Author: Robin Hobb
Rating: 2/5
Althea and Brashen are keen on getting Vivacia back from Kennit, Malta is still AWOL, the serpents and liveships are having a reckoning and Bingtown is pretty much on the brink of being screwed.
Spoilers ahead.
Detailed Summary
Malta rescues the Satrap Congo and Companion Kekki from the earthquake and they’re floating along the river. Selden gets along with Tintaglia. Reyn and Tintaglia find Malta on the boat but are unable to rescue them. Malta is captured by the Chalcedeans. Kekki dies on board and Malta finds herself having to become the Satrap’s representative. Ronica tries to unite the Old and New Traders, Three Ships folk and the Tattooed people so that Bingtown isn’t exploited. Keffria grieves for Wintrow, Malta and Kyle. Selden is given over to the Rain Wilder folk. Reyn hunts down Malta. Althea is on Paragon as Second Mate with Brashen as captain. The two stop denying their attraction and finally get together though Althea is still keen on becoming the captain of Vivacia. Kennit is somehow attracted to Wintrow and Etta is pregnant with his child though only Wintrow knows. Vivacia becomes Bolt as she realises her the dragon within her. Paragon betrays Brashen and Althea and Jek (Amber’s friend) are captured on Vivacia. Kennit rapes Althea. Amber redos Paragon’s eyes and he tells them about Kennit’s mother and Kyle Haven being on the island. They take them to barter with Kennit. Reyn’s ship and the Chalcedeans’ ship (with Malta on board) all meet up and there’s a big battle. Kyle is killed and so’s Kennit. Paragon swallows Kennit’s memories and turns out Kennit is a Ludluck and was raped by Igrot, the captain who essentially did to Kennit what Kennit did to Wintrow. Malta and Reyn are even more in love with each other. The Satrap agrees to see Kennit as the king even though he’s dead? But he’s got an heir in Etta so she’s crowned Queen instead? Paragon accompanies the serpents to the north where I guess they’ll become cocoons to become fully-fledged dragons. Paragon takes Althea’s hurt from the rape and she can open up to Brashen. They stay on Paragon. Wintrow becomes captain of the Vivacia aka Bolt with Etta by his side. Amber decides it’s time for her to go and takes a wooden crown with her from Igrot’s hoard which Paragon took them to. He had been blinded by Kennit (on Igrot’s instructions) so that he wouldn’t be able to take anyone there again.
Plot and Pacing
Well, I guess it’s all about them dragons, eh?
This book was long and man did I feel it. The pacing wasn’t great either with a shit-tonne happening near the end. I hated the rape scene. I was still annoyed by the serpents. Serilla’s chapters were pointless. And though I had intended to not skim this book, after a quarter of the way through, I couldn’t help it. I think Liveship Traders was intended to explore womanhood. Indeed, there are many female characters all from different walks of life with different responsibilities. For instance, Ronica is the matriarch of the Vestrit family and feels all pressure to maintain her family’s image. Althea faces double standards as the Second Mate onboard Paragon. Malta who relied so much on her appearance uses tact and wisdom instead and so on and so forth. And that’s great and all but I was so freaking bored. The only bits I genuinely enjoyed were Amber’s scenes and that’s no surprise there because the Fool is totally awesome. I liked Amber’s interactions with Paragon too and understanding Kennit’s backstory. I still don’t like the man and judging from the reviews on Goodreads, a lot of people have shifted their opinion of him too (I remember reading reviews of the first two books and everyone seemed to love him for some absurd reason).
Characters
I thought Malta had a great arc and truly redeemed herself. I don’t know how to feel about Wintrow. I liked him in the first two books but I feel a bit weird about his crush on Etta. Also, something about Wintrow being the captain of a ship doesn’t sit well with me. I know he’s changed a lot since the priest-boy from the first book but…I don’t know. It’s just weird. Althea was okay, I hated that she was raped and that no one believed her. (Etta and Malta believed her but it was just really uncomfortable for me to read.) Selden was surprisingly endearing. Amber, as mentioned, remains my favourite. Kennit can go screw himself.
Writing Style
I feel almost betrayed after reading this book because I was hoping for something great and I didn’t enjoy it and now I’m having second thoughts about continuing the Elderlings series. I hope this is just a case of me not enjoying Hobb’s third-person writing. The next series goes back to Fitz’s first-person narration. If I don’t enjoy the first book, I’m definitely going to DNF the series. Keeping this review short because I really don’t want to spend any more time thinking about this book.
Earnestly Eccentric 