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Ship of Magic
- The Liveship Traders, Book 1
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 35 hrs and 20 mins
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Ship of Magic
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Summary
From the author of the classic Farseer trilogy, Ship of Magic is the first part of the Liveship Traders. Set in a land bordering the Six Duchies, Robin Hobb begins her epic of pirates, talking ships, magic, sea serpents, slave revolts, dashing heroes and bloody battles.
Wizardwood, a sentient wood. The most precious commodity in the world. Like many legendary wares, it comes only from the Rain River Wilds.
But how can one trade with the Rain Wilders, when only a liveship, fashioned from wizardwood, can negotiate the perilous waters of the Rain River? Rare and valuable, a liveship will quicken only when three members, from successive generations, have died on board. The liveship Vivacia is about to undergo her quickening, as Althea Vestrit’s father is carried on deck in his death-throes. Althea waits for the ship that she loves more than anything else in the world to awaken. Only to discover that the Vivacia has been signed away in her father’s will to her brutal brother-in-law, Kyle Haven. . .
Others plot to win, or steal, a liveship. The Paragon, known by many as the Pariah, went mad, turned turtle and drowned his crew. Now he lies, blind, lonely and broken on a deserted beach. But greedy men have designs to restore him, to sail the waters of the Rain Wild River once more.
Critic reviews
"Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers…what makes her novels as addictive as morphine is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics." (The Times)
"Hobb is a remarkable storyteller." (Guardian)
What listeners say about Ship of Magic
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Redwing
- 24-05-14
AWFUL NARRATOR! GET THE PAPERBACK!
I ADORE Robin Hobb books and was really lloking forward to listening to the Liveship trilogy, but wow, the narrator is woeful, she sounds like Mystic Meg reading the Horoscopes. I have to return this title and buy the paperbacks, as i fear listening to Anne Flosnik reading them will ruin them for me. Why they didn't get either Paul Boehmer or Nick Taylor , who both did well on the Farseer and Tawny man trilogies. VERY DISAPPOINTED!
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 23-05-21
Narrator does not work
The narrator isn't working for me. It's so forced and weird. So sad, was looking forward to listening.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 01-08-21
Good despite the narration
OK…. When I first started I couldn’t get by the first 10 mins because of how the narration. It is just strange: the pronunciation and inflection just sounds off. Reading other reviews I’m not the only one who picked up on this and had difficultly listening. But , with the Live Ship trilogy being my favourite of the whole series I stuck with it and, you get used to it. No, it’s not the best narration, the character voices are not great ‘characters’ but when the story is as solid as this it holds up.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sam Martin
- 25-11-17
Fantastic book!
While a little slow to start, not helped by the poor narration, this story will sweep you away into the seas of Hobb's imagination. Truly a fantastic start, I hope the next two are as good!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 23-11-17
Read by Trisha Takanawa
Great fantasy story. Really compelling and exciting. However for me I could not shake the feeling that the voice of the narrator as being too similar to that of Trisha Takanawa from Family Guy.
-A bit too nasally for me.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- H
- 05-11-19
Very different to the first Farseer trilogy
Very different to the Farseer trilogy - much harder going in places and very long. Many of the main characters are not as likable. Having said that, a good story does develop and the narrative is well told. It's worth sticking with it to the end.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- kirsty
- 30-07-20
Ship of Magic
Having read the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies, which were excellent, I didn’t know what to expect with this and it is completely different. It took a while to get into the story and almost gave up but it then got interesting and I am now about to start on book 2 to see how it progresses!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 27-09-22
Spoilt by narrator
I enjoy Robin Hobb's books, her lucid style and breadth of imagination is always a pleasure but this book and the others in the Liveship trilogy would greatly benefit from being re-recorded. The narration in these recordings is very trying and it is the writer's talent rather than the narrator's performance that kept me going.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hilary Harrison
- 16-06-13
I can hear this fine!
Like other reviewers, I think Robin Hobb is great. I nearly didn't start the Live Ship series because of the other reviews on here, but I'm glad I decided to give it a go. Sure, Anne Flosnik will never be my favourite narrator; however, I can hear the ends of words and having listened to this and the next book, I'll be listening to the rest in this series. With Audible's returns policy, I'd say try it - you might be pleasantly surprised. I was.
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6 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazeon Customer DHL
- 02-12-20
Brilliant story, annoying narration
Robin Hobb is a brilliant story teller, the characters are well formed, and she articulates those elements of love or hate them so well. The stories are never predictable and keep you engaged from start to finish.
There’s only one drawback, the narration, is annoying because at the end many sentences the reader draws out the words particularly on the word her, which becomes herrrr, or therrre, I wish they’d re-record this series with a different narratorrrr!
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3 people found this helpful