I do want to add the narration of Ship of Magic I did not particularly like. Would recommend physically reading. Ship of Magic: amzn.to/343mKH1 Project Hail Mary: amzn.to/2RGuqfs
I'm still on the first review, but I'm going to guess you liked Ship of Magic a lot better than the first three books. I love Althea so much, and something other than bad stuff happens to Fitz.
Hear me out- she SUCKED for me for the majority of SoM but I actually started to like her in MS and SoD. Definitely keep going with them! I was so surprised by how much I loved all of the characters by the end of the trilogy.
Tempted to get it on audio also. I read the book in less than 3 day when it came out but everybody is talking about how great the audio is and also I miss the story! I want to revisit it!
Finished it 12 hours ago and I couldn't agree more. I want to see how he performs other books. I'm trying to decide if I like listening to this actor or RC Bray (The Martian) more. It's really close for me.
I loved how Rocky always said “question” and how they became such good friends. It’s like being alien to each other wasn’t a big deal and they had their own special relationship aside from all the problems going on. I also felt that their science people all dying and our engineers dying led to the best outcome. We had better science and they had better engineers. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to hear about what happened on earth though.
For me The Martian and PHM read very differently because of the amount of intrigue and mystery in PHM. I was able to do a dozen smaller reading sessions for The Martian while loving it, but the punches kept coming nonstop in PHM and I ended up reading ~80% of it in my first session. Loved both.
It makes me excited because I knew right away but imagine having it revealed to you in Ship of Destiny when Hobb makes it clear as day who they are…I’d be screaming
@@britwww I can't remember exactly where it clicked but it was such an awesome moment! Hobbs masterful is giving you enough hints without beating you over the head with it.
Hey Daniel! As a 19-year-old college freshman, I just wanted to thank you for playing a HUGE part in rekindling my love for literature (especially Sci-fi and Fantasy) at this important juncture in my life. I discovered Mr. Sanderson (the fantasy god himself) and his books through your videos, and that alone should suffice to say that you are indeed helping inspire countless people out there to rediscover their love for reading, and maybe to even try writing a work of literature themselves. I can’t wait to read your novella-I just got it in ebook form-and I am looking forward to seeing you and your channel grow even bigger! Cheers, man ✌🏼
Okay the shirt off Kyle scene had me rolling. Hobb is my pick for best character writer of all time after Liveships, I'm not sure it's really even close.
I read PHM last week, and while I agree the tone is very similar to that of The Martian, I've had a blast listening to the audiobook. Highly recommended!
I agree that Reyland didn’t really care about the two bodies in the beginning. But that’s also because he has 0 idea who they even are. For all he knows they kidnapped him lol. He cares about them wayyy later when he remembers them
Check out Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts. Its really good and relies of arcs that last for three to four books. Its a fantasic mix of classic and modern fantasy. Also really good world building i would recommend it to people who couldnt do Malazan and WoT Some parts reminds me of Brandon Sanderson and Robin Hobb
I'm actually reading Warbreaker now. I'm not ready for a big 10+ book commitment after Realm of the Elderlings quite yet. Maybe I forgot how great of a writer Sanderson is, but Warbreaker so far is amazing!
I believe the Soldier son trilogy is the underrated part of Robin Hobb's books since it's the only part that doesn't take place in the Realm of the Elderlings.
I think what's great about Kyle as a character, that he is not some fantasy villain, not a dark lord or evil sorcerer or even a royal son (like Regal), but he is simply an abusive, misogynistic narcissist, who is just too real to read about because a lot of us know such people. He is just a bad person. I never wanted a character to die as much as Kyle :D Btw, what did you think of Amber? I really like her and there is so much to her story :)
I know this is spoiler territory, but is he in the whole trilogy? because I’m barely into Ship of Magic and I hate him so much that I don’t want to keep reading.
So glad you liked Ship of Magic! I'm a huge Robin Hobb fan ever since I started reading Farseer a few years ago. I can understand why people told you that Ship of Magic is not as good and that you should stick with it untill you get to the other, better books in the trilogy. First of all, you don't have Fitz and that might be a hard adjustment. But mostly I feel like the Liveship traders trilogy almost feels like one giant book insted of three separate entries, so the first book is mostly the built up, and it works well with the series as a whole, but it is a bit slower and weaker on its own. I still love it, but I understand why people feel like this one is harder to get through, but you should in order to get to the other brilliant books in the trilogy (and the rest of the Realm of the Elderlings series!).
Honestly I had to put ship of magic down multiple times because some of made me so angry and frustrated and upset. Kyle is a big part of that but the oppression of women also just made me really angry and it's just unbelievable how well Hobb writes characters and the controversy around equality and slavery etc.
Same. I had to take breaks because of how confronting it was. It's definitely well-written, and she discusses issues that need to be talked about. Still just a lot to take.
When I and my brother watched the Fawlty Tower series we both would occasionally leave the room because we had enough of Basil Faulty for a while. Then we would watch more. My brother did that more often and we never walked at the same points.
Totally agree with her character work made it so good but also the first 100-150 pages, knowing whats coming I was so hurt and almost not having fun, she is just so immersive and loved to put people through realistic injustices. And Kyle is THE WORST
I second your notion on Robin Hobb's characters. After I finished the marathon of Realm of the Elderlings, I actually cried because Fitz and co aren't in my life anymore.
@@kathleenquinlan6559 Very true. I much more cared for the three trilogies with following Fitz and the Liveship trilogy was great. I didn't much care for Rain Wild Chronicles tho
@@ToastieBRRRN Hobb hasn't said ANYTHING regarding that possibility. I've watched interviews in which she was asked that and while she didn't say no...she didn't seem like that was something she wanted to do. I like how it wrapped up anyways
Took me a bit to get into Project Hail Mary but it’s definitely a book that gets better and better as it goes on. I couldn’t put it down by the time I got to the second half. So many great twists along the way!
I have to say I really like the double stack review format. I often dont watch reviews for books that I have no interest in but by making a video like this I'm far more likely to watch.
That's probably why I loved it so much. I was looking for some more good sci-fi since I read The Andromeda Evolution in late 2019. Andy definitely went above and beyond this time around and I hope he can do it again.
I have never cared as much about book characters as I did for Grace and Rocky. The jazz hands, “fist my bump”, asking a question and ending it with “question?” was always humorous. By far one of my favorite books and I’m only sad that it ended.
Noticing you didn’t make mention of specific characters and their connection to previous Hobb books makes me excited for your review of Ship of Destiny where she makes it Very Clear for those who may have missed the hints throughout the first two books 😭 What a ride you are about to have!
As with everything Hobb, she asked the connections between the series to happen naturally and organically... It is a beautiful thing. I'm envious that you've got so much of her work yet to uncover and experience for the first time.
Yaaaaaas! I've been waiting for you to get to liveship traders for such a long time! I remember I took roughly two/three weeks to read each farseer book and only two days to read ship of magic 😂 it keeps getting better!!
I also disliked the narration of Ship of Magic. But I found if I notched up the speed a little bit it was a lot easier to listen to. Great review. Love that you loved it. Please continue with the series.
I’m beyond happy you finally read it. Been waiting for this review every day! Now a word of warning, don’t read any reviews about this series so you don’t get spoilers about a certain character twist that EVERYONE talks about. I want to see if you will figure it out naturally. 😁
Daniel reviews a book on pirates that just happen to be written by Robin Hobb. Of course, it is getting a good review. Daniel loves Island island hopping. I gotta pick this one up, Pirates.
I loved the way your T-shirt reinforced your feelings about Kyle - "I could murder" ("a Curry" only briefly appearing above the desk on a couple of occasions).
Ohhh Daniel, sweet child, just you remember everything you're gushing about w.r.t character work....come the end, you will hate her for doing the things she's going to do to your heart. (Not a spoiler, shes just going to break you with the Highs and the Lows buddy)
HI Daniel, I just want to say that I love your channel! I discovered it a couple months ago and it's really helped me out of some bad days (anxiety sucks as you know). I've binged pretty much all of your videos that I could find. Your sense of humor is hilarious and your reviews always make me feel like I'm learning something. Also, I appreciate your attitude of "My opinion is just my opinion and you can have yours" since a lot of people on the internet seem to have... the exact opposite. Thank you!
The worst thing about Kyle is that he genuinely believes what he's doing is right. After Regal, who the first person writing didn't give room for a lot of depth, Kyle is a terribly human monster.
After the disaster that was Artemis, I have no issue whatsoever with Andy Weir reusing The Martian's formula. So much so that I refused to add Project Hail Mary to my TBR until I read numerous reviews assuring me it was more like The Martian than Artemis.
I've been a Robin Hobb fan for decades and yes, the ship trilogy is my favourite among her works, for all the reasons you mention and of course for those things you've yet to encounter. The series is simply stellar.
Awesome review of Ship of Magic. The start of an unbelievably epic saga. That fact that you didn’t even mention the best character of all speaks to how much BETTER Liveship Traders gets as it progresses. Looking forward to the subsequent reviews. I wish I was reading it for the first time again!
Ah! Ship of Magic. Been a few years. Currently doing a reread of her Farseer series, and I know I will probably skip these until after I have read the Tawny man trilogy because that was the order I read them in the first time. I heard about the Liveship Traders AFTER I had read the Tawny Man trilogy. And I am trying to relive the way it happened the first time. Then I read the Rain Wilds Chronicles before the Fitz and the Fool trilogy!
I've been waiting for Ship of Magic review, now I can't wait your reviews on rest of the series :D Farseer was one of the first fantasy series I fully read and I really like the tame unexplored or forgotten magic system. It's preference, but I just love the mystery behind magic being sort of unknown and not straightforward. The Liveship Traders is one of my favorite series from Hobb and ever, probably top 2 along with WOT. The only series in the Realm of the Elderlings I had some problems with was the Rain Wild Chronicles series. While it had interesting and important stuff in it and continues expanding the world it just didn't read as well as the others in the saga.
Yup, F Kyle sideways with a crowbar. We can all agree there. :D In Liveship Traders Robin Hobb does an excellent job with switching POV. Usually I find many POV tiresome (because often I just plain don't like some POV characters or find them interesting) but in LT I just like pretty much all of them. They each have their own interesting voices that keep me engaged. And the arcs are so strong in LT. Wintrow is my absolute favourite.
I was so distraught over having to leave Fitz & the Fool to embark on another whole trilogy that I almost considered skipping and going to Tawny Man. Thank god I didn’t. I took a one month breather after Assassin’s Quest to collect my thoughts before diving into SoM. Wound up finishing all of liveship within a week. Robin Hobb quite literally blows my mind. How she was able to make me love and connect with so many characters again is beyond me. Excited to hear your thoughts on Mad Ship and Ship of Destiny!
The Liveship Traders was my first experience of Robbin Hobb and the trilogy blew me away. I totally understand the hatred you felt, your review was spot on.
So glad you reviewed this. I loved the Farseer trilogy, but the Live Ship trilogy is one of my all time favorite fantasy series. I love ships...I am a big Patrick O'Brien fan, so what's not to love about a series that combines fantasy with ships?
In regards to people saying you won't like Liveship Traders, I think you might actually like it more than the Farseer trilogy. It is an absolute masterclass in storytelling and especially worldbuilding. The characters are exceptionally well written but the only reason why I personally didn't like it as much is because I never got very invested in any specific character, the tale intrigued me more than it drew me in (I read mostly for character). Even still I'm glad I read it because the worldbuilding adds sososo much to the overall world and will help you understand and appreciate more the trilogy that comes after it (my favourite books in fantasy). Anyway, carry on, I think you'll really love where the story is going to take you. Edit: yes yes ges on your point of just how insanely hatable Robin Hobbs characters can be, sometimes you just get tired of following these perfectly flawed individuals that it starts to drag you down (especially a problem for me because I am not a fast reader). Fitz is an exception because I would die for him.
Project hail mary-- what an absolutely bananas book. I listened to it on audio and I had to lay down on the floor with my hands over my eyes for a solid portion of the second half. I think the similarity to the martian is a solid criticism, i reread the martian as soon as i finished PHM because i was nostalgic and reading them back to back was interesting. I think PHM deals a lot more with existential questions than the martian-- Mark Watney hits a road block and makes a quip, then solves it-- its very episodic, literally written as a daily log by watney himself telling us what has happened after it has happened. Ryland hits a rocky patch and we actually get to sit with it AS he deals with it and figures out the ramifications. Its still episodic at times, but i think being able to live in conversation with these rocky moments that makes the difference for me. (and if youve read this book please read into my word choice-- it is on purpose, trying to say what i want to say with no spoilers.)
I love Liveship Traders! As more of YA reader, it’s fun to watch Daniel enjoying a book that contains so much of what I love about YA. It seems like a lot of the best adult fantasy/sci-fi books written by women (Octavia Butler, N.K. Jamison) are so dark or real, they lose that fantastical feeling for me. But Hobb explores darker themes in a way that does not pull me out of the fantasy. I would love recs of female adult fantasy authors or adult fantasy for YA readers. (Id recommend Mistborn in addition to liveship traders to YA readers) And yeah, everyone please push Kyle into traffic if you see him.
I just have about 30 pages left in Ship of Destiny and that whole series was amazing. The character arcs were so interesting. By the third book, you have about 15 different POVs and all of it interesting. Some characters I have loved throughout, others I hated with a passion, some I started off hating and then loved.
BEWARE: SPOILERS! I honestly didn't see PHM as all that similar to The Martian. Sure, we have a protagonist who is alone(at first, anyway), separated from the rest of Humanity and having to deal with an overwhelming challenge. But apart from this, their situations are very different, the stakes are much higher for Grace than for Watney. And there's also the, to me, most relevant and enjoyable part of PHM, the relationship between Grace and Rocky, which has no parallel in TM. The problems that have to be "scienced the sh*t out" are also of an entirely different nature. No 'poop potatoes' harvesting here! Anyway, to me Weir went far beyond anything he did in TM, the scope is much wider. The only thing I missed, as someone already said in the comments, was some information about what happened on Earth.
Having read all of Hobb's books, looking forward to what you have to say about the rest of the series. Am also thinking I'm due for a re-read once I finish WoT again.
Start Mad Ship as soon ASAP. The twists in this trilogy are phenomenal. And her epic scope for this land is beyond beautiful. And if you enjoy Hobbs Prose Daniel, the further you go is almost like reading poetry. It flows like water. And there’s an arc that will catch you off guard. Keep going.
I’m glad to hear Project Hail Mary was good I wasn’t sure if I should pick it up. Unpopular opinion I love all of Robin Hobbs books so much but Farseer Trilogy is my favorite of her trilogies. I agree about her character work though she really can make you hate or love a character and she is so good at developing a hated character into a loved character.
“Pirates are cool.” Enough said. But, seriously, you finally reviewing my favourite Robin Hobb series (so far!) has made me happy. One of the best fantasy trilogies of all time!
Every character in the Liveship cast have AMAZING arcs. The series in Real of the Elderlings, go like: Fitz Ship Fitz Ship Fitz I still have the last trilogy to read so i might be wrong but so far thats it.
While our dear Greene Goblin is quite right about the unoriginality of the plot of Project Hail Mary, I feel like there is originality of a different type present in this novel. I’ll be cagey about spoilers: some of the “rockier” aspects of the novel involve some really interesting and novel takes on sensory input and linguistics. While this is not an original plot, it is a lovely blend of ideas with excellent characterization of one particular side character (if you know, you know). Hope that wasn’t too vague, but I don’t want to spoil the book.
Appreciate the honest review of hail Mary. I will try to listen to the audiobook.. as I did with the Martian... I'm forwarned about the redo of storyline.
SO I did the opposite of you and accidentally skipped Mad Ships and The Rain Wilds and went straight to Tawny Main trilogy because I thought I was just supposed to read Fitz's stories. Then a friend I recommended Hobb to read the Elderlings "correctly" told me what I was missing.
I've just finished the Liveship trilogy yesterday, and it is amazing! Please continue reading it, you won't be disappointed. 👍 Great review btw. "I hate him more than Joffrey" 😂😂😂
The Algorithm led me here, not sure why. It’s been almost a decade since I found time to read a novel. I can. Not. Wait. To see your video after you finish Liveship. Seriously, it’s galaxy brain levels of world building. Stronger than WoT, for my taste. Certainly not as gigantic, but I found it much more cohesive. One of those series I wish I could un-read just to experience again.
I don’t care what it is, if Andy Weir wrote it, I’m reading it. I loved Artemis, but it is definitely my least favorite of the trifecta. I recommend all of them. As far as the emotion, I think it was just enough. That’s one of the things I appreciate from Andy. He doesn’t belabor and drone. I still cried each time I read it.
Your feeling that people who liked Dresden would like Project Hail Mary as well, is very true, at least in my case. Especially if you listen to the audiobooks.
I really enjoy what you said about Hobbs incredible character work almost making the story worse because that's exactly how I felt about SoM, it was the book that took me the longest to read out of all the RotE books just because it was so frustrating to see characters take one step forward and then imediately being forced to take two back because of Kyle. Kennit stuff somehow ended up being one of the few chapters where I could chill out lol. I feel like Malta ends up being the perfect evolution and subversion of Hobbs work with Kyle/Regal/etc. In a way that could really only ever be written by a woman.
My first fantasy book ever was actually the Royal Assassin (the 2nd in the Farseer trilogy) and I have never turned back. I absolutely fell in love with fantasy because of Robin Hobb. I could go on and on but ultimately her writing draws me in deep enough that I lost reality while reading. I hated the end of FitzChivalry but it had to come at some point.
I do want to add the narration of Ship of Magic I did not particularly like. Would recommend physically reading.
Ship of Magic: amzn.to/343mKH1
Project Hail Mary: amzn.to/2RGuqfs
Soso glad you finally continued with Robin Hobb again.
Regards, a massive fanboy.
Hard agree. Anne Flosnik is one of my least favorite narrators.
I'm still on the first review, but I'm going to guess you liked Ship of Magic a lot better than the first three books. I love Althea so much, and something other than bad stuff happens to Fitz.
you reacted the exact way i thought you would to ship of magic. btw pay attention to Amber she is going to blow your mind.
Hear me out- she SUCKED for me for the majority of SoM but I actually started to like her in MS and SoD. Definitely keep going with them! I was so surprised by how much I loved all of the characters by the end of the trilogy.
The audio book for Hail Mary was phenomenal. The performance was 10/10
Same guy who did Bobiverse. Highly recommend.
Just finished the audiobook and it was fantastic!
Tempted to get it on audio also. I read the book in less than 3 day when it came out but everybody is talking about how great the audio is and also I miss the story! I want to revisit it!
Finished it 12 hours ago and I couldn't agree more. I want to see how he performs other books.
I'm trying to decide if I like listening to this actor or RC Bray (The Martian) more. It's really close for me.
Just finished int on audible. Incredible!
"Her brother-in-law, who... I hated him more than Joffery"
It is a shame you can only like a video once
I hate Kyle simply because of what he did to Wintrow
I personally hated regal much more than Kyle.
was gonna write it down then i saw the comments below ... lol :D
not true. You like. Unlike. and like again.
Absolutely, made me burst out laughing because same + awesome comedic timing.
TAP TAP TAP. Project Hail Mary's audiobook is Amaze! Yes Yes yes!
Happy happy happy
I could hear this comment.
Amaze amaze amaze!
Omg love it
Fist my bump
I loved how Rocky always said “question” and how they became such good friends. It’s like being alien to each other wasn’t a big deal and they had their own special relationship aside from all the problems going on. I also felt that their science people all dying and our engineers dying led to the best outcome. We had better science and they had better engineers. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to hear about what happened on earth though.
I loved how the ending leaves you wondering if Ryland ever went back to earth.
F***ing Kyle. I haven’t read that book in a year and I’m still seething
"i want to commit homicide on a fictional man" SAME
"fuck lysander" ™
For me The Martian and PHM read very differently because of the amount of intrigue and mystery in PHM. I was able to do a dozen smaller reading sessions for The Martian while loving it, but the punches kept coming nonstop in PHM and I ended up reading ~80% of it in my first session. Loved both.
Wil Wheaton butchered The Martian, especially after the epic reading of that book by R.C. Bray. Not sure why Audible changed that.
(Ship of Magic) These books are more connected to the first book characters than you first think, keep reading!
*Laughs knowingly*
I did watch part of this and thought.... just you wait ✋
It makes me excited because I knew right away but imagine having it revealed to you in Ship of Destiny when Hobb makes it clear as day who they are…I’d be screaming
@@britwww I can't remember exactly where it clicked but it was such an awesome moment! Hobbs masterful is giving you enough hints without beating you over the head with it.
I made the mistake of reading Liveship Traders after the second Fitz trilogy and spoiled myself on one of these connections, honestly regret it.
Hey Daniel! As a 19-year-old college freshman, I just wanted to thank you for playing a HUGE part in rekindling my love for literature (especially Sci-fi and Fantasy) at this important juncture in my life. I discovered Mr. Sanderson (the fantasy god himself) and his books through your videos, and that alone should suffice to say that you are indeed helping inspire countless people out there to rediscover their love for reading, and maybe to even try writing a work of literature themselves. I can’t wait to read your novella-I just got it in ebook form-and I am looking forward to seeing you and your channel grow even bigger! Cheers, man ✌🏼
Okay the shirt off Kyle scene had me rolling.
Hobb is my pick for best character writer of all time after Liveships, I'm not sure it's really even close.
Hobb's unrivaled character work strikes again ♥️♥️♥️
Haven't seen the video yet, but I know Ship of Magic is going to be a positive review. Because everything Robin Hobb writes is just so damn good
I read PHM last week, and while I agree the tone is very similar to that of The Martian, I've had a blast listening to the audiobook. Highly recommended!
I was that one vote! When I got there Ship of Magic was exactly tied with IQ84 at 61 votes and I was the 62nd. That was cool.
Thanks for doing the good work ;)
I've been looking forward to Daniel reviewing Ship of Magic for a while
You are a hero, I tip my hat at you.
Thank you!!!
Just finished Project Hail Mary this morning. If youre reading this, read the book. It's entertaining and emotional in all the right ways.
Liveship Trilogy is one of my favorite series.
I just grabbed ship of Magic! Im loving the realm of the elderlings
I agree that Reyland didn’t really care about the two bodies in the beginning. But that’s also because he has 0 idea who they even are. For all he knows they kidnapped him lol. He cares about them wayyy later when he remembers them
Just finished Assassin's Fate and I have to say Realm of the Elderlings is the most underrated series.
I'm glad it's getting a lot of (long overdue) attention lately. Its really the best thing I've ever read.
Check out Wars of Light and Shadow by Janny Wurts. Its really good and relies of arcs that last for three to four books. Its a fantasic mix of classic and modern fantasy. Also really good world building i would recommend it to people who couldnt do Malazan and WoT
Some parts reminds me of Brandon Sanderson and Robin Hobb
I'm actually reading Warbreaker now. I'm not ready for a big 10+ book commitment after Realm of the Elderlings quite yet. Maybe I forgot how great of a writer Sanderson is, but Warbreaker so far is amazing!
I believe the Soldier son trilogy is the underrated part of Robin Hobb's books since it's the only part that doesn't take place in the Realm of the Elderlings.
Best. Series. Ever.
I think what's great about Kyle as a character, that he is not some fantasy villain, not a dark lord or evil sorcerer or even a royal son (like Regal), but he is simply an abusive, misogynistic narcissist, who is just too real to read about because a lot of us know such people. He is just a bad person. I never wanted a character to die as much as Kyle :D
Btw, what did you think of Amber? I really like her and there is so much to her story :)
Yeah, he is really bad, and a real person. That only make me hate him more. A great character and a rotten person.
You've really said it in a nutshell perfectly.
I know this is spoiler territory, but is he in the whole trilogy? because I’m barely into Ship of Magic and I hate him so much that I don’t want to keep reading.
@@xJillie you can keep reading, he's present in book 2 and 3, but way less prominently, and we don't see him for a big period of time.
Malta has one of he best character journeys throughout the liveship trader books. I can't wait for you to see it through to the end.
Yep, but yet how i hated Malta in beginning naive firl who dosent undrestand how to world works.
So glad you liked Ship of Magic! I'm a huge Robin Hobb fan ever since I started reading Farseer a few years ago.
I can understand why people told you that Ship of Magic is not as good and that you should stick with it untill you get to the other, better books in the trilogy.
First of all, you don't have Fitz and that might be a hard adjustment. But mostly I feel like the Liveship traders trilogy almost feels like one giant book insted of three separate entries, so the first book is mostly the built up, and it works well with the series as a whole, but it is a bit slower and weaker on its own. I still love it, but I understand why people feel like this one is harder to get through, but you should in order to get to the other brilliant books in the trilogy (and the rest of the Realm of the Elderlings series!).
You're hitting us with a double review!? Can't wait for the rare and exclusive TRIPLE review! 🚀
"If you're going against a monster, is it ok to behave monstrous towards them?"
-Journey before destination radiant.
Dude, I hope you don't put too much time in between reading Mad Ship and Ship of Destiny. It's absolutely phenomenal!
Honestly I had to put ship of magic down multiple times because some of made me so angry and frustrated and upset. Kyle is a big part of that but the oppression of women also just made me really angry and it's just unbelievable how well Hobb writes characters and the controversy around equality and slavery etc.
Same. I had to take breaks because of how confronting it was. It's definitely well-written, and she discusses issues that need to be talked about. Still just a lot to take.
When I and my brother watched the Fawlty Tower series we both would occasionally leave the room because we had enough of Basil Faulty for a while. Then we would watch more. My brother did that more often and we never walked at the same points.
Totally agree with her character work made it so good but also the first 100-150 pages, knowing whats coming I was so hurt and almost not having fun, she is just so immersive and loved to put people through realistic injustices. And Kyle is THE WORST
I second your notion on Robin Hobb's characters. After I finished the marathon of Realm of the Elderlings, I actually cried because Fitz and co aren't in my life anymore.
She not continuing it with Bee?
I cried several times while binging the series. Hobb knows how to make the reader hurt for the characters
@@kathleenquinlan6559 Very true. I much more cared for the three trilogies with following Fitz and the Liveship trilogy was great. I didn't much care for Rain Wild Chronicles tho
Same!
@@ToastieBRRRN Hobb hasn't said ANYTHING regarding that possibility. I've watched interviews in which she was asked that and while she didn't say no...she didn't seem like that was something she wanted to do. I like how it wrapped up anyways
Liveship trader is my favourite trilogy ever written ever, but I'll never read it again.
Took me a bit to get into Project Hail Mary but it’s definitely a book that gets better and better as it goes on. I couldn’t put it down by the time I got to the second half. So many great twists along the way!
I have to say I really like the double stack review format. I often dont watch reviews for books that I have no interest in but by making a video like this I'm far more likely to watch.
I'm really interested to see what you think of Kennit and Malta by the end of this series.
Yes!
you will certainly not know do you love or hate them.
For me Project Hail Mary is like the child of The Martian and The Andromeda Strain. I really enjoyed it!
That's probably why I loved it so much. I was looking for some more good sci-fi since I read The Andromeda Evolution in late 2019. Andy definitely went above and beyond this time around and I hope he can do it again.
I have never cared as much about book characters as I did for Grace and Rocky. The jazz hands, “fist my bump”, asking a question and ending it with “question?” was always humorous. By far one of my favorite books and I’m only sad that it ended.
Noticing you didn’t make mention of specific characters and their connection to previous Hobb books makes me excited for your review of Ship of Destiny where she makes it Very Clear for those who may have missed the hints throughout the first two books 😭 What a ride you are about to have!
You convinced me to read Project Hail Mary, so thank you for that! I'm loving it! 💚
This channel deserves all the praise it gets.good work.👍👍
I just finished a certain scene in Shadow Rising where a character receives his Dragons. Holy shit I'm so in love with this series.
Like, Daniel I can't thank you enough for introducing me to WoT. This is my life now.
I just finished book 6. And recovering from that blow. What a series!
@@reinierovertoom7123 Yeah, I've heard the climax to Lord of Chaos is intense
@@reinierovertoom7123 I've just started book six. The prologue is basically a novella.
As with everything Hobb, she asked the connections between the series to happen naturally and organically... It is a beautiful thing. I'm envious that you've got so much of her work yet to uncover and experience for the first time.
Yaaaaaas! I've been waiting for you to get to liveship traders for such a long time! I remember I took roughly two/three weeks to read each farseer book and only two days to read ship of magic 😂 it keeps getting better!!
I also disliked the narration of Ship of Magic. But I found if I notched up the speed a little bit it was a lot easier to listen to. Great review. Love that you loved it. Please continue with the series.
I’m beyond happy you finally read it. Been waiting for this review every day! Now a word of warning, don’t read any reviews about this series so you don’t get spoilers about a certain character twist that EVERYONE talks about. I want to see if you will figure it out naturally. 😁
Weir makes the reader fall in love with Rocky. "Amaze!" "Grace Question?" "You no can..."
Daniel, I am with you on Kyle. SO with you.
Liveship Traders is my favorite among Hobb's works and remain so to this day.
Just wait until you get to The Tawny Man trilogy!
What the Martian and Hail Mary taught me about space: apart from your towel, duct tape and epoxy sealant are space essentials.
Daniel reviews a book on pirates that just happen to be written by Robin Hobb. Of course, it is getting a good review. Daniel loves Island island hopping. I gotta pick this one up, Pirates.
I loved the way your T-shirt reinforced your feelings about Kyle - "I could murder" ("a Curry" only briefly appearing above the desk on a couple of occasions).
I'm reading project hail Mary now and ship of magic is high on my TBR. Glad to see the high ratings for both!
Rocky is the best.
That is all.
Ohhh Daniel, sweet child, just you remember everything you're gushing about w.r.t character work....come the end, you will hate her for doing the things she's going to do to your heart. (Not a spoiler, shes just going to break you with the Highs and the Lows buddy)
She building a Domino Palace only to crush it.
HI Daniel, I just want to say that I love your channel! I discovered it a couple months ago and it's really helped me out of some bad days (anxiety sucks as you know). I've binged pretty much all of your videos that I could find. Your sense of humor is hilarious and your reviews always make me feel like I'm learning something. Also, I appreciate your attitude of "My opinion is just my opinion and you can have yours" since a lot of people on the internet seem to have... the exact opposite. Thank you!
The worst thing about Kyle is that he genuinely believes what he's doing is right. After Regal, who the first person writing didn't give room for a lot of depth, Kyle is a terribly human monster.
After the disaster that was Artemis, I have no issue whatsoever with Andy Weir reusing The Martian's formula. So much so that I refused to add Project Hail Mary to my TBR until I read numerous reviews assuring me it was more like The Martian than Artemis.
Loved the SoM thoughts. I’d love spoiler videos on Liveship at some point
I've been a Robin Hobb fan for decades and yes, the ship trilogy is my favourite among her works, for all the reasons you mention and of course for those things you've yet to encounter.
The series is simply stellar.
Awesome review of Ship of Magic. The start of an unbelievably epic saga. That fact that you didn’t even mention the best character of all speaks to how much BETTER Liveship Traders gets as it progresses. Looking forward to the subsequent reviews. I wish I was reading it for the first time again!
We're bringing him over to the dark side Elderlings!!!!!
Ah! Ship of Magic. Been a few years. Currently doing a reread of her Farseer series, and I know I will probably skip these until after I have read the Tawny man trilogy because that was the order I read them in the first time. I heard about the Liveship Traders AFTER I had read the Tawny Man trilogy. And I am trying to relive the way it happened the first time. Then I read the Rain Wilds Chronicles before the Fitz and the Fool trilogy!
I've been waiting for Ship of Magic review, now I can't wait your reviews on rest of the series :D
Farseer was one of the first fantasy series I fully read and I really like the tame unexplored or forgotten magic system. It's preference, but I just love the mystery behind magic being sort of unknown and not straightforward. The Liveship Traders is one of my favorite series from Hobb and ever, probably top 2 along with WOT. The only series in the Realm of the Elderlings I had some problems with was the Rain Wild Chronicles series. While it had interesting and important stuff in it and continues expanding the world it just didn't read as well as the others in the saga.
Okay, Night of Knives is slowly edging up the polls, I can accept this. Hopefully we will get a review by 2025
I felt Project Hail Mary was more like the Martian meets Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy as fans of both will definitely enjoy this novel .
Yup, F Kyle sideways with a crowbar. We can all agree there. :D
In Liveship Traders Robin Hobb does an excellent job with switching POV. Usually I find many POV tiresome (because often I just plain don't like some POV characters or find them interesting) but in LT I just like pretty much all of them. They each have their own interesting voices that keep me engaged. And the arcs are so strong in LT.
Wintrow is my absolute favourite.
My Husband binged it in 3 days. He was listening to parts of it around our 11 yr old...who was engaged and really interested in it.
This was my favorite series in the realm of the eldering series(that I read i haven't read the last trilogy yet). Happy you liked it too
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You`re in for a ride. I`m reading it for the second time now and I love it.
I was so distraught over having to leave Fitz & the Fool to embark on another whole trilogy that I almost considered skipping and going to Tawny Man. Thank god I didn’t. I took a one month breather after Assassin’s Quest to collect my thoughts before diving into SoM. Wound up finishing all of liveship within a week. Robin Hobb quite literally blows my mind. How she was able to make me love and connect with so many characters again is beyond me. Excited to hear your thoughts on Mad Ship and Ship of Destiny!
been waiting for more of Hobbs books. Thank you and keep going. its get better by the book
The Liveship Traders was my first experience of Robbin Hobb and the trilogy blew me away. I totally understand the hatred you felt, your review was spot on.
So glad you reviewed this. I loved the Farseer trilogy, but the Live Ship trilogy is one of my all time favorite fantasy series. I love ships...I am a big Patrick O'Brien fan, so what's not to love about a series that combines fantasy with ships?
In regards to people saying you won't like Liveship Traders, I think you might actually like it more than the Farseer trilogy. It is an absolute masterclass in storytelling and especially worldbuilding. The characters are exceptionally well written but the only reason why I personally didn't like it as much is because I never got very invested in any specific character, the tale intrigued me more than it drew me in (I read mostly for character). Even still I'm glad I read it because the worldbuilding adds sososo much to the overall world and will help you understand and appreciate more the trilogy that comes after it (my favourite books in fantasy). Anyway, carry on, I think you'll really love where the story is going to take you.
Edit: yes yes ges on your point of just how insanely hatable Robin Hobbs characters can be, sometimes you just get tired of following these perfectly flawed individuals that it starts to drag you down (especially a problem for me because I am not a fast reader). Fitz is an exception because I would die for him.
Oh I think I wasn’t clear. People said I wouldn’t like Farseer and I did. Everyone said id love this and I did :)
@@DanielGreeneReviews ah okay very good, Hobb's writing only gets better and better thats a certainty.
Project hail mary-- what an absolutely bananas book. I listened to it on audio and I had to lay down on the floor with my hands over my eyes for a solid portion of the second half. I think the similarity to the martian is a solid criticism, i reread the martian as soon as i finished PHM because i was nostalgic and reading them back to back was interesting. I think PHM deals a lot more with existential questions than the martian-- Mark Watney hits a road block and makes a quip, then solves it-- its very episodic, literally written as a daily log by watney himself telling us what has happened after it has happened. Ryland hits a rocky patch and we actually get to sit with it AS he deals with it and figures out the ramifications. Its still episodic at times, but i think being able to live in conversation with these rocky moments that makes the difference for me.
(and if youve read this book please read into my word choice-- it is on purpose, trying to say what i want to say with no spoilers.)
I love Liveship Traders! As more of YA reader, it’s fun to watch Daniel enjoying a book that contains so much of what I love about YA. It seems like a lot of the best adult fantasy/sci-fi books written by women (Octavia Butler, N.K. Jamison) are so dark or real, they lose that fantastical feeling for me. But Hobb explores darker themes in a way that does not pull me out of the fantasy. I would love recs of female adult fantasy authors or adult fantasy for YA readers. (Id recommend Mistborn in addition to liveship traders to YA readers) And yeah, everyone please push Kyle into traffic if you see him.
My personal recs would be A Natural History of Dragons, and the Temeraire series
@@readingwithrebeccanicole Thank you!!
"I hate him more than Joffrey" Accurate 👏 I felt red rage when reading his parts as if he existed in real life! Great review.
That is SO true about Ship of Magic!
I literally had to stop book 2 because of how angry I got with one of the antagonists.
I just have about 30 pages left in Ship of Destiny and that whole series was amazing. The character arcs were so interesting. By the third book, you have about 15 different POVs and all of it interesting. Some characters I have loved throughout, others I hated with a passion, some I started off hating and then loved.
BEWARE: SPOILERS! I honestly didn't see PHM as all that similar to The Martian. Sure, we have a protagonist who is alone(at first, anyway), separated from the rest of Humanity and having to deal with an overwhelming challenge. But apart from this, their situations are very different, the stakes are much higher for Grace than for Watney. And there's also the, to me, most relevant and enjoyable part of PHM, the relationship between Grace and Rocky, which has no parallel in TM. The problems that have to be "scienced the sh*t out" are also of an entirely different nature. No 'poop potatoes' harvesting here! Anyway, to me Weir went far beyond anything he did in TM, the scope is much wider. The only thing I missed, as someone already said in the comments, was some information about what happened on Earth.
Having read all of Hobb's books, looking forward to what you have to say about the rest of the series. Am also thinking I'm due for a re-read once I finish WoT again.
One thing really cool about Robin Hobbs is she's really expands her story and everything is both disconnected and highly connected the more you learn.
Start Mad Ship as soon ASAP. The twists in this trilogy are phenomenal. And her epic scope for this land is beyond beautiful. And if you enjoy Hobbs Prose Daniel, the further you go is almost like reading poetry. It flows like water. And there’s an arc that will catch you off guard. Keep going.
I’m glad to hear Project Hail Mary was good I wasn’t sure if I should pick it up. Unpopular opinion I love all of Robin Hobbs books so much but Farseer Trilogy is my favorite of her trilogies. I agree about her character work though she really can make you hate or love a character and she is so good at developing a hated character into a loved character.
“Pirates are cool.” Enough said. But, seriously, you finally reviewing my favourite Robin Hobb series (so far!) has made me happy. One of the best fantasy trilogies of all time!
Liveship Traders is by far my favorite trilogy in the Realm of the Elderlings.
Yeah, I loved the Farseer trilogy and jumped to Tawny Man before reading Liveship, but I think Liveship is my favorite trilogy in the series, too.
Every character in the Liveship cast have AMAZING arcs.
The series in Real of the Elderlings, go like:
Fitz
Ship
Fitz
Ship
Fitz
I still have the last trilogy to read so i might be wrong but so far thats it.
The last trilogy is amazing, it competes with liveship for the favourite spot.
@@vaffel81 But makes some mistakes and leaves a lot more threads unresolved.
While our dear Greene Goblin is quite right about the unoriginality of the plot of Project Hail Mary, I feel like there is originality of a different type present in this novel. I’ll be cagey about spoilers: some of the “rockier” aspects of the novel involve some really interesting and novel takes on sensory input and linguistics. While this is not an original plot, it is a lovely blend of ideas with excellent characterization of one particular side character (if you know, you know). Hope that wasn’t too vague, but I don’t want to spoil the book.
Every video you put out, I find at least 1 book that I have to read
Appreciate the honest review of hail Mary. I will try to listen to the audiobook.. as I did with the Martian... I'm forwarned about the redo of storyline.
Don't worry Daniel there are still lots of Fitz books ahead of you
SO I did the opposite of you and accidentally skipped Mad Ships and The Rain Wilds and went straight to Tawny Main trilogy because I thought I was just supposed to read Fitz's stories. Then a friend I recommended Hobb to read the Elderlings "correctly" told me what I was missing.
We say "push through, it gets good" because with every new RH book, the bar is raised.
I've just finished the Liveship trilogy yesterday, and it is amazing! Please continue reading it, you won't be disappointed. 👍
Great review btw. "I hate him more than Joffrey" 😂😂😂
The Algorithm led me here, not sure why. It’s been almost a decade since I found time to read a novel.
I can. Not. Wait. To see your video after you finish Liveship. Seriously, it’s galaxy brain levels of world building. Stronger than WoT, for my taste. Certainly not as gigantic, but I found it much more cohesive. One of those series I wish I could un-read just to experience again.
I don’t care what it is, if Andy Weir wrote it, I’m reading it. I loved Artemis, but it is definitely my least favorite of the trifecta. I recommend all of them. As far as the emotion, I think it was just enough. That’s one of the things I appreciate from Andy. He doesn’t belabor and drone. I still cried each time I read it.
It's too early in the morning for me to see shirtless yet disheveled goblins! (Great review of Hail Mary, definitely looking forward to this one)
Your feeling that people who liked Dresden would like Project Hail Mary as well, is very true, at least in my case. Especially if you listen to the audiobooks.
I don't know, I thought there were new themes introduces in Hail Mary. The structure points I completely agree with. Loved the book!
Double the review, Double the fun ;)
I really enjoy what you said about Hobbs incredible character work almost making the story worse because that's exactly how I felt about SoM, it was the book that took me the longest to read out of all the RotE books just because it was so frustrating to see characters take one step forward and then imediately being forced to take two back because of Kyle. Kennit stuff somehow ended up being one of the few chapters where I could chill out lol. I feel like Malta ends up being the perfect evolution and subversion of Hobbs work with Kyle/Regal/etc. In a way that could really only ever be written by a woman.
It's obvious that Robin Hobb was once a teenage girl and remembers it vividly.
My first fantasy book ever was actually the Royal Assassin (the 2nd in the Farseer trilogy) and I have never turned back. I absolutely fell in love with fantasy because of Robin Hobb. I could go on and on but ultimately her writing draws me in deep enough that I lost reality while reading. I hated the end of FitzChivalry but it had to come at some point.
Oh man! You're in for a treat! These were my favorites for sure! Robin Hobb Rules!
I just finished Ship of Magig and was looking for a good, objective review, only to find this was published a few hours ago! Not even Kennit's luck!