• Ship of Magic

  • The Liveship Traders, Book 1
  • By: Robin Hobb
  • Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
  • Length: 35 hrs and 20 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (3,745 ratings)

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Ship of Magic

By: Robin Hobb
Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
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Publisher's summary

Bingtown is a hub of exotic trade and home to a merchant nobility famed for its liveships---rare vessels carved from wizardwood, which ripens magically into sentient awareness. The fortunes of one of Bingtown's oldest families rest on the newly awakened liveship Vivacia. For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy unjustly denied her---a legacy she will risk anything to reclaim.

For Althea's young nephew Wintrow, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard ship, Vivacia is a life sentence. But the fate of the Vestrit family---and the ship---may ultimately lie in the hands of an outsider. The ruthless pirate Kennit seeks a way to seize power over all the denizens of the Pirate Isles...and the first step of his plan requires him to capture his own liveship and bend it to his will.

©1999 Robin Hobb (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

“The characterizations are consistently superb.... Kudos to the author and encore!” ( Booklist, Starred Review)

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What listeners say about Ship of Magic

Average customer ratings
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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved the story, performance eh

I've read Robin Hobbs years ago and am exci
ted to be able to listen to them while at work. I was looking forward to The Live Ship Traders trilogy but the narrator has no emotion for it, on chapter 4 and wondering if I can finish.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good story, annoying narration

Robin Hobb is a great story teller. I don't know why they chose a whispery lady for a pirate story.... she trys very hard to draw out words slowly, sometimes sounding as if she has a mouthful of saliva. . r's are drawn out purring and it just makes it hard to follow.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great World Building

In typical Hobb fashion the story drags but builds a great detailed back drop. The story itself could probably be done in half the time otherwise. Hopefully there will be some resolutions to some of these conflicts in the next book. Very curious about these serpents.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing story! Adjustment needed for narration

This book was almost nothing like the farseerer trilogy but I mean that in a good way. Whole new everything .
The narration was a hard adjustment but if you just stick in there and get a few hours in the story keeps you stuck in and unable to pull away! I’m invested

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A very enjoyable story

All in all it is a great book and well worth the read. I enjoyed the reader and their performance. I’m excited to start the next book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Annoying Narrator Solution - 1.5 Speed!

If you could sum up Ship of Magic in three words, what would they be?

Creative, Different, Intriging

Would you be willing to try another one of Anne Flosnik’s performances?

Unfortunately, I will have to. I will listen to books that she does because I like the authors

Any additional comments?

The narrator is slow, hurts words, and can be incredibly annoying in her style. I found a solution though. If you listen at 1.5 speed, her long drawn out words are normal and you can stand to get through the book and it's like listening to it at normal speed.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Speed up the playback... 1.2 - 1.3 is way better.

the playback speed is adjustable. speed it up some and the narration is way better and more exciting during the suspenseful parts. over 1.3 and I feel like it's just too fast. But may be she should do more children's fantasy, great for that. Love the story. So great my family has started the Elderlings series based solely on my expressions listening.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Beware

Watch out. None of the character story lines are resolved (even partially) until the end of the trilogy. I would never have started it if I had known, but the series was recommended to me and I bought it without reading the reviews. A mistake I rarely make.

Plus the narrator, as most reviews have stated, is horrendous. She will drive you crazy, so maybe just read the book.

That said, Robin has created a great world and good characters. I will now have to read all three novels to find out what happens, which really irks me. It's so sad that SciFi readers nowadays are willing to put up with that sort of writing. There's no reason at least some of the story lines can't be written to end in the first book in order to give the reader some satisfaction.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

FREAKIN AWESOME!!!

If your personality doesn't clash with the narrators (i think she's awesome) and your an audio fantasy book junky (like me) you WILL love this book.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Good but not Great

Predictable plot and once you learn a character they become predictable in every other scene. Narration was excellent. Good characters and an interesting world to explore along with Althea are what kept me reading until the conclusion of the predictable conclusion with the pirates. Will read the next book as I like how the book is opening up to expand on the characters and hopefully it won't be as predictable and the characters will be more entertaining. 7/10

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