Ship of Magic cover art

Ship of Magic

The Liveship Traders, Book 1

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Ship of Magic

By: Robin Hobb
Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
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About this listen

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.

©2012 Robin Hobb (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited
Epic Epic Fantasy Transportation Fiction Fantasy Pirate
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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)

What listeners say about Ship of Magic

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I can hear this fine!

Like other reviewers, I think Robin Hobb is great. I nearly didn't start the Live Ship series because of the other reviews on here, but I'm glad I decided to give it a go. Sure, Anne Flosnik will never be my favourite narrator; however, I can hear the ends of words and having listened to this and the next book, I'll be listening to the rest in this series. With Audible's returns policy, I'd say try it - you might be pleasantly surprised. I was.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant story, annoying narration

Robin Hobb is a brilliant story teller, the characters are well formed, and she articulates those elements of love or hate them so well. The stories are never predictable and keep you engaged from start to finish.
There’s only one drawback, the narration, is annoying because at the end many sentences the reader draws out the words particularly on the word her, which becomes herrrr, or therrre, I wish they’d re-record this series with a different narratorrrr!

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A fantastic book, poorly performed

I read this book years ago and, were it not for the fact I am invested in the series and know the story to be a great one, I would not have bothered finishing this listen. The narrator has a strange cadence to her voice, like a sleepy news reader, placing unusual emphasis on words in each sentence, somehow stripping them of emotion. For me, this made the performance more distracting than immersive.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing

It is a brilliant story that is in a brilliantly built world, I was gripped from start to finish and whave the rest of the trilogy to read.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Story great, narration average

Great story, got used to narration after time (not my favourite). listened to at 1.3 speed as voice is quite slow

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

fantastically descriptive characters

this is a wonderful story well written and narrated. vivid details of the characters and interwoven plots.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The narrator gets better and the book is joyful

I wasn't particularly fond of the narrator to begin with as I just found her kind of annoying. I therefore struggled a bit with my engagement levels, but the narrator the grow on me to the point where I'm really excited to listen to the next one.
The book itself is really entertaining with good characters that I like to hear about.
They could however probably cut Malta's part as she is truly the most annoying character.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Magic?

I was really pleaded to find this as an audio book having enjoyed reading several of Robbin Hobbs books already
However I find the narration excruciating - listen to a sample before you buy it

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

performance

This was very drawn out. so many characters that it needed more people reading

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

slow burn but in the end a great story

It took me a bit longer to get into this series than the Assassin's trilogy but by the end I can't wait to start the next book. Narration is a little slow for me but at 1.1 speed it was fine.

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