Ship of Destiny (The Liveship Traders #3) by Robin Hobb

Hobb seems to have a knack for giving you endings that absolutely makes you want to scream at the injustice of it all.

I want to wax philosophical about how everything that needed to be settled did and how things are never as tidy, but😭😭😭😭😭I want to fight (not literally ‘cos I can’t fight🤪) Robin Hobb.

How could you do this to me?? How could you??

The pain was just a part of all that. I had lives before this one, and they are just as much mine as this. I can take all my pasts, keep them, and determine my own future. I don’t have to be what anyone made me…

Paragon

A little over six years after I started this series, I finally finished it, and it seems Robb has a penchant for not giving in to cruelty. She’s a better person than me because, quite frankly, I was ready for every fucking thing to burn🖤.

Ship of Destiny is, in some ways, a tale of beginnings and ends. Some characters finally find their place in the world, and others begin searching anew. New dreams and hopes are re-born, and old hurts are, for some, finally laid to rest, albeit not without pain. But then again, do old hurts ever leave without pain?

Hobb seems to have a knack for giving you endings that absolutely makes you want to scream at the injustice of it all (because, by all the book gods, this was an injustice).

Random: Now I find myself wondering why I did not feel this visceral injustice for Serilla too. Hmm🤔Ugh, Damn. Because, like Althea, she just never got revenge on the person who did her such grievous injury. Makes you think, though, how you reserve more compassion for some than others.

🖤🖤

Anyways, let’s talk about some characters.

You can’t play in shit and not get some on you.

Jek

🏴‍☠️ Kennit and Wintrow

At the start of this series, I did not have any love for these characters. Wintrow, with his refusal to take responsibility for anything, and Kennit, with his, you can rid the world of evil with a little benevolent evil spiel. However, by Book 2, I was warming up to both.

Hobb is so good at making you see complexities with characters; damn her for that. She makes you say, ahh, I can genuinely sympathize, and it’s so annoying, but in the end, as the quote says, you can’t get down and dirty and not get some on you.

I genuinely believe Kennit’s undoing was never acknowledging that he wasn’t such a good person and that parts of him were rotten to the core and bad to the bone. Wintrow, on the other hand, was able to come to terms with that. I still think he was a little shit for thinking Althea was crazy, but is any woman surprised when men disbelieve such things even when the truth stares them in the face?

🖤

It’s just my life, and now that I have finally discovered what I must have to be happy, I’m willing to lay down my life for it. That’s all

👫🏾 Althea and Brashen

Althea really grew up in this one, and Brashen too. It was so good to see them come into their own, to see them believe so thoroughly in themselves as individuals, and be able to look at faults and not let them cripple them.

These two really stepped up.

However, there were times I was so mad at Althea. She really is a hot head but full circle, people, full circle… My heart was glad for them, and I hope there is some mention of them in some of the other books because I just need to know that they were, really, really all right. Hobb was cruel for only giving me a taste of this.

🖤🖤

Teach yourself to believe you will succeed

❤️‍🔥💗 Malta and Reyn

Guys, for once, young love did not make me want to puke! My goodness, Malta was a force to behold; honestly, all the women in this book were!
I want to write something about Reyn, but, lol, that boy had it bad. He could only see and breathe Malta, and you know what? I loved that for her.

🖤

There has always been two of me

⛵⛵ Vivacia & Paragon

My heart…They really did come full circle. I want to write a lot, but I think it’s better to read and experience everything good and bad with the ships. It was kind of sad, though.

Anyways, I close a chapter on a beautiful series. Ship of Destiny was bittersweet, but still a great end to the series.