I find it incredibly difficult to give a book a perfect rating. There's always something I can point out that I didn't love or a moment in the book that just felt too slow. While those elements do exist in Ship of Magic, this book incredibly successfully introduces a wild new world to The Realm of the Elderlings. From a fantastically written set of characters to a crazy set of new mysteries, Robin Hobb's skills are put on full display in Ship of Magic.

Ship of Magic is a slow paced family drama in a fantastical pirate world setting. With the Vestrit family suffering from financial losses and the decline of their patriarch, Ship of Magic begins as a new order is establishing itself within this powerful trading family. These changes reflect a macrocasum of transition in the port of Bingtown. While its residents have previously refused to participate in the slave trade, growing influence from Northerners has encouraged the region to begin to participate in human trafficking.

Through this central thematic element, Hobb explores the moral complexities of a wide set of characters, from the captain Kyle Haven who wants to join in this profitable trade to keep the Vestrits afloat to his sister in law Althea Vestrit who aims to preserve the family's past to Kyle's son Wintrow, a priest who becomes mired in the family's politics. In a break from The Farseer Trilogy, Hobb includes chapters from all of these characters perspectives and many more, including a character I imagine will be the central villain of The Liveship Traders

, pirate captain Kennit

. As the reader gets moments in the head of each major character, Hobb makes this world feel far more expansive and fleshed out than that of The Farseer Trilogy.

Central to this story is the magic of the Southern portion of the Realm of the Elderlings. Unlike the Six Duchies of The Farseer Trilogy, Bingtown and the Pirate Isles in Ship of Magic feel more like a magical world, not just a world with some magic on the side. From terrifying sea serpents to an island inhabited by mysterious "others" this book is full with foreign characters that yet somehow feel incredibly human. The titular liveships are ships made from a special wood that, if 3 generations of a family die onboard, comes alive. All of these fantastical elements appear to tie to the mysterious Rain Wilders.

After watching the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, I was left wondering what else could ever make me feel so invested in high sea adventure. While incredibly different, Ship of Magic is exactly that.