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Reviewed by Robert Thompson 12-5-99
OUTSTANDING! Robin Hobb is on of my favorite authors, but she has surpassed herself with this book. Usually she tells a very entertaining adventure story, but this one has a lot more depth than usual. It is thoughtful on many levels. The nature of Good and Evil, and how one's perspective can sometimes make defining it quite difficult. Actually, Mad Ship is a tiny bit less entertaining than usual, however it is a lot more thought provoking.
Most of the significant characters from SHIP OF MAGIC are back.
Althea Vestrit gets a crew together, rebuilds the abandoned Liveship Paragon (the Mad Ship of the title) to try to recover Vivacia, the Vestrit Family Liveship that was taken by the Pirate Captain Kennit in the last book.
By the end of this book, Malta, (Althea's selfish, scheming Lolita-like niece who was not a significant character in the last book) becomes one of the key characters and "grows up"- I'm not sure if she has really "changed her spots" or not, but it is apparent that she will have an interesting life in the future.
Captain Kennit is well on his way to becoming King of the Pirate Isles, Freeing many slaves along the way. Still, I have to wonder if he is an "instrument of God's will", or just a manipulative, power hungry, evil man. Wintrow (Althea's young Nephew, aboard the Vivacia) believes the former, while Kennit himself believes the latter.
Wintrow is growing up too- He still longs for his scholarly life at the monastery, but comes to believe that perhaps God's will is that he help Kennit build a kingdom.
Vivacia comes to relish being a pirate ship.
Some of the mysteries of the last book are solved by the end of this one- We learn more about the Rain Wild River people- the source of their wealth and how they live. And our suspicions are confirmed about the relationship of Sea-serpents, Dragons & Liveships.
Looks like the next episode in this series will be a "corker". I look forward to reading it with great anticipation.
MAD SHIP is highly recommended! (but read Ship Of Magic first.)
