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I had heard many people commend Robin Hobb as a brilliant SFF author, so I finally decided to start off her booklist with The Liveship Traders Trilogy.

Robin Hobb & her Liveship Traders Trilogy Book-Set

This set of books is about the Vestrit trading family of Bingtown, whose head, in his will, bestowed the family ship—The Vivacia – on his eldest daughter Keffria, and by proxy, her husband, Kyle. This was a terrible shock to Althea, his younger daughter, who is a spirited, independent and highly competent woman who has been trained since childhood to become a sailor.

The inheritance of a liveship is no trivial matter, because it basically is a ship with a soul, memory and even the five senses. The figurehead of the ship, carved usually as a man or woman, can talk, guide the crew, and brave bad weather at sea—so such magical liveships are very conducive to trade. These ships are carved out of some special kind of wood (“wizardwood”) by the people of the Rain Wilds, and are loaned to Bingtown traders.