Author : Robin Hobb
Description : "Ship of Destiny" is the extraordinary conclusion to Robin Hobbs' "Liveship Traders" trilogy, and even at 800+ pages this thrilling fantasy will flash by in the blink of a red eye...or two!! I stayed up until 2:00 A.M. finishing the novel. If you're as entranced with the books in this series as I am, you will probably move on to the author's next trilogy, "The Tawny Man," which is interrelated with this tale.
Update: Bingtown, a once flourishing port city, has been destroyed and its citizens are at war with the Chalcedean mercenaries who are besieging the harbor. The city's formerly wealthy shipping merchants are also at war amongst themselves - the Old Traders vs. the New. Vestrit family matriarch Ronica, and her daughter Keffria, are almost without resources since their once splendid estate was plundered. The two Vestrit women struggle to unite the tattooed peoples of the Rain Wilds and the native inhabitants of Bingtown in order to recapture and liberate the city. However, someone within their ranks is determined to see them fail. Althea Vestrit, Brashen Trell,and Amber sail the emotionally unstable liveship Paragon into Pirate Captain Kennit's waters in a dangerous attempt to recapture the beloved Vestrit vessel, liveship "Vivacia." Meanwhile, Satrap Cosgo, Kekki, his devoted companion, and Malta, Keffria's daughter, do their best to survive the acidic waters of the Rain Wild River as their small boat is swept up in the raging current. Etc.!!!
Ms. Hobbs has woven her storylines and subplots into an extraordinarily vivid and complex tapestry. Like most large works, if you stand too close you cannot see the entirety. So, with "Ship of Destiny," this third and last book in the "Liveship Traders" trilogy, the author forces the reader to step back and look at the bigger picture. Suddenly the primary characters, with all their hopes, dreams and machinations, who were so important heretofore, now take a somewhat secondary place as the main theme of this trilogy becomes apparent.
The sea serpents, who have surfaced, literally, throughout the series come into their own as they struggle to survive by migrating to the cocooning beaches. Their purpose throughout the tale is finally made clear when Althea's nephew Wintrow liberates "She Who Remembers." Legendary dragon Tintaglia is finally released from her wizardwood coffin in the long buried City of the Elderlings and finds that the world she knew so long ago has disappeared forever.
My summary barely skims the surface of this fantastic finale. Robin Hobbs is an enormously talented writer, who has a particular gift of imagination that transforms readers into addicts. Her characters are multi-dimensional, and the excellence of her work is amazingly consistent in all of her novels. The author is a magician who creates credible new worlds and beings. And most importantly, her writing shows her understanding and love of language.
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