This is only the first book in this trilogy, but so far I have found the Farseer story more enjoyable. Even so, I am anxious to find out what will happen with all the characters in the next book. This is certainly not a happy story; I'll have to see what happens in the next 2 books. ( )

It took me a little while to get into this book. Hobb takes her time setting up the background before things get going. They finally do and it was an enjoyable read. The story follows one Trader family and their liveship. There are many threads being woven together between the family members and how they relate to each other. I'm looking forward to picking up where this one leaves off in the second book. ( )

Pre09:

This comment goes for the whole trilogy:

Characters: Just loved the cast. I loved the troubled family. I loved the aspiring pirates. They all were real and touchable.
Plot: Very solid. Political upheaval. Reasonable family strife.
Style: So epic yet relateble. Not sure how the author made that juxtaposition work. ( )

First book in The Liveship Traders fantasy trilogy. Set in Bingtown, a thriving port town built on trading and featuring “liveships” that are made of wizardwood and come to life once three generations of the family who commissioned it have died on its deck. The story of Vivacia, the liveship of the Vestrit family, and several of the family members and others too of course. Also has plenty of good pirate action. Very enjoyable with a variety of interesting characters, surprising plot twists and read quickly considering the door-stop size of the thing. A+ ( )

I mostly liked it. There were some things I had trouble with - for example, it often takes a sentence or two for there to be a clue who each section is talking about (between the 6 or 8 or whatever main characters the book flipped between). As in, it's something like "He walked down the street..." Ok, which he? It could be any of three or four or five male characters, mostly in different cities. It's a little frustrating to have to go back and reread the first sentence(s) of the section to understand what was going on, because it started with "He" instead of the character's name and oh, now I know how it's talking about, so what was that again?

Other than that stylistic quirk, I liked it. I enjoyed most of the storylines, I cared about many of the characters, and I want to know what happens enough to go get the next books out of the library. I was surprised when some of the stories intersected and with some twists (not all - most I saw far in advance - but some). ( )