Bingtown is definitely not a typical ship-faring town with traders and merchants. Bingtown is also known for its liveships, ships made of wizardwood and manufactured from the mysterious Rain Wilds. After three generations of the purchasing family have passed, the liveships quicken and come alive with personalities of their own.
The story of the Liveship Traders trilogy seemed to be about one liveship in particular, the Vivacia of the Vestrit family. However, as the second book unravels, it becomes quite clear that she's just one aspect in a much larger story.
The Tale of Bingtown and Its Liveships Moves On
The second book of the Liveship Traders trilogy picks up right where Ship of Magic left off. Althea is still sailing home to Bingtown on the liveship Ophelia, Amber is still trying to purchase the abandoned, perhaps insane liveship Paragon, Malta is still the conniving little witch, Kennit is still seducing Vivacia to his terms while Wintrow desperately tries to win her back.
But now, all of the trouble that Hobb hinted was brewing in the first book has boiled over, and none of the characters have come out without any scars of the chaos.
Althea returns home, eager to claim her liveship birthright only to learn that the ship has been taken by a notorious pirate, Captain Kennit. Althea and the Vestrit family reach out to Bingtown for help, but the Traders of Bingtown have their own problems, such as new, outrageous taxes from the Satrap and Chalcedean war galleys patrolling their waters under the guise of rooting out pirates. Brashen and Amber come to Althea's aid with the idea of reinstating Paragon, a liveship abandoned by his Trader family for killing his crew.
The prospect of trying to sail a possibly mad liveship could be incredibly dangerous, but to Althea, nothing is more dangerous than her liveship in the hands of an evil pirate.
The Chaos and Revelations of the Second Liveship Traders Book
The title of the book may be Mad Ship, but the chaos isn't limited to Paragon. Most of the characters go through their own personal chaos in the midst of their worlds falling into chaos around them. Wintrow keeps trying to fight what he learned at his monastery with Kennit's lifestyle, all while trying to get Vivacia to remain as devoted to him as she once was. Malta harshly learns that there is more to life than being doted upon. Even Althea has to come to terms with her own inner turmoil and accept who she really is.
Some of the causes of this inner chaos stem from the answers to the many questions that the first book raised. Readers will discover exactly why these sea serpents are so important, what really has been going on with the Satrap and Chalced, the real secrets behind the Rain Wild Traders, and the heartbreaking truth of the liveships.
Robin Hobb Likes Her Words
Much like the first book, Mad Ship lays down a lot of groundwork so the story seems to move painfully slow at times. Readers should take heart though that so much more happens in this installment than its predecessor, so the plot progresses a little more quickly.
However, readers should also note that buried in all that exposition and groundwork are important keys to the story. Skimming through one paragraph could cause one to miss an extremely relevant tidbit of information.
None of this is as laborious as it was in Ship of Magic. Once readers break the barrier of the first book and open Mad Ship, they will instantly become hooked.
Keri Honea - Keri Honea is all over the place. She's involved with video games, animation, strategy guides, and fantasy books, and not just on Suite ...
