This is an interesting tale, with unique magic. It's not fantastic, to me, but worth continuing the Realm of the Elderlings saga and finding out what happens in all the various areas of the world that Hobb has created.

Some of the characters are pleasant to read about, even if they're not the good guys (actually, some of the funniest parts happen with a bad guy). There are so many perspectives in this story, so many various characters, it's probably easy to find some you like and some you don't.

Jumping from POV to POV interrupts the flow of the story, and while I appreciate getting such a full view of what's going on with so many characters, it's jarring and takes me out of the immersion to jump from one person and situation to a completely other one.

The story feels unnecessarily slow and drawn out in many places, and there are actually a lot of times when I was surprised at the poor level of writing, given that this was from such an experienced author. This needed more editing than it got.

Still, it's entertaining and worth the read if you're going through the ROTE series. ( )

This is the review of my reread and I changed the rating from 4 to 5 stars again. It is a really good start to this trilogy and I can't believe I missed so many hints the first time. A lot more stuff happens than I remembered. The characters are fantastic, the plot is fantastic and I am too much of a fan to find any flaws in the first 3 trilogies in this series so I am sorry. ( )

What happens when you mix Pirates of the Caribbean and Robin Hobb's magical prose? The start of the Liveship Traders. Different from the Farseer Trilogy, but a decent start to a new trilogy. 3.5/5 stars.

If you're coming here straight from Farseer, I highly recommend reading a different novel for a mental palate cleanser. I would have enjoyed Ship of Magic more if I did that instead of jumping immediately after Assassin's Quest. ( )

Solid, but didn’t love it as much as the Fitz/Fool books. The whole serpent thing is kinda enough already, but when the dragons are back it will have paid off! Already bought book the second in the series. ( )

I love the character building and world development enough to forgive this book for its slow moving plot. It was a fun read, and I look forward to the rest of the trilogy. ( )