Archive for the ‘Ann VanderMeer’ Category
So, here’s the first of my “reading diary” blog posts.
I’m nearly half way through Ship of Magic, by Robin Hobb. If you’ve never read her, she’s awesome. This trilogy is probably a good starting point for someone new to her work, as it’s sort of a stand alone series. A number of years ago I remember maybe Hobb talking about her own work, or someone else talking about her work, and they said she imagines the worse possible thing that could happen to her main character, and then she does it. and then does it over and over to that person. And yep, that’s about what usually happens in Hobb books. She’s a damn genius writer, so she gets you all emotionally invested in this character (even if you don’t like the character, you will still be invested. Because Robin Hobb), and then all those horrible things that happen to the character? because of your emotional investment, it feels like it’s happening to you. or, erm, maybe that’s just me.
So, in Ship of Magic, Althea is cheated out of her inheritance. Her douchebag brother-in-law, Kyle, persuades the rest of the family that only he can look after the family’s legacy. He’s such a jackass whiny twat that I want to call him Kylo. see all the horrible words I’ve already used to describe him? Althea isn’t an angel either, she’s kinda whiny too . . .
Oh, but what could this inheritance possibly be that they are fighting over? A liveship. Like, the ship is made of a special kind of wood, and after a while, the ship wakes up. It’s alive, and liveships are a totally normal thing in this area. And the ships talk. And they are awesome. There is one liveship that supposedly went mad, and it’s been beached. Althea talks to it sometimes. I bet it would be super therapeutic if that beached ship could swim again. I totally want to pet that poor ship and bring it cookies. and Kyle needs to die in a fire. But, this is a Hobb, so he won’t.
the Little Red Reviewer 
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