Aaliyah Felix-West

Day 25: Ship of Destiny Pages 812-End

Hi!

It is a strange feeling to write the last update for the challenge that has taken me through September. Today, I finished the last hundred or so pages of this book to fulfil the 2,700-page total.

Slightly anticlimactically, the battle from the previous section ends with the Vivacia and Paragon outrunning the Jamaillian ships and those they didn’t outrun fell apart in the night due to the serpent’s venom. From this, it is decided that Vivacia will escort the remaining serpents to the Rain Wilds and the Paragon will travel to Jamaillia to get supplies to build the new dragon city.

For the characters, Etta becomes Queen of the Pirate Isles and works alongside Wintrow who has become the captain of the Vivacia. Malta and Reyn spend time confirming final deals for the Rain Wilds, Bingtown and Jamaillia with the Satrap. After negotiations finish, the plan to return to Bingtown to get married. In the Rain Wilds, Seldon is happily living and helping with the excavation of a new Elderling city. There has been strong progress on making the serpent migration route suitable and several serpents have been successfully cocooned under Tingtaglia’s guidance.

In Bingtown, Ronica and Keffria have started repairing their home when Serilla arrives bringing news that the Satrap has appointed the Vestrit family to speak for Satrap interests in Bingtown. Not being able to balance this alongside their other responsibilities, Keffria appoints Serilla to take on this responsibility.

On the Paragon, Brashen and Althea are working on the ship together rather than having Althea return to the Vivacia. With Paragon’s help, they uncover Igrot’s lost treasure hoard, which they are planning to use to finance repairs to Paragon and assist with the Vestrit family fortune. Within these treasures, Amber finds an old Eldering rooster crown, matching the one seen in The Fool’s vision in Farseer. After reflecting on finding this crown and their inability to help Wintrow (as they realised that Wintrow was the person they were looking for since the beginning of the trilogy), Amber discusses with Paragon the possibility of going North to visit friends and guide them on their path, which Paragon agrees with.

From this, I am certain that Amber is The Fool and that the friends they are wanting to visit are FitzChivalry and Kettricken. I am excited to see what happens to them in the next trilogy.

Overall, this book was the best of the three, yet I am still somewhat disappointed by the final conflict. In my opinion, Robin Hobb is best at writing characters so large battles tend to be less developed. I do not often mind this as I enjoy seeing the characters change but I feel that this time there needed to be more to justify this large journey that the characters went on. Despite this, I did enjoy this trilogy and this challenge. Without the daily incentive, I think reading this trilogy would have taken me longer than a month. Thank you :)

Day 24: Ship of Destiny Pages 712-812

Hi!

As we approach the end of this book, the reading total increases to 2,588/2,700 pages because I read 100 pages today.

In this section, negotiation begin between the Satrap and Kennit, in which Kennit pushes for more leniency and freedoms than originally agreed. Despite this, the Satrap agrees to this deal as he is getting frustrated with the proceedings.

However, during this, Jamaillian ships arrive and begin circling Kennit’s ships. They want to take back the Satrap however they realise that the Kennit won’t give him back easily so decided to kill both Kennit and the Satrap. To ward off their initial attack, Kennit makes an agreement that the serpents help him for the final time and destroy one of the Jamaillian ships.

While the serpents attack, Tingtalia and Reyn arrive. Tingtalia drops Reyn in the water, and he is promptly picked up by Kennit’s. Once the serpents finish, Tingtalia leads them off north to finish their migration journey and the Paragon arrives.

Whilst initially wanting to attack Kennit, upon seeing Althea and the Satrap on the Vivacia’s deck, the Paragon crew agrees to help Kennit survive. However, during the conflict Kennit dies and the Satrap is wounded. Paragon accepts Kennit’s blood and Kennit’s spirit becomes part of the Paragon. Wintrow takes over as the captain of the Vivacia and begins leading her and Paragon out of the circle of Jamaillian ships. When fleeing, Kyle is killed by two arrows in a satisfying conclusion for his character.

Despite disliking Kennit, I cannot deny that his character was interesting and him dying in Paragon’s arms was upsetting. I think this due to Hobb revealing more to Kennit’s past and his inability to escape the cycle in abuse across the book. I did not suspect Kennit to die so soon though considering there is still over 100 pages left of the book.

I am hoping to finish this book tomorrow and provide my final thoughts on the book and trilogy as a whole. Thanks :)

Day 23: Ship of Destiny Pages 602-712

Hi!

Today, I read 110 pages to the new read pages total is 2,488/2,700. I am hoping that if I remain on target, I am likely to finish this book in the next three days.

This section focuses on the Paragon and the Vivacia crews. On the Paragon, Amber agrees to carve Paragon a new face. At this point, they have completed the entire new face aside from Paragon’s new eyes. This furthers my theory that Amber is actually The Fool because Paragon’s new face has a strong resemblance to FitzChivalry due to them having the same scars, broken nose, earring and axe.

Afterwards, Paragon forms the idea to have the crew use Kennit’s mother as a ransom for Jek and Althea. They travel to Kennit’s island where his mother willingly comes aboard to assist them with their idea and also brings Kyle Haven. Paragon heads to Divvytown to confront Kennit.

Alongside this, Althea is attacked by Kennit aboard the Vivacia. This awakens Althea’s connection to Vivacia and they both make a shared agreement to live. In doing so, Vivacia is able to exist more easily alongside the dragons within her and banishes Bolt to an extent.

Malta has managed to convince the Satrap to help her get a good ransom for them both by agreeing on a deal where if she somehow gets them out of this situation alive her and her family become the Satrap’s representatives in Bingtown. Her deal involves formalising Kennit as the King of the Pirate Isles and removing the Chalced slaver ships. This deal is good enough for her ship captain to present her to Kennit in Divvytown. Here, she is reunited with Wintrow and Althea.

It is nice to see a lot of the characters be together again, especially Malta and Wintrow. I suspect that the final climax of the book will revolve around all the crews in Divvytwon. If Amber is The Fool, I would be interested to see their reaction to Reyn and Tintaglia when they likely arrive to rescue Malta in Divvytown. I would like to know what happened to Girl on a Dragon which was The Fool’s dragon at the end of the Farseer Trilogy. Thanks :) 

Day 22: Ship of Destiny Pages 502-602

Hi!

Today, I read 100 pages, so the new reading total is 2,378/2,700 pages.

In this section, we finally have the altercation between the crews on the Vivacia/Bolt and the Paragon. Initially, both ships fly truce flags so Althea and Jek travel on a rowboat to the Vivacia. However, while they are doing this Kennit and Bolt/Vivacia send the serpents to destroy the Paragon. Resultingly, the rowboat capsizes and they are picked up by Kennit.

The serpents begin to attack the Paragon, but he manages to stop them by encouraging uncertainty about whose orders they are following: Bolt/Vivacia or Kennit, a human? Not wanting to attack for the benefit of a human, the serpents retreat. Despite this, when trying to see where the rowboat is, Brashen brings Paragon too close, enabling Kennit’s crew to grapple over. The fight is very short, resulting in Brashen’s crew being locked in the hold while Kennit talks to Paragon.

It is revealed that Kennit is a Ludluck, the family who previously owned the Paragon in Bingtown. Years ago, the pirate Igrot took over Paragon and killed the rest of the crew, aside from Kennit. During this time, Kennit and Paragon formed a strong bond, and Paragon killed the pirate crew so that no knowledge of what happened to Kennit aboard would be able to spread. However, Paragon’s existence threatens this so Kennit convinces Paragon to take on water, killing himself and the crew. Paragon agrees and Kennit flees back to the Vivacia/Bolt.

Despite the conditions, Amber manages to reach out to Paragon and join their consciousness to the dragons within Paragon. This stops Paragon from taking on water, yet it is unclear at this moment whether Paragon has lost himself to the dragons like Vivacia did.

Once taken onto the Vivacia, Althea is slowly learning the truth about what happened to her ship, but she is drugged into a long sleep before she can learn more. Wintrow is conflicted but trusts Kennit judgement to leave Althea alone.

In Bingtown, due to Seldon’s growing connection to the dragon and Rain Wilds appearance, he becomes the foster child of Reyn’s family. Furthermore, Keffria is appointed as the Rain Wilds spokesperson in Bingtown. It is nice to see Seldon get more focus and in the previous books it was difficult to remember that he was even there. I suspect that he will have growing importance as Tingtaglia’s demands begin to be fuffilled.

I am looking forward to the next steps for the crew upon the Paragon. Thanks :)

Day 21: Ship of Destiny Pages 392-502

Hi!

Thankfully, after being under target yesterday, I managed to read 110 pages today. This brings the reading total to 2,278 pages and I am 56% of the way through this book.

This section focuses on the deal Bingtown makes with Tintaglia, after she helps destroy some of the Chancled ships in the harbour. Bingtown agrees that in exchange for Tintaglia’s help with the war, they will deepen the river in the River Wilds to enable serpents to pass through. Reyn and Seldon add to this deal, in which Reyn will take Tintaglia to another Elderling city if she helps him find Malta. Currently, the ship Malta is on has been taken over by pirates in allegiance to Kennit. I am assuming that the other city Reyn speak of is the one in the Mountains from Farseer, as he briefly mentioned this as a possibility before.

Despite reading 110 pages, not much of note happened in this section beyond the deal with Tintaglia. I hope that the next section is less repetitive regarding politics and enables some more character and story progression. Thanks :)

Day 20: Ship of Destiny Pages 303-392

Day 19: Ship of Destiny Pages 200-303

Day 18: Ship of Destiny Pages 92-200

Day 17: Ship of Destiny Pages 1-92

Day 16: The Mad Ship Pages 739-906

Hi!

Today, I managed to finish the Mad Ship book by reading 167 pages. This brings the new reading total to 1,786/2,700 pages.

The main focus of this final section is Malta, Reyn and Bingtown. Following the carriage crash, the Vestrits return home and are soon visited by Reyn who demands to see Malta. Due to the fighting throughout the town, he offers to take them back to the Rain Wilds, which they all agree to aside from Ronica who chooses to stay. In the Rain Wilds, it is revealed that Reyn’s agents attacked the carriage to get the Satrap, not knowing that Malta and her family were inside. The Satrap and his companions were also brought back to the Rain Wilds.

After a conversation with Reyn, Malta decided to explore the Elderling city herself and discovers the dragon. Whilst attempting to free her, there is an earthquake and Malta has to flee in the chamber. In doing so, she runs into the Satrap and his companion and together they journey to the nearest exit. Malta’s perspective ends with her using a boat to paddle the group back down to the Rain Wilds City.

Meanwhile, while attempting to save those trapped in the cave in, Reyn and Malta’s brother come across the chamber with the dragon. They decide to free her by opening the door and she flies away. Although, she later returns to attempt to save them both from the mud rising in the cave, which is where the book ends.

The conflict on Bingtown arose from Jamaillia wanted to undermine the Satrap and were planning to use Bingtown as a scapegoat to start a war between Chacled and Bingtown, while Jamaillia profited. It is interesting to see whether the accumulation of the politics over the last book has come too and how Althea and her group will react once they return from see.

Kennit and Wintrow visit the island from the previous book so that Wintrow can have his fortune told. On this island, he frees a see serpent who is She Who Remembers. This is who the serpents in the last book were looking for. At this point, I feel that Wintrow has accepted his life as pirate rather than priest which is somewhat sad since he is losing a part of himself that he used to hold dearly.

On Paragon, the group is attacked by a serpent and following this attack Paragon begins mentioning that he is two people. This relates to the other liveships discussing their past lives and how the dragon appeared out of the wizardwood. Hopefully, the next book will explore this further.

Overall, I think I preferred this book more than the previous ones as there are more characters interacting and plot threads are beginning to develop rather than just arise. The next book is ‘Ship of Destiny’. I have included the Goodreads synopsis below.

‘Robin Hobb concludes her nautical fantasy epic with Ship of Destiny , set in the world of her Farseer series. It lives up to its predecessors, Ship of Magic and Mad Ship in every the characters continue to develop, the plot moves swiftly, and the setting is vividly realized. Again, three generations of Vestrit women are at the heart of the story. Ronica, the matriarch, stands alone against accusations that her family is responsible for the chaos that has overtaken Bingtown. She fights to uncover treachery and maintain the Trader's Council. Her daughter, Althea, sails on the disturbed liveship Paragon, hunting for Vivacia, the Vestrit's liveship, now the flagship of a pirate fleet under Kennit, who is both ruthless and compassionate. Her granddaughter, Malta, has disappeared following an earthquake in the ancient treasure city by the Rain Wild River. Her fiancé, Reyn, and her brother, Selden, are trapped while seeking her. They are rescued by the dragon Tintaglia, whom they helped liberate. Reyn asks Tintaglia's aid in finding Malta, but Tintaglia has her own urgent mission to accomplish, one which will change everything. Hobb weaves these plot threads into an exciting and satisfying conclusion.’

I am looking forward to starting this book tomorrow! Thanks :)

Day 15: The Mad Ship Pages 628-739

Day 14: The Mad Ship Pages 510-628

Day 13: The Mad Ship Pages 423-510

Day 12: The Mad Ship Pages 333-423

Day 11: The Mad Ship Pages 220-333

Day 10: The Mad Ship Pages - 106-220

Hi!

Welcome back to another update! Today, I read 114 pages, bringing the total pages read to 1,100/2,700 pages.

In this section, as speculated, Vivacia lends her strength to Kennit and Wintrow enabling Wintrow to connect to Kennit’s soul. In doing so, Wintrow pieces Kennit back together to revive him. From this, Kennit is now alive again and asks Etta to look after Wintrow. I knew that Kennit would live so the tension of this encounter was lessened. However, it does pose interesting questions as to whether anyone who has Vivacia’s favour could truly die as long as they are aboard her and she gives them her strength.

Althea returns to Bingtown to see that Chalced guardships have now docked in town. She travels into town with the captain of the Ophelia to pay the docking taxes, only to see that they have increased drastically to pay for the guardships. The captain refuses to pay as he disagrees with the guardships being in the dock, so the goods from Ophelia are not allowed to leave the ship. In response, the captain asks Althea to appeal to her mother for support. Althea agrees and returns home for the first time since her argument with Kyle in the first book. Her mother is happy to see her but informs her that since her father’s inheritance has passed onto her sister, she no longer has a vote on the counsel. Althea makes her promise to talk to her sister about attending the next vote. On the way back, Althea runs into Amber who when told about everything that has happened becomes panicked and demands a recount. This reminds me of when FitzChivalry would give his reports in Farseer. Amber agrees to use their woodworking skills to remove the damage from Ophelia after her attack in the last section.

I have really enjoyed spending more time in Amber’s perspective and learning more about her background. During an argument about whether dragons are real with Paragon, we learn that Amber was in the Six Duchies when the dragons assisted in the war. This makes me wonder whether she ever knew of The Fool.

Malta is entertaining the courtship of the Reyn but strongly desires his wealth over true connection. She still doesn’t understand what she is getting herself into but is blind by the opportunities to gain power and wealth.

A new perspective of Serilla is introduced. She is an advisor to the Satrap, the ruler of Bingtown and the nearby towns. Although Bingtown is sovereign to an extent, they still pay a tax to the Satrap and have to abide by his laws. The old Bingtown traders have raised that Chalced guardships and slavery becoming more apparent in Bingtown opposes their original agreement with the Satrap. The Satrap is uninterested in Bingtown affairs and desires more to appease Chalced to get access to their drugs and wealth. Serilla raises that she could go to Bingtown and negotiate on his behalf. The Satrap refuses until she agrees to let him come with her and for them to stop at Chalced on the way. It was interesting to see the mysterious Satrap who has been referenced throughout the first book. He doesn’t seem like a reliable leader, and I predicted that Chalced’s power will only grow over this book. I am interested in learning more about the political aspects of the story but worry that there might be too many perspectives being introduced.

I will be continuing this book tomorrow. Please check back here for any updates, thanks! :)

Day 9: The Mad Ship Pages – 1-106

Hi!

I am pleased to say that I have started the next book in this trilogy as scheduled. Today, I read 106 pages, taking the total pages read to 986/2,700 pages.

This book starts with a new perspective in the Rain Wilds following Reyn, the man who aims to court Malta. He wants to release a creature he believes is trapped inside of log of Wizardwood. The log is located inside the Rooster Crown chamber in an old Elderlings settlement. This rooster crown is a reference to the bard seen by The Fool and FitzChivalry in the Farseer trilogy. Previously, FitzChivalry describes the dragons as Elderlings who visited the old lost cities. In contrast, Reyn describes the inhabitants of the lost cities, including the bard, as the Elderlings and the dragons as just visitors. This second interpretation makes more sense to me. The Elderlings were the part of the Farseer trilogy that I enjoyed the most, so I am looking forward to learning more about them and their cities outside of the mountains.

Wintrow performs surgery on Kennit to remove the rot from his leg. Vivacia is helping Kennit breathe, and his section ends on him taking one last exhale and no further breath. Despite this, I doubt that Kennit is dead due to his prevalence in the story. I suspect that his Wizardwood charm likely saves/revives him or Vivacia lends him some of her strength. As I discussed in my last post, I am excited to explore the dynamic between Wintrow and Kennit as it is already very fun to see their conflicting worldviews.

For Althea onboard the Ophelia, since the winter and now spring, she has been working as the first mate. This is because Grag, the captain’s son, is faking a toothache to give Althea the opportunity. While Althea asks about one of the crew, Grag and her talk about their responsibilities as children within old trader families and he proposes marriage to her, which Althea does not reply to. This is because they are interrupted by ships from Chalced, tasked to prevent piracy, requesting to board. The captain refuses and there is a brief altercation before the Ophelia manages to get away. It is interesting to see how Bingtown politics from the previous book are impacting the story a large, rather than just being contained to the town. Althea already appears as a much more likeable character in this book. I think this is likely due to her proximity to Bingtown and her family.

So far, I am already enjoying this book more than the previous one. I think this is because some of the characters are starting to meet up, presenting interesting dynamics and more aspects of the story are being revealed. I am looking forward to reading more and seeing Amber who is still struggling to get permission to buy Paragon. I will be updating my progress tomorrow. Thanks :) 

Day 8: Ship of Magic Pages 738-880

Day 7: Ship of Magic Pages 644-738

Hi!

Below, is the next update for this reading challenge. Today, I read 94 pages, so I have read 738/2,700 pages in total.

Following Malta, she receives a courting gift from the Rain Wilds coachman she met the previous night. Her family identify him as a member of a prominent Rain Wilds family, rather than a simple coachman, and advise Malta to not open the gift as doing so would accept his offer for courtship. Instead, secretly Malta opens the box. I wish Malta had not done this as she is too young to be considering courtship, and I fear that this man from the Rain Wilds is taking an advantage of her ignorance. Malta’s family is currently in debt to another Rain Wilds family, in which their payments need to be in coin, which they barely have, or blood by letting one of their family members move to the Rain Wilds. If this courtship does go ahead, which I hope not, I speculate that Malta may be used as a blood payment for this debt.

Wintrow was being held in a prison and has been marked as a slave to be sold. Luckily for him, Kyle, his father, manages to win him at the auction but Wintrow is forced to have a tattoo marking him as being owned by his family’s liveship. It is unfortunate that Wintrow has ended up back on the ship, but this was the best outcome for him considering the other potential outcomes of the auction.

Regarding Kennit, he is struggling to adjust to losing his leg and is thinking about altering his agreement with his first mate to just focus on liveships and not attack slaver ships anymore. A prisoner from the last ship tells Kennit of two liveships nearby, one being the Vivacia, aligning with my suspicions from the previous update, and a new liveship. Kennit does not believe that a liveship would be used to transport slaves, as Kyle is doing, so focuses on the other liveship.

This other liveship is where Althea has decided to find new work and return home to family. This is due to the captain on the Reaper finding out her true identity and refusing to give her a positive work reference. This ruins her plans to use Kyle’s statement against him as she does not have someone willing to voucher for her. While Brashen argues that she should not have told the captain her real name, if she had a recommendation seal with her fake name on it, Kyle could have easily argued that she had stolen it. This links to what I like about Robin Hobb as an author, she is great at making you feel bad for characters that are truly in a bind and having their chances taken away from them at the last minute. In the Farseer trilogy, it truly felt that nothing good ever happened to FitzChivalry, but that only made me celebrate his wins more.

I am nearly finished with this book now and am excited to see how it ends and sets up the next book in the trilogy. Check back tomorrow for the next update! Thanks :)

Day 6: Ship of Magic Pages 546-644

Hi!

Here is the next update, in which I read 97 pages. The new total is 644/2,700.

This was also a slower set of chapters, but with a lot of character growth for Malta and Wintrow. When docked, Wintrow decides that this is his one chance to escape and get back to his monastery. When fleeing through the town, he encounters a group of slaves and is asked to conduct final prayers over a dying woman. After she dies, the slave owner attacks Wintrow, believing that he has killed her, so Wintrow is arrested by the local police force. I relate the most to Wintrow’s story and themes due to his concerns that being on the ship has made him stray too far from being a priest. He is unsure whether priesthood is the life destined for him still but believes that it is better than being on the ship. I too have struggled to identify my future after events that have caused me to change my perspective on the world and myself. Therefore, I am interested to see where Wintrow’s story goes and am excited for him to learn more about his own interests and values outside of being a priest or a sailor.

Both Kennit and Althea had their perspectives focus on battles. For Althea, her ship is attacked by a serpent, but they managed to escape mostly unharmed and for Kennit, he frees another slave ship but loses his leg in the process. This is a big turning point for Kennit since his main character trait is his vanity, so I am interested in where he goes from here and whether he gains some humility.

Malta has been the main focus of this section due to her time at the ball bringing suitors to her home, which her family rightly disapprove of. In response, they decide to try and teach her how to run the family finances and other household skills. In doing so, she attends a meeting between the old trader families and the families from the Rain Wild, where the materials to build liveships come from. Malta is uninterested but overhears calls for the old trader families to stand up against the new traders. When bored, she leaves the meeting and meets a coachman for the River Wilds family outside and they have a brief discussion. I fear for Malta because she is eager for male attention but is not aware of what she is inviting,

I am near the end of the book now and have recognised that this is all likely setup for the next book which will have more drastic plot and character progression. I am excited to see what happens next to these characters and estimate that within 2 or 3 days this book will be completed. Thank you for reading! :)

Day 5: Ship of Magic Pages 443-546

Hi!

Welcome back to the next update for this challenge. Today, I read 103 pages, so the new total is 546/2,700.

This section started with Kennit docking into the next city. The majority of regular citizens view him as hero and treat him accordingly, yet some pirates are angry at the idea that someone is trying to rule them, so they attack Kennit. These pirates fail their attempted murder of Kennit but the crew is still cautious. This is similar to the last chapter, in which it shows more of Kennit’s character and how he plans to use his positive reputation to his advantage. His plan to become the King of Pirates does seem more concrete now but I still struggle to see how it will work practically.

There is a new perspective focusing on Malta, Althea’s niece, and her desire to attend the Harvest Ball and start gaining suitors. Her family disagrees so she sneaks out in a new gown but is soon found out and returned. Malta reminds me strongly of Sansa Stark, from Game of Thrones in the early seasons. While some people may argue that she is entitled and annoying, she is a product of a misogynistic society where she had been told that her only worth is through having children and being married. This is reiterated when Malta fears that her friend will not want to spend time with her if she does not attend the ball and starts acting more maturely. I am interested in what Malta does next and whether like Althea she defects from her family, even though they are rightly just trying to protect her.

Afterwards, there is another timeskip until Winter. During this time, Wintrow has been in a ship accident and realises that his finger requires amputation. He uses this as an opportunity to display courage in front of the crew and is reward with their growing acceptance. Similarly, Althea is on her return voyage with the slaughter ship. While docked, she has an altercation in town with people who kidnap drunk sailors to work on their ships but she ultimately escapes.

Some may criticise the pacing in Robin Hobb books, but I feel that having the story span across multiple seasons is more realistic than other fantasy books that appear to happen over a couple of weeks. Although I can admit that some conversations initially feel repetitive but always end with characters making an action. Tomorrow, I will update my progress as we are in the second half of this book now! Thanks 😊

Day 4: Ship of Magic Pages 316-443

Day 3: Ship of Magic Pages 223-316

Day 2: Ship of Magic Pages 118-223

Day 1: Ship of Magic Pages 1-117

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