Premise

The beginnings of a new trilogy in the Realm of the Elderlings, Ship of Magic follows (mostly) the Vestrit family, an Old Trader family in the city of Bingtown. The death of the patriarch of the family brings a group of characters within the family together to make decisions on the future of their now quickened Liveship, Vivacia.

The highlights of what really work and come together in this novel are:
Exceptionally authentic characters. Hobb's character work in the Farseer trilogy is absolutely fantastic with Fitz, but Ship of Magic brings a new level of characterization across the entire Vestrit family - as well as the presumed major antagonist in Kennit.

The Standout: Kennit
Kennit might be the most interesting villain I've read in some time. He's devious, intelligent, and exudes a near comical level of confidence, but insights into his mind also show that for him - it's all a front. The dichotomy between how he acts and what he thinks is the highlight of the book for me - and all leads to a very engaging conclusion to the book.

A Small Criticism
While I deeply enjoy the character work Hobb has put in to Ship of Magic, I felt the plot lacking a bit. It seems a set up book, and that's fine, but there seemed to be only minor direction throughout the story, and where the book concluded was not at all what I had expected in regards to where I thought it was going.

Final Thoughts
It's an equally good book to Assassin's Apprentice in setting up a trilogy, and while I found the conclusion satisfactory I do think it was missing a lot of the explosiveness of Assassin Apprentice's ending.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and am looking forward to continuing on with The Liveship Traders. I do hope some more concrete villains appear in the series as I move forward as I currently see no end in sight for how the story could end.