 This is a whole different author. Or if you live in Zimbabwe, of course you're an expert on Zimbabwe. If you like to let Robin Hobb just rip out yourself, you are wrong. What am I gonna do when I run out of Hobb? ["Sleep of Magic"] Hey guys, it's Leanna and I'm here today to talk about Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. Robin Hobb continues to knock it out of the park. Oh my goodness. This is an author that has not been overhyped. But which I mean, like she has been hyped. It's not like she's underhyped. People are all about Robin Hobb, especially lately, but like they did not oversell it. The hype is deserved. Robin Hobb is killing it. And I know she wrote a whole heck of a lot and I know I have a lot to go. But I'm also like, what am I gonna do when I run out of Hobb? But anyway, Ship of Magic. This is the first book in the Liveship Trader series, which is the second trilogy in the realm of the Elderlings. Earlier this year, I finished the Farsieher trilogy. I quite adored the Farsieher trilogy. And so everyone pretty much had told me that the Liveship Trader series is even better than the Farsieher trilogy. And I frequently disagree with popular opinion, but I fully expected to like the Liveship Trader series. And what is most surprising to me, even though again I knew going into it at least a little bit, I knew that there would be live ships. I knew that there would be more perspectives. I knew that there would be a lot more characters. And even knowing that what most was most surprising to me about Ship of Magic was how different this is from the Farsieher books. Like it very much feels like Robin Hobb. It doesn't feel like this is a whole different author. It has something at its core that is quite essentially Hobb. And I think it is this nuanced, very careful approach to characters. Even though there's a lot more going on and a lot more characters to follow, it is still extremely character driven. But that is one of the things that is really different about this is that while the Farsieher books, you are in Fitz's head for the entire time. It is a long time to be spending with one character. And for that reason, it can be slower and it also then it doesn't really, not only do you not see different people's perspectives, but you also are only ever in the one place unless Fitz has gone somewhere else, which he does occasionally. It's not like the entire trilogy takes place in one place. Fitz does move around, but it's still not much moving around because it's only this one character that you're following. So it's only if he moves somewhere else that you are moving somewhere else. So by contrast in the Life Ship Traders or at least in the Ship of Magic, presumably in the rest of the books as well, there are again, multiple characters that you're following in third person, not first person, already different. And then those characters are in different places. So it is just like a lot more going on, a lot more people to follow, a lot more plot lines, a lot more threads, a lot more places. And in addition to that, if you think that going into reading this series after reading Farsieher that you have a leg up because, well, I'll have new characters, but the world is familiar to me because I've read Farsieher, you are wrong. Because this is taking place in a whole different part of the world, that's like saying that you have a leg up on the geography of like Zimbabwe, because you are a citizen of Earth. That's taking place a whole other area than from where I am. Or if you live in Zimbabwe, of course you're an expert on Zimbabwe, but me in Los Angeles has no leg up on knowing the geography of Zimbabwe. So similarly, this takes place in a whole other area. So knowing anything about Farsieher trilogy is not helpful at all. It does not help you to understand this world. Maybe in brief instances where some of the sort of types of magic that exist in this universe, you kind of recognize a bit because they came up in the Farsieher trilogy, but this book isn't really concerned with those forms of magic at all. There are new forms of magic that now you need to learn. So it's not even like, well, but I know the magic system, like you do not. You know a magic system that is taking place over there, but over here we're doing something else. So it was basically like starting a whole new series. Like even though it does take place in the realm of the elderlings, it's like a whole other thing. There are new cultures to learn about, new faiths to learn about, new characters to learn about, new everything to learn about. And everything that we're learning about here is really interesting. I will say because there's so much to learn about and so many different characters and so many different things happening, it felt slightly more surface level than Farsieher and that's more, again, it's not because Robin Hobb is not delving and is not delivering on nuanced characters. She absolutely is. It's just that there's just so many things going on. Assassin's Quest is about this long and it's just fits. In the Farsieher trilogy, you spend a whole heck of a long time just sinking into the moment, the situation, the feelings, the magic fits himself. Like it is, there's nothing left unexplored and for fits in the Farsieher trilogy. So here it's just by necessity because if there's so many other characters that we're following, you just don't have the time to be sinking into each character like that. But that said, for how many characters we had, for how many different places we had, for all of the exposition that needed to happen, for all of the introductions to magic systems and places, the familial ties, the various political situations, like everything that we needed to be caught up on in order to follow the story, all of that was done and we still had a lot of time and a lot of room for nuanced character development, nuanced character relationships, nuanced situations and intricate plot lines and so I don't know if I can, people who say that they like life shit better, obviously I haven't finished the trilogy. This is the first book in a trilogy and it is a great first book in a trilogy of five stars. But as to which I like better so far, I can't say that I like it better than Farsieher. So far, I feel like I had a more deeper connection with Farsieher and again, that is the result of just spending so much time with fits in fits' head, following him around. I just feel like emotionally, I felt more bound to Farsieher and again, that is just by virtue of the type of story that it is. It's, I feel very connected to the Ship of Magic. I don't wanna say that I don't and if I'm comparing those side by side though, then Farsieher demanded more of my soul than Ship of Magic. That said, Assassin's Apprentice, the very first book. I mean, I would still say that was in the case because it is a harrowing journey for poor dear sweet little fits. So it's again, it did demand more of me emotionally than this does. This had me very emotionally invested. It had me raging at the horrible characters. It had me rooting for the great characters. Absolutely. It's just not as much as Farsieher, which I've already said multiple times now. Why, like, it simply has to be that way. It's not like this book failed. It just doesn't have space and time to do what Farsieher does. It's a different project. So all in all, I had a great, great time bringing Ship of Magic and I would say, I mean, when I was talking tomorrow about this because we buddy read this just like we buddy read the Farsieher trilogy and she was saying that she doesn't know if she'd recommend people start with Farsieher, that she might recommend people start with Live Ship and I can see why. I think it would depend on who I was talking to, like what kind of taste and reading that person has or you have who's listening now. It would be perfectly fine to start here and I believe people do when you can. It's just so far there haven't really been any spoilers for Farsieher, but I think I believe I understand that at some point in the Live Ship Traders, something is either said or something happens or whatever, but there's information in the Live Ship Traders series that is spoilery for the Farsieher trilogy. So for that reason alone, if that is something that would bother you, that would be something that would bother me so I would never start with Live Ship Traders. It is a little more fast paced. It's a little more, I guess, exciting because there's just more things happening, more people to follow. So I mean, Farsieher trilogy, if you don't like fit, then you're in trouble because all the books and they only get longer and longer they are about fits and fits alone. So if you don't like being in fits' head, then you're again in trouble. First is The Ship of Magic. If you have some characters that you like better than others, that's absolutely fine because you're not just following one character. You're following a bunch of different characters. So you're less likely to get, I don't know, exhausted or bored by one situation, one character, one whatever. So if it's a type of fantasy reader that likes to have more multiple perspectives, more stuff going on, more action and more adventure, yeah, I mean, yeah, this has more, more of everything. But if you really like to like sink into like wallowing with a character on their emotional journey, you like to let Robin Hobb just like rip out yourself, then Farsieher is, it's more, it's more. Also Night Eyes. Farsieher has Night Eyes. So far nothing in this can beat Night Eyes. I seriously doubt any of these live ships are going to own my soul the way that Night Eyes owns my soul. Farsieher wins by virtue of having Night Eyes. Anyway, I'm super, super excited to read the next books in this series. I am very curious about a lot of the sort of mysteries that have been teased. Now I had, I was a little bit disappointed in Farsieher by the explanations and reveals for the mysteries that were teased at the beginning of it. So I'm hoping that I will not feel that way about life ship where by the third book, if we get answers to the mysteries that are teased in the ship of magic, that I will not feel the kind of disappointment that I did with Farsieher. And I make it sound worse than it was. I wasn't that disappointed. I was just a bit disappointed. But yeah, I mean, I'm excited to learn more about these magics, learn more about these people, learn more about this world to follow these characters who I'm already extremely invested in. Again, even though I'm not as bound to them the way you are with Fitz Farsieher, they're great characters that leave off the page and they're complex and nuanced and they aggravate you and you root for them and they just feel very extremely well realized, fully fleshed out and three dimensional. And I think that above any, that is the most, the biggest through line that feels consistent between Farsieher and this where every character feels nuanced and fleshed out and messy and gray and just realistic. So A plus character work and the world building and the exciting adventures, et cetera, et cetera, are all also very excellent. But the character building I think is what truly shines above and beyond in these books more so than most of the fantasy series that I've read. Highly recommend, absolutely wholeheartedly without any asterisks. Pick it up if you have not. I do recommend reading Farsieher first but also explained why you may pick this up first instead if that's more what you're into. Let me know in the comments down below. If you have read The Ship of Magic, if you've read the Liveship Traders series, if you agree or disagree with me and my assessment of this and this versus Farsieher, whatever you want to let me know. 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