A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Still, this should delight fans of the first installment.Īre we not men? We are-well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z (2006).Ī zombie apocalypse is one thing. Hobb displays a wonderful imagination but has cast aside any remaining inclination toward control. A community of intelligent sea serpents has its own agenda, and there are numerous other complications. And Althea’s headstrong sister, Malta, must travel into the magic-filled Rain Wild lands in payment of the debt by which the Vestrits obtained Vivacia.

Althea Vestrit, meanwhile, has teamed up with an old shipmate, captain Brashen Trell, to sail another liveship, Paragon, that may have killed previous crews and is reckoned mad. Now, old Ephron Vestrit’s sentient liveship, Vivacia (built of magic wizardwood, she can talk and manipulate objects via her animated figurehead), has been captured by the ruthless pirate Kennit, while her captain, Kyle Haven, along with Kyle’s talented, tormented son, Wintrow, are below-decks prisoners. This second (Ship of Magic, 1998) in Hobb’s doorstopper trilogy about the Liveship Traders charts the briny adventures of Bingtown’s Vestrit family.

The Mad Ship by Robin Hobb