic consequences.

©2012 Robin Hobb (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

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)

“Assassin's Apprentice:A gleaming debut” (Publishers Weekly)

“Assassin's Quest: 'Assassin's Quest achieves a bittersweet, powerful complexity rare in fantasy” (Locus)

What listeners say about The Mad Ship

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Love the story, not sure about the narration

I knew I would enjoy the context of the story from looking at the description, reading other reviews and talking to a friend. What I found particularly enjoyable was the complexity of the characters in this fantasy novel, the way that all characters have depth and mixtures of pleasant/interesting/unpleasant characteristics. I found the narration difficult. When I first started listening it sounded like 'text to speech' with perfect diction and monotony. I still enjoyed listening but I would have greatly preferred a more natural speech rhythm with more lively inflection.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great stuff!

really great story, couldn't put it down! the chapters flowed really well and the narration was excellent.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another great story butchered by bad narration

The story is yet again really good and captivating, but the narration done by Anne Flosnik makes me want to puke.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Awful narrator

Anne Flosnik’s voice is one of the most annoying noises. Slightly better than nails across a blackboard.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful…

Surely Robin Hobb is one of the greatest writers of this genre…
The narrator has obviously been told to change here bizarre narration of the first in the series the Ship of Magic and does a very good job this time and I enjoyed her reading of this epic series.
So it’s 5 star vote from me.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Pirate fantasy with dragons.Enjoyed it very much. Volume 3 already added to playlist

Now, this is why romance is not my cup of tea. I was afraid that it was going to be overwhelming but it all turnef out yet againa fascinating lusten

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Just fantastic

It took a little while to get used to the narration in the first book, but honestly I think it’s brilliant! The story is utterly gripping, twisting around itself like… well, a tangle.

Wonderful stuff. Can’t wait to get into the next one!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Nice story. More background filled in.

I was not sure about this trilogy, particularly during the first half of first book but now we’ll in to it and can’t wait for the third one.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous story and narration

Fascinating story, superb narration. Enjoyed as much as the others in the series. Excellent listen

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great second instalment!

ignore the naysayers about the narrator, she's great once you get used to the accent. still better than the awful accent of the previous trilogy's narrator. great story, well told!

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