The Liveship Traders: Ship of Magic, Mad Ship, & Ship of Destiny
***** by Robin Hobb.
Ok, i'm gonna go all out and silly and give this series 5 squares because i enjoyed reading it that much. Now these are fantasy novels so you have to be able to enjoy fantasy, but even if you don't think you normall enjoy fantasy, i'm sure you'll like these books.
Robin Hobb is a fairly new name to fantasy writing as she has currently published only 7 books (3 books in The Farseer series, these 3 books, and so far one book in the Tawny Man series). However, she used to use another writing name, but switched for the Farseer books since it was from a male POV she wanted an adrongynous name and in order to start her career over a bit. She has been highly reviewd and is regarded as one of the best fantasy writers.
She is now one of my favorite fantasy writers as well. Her storied focus on the characters first and formemost, and she creates rich lifelike and believable characters. The plot flows out from their interactions, their personalities, and their own private stories. Bad fantasy is often plagued by terrible characters; i never realized this before until reading Hobb and realizing how wonderful her characters are. Now don't get me wrong, she has a rich fantasy world that has its secrets that will be revealed over the course of the novels, but those are almost secondary to the characters and their story.
In the Liveship Traders series, you follow the life of the Vestrit family and their family ship. The fater of the family is getting close to dying. One daughter was raised on the boat (despite some of the towns current traditions) and expects to inherit the boat and captain it.. eh, i'm not gonna try to tell the story, and i recommend that you do *not* read the back cover as i hate back covers for fantasy books as they give away too much. This book unfolds wonderfully and is gripping from the first page. The female characters are all especially strong as well.
Go read it, i think you'll like it.
The only downside is that it is slightly nicer to have read her first series "The Farseer" before reading this one since she makes slight references to it, but this series is definately the better of the two. I almost recommend that you start reading this one, and if you find you like it, stop reading and read the other series first.
(on a side note, i noticed that one ♦ is descirbed as "The Celestine Prophecy" which my mother recently bought me for my birthday, and i must say, i'm *very* confused by this action. i guess, maybe, i'll have to skim it. or something. anyone actually read it? i've tried to get my mom to read some books that i thought were good spiritual growth books and she's never really cared. so i'm surprised by this. weird)
Posted by evan on June 3, 2002 12:13 PM
Comments
Don't get me started on "The Celestine Prophecy." Oops, too late, you've got me started.
First off, it's zero diamonds, not one. I think that book is a piece of crap. While almost certainly not the worst thing ever written, it is without a doubt one of the worst books that has gotten as huge a following as it has.
In my not so humble opinion, the book is James Redfield's lame and indiscreet method of mass-marketing his own personal dogma -- and accompanying spiritual program, cassettes included. The plot is contrived, the characters are featureless, the dialogue is atrocious, and the narration was written with the flair and emotional drive of a Taco Bell powdered bean burrito.
If you're looking for good spiritual fodder, I and various friends have found C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle particularly engaging. You might also try Harold Kushner. These authors do use the G-word, but I think any given person, regardless of faith (or even lack thereof), would get a lot more from them than from Redfield's baloney.
Posted by Lisa at June 4, 2002 03:00 PM