The comments that I made about Ship of Magic basically apply here: Mad Ship is an exciting, well-written, honestly plotted book, and a worthy sequel to Ship of Magic.

But Mad Ship suffers a bit from the problems of all mid-trilogy books: the book occasionally drags as characters seem to spin around the same problems without resolution, and Hobb seems to linger too long before introducing certain plot elements that any reader will have predicted many chapters earlier. Mad Ship also falls slightly flat during some gratuitous passages where Hobb somehow felt the need to have characters give long speeches about "deep thoughts" like "What is love?" or "What is faith?" These passages interrupt the otherwise smooth flow of the plot and seem out of place (and, frankly, a little embarrassing) in the mouths of certain characters.

That being said, Mad Ship does significantly advance the plot that started in Ship of Magic. Unlike Robert Jordan, Hobb is not afraid to introduce huge events that can potentially affect the fate of all of Bingtown. And yet she does so without belittling the day-to-day concerns of even her most minor characters--a welcome difference from other novels, where an earth-shattering revelation mid-book makes the first half of the story seem completely pointless.

It is also a real pleasure to watch Hobb weave the threads of her different characters' lives across each other, so that a promise made to one character in one chapter presages a disaster to befall another character later on, and so on. I don't know what kind of planning went into this book, and this series, but it is truly remarkable how each character's individual plot-line is so well-paced by itself, and yet these stories intersect so frequently and with such great effect.

As interesting as the plot is, Hobb's talents truly shine in her characterization. Ship of Magic featured Hobb's ability to portray complex, multi-faceted characters; in Mad Ship she shows off her ability to make her characters plausibly transform in fundamental ways. The most remarkable changes occur with Malta, Wintrow, and Kennit--but few characters stay the same throughout this book, and Hobb handles each character's changes with her usual deft touch.

But even as Hobb dwells lovingly on the little details in Mad Ship, she also drops tantalizing hints of the larger history behind her world. By the end of the book, these growing historical relevations merge with the main plot line for a conclusion that can only be described as awe-inspiring.

A few minor quibbles aside, Mad Ship is just as incredible as Ship of Magic. This series is, without a doubt, another fantasy classic by Hobb.

Copyright © 2002 Steven Wu