Ship of Magic
- 712
- Pages
- about 13 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“Ship of Magic” opens “The Liveship Traders” with a broad family saga about the Vestrit traders, told through a large cast. Readers who love it evidently prize how thoroughly Hobb inhabits each character, the selfish and the cruel included, and some grow more invested as they go. Others complain of a very slow start, long stretches of inner reflection and a cast that is hard to like. At over 700 pages it is a commitment.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
Ship of Magic is a 1998 fantasy novel by American writer Robin Hobb, the first in her Liveship Traders Trilogy. These books centre around the Vestrit family, a trader family residing in Bingtown.
Reading order · Liveship Traders
Full order & progress →- Ship of MagicThis book
8.38.3 / 10 - The Mad ShipThe Mad Ship–Not ranked yet
- La Conquête de la liberté
–Not ranked yet - L'Éveil des eaux dormantes
–Not ranked yet - Le seigneur des Trois Règnes
–Not ranked yet - Ombres et flammes
–Not ranked yet - Les Marches du trôneLes Marches du trône–Not ranked yet
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.3 across 658 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 82% of the weight and the score stays at 8.3 — the Fantasy average of 8.0 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.1 | 25 | 4% |
| Hardcover | 8.4 | 633 | 96% |
Frequently asked
How long is Ship of Magic?
It has 712 pages — longer than 74% of the ranked books in Fantasy.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
The same shelf — Fantasy — and a score of 8.3, the closest to this book.
