The Mad Ship cover art

The Mad Ship

The Liveship Traders, Book 2

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The Mad Ship

By: Robin Hobb
Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
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About this listen

The second volume in this superb trilogy from the author of The Farseer trilogy continues the dramatic tale of piracy, serpents, love and magic.

Althea Vestrit has found a new home aboard the liveship Ophelia, but lives only to reclaim the Vivacia as her rightful inheritance. However, Vivacia has been captured by the pirate, ‘King’ Kennit, and is acquiring a keen bloodlust.

Bingtown becomes embroiled in a violent political upheaval against the corrupt Jamaillian leader, while the fading fortunes of the Vestrit family lead Malta deeper into the magical secrets of the mysterious Rain Wilds Traders.

Beyond Bingtown, enigmatic wood-carver Amber dreams of re-launching the Paragon, The Mad Ship, despite the history of death and despair that surrounds him.

Secrets will be revealed – secrets forgotten by sea serpents, hidden by the disfigured Wild Rain Traders, buried deep in wizardwood coffins – secrets with startling, dramatic consequences.

©2012 Robin Hobb (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Military Political Thought-Provoking Royalty Transportation

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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)

“Assassin's Apprentice:A gleaming debut” (Publishers Weekly)

“Assassin's Quest: 'Assassin's Quest achieves a bittersweet, powerful complexity rare in fantasy” (Locus)
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An enjoyable if undemanding listen, following on from the first Assassins Quest trilogy. Fills in useful detail before tackling the Fools Quest series.

Assassins Quest family

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Surely Robin Hobb is one of the greatest writers of this genre…
The narrator has obviously been told to change here bizarre narration of the first in the series the Ship of Magic and does a very good job this time and I enjoyed her reading of this epic series.
So it’s 5 star vote from me.

Wonderful…

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Just an all round brilliant book I cant putt them down i can't wait to read the next one I shall find out what happened to the elderlings !

brilliant book

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Would you consider the audio edition of The Mad Ship to be better than the print version?

I don't know as only have audiobooks

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Mad Ship?

The re-launching of the moody old ship

Have you listened to any of Anne Flosnik’s other performances? How does this one compare?

it compares favoribly with other books of hers

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Its too long to listen to in one sitting

Any additional comments?

I have the whole set of these terrific books and am not yet half way through them, I will be sorry when this adventurous story ends.

Riviting story

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Robin Hobb at her best - narrator delivers the story brilliantly - couldn't stop listening - totally enjoyed - definitely recommend

Fabulous

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I read the first book and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with the lives of the characters. I can't wait to start the 3rd book

Riveting

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I really enjoyed the first book and as soon as it was finished I listened to this. It was even better. In the first book Robin sets out the board and the pieces. In this book she starts to play with them and they draw closer together as storyline begin to overlap. I found the pace increasing. I thought Robin did an excellent job of creating such a band of diverse characters. Each with their own wants and desires, strengths and weaknesses. Each player gets plenty of story time to grow and this makes the story even better.
Excellent second book. Straight to the third and conclusion.

Second book is excellent.

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Put all comments about narration to one side - thru are mostly right.

This book is a great follow up to the first, and has me looking forward to the dragon quadrilogy!!!

Fab - got used to the narrator at last

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Damn this series just gets better and better, The Mad Ship was bigger and the story has just sky rocketed with Hobbs beautiful writing and storyweaving. Having already read the first trilogy by Robin Hobb, I thought I had a very good idea of what to expect with the Liveships trilogy. How wrong was I, it truly is so good its so hard to put down with all the twists and turns. The whole world revolves around the Liveships and their family's and when you find out about how the Liveships are made, its a jaw dropping moment. The author instantly invites you become part of her world and its a world im having so much fun in. The intracases of the plot and setting and the relationships between the characters keeps you hooked from the very start. Some of the characters who you just want to slap silly because of their behaviour, but you eventually feel sorry for them as you come to understand why they have become what they are. Who doesn't love a good fantasy sea adventure of piracy and sea Serpents, I can't highly recommend this book or any of Robin Hobbs books enough. They are a must read for all fantasy fans, now for the final installment Ship Of Destiny, ahh can't wait...😁💙🐉🔥

Wonderful Storytelling.

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I knew I would enjoy the context of the story from looking at the description, reading other reviews and talking to a friend. What I found particularly enjoyable was the complexity of the characters in this fantasy novel, the way that all characters have depth and mixtures of pleasant/interesting/unpleasant characteristics. I found the narration difficult. When I first started listening it sounded like 'text to speech' with perfect diction and monotony. I still enjoyed listening but I would have greatly preferred a more natural speech rhythm with more lively inflection.

Love the story, not sure about the narration

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