No matter what Wintrow does, Kyle simply won’t acknowledge him as a ‘man’ or as a worthy ‘son’. Wintrow was planning to become a monk (to the religious order of Sa) and has no inkling of the harsh life at sea, yet his father cruelly pulls him out of his training as a priest, and thrusts him on The Vivacia to replace Althea. In fact, Wintrow’s relationship with his father is a major highlight of the book. He hurts Keffria with his cruel words, spoils his eldest daughter Malta, and treats his son Wintrow most abominably. He is an autocrat, who takes over the reins of the house, the property and its people with an iron fist. Everytime he comes on the page, you want to hate him and hit him. Kyle, her brother-in-law, to put it mildly, is a male chauvinist pig, and a complete tool. I was sometimes irritated by how desperately she wanted her ship back, but I could also sympathize with her. Althea, who was the apple of her father’s eye, and is an excellent sailor, has loved the Vivacia and takes its loss really hard. The Vivacia is such a ship, and once the Vestrit family has seen three deaths in three generations, she will acquire the souls of the Vestrict deceased and will transform into a ‘liveship’. These ships are carved out of some special kind of wood (“wizardwood”) by the people of the Rain Wilds, and are loaned to Bingtown traders. The figurehead of the ship, carved usually as a man or woman, can talk, guide the crew, and brave bad weather at sea-so such magical liveships are very conducive to trade. The inheritance of a liveship is no trivial matter, because it basically is a ship with a soul, memory and even the five senses.

This was a terrible shock to Althea, his younger daughter, who is a spirited, independent and highly competent woman who has been trained since childhood to become a sailor. This set of books is about the Vestrit trading family of Bingtown, whose head, in his will, bestowed the family ship- The Vivacia – on his eldest daughter Keffria, and by proxy, her husband, Kyle. Robin Hobb & her Liveship Traders Trilogy Book-Set

I had heard many people commend Robin Hobb as a brilliant SFF author, so I finally decided to start off her booklist with The Liveship Traders Trilogy.

Liveship traders review