Mad Ship

Premise
The second instillment in The Liveship Traders trilogy of the broader Realm of the Elderlings series, Mad Ship continues the story of the Vestrit family's turmoil and struggle with the shifting landscape of the world.

There's a small caveat to this - it took me awhile to finish Mad Ship as can be seen by how long it took for this blog post versus the previous ones. This time gap has more to do with burnout than it does to do with the novel itself - which was fantastic.

This book was break-neck pace compared to the previous novels in the Realm of the Elderlings. Every chapter felt like it quickly moved the plot forward and no words were minced or wasted in that endeavor. It was a departure from her previous works that I welcomed, as the series did start very slow and the explosiveness of this book really lasted from beginning until end.

The Standout: Malta
The youngest daughter of the Vestrit family, Malta was probably up there for one of my most hated fantasy characters in Ship of Magic - close to other popular to hate characters like Joffrey Baratheon in A Song of Ice and Fire. Her character arc throughout this book hitting a culminating point towards the end of realizing that she now sees someone else as others previously saw her before was both well written and incredibly cathartic. Malta's PoV chapters are now some of my favourite to read, and it genuinely might be one of the most well written arcs across two books in any series I've ever read. 

A Small Criticism

My criticism remains similar to the one I wrote about for Ship of Magic. I am really enjoying reading about the Vestrit family and the politics of the Cursed Shores and Bingtown, and as an expansion of the world at large the books have been fantastic. I still don't quite see where the culmination of the series will go - however. Obviously a confrontation between Althea and Kennit/Vivacia will appear in Ship of Destiny but for the other plot threads, I struggle to see where they are going. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as I'm enjoying reading through all perspectives in the series, and I wouldn't say it lacks focus, but there's definitely not a defined 'end' point I can see on the horizon. 

Final Thoughts
A brilliantly written and incredibly exciting middle book in Liveship Traders, Hobb continues to impress with incredible pros and the best character writing I've ever encountered. I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy and hope to see these characters in the future of the Realm of the Elderlings, even when this series passes by.