"Mad Ship" by Robin Hobb

The book continues to be character driven. The most of the main characters are the Vestrit family and their liveship the Vivacia. But as the story goes, not only do you have more and more happening to the family members, you also have ties to the famed pirate Kennit, and hints of ties between the River Wild, the sea serpents, and liveships themselves and/or the wizardwood they are made of.

To add to all this, there is unrest in the city of Bingtown, who is a part of Jamaillia and the Satrap (the king). They have ties with another country, Chalced, and what is pulling everyone together. Also to note, the title comes in reference to another liveship pictured on the cover. The Paragon has a bad history and is said to be mad. It has been on a beach for years, unused. Now it is set sail again.

There is so much intrigue in this now that I figure it to only get better from here. The book was mostly character driven with many bad fates happening to characters (except Kennit who has a run of good luck, but it is clearly explained why). But now things are really happening, and the best way to describe the last 200 pages of this book is “Oh boy ….. all Hell is breaking loose now!”

10/10