 My faith in Hob has been rewarded. It's corny, but I love it anyway. Yay for Hob. He gives Joe Abercrombie a run for his money. That sounds dumb. Great. No shade is a masterpiece. It has become something of a tradition on this channel that I review Robin Hob books in January while wearing a made well-plated shirt. So here we are again. It is January. I am wearing the traditional garb and I am here to review the Mad Ship by Robin Hob. Like all the other Hob I read, I buddy read this with Mar from books like Low. We are traversing the realm of the Elderlings together and plan to get through a much bigger chunk of the realm of the Elderlings in 2022. I have the plan right now as to read a book every other month. But in any event, Mad Ship is the second book of the Life Ship Trader series. And this is quite different from the Farsie or Trilogy. The Farsie or Trilogy I was very impressed by. I loved it so much. Royal Assassin the second book was my favorite, but the whole trilogy as a whole is a masterpiece. And then the Life Ship Traders, but I heard a lot of people say is miles away better than Farsie or they definitely prefer it to Farsie or. And I love Farsie or so much that I was like, either that means it's so different from it that like I'll feel the opposite or like, wow, it must be really impressive if it's so much better than something that I think is truly excellent. And luckily it has been more or less the latter. I still cannot say that I think that it is overall better or that I love it more than Farsie or, but I am very impressed with it. And not least because it is so different from Farsie or this isn't a situation where the author has like found a formula that works for them and they're sticking with it. And I mean, you know, if there is an author that has found a formula that works for them and they're good at it, like if that works for you, great, no shade. But Hobb is definitely doing new and exciting things, or at least a new in terms of this is not what she was doing with Farsie or. So it is just a delight to watch her stretch other muscles and show up other talents while still very much keeping the core of that exceptional character work and that deep sort of emotional storytelling that is very much present in Farsie or here. You just have a lot more characters, a totally different type of setting, a totally different type of plot, different stakes, different situational together. But that core of like you really get to know these characters on a soul deep level is touching at times, but it is also aggravating at times because she writes very flawed characters. Similarly to Farsie or, in Farsie or there is a magic to do with sort of communing with animals, which if hearing about that, and I said this before about Farsie, I was like, if I heard, if I had known or someone was talking about a book or book series where they basically talk to animals, I'd be like, that sounds dumb, but she pulls it off in a way that feels so good and not dumb even in the least. It's not like, well, it's corny, but I love it anyway. It's not corny. It is so good. It's like, I wouldn't have thought, but you did it. And here we have sentient talking ships, like ships on an ocean. And again, if I hadn't been for having read Farsie and even actually having read Farsie or hearing that, I was like, I mean, I trust that Hobb is good at this, but I'm having a lot of trouble picturing that and not being stupid. But once again, my faith in Hobb has been rewarded. Having live ships, which is what the series is named after, is it's been incredible. They are fully fleshed out characters that are flawed and yet they aren't just people. Like they are different from people. They are ships. And so like their experience of life, their priorities, their emotional situation is determined by and defined by the fact that they are ships. And so what they would experience, what they would want out of life would have to be more than or less than human motivation. And so in the mad ship, there is a ship that you get to know or know of in the first book that is kind of regarded as a mad ship. And I was talking to Mara about this and given that this ship, given that the assumption or presumption would be when you pick this up, that the mad ship would be that ship that we learned about in the first book and that this would kind of be like that ship's book. He's certainly in it and he's more in it than he was in the first one. But I wouldn't really say this is his book. And I kind of feel like, and I mean, this might, I don't know that this is the case, but I kind of feel like she's making the point that all of the ships are mad. There is a mad ship that people actively refer to as the crazy one, but there is a degree of madness to all of the ships as far as I can tell. But anyway, the character work in these books gives Joe Abercrombie a run for his money in terms of being like the best at characters. There was a character that throughout the first book and for a good chunk of the second book, I kind of really hate it. And by the end of this second book, I kind of really loved that character. And it wasn't like a 180 turn where she suddenly becomes a completely different person. It's still very much that same character, but there's so much believable growth and development with that character. And it even miss sort of, not that, I mean, the things I hated about that character, I would still find aggravating, that there's just a lot of growth to that character. So like well done. And just over, I mean, it's kind of tough to talk about because it's the second book in this really epic sort of series and there's a lot crammed into these books. I mean, there are a lot, but there's still a lot crammed in because you have multiple perspectives unlike with Farsier. And I mean, the way that the first book ended, I knew that sort of had some idea, sort of what directions we could be going in the second book. And yet she managed to still surprise me. I mean, we sort of went in some of those directions because you'd sort of have to. That's what's set up. But I managed very much to be surprised by both character choices and about sort of the results of their actions. But again, not in a way where I'm like, well, that came out of left field. It's all very earned and it all makes sense while still unfolding in a way that is surprising and engaging and interesting. I feel even more for these characters. I love them more. They are growing closer to my heart. I mean, it's hard to spend that much time with Farsier and compare that to the relatively short amount of time that you spend with each of these characters because they're all competing for attention in the space in the book as opposed to being the central figure. But they still, I don't feel like anyone's really sort of shafted. I mean, everyone is really getting fleshed out and attention is being paid to each of their situations in emotional states. And Robin Hobb just continues to impress me. I mean, these are chunky books, but they are so compelling that you cannot stop reading it. And they're sort of very grim things, very epic things. So that in that sense, too, gives, I would probably run for his money because there's some pretty dark stuff in these books. It's more just certain in terms of, it is not as cynical or nihilistic or in that sense, dark as Abercrombie. There is a more sort of like hopeful note to the way that this is approached, or at least the eyes to which UV was going up. And I am just fascinated. And I have so many questions that I look forward to getting the answers to, which I very much have confidence that we'll get satisfying answers. And yeah, it's just a fascinating world with even more fascinating lore because we're delving into other sort of magics that do now more so in this book. I'm starting to see sort of how this kind of ties into the world and magic that you did learn about in Farsier. This is still a sort of very different part of the map, different things going on, different types of characters, a different situation, but you see how this all sort of like fits in the realm of the elderlings and how that it is a sort of unified world and how these magics do tie in to the magics that you learned about in the first book. So I'm like, I'm loving to see, at first, you know, the first Life Should Creators book, I was like, wow, this is like a whole different other thing. Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. And now it's starting to see kind of how this is part of the whole is kind of very exciting and satisfying. So yeah, I'm just absolutely, I'm gobsmacked. I'm loving Hobb. So excited that she's such a prolific author because having, finding a good author and finding an author that writes a lot, those individually are pretty, I wouldn't say easy to do, but yeah, it's doable. Finding a good author that writes a lot, now that's just the dream. So yay for Hobb. And yeah, I cannot wait to reach up a destiny. I'm so excited to see where all of this goes, what more I learned, what questions are answered, what new mysteries are unlocked and where they take us. And then yeah, I'm fully, I'm super excited to then go on from there to the rest of the realm of the elderlings because yeah, just, and I've heard that Tawny Man is even better than Farsier or alive ship, which is hard to imagine, but I believe you because I mean, she has been everything and more that people have led me to believe. So all right, I can't wait for Tawny Man. But yeah, loving, loving, loving the live ship traders. Highly recommend if you haven't read it. And I think you should start with Farsier, but you could start with live ship. I've heard people say that, and yeah, you could. I don't think there's anything in it that's like, don't be impossible to understand. I believe there are spoilers for Farsier in this. I think I don't really feel like I've seen anything like that yet, but I believe that there will be. So I'm guessing that in Ship of Destiny is where we're gonna see more concrete, direct spoilers for something that happens in Farsier. So, but otherwise, you know, if this appeals to you more than Farsier, then go for it because it's so good. Let me know in the comments down below your thoughts and feelings about these books if you have read them or let me know if I have inspired you to pick them up or whatever else you want to let me know. I post videos on Saturdays, other random times of all, but I think Saturdays so like and subscribe. Join my Patreon if you feel so inclined and we'll see you when I see you.