Each acts according to his/her nature and the resulting events reflect cascading collisions of motive and desire. All are filled with conviction, and each character’s individual story is compelling and believable. Some characters are more sympathetic to the reader than others, but even the ‘nice’ ones are supremely flawed. Rather, the story relies on the life-and-death struggle of a cast of well-drawn and disparate (and desperate) characters in conflict with each other. Unlike most ‘epic’ fantasy novels, the books do not have a single ‘all-powerful’ antagonist. The Liveship Traders tells the story of the Vestrit Trader family, whose fortunes are derived from trade conducted by their liveship, Vivacia – a ship built of wizardwood, whose animated figurehead holds generations of family knowledge – and their struggle for survival in a world that is rapidly changing. Reliving it again now is a delicious treat – so much so that I find myself deliberately opting for peak hour, just so I can drive in the worst traffic and have 10 minutes longer each morning and evening with this brilliant story. Even so, I’ve previously read the trilogy only the once. (Have I mentioned how much I love audiobooks?) I first read this amazing fantasy trilogy back in 2005 and it has since resided firmly near the top of my all-time favourite novels/series. I’m currently reliving Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders trilogy during my commute to and from work in the car.
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