• 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 (3,744 ratings)

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Ship of Magic  By  cover art

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
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Really padded

Honestly it’s so padded out with superfluous sentences and flat out ‘telling not showing’ in long slogs it’s almost unreadable.

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

Robin Hobb captures me again.

I didn't think she'd write other characters that I liked as much as Fitz and the Fool. She did. Don't be turned away by the bad reviews criticizing the narration. This is worthy of your time.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

pause or something

too often I skip back, thinking I missed something, when what I missed was any kind of pause, breath, or other indication that a different character was now the narrators focus or perspective.
I enjoyed this, as I did when I read the book series, it is almost as nice to listen to. Thank you

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

Amazing writing, grating narration

I haven’t read or listened to a Robin Hobb book I haven’t liked, and this is no different. The narrator was the only low point of the experience.

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

Speed it up to 1.3x and you’ll be golden!

Amazing story, narrator was SO STRANGE. highly recommend speeding up the narration to 1.2 or 1.3x the speed and it sounds much more normal and palatable.

The story itself is unique and worth the listen/read. It’s long, but it’s worthy of the length.

Will continue the series for sure!

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

In general it’s a good start

I didn’t like the narrator. I hated the serpents but maybe that was the narrator too. The story is a great idea and the characters are likable. I thought it was a good story overall. Again I really didn’t like the serpent’s story. It was lost on me.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Narrator

Book is great. Narrator, not so much. Please stop drawing your words out in that grating voice, I can’t stand it

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

check the narrator sample

narrator made me not want to listen, but the book is amazing. definitely check the narrator sample prior to buying.

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

a decent book

Felt too different than the assassin's series for me to fully enjoy, but some parts were interesting

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

READ the book

What made the experience of listening to Ship of Magic the most enjoyable?

There was nothing enjoyable about listening to this Narrator.

What didn’t you like about Anne Flosnik’s performance?

I can't begin to count how many books have been ruined by this Narrator. I never knew how many r's there were in Herrrrrrr

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I wish I could say at this time. I'm reading the actual book.

Any additional comments?

I've been told not to blame the author for the narration but I do. It is her books. She should have taken the time to pick the best narrators for each series. 3 books down the drain.

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4 people found this helpful