Ship of Magic Review

Review of “Ship of Magic”

By: Robin Hobb

            The one consolation of Althea’s father’s passing was that she would inherit the captaincy of her father’s Live Ship “Vivacia”, but her mother had other plans.  She gave the ship to Althea’s brother in-law Kyle, who saw the ship as a business asset, and expected Althea to bec0me a lady.  Althea decided to run away and prove her worth on another ship disguised as a young man, but she learned she had some growing up to do.  Meanwhile the pirate Captain Kennit planned to steal a Live ship to prove he was destined to become the Pirate King.

            Robin Hobb was a master at writing immersive stories using a writing that was easy to read, but with great descriptions of the setting and characters. This seafaring adventure took readers to a nautical culture where ships would come alive with help from the souls of their former captains giving them life.  Hobb created a world that was vivid, the reader could feel the salty sea air brushing your face and hear the fierce waves of the ocean.  

            Another thing that Hobb was great at was creating characters that were flawed and had desires. Althea was stubborn, passionate, and reckless, and she refused to accept the path that her mother and others expected her to take.  It’s a tale as old as time, a young women didn’t want to follow the traditional role that females were expected to play and actively rebelled against it.  Althea’s bravery was admirable, but she had a lot of growing up to do, especially since her father was no longer around to shelter her.  She had to hide her gender and wasn’t protected by her family name.  She also had to realize that she hadn’t completely mastered seafaring as much as she thought.  

Althea’s journey ran parallel to her nephew Wintrow’s storyline.  Kyle wanted Wintrow to join the family business, but he wanted to continue in the church. Wintrow struggled against his father and tried to remain a passivist, but the abuse Wintrow went through during his time on “Vivacia” slowly hardened him. I adored Wintrow and felt sympathy for him, but his sister Malta, on the other hand, was irritating.  She was immature, naïve, and thought she was smarter than the adults in her life.  She was this way the whole way through and it frustrated me reading her parts. I wanted her to finally realize she wasn’t as wise as she assumed she was.  Though, I didn’t like her she felt like a real person and I appreciated it.

As far as the antagonists are concerned, I hated Kyle more than Kennit.  Kennit was charming and a charismatic pirate, but he didn’t pretend to be heroic or that he was in the right.  He was selfish and greedy and didn’t let anyone get in the way of his goal.  While Kyle was a prime example of the expression “father knows best”.  He believed he was always and knew what his family was best even if they didn’t agree with.  For Kyle the family business of sailing the Live Ships were only about profit and making sure Wintrow lived up to the family legacy. Wintrow was soft hearted by nature, but Kyle didn’t care and he would bully his son constantly in submission. Kennit’s behavior wasn’t surprising, but because Kyle was a parent who was allowed to Captain the “Vivacia” I hated how disrespected the privilege he was given.

I loved this world and I found Hobb’s writing immersive and easy to read.  The best part was the characters.  She was a master at creating compelling, and believable characters that encouraged strong feelings.