I do want to add the narration of Ship of Magic I did not particularly like. Would recommend physically reading. Ship of Magic: amzn.to/343mKH1 Project Hail Mary: amzn.to/2RGuqfs

TAP TAP TAP. Project Hail Mary's audiobook is Amaze! Yes Yes yes!

The audio book for Hail Mary was phenomenal. The performance was 10/10

I loved how Rocky always said “question” and how they became such good friends. It’s like being alien to each other wasn’t a big deal and they had their own special relationship aside from all the problems going on. I also felt that their science people all dying and our engineers dying led to the best outcome. We had better science and they had better engineers. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to hear about what happened on earth though.

"Her brother-in-law, who... I hated him more than Joffery" It is a shame you can only like a video once

F***ing Kyle. I haven’t read that book in a year and I’m still seething

"i want to commit homicide on a fictional man" SAME

For me The Martian and PHM read very differently because of the amount of intrigue and mystery in PHM. I was able to do a dozen smaller reading sessions for The Martian while loving it, but the punches kept coming nonstop in PHM and I ended up reading ~80% of it in my first session. Loved both.

Hey Daniel! As a 19-year-old college freshman, I just wanted to thank you for playing a HUGE part in rekindling my love for literature (especially Sci-fi and Fantasy) at this important juncture in my life. I discovered Mr. Sanderson (the fantasy god himself) and his books through your videos, and that alone should suffice to say that you are indeed helping inspire countless people out there to rediscover their love for reading, and maybe to even try writing a work of literature themselves. I can’t wait to read your novella-I just got it in ebook form-and I am looking forward to seeing you and your channel grow even bigger! Cheers, man ✌🏼

Hobb's unrivaled character work strikes again ♥️♥️♥️

(Ship of Magic) These books are more connected to the first book characters than you first think, keep reading!

Okay the shirt off Kyle scene had me rolling. Hobb is my pick for best character writer of all time after Liveships, I'm not sure it's really even close.

I read PHM last week, and while I agree the tone is very similar to that of The Martian, I've had a blast listening to the audiobook. Highly recommended!

Liveship Trilogy is one of my favorite series.

Just finished Project Hail Mary this morning. If youre reading this, read the book. It's entertaining and emotional in all the right ways.

I was that one vote! When I got there Ship of Magic was exactly tied with IQ84 at 61 votes and I was the 62nd. That was cool.

Haven't seen the video yet, but I know Ship of Magic is going to be a positive review. Because everything Robin Hobb writes is just so damn good

I think what's great about Kyle as a character, that he is not some fantasy villain, not a dark lord or evil sorcerer or even a royal son (like Regal), but he is simply an abusive, misogynistic narcissist, who is just too real to read about because a lot of us know such people. He is just a bad person. I never wanted a character to die as much as Kyle :D Btw, what did you think of Amber? I really like her and there is so much to her story :)

Just finished Assassin's Fate and I have to say Realm of the Elderlings is the most underrated series.

I just grabbed ship of Magic! Im loving the realm of the elderlings

"If you're going against a monster, is it ok to behave monstrous towards them?" -Journey before destination radiant.

You're hitting us with a double review!? Can't wait for the rare and exclusive TRIPLE review! 🚀

This channel deserves all the praise it gets.good work.👍👍

Rocky is the best. That is all.

Malta has one of he best character journeys throughout the liveship trader books. I can't wait for you to see it through to the end.

HI Daniel, I just want to say that I love your channel! I discovered it a couple months ago and it's really helped me out of some bad days (anxiety sucks as you know). I've binged pretty much all of your videos that I could find. Your sense of humor is hilarious and your reviews always make me feel like I'm learning something. Also, I appreciate your attitude of "My opinion is just my opinion and you can have yours" since a lot of people on the internet seem to have... the exact opposite. Thank you!

You convinced me to read Project Hail Mary, so thank you for that! I'm loving it! 💚

Liveship trader is my favourite trilogy ever written ever, but I'll never read it again.

Honestly I had to put ship of magic down multiple times because some of made me so angry and frustrated and upset. Kyle is a big part of that but the oppression of women also just made me really angry and it's just unbelievable how well Hobb writes characters and the controversy around equality and slavery etc.

I have to say I really like the double stack review format. I often dont watch reviews for books that I have no interest in but by making a video like this I'm far more likely to watch.

For me Project Hail Mary is like the child of The Martian and The Andromeda Strain. I really enjoyed it!

Dude, I hope you don't put too much time in between reading Mad Ship and Ship of Destiny. It's absolutely phenomenal!

Yaaaaaas! I've been waiting for you to get to liveship traders for such a long time! I remember I took roughly two/three weeks to read each farseer book and only two days to read ship of magic 😂 it keeps getting better!!

Totally agree with her character work made it so good but also the first 100-150 pages, knowing whats coming I was so hurt and almost not having fun, she is just so immersive and loved to put people through realistic injustices. And Kyle is THE WORST

I agree that Reyland didn’t really care about the two bodies in the beginning. But that’s also because he has 0 idea who they even are. For all he knows they kidnapped him lol. He cares about them wayyy later when he remembers them

I second your notion on Robin Hobb's characters. After I finished the marathon of Realm of the Elderlings, I actually cried because Fitz and co aren't in my life anymore.

As with everything Hobb, she asked the connections between the series to happen naturally and organically... It is a beautiful thing. I'm envious that you've got so much of her work yet to uncover and experience for the first time.

So glad you liked Ship of Magic! I'm a huge Robin Hobb fan ever since I started reading Farseer a few years ago. I can understand why people told you that Ship of Magic is not as good and that you should stick with it untill you get to the other, better books in the trilogy. First of all, you don't have Fitz and that might be a hard adjustment. But mostly I feel like the Liveship traders trilogy almost feels like one giant book insted of three separate entries, so the first book is mostly the built up, and it works well with the series as a whole, but it is a bit slower and weaker on its own. I still love it, but I understand why people feel like this one is harder to get through, but you should in order to get to the other brilliant books in the trilogy (and the rest of the Realm of the Elderlings series!).

I’m beyond happy you finally read it. Been waiting for this review every day! Now a word of warning, don’t read any reviews about this series so you don’t get spoilers about a certain character twist that EVERYONE talks about. I want to see if you will figure it out naturally. 😁

Noticing you didn’t make mention of specific characters and their connection to previous Hobb books makes me excited for your review of Ship of Destiny where she makes it Very Clear for those who may have missed the hints throughout the first two books 😭 What a ride you are about to have!

Awesome review of Ship of Magic. The start of an unbelievably epic saga. That fact that you didn’t even mention the best character of all speaks to how much BETTER Liveship Traders gets as it progresses. Looking forward to the subsequent reviews. I wish I was reading it for the first time again!

What the Martian and Hail Mary taught me about space: apart from your towel, duct tape and epoxy sealant are space essentials.

I'm really interested to see what you think of Kennit and Malta by the end of this series.

Took me a bit to get into Project Hail Mary but it’s definitely a book that gets better and better as it goes on. I couldn’t put it down by the time I got to the second half. So many great twists along the way!

I loved the way your T-shirt reinforced your feelings about Kyle - "I could murder" ("a Curry" only briefly appearing above the desk on a couple of occasions).

I've been a Robin Hobb fan for decades and yes, the ship trilogy is my favourite among her works, for all the reasons you mention and of course for those things you've yet to encounter. The series is simply stellar.

Just wait until you get to The Tawny Man trilogy!

I just finished a certain scene in Shadow Rising where a character receives his Dragons. Holy shit I'm so in love with this series.

I'm reading project hail Mary now and ship of magic is high on my TBR. Glad to see the high ratings for both!

So glad you reviewed this. I loved the Farseer trilogy, but the Live Ship trilogy is one of my all time favorite fantasy series. I love ships...I am a big Patrick O'Brien fan, so what's not to love about a series that combines fantasy with ships?

I was so distraught over having to leave Fitz & the Fool to embark on another whole trilogy that I almost considered skipping and going to Tawny Man. Thank god I didn’t. I took a one month breather after Assassin’s Quest to collect my thoughts before diving into SoM. Wound up finishing all of liveship within a week. Robin Hobb quite literally blows my mind. How she was able to make me love and connect with so many characters again is beyond me. Excited to hear your thoughts on Mad Ship and Ship of Destiny!

We're bringing him over to the dark side Elderlings!!!!!

Loved the SoM thoughts. I’d love spoiler videos on Liveship at some point

been waiting for more of Hobbs books. Thank you and keep going. its get better by the book

The Liveship Traders was my first experience of Robbin Hobb and the trilogy blew me away. I totally understand the hatred you felt, your review was spot on.

Nice! Two more books to add to the ever-growing TBR!

The worst thing about Kyle is that he genuinely believes what he's doing is right. After Regal, who the first person writing didn't give room for a lot of depth, Kyle is a terribly human monster.

I've been waiting for Ship of Magic review, now I can't wait your reviews on rest of the series :D Farseer was one of the first fantasy series I fully read and I really like the tame unexplored or forgotten magic system. It's preference, but I just love the mystery behind magic being sort of unknown and not straightforward. The Liveship Traders is one of my favorite series from Hobb and ever, probably top 2 along with WOT. The only series in the Realm of the Elderlings I had some problems with was the Rain Wild Chronicles series. While it had interesting and important stuff in it and continues expanding the world it just didn't read as well as the others in the saga.

I just have about 30 pages left in Ship of Destiny and that whole series was amazing. The character arcs were so interesting. By the third book, you have about 15 different POVs and all of it interesting. Some characters I have loved throughout, others I hated with a passion, some I started off hating and then loved.

“Pirates are cool.” Enough said. But, seriously, you finally reviewing my favourite Robin Hobb series (so far!) has made me happy. One of the best fantasy trilogies of all time!

Dude your awesome and I can’t wait to read your books

Daniel, I am with you on Kyle. SO with you. Liveship Traders is my favorite among Hobb's works and remain so to this day.

Ohhh Daniel, sweet child, just you remember everything you're gushing about w.r.t character work....come the end, you will hate her for doing the things she's going to do to your heart. (Not a spoiler, shes just going to break you with the Highs and the Lows buddy)

Start Mad Ship as soon ASAP. The twists in this trilogy are phenomenal. And her epic scope for this land is beyond beautiful. And if you enjoy Hobbs Prose Daniel, the further you go is almost like reading poetry. It flows like water. And there’s an arc that will catch you off guard. Keep going.

Oh man! You're in for a treat! These were my favorites for sure! Robin Hobb Rules!

After the disaster that was Artemis, I have no issue whatsoever with Andy Weir reusing The Martian's formula. So much so that I refused to add Project Hail Mary to my TBR until I read numerous reviews assuring me it was more like The Martian than Artemis.

This was my favorite series in the realm of the eldering series(that I read i haven't read the last trilogy yet). Happy you liked it too .

My Husband binged it in 3 days. He was listening to parts of it around our 11 yr old...who was engaged and really interested in it.

I also disliked the narration of Ship of Magic. But I found if I notched up the speed a little bit it was a lot easier to listen to. Great review. Love that you loved it. Please continue with the series.

I’m glad to hear Project Hail Mary was good I wasn’t sure if I should pick it up. Unpopular opinion I love all of Robin Hobbs books so much but Farseer Trilogy is my favorite of her trilogies. I agree about her character work though she really can make you hate or love a character and she is so good at developing a hated character into a loved character.

It's too early in the morning for me to see shirtless yet disheveled goblins! (Great review of Hail Mary, definitely looking forward to this one)

Appreciate the honest review of hail Mary. I will try to listen to the audiobook.. as I did with the Martian... I'm forwarned about the redo of storyline.

Daniel reviews a book on pirates that just happen to be written by Robin Hobb. Of course, it is getting a good review. Daniel loves Island island hopping. I gotta pick this one up, Pirates.

Having read all of Hobb's books, looking forward to what you have to say about the rest of the series. Am also thinking I'm due for a re-read once I finish WoT again.

Every character in the Liveship cast have AMAZING arcs. The series in Real of the Elderlings, go like: Fitz Ship Fitz Ship Fitz I still have the last trilogy to read so i might be wrong but so far thats it.

One thing really cool about Robin Hobbs is she's really expands her story and everything is both disconnected and highly connected the more you learn.

My first fantasy book ever was actually the Royal Assassin (the 2nd in the Farseer trilogy) and I have never turned back. I absolutely fell in love with fantasy because of Robin Hobb. I could go on and on but ultimately her writing draws me in deep enough that I lost reality while reading. I hated the end of FitzChivalry but it had to come at some point.

I’m sure your TBR is pretty loaded, but you should consider adding Terry Mancour’s Spellmonger to the list. It’s a huge epic fantasy series (12 books in the main series), with continual world building, amazing characters, and a surprisingly enjoyable lecture style for explaining how magic works.

"I hate him more than Joffrey" Accurate 👏 I felt red rage when reading his parts as if he existed in real life! Great review.

PHM was the second best book I have read this year. Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky is the first.

Ah! Ship of Magic. Been a few years. Currently doing a reread of her Farseer series, and I know I will probably skip these until after I have read the Tawny man trilogy because that was the order I read them in the first time. I heard about the Liveship Traders AFTER I had read the Tawny Man trilogy. And I am trying to relive the way it happened the first time. Then I read the Rain Wilds Chronicles before the Fitz and the Fool trilogy!

I felt Project Hail Mary was more like the Martian meets Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy as fans of both will definitely enjoy this novel .

I loved the Martian and I love Dresden Files, definitely going to check out Project Hail Mary :)

Every video you put out, I find at least 1 book that I have to read

Double the review, Double the fun ;)

Can’t wait for the Red Country review.

I love the liveship series, l haven't read all of it, but it's amazing up to the part I did!

We say "push through, it gets good" because with every new RH book, the bar is raised.

I love Liveship Traders! As more of YA reader, it’s fun to watch Daniel enjoying a book that contains so much of what I love about YA. It seems like a lot of the best adult fantasy/sci-fi books written by women (Octavia Butler, N.K. Jamison) are so dark or real, they lose that fantastical feeling for me. But Hobb explores darker themes in a way that does not pull me out of the fantasy. I would love recs of female adult fantasy authors or adult fantasy for YA readers. (Id recommend Mistborn in addition to liveship traders to YA readers) And yeah, everyone please push Kyle into traffic if you see him.

Robin Hobb is the goat! So glad you're enjoying the character work (I'm still utterly baffled when i see negative reviews)

Yup, F Kyle sideways with a crowbar. We can all agree there. :D In Liveship Traders Robin Hobb does an excellent job with switching POV. Usually I find many POV tiresome (because often I just plain don't like some POV characters or find them interesting) but in LT I just like pretty much all of them. They each have their own interesting voices that keep me engaged. And the arcs are so strong in LT. Wintrow is my absolute favourite.

i can't decide if i should steal your t-shirt or your red rising books

Project hail mary-- what an absolutely bananas book. I listened to it on audio and I had to lay down on the floor with my hands over my eyes for a solid portion of the second half. I think the similarity to the martian is a solid criticism, i reread the martian as soon as i finished PHM because i was nostalgic and reading them back to back was interesting. I think PHM deals a lot more with existential questions than the martian-- Mark Watney hits a road block and makes a quip, then solves it-- its very episodic, literally written as a daily log by watney himself telling us what has happened after it has happened. Ryland hits a rocky patch and we actually get to sit with it AS he deals with it and figures out the ramifications. Its still episodic at times, but i think being able to live in conversation with these rocky moments that makes the difference for me. (and if youve read this book please read into my word choice-- it is on purpose, trying to say what i want to say with no spoilers.)

just finished Breach of Peace. Kudos from Chile. Very good book! I found it somewhat Poe-esque (in a good way). Amazing for 1rst published work.

Onwards to The Mad Ship!

I just finished Ship of Magig and was looking for a good, objective review, only to find this was published a few hours ago! Not even Kennit's luck!

Helpful review!

Though you are probably aware Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is another of those books where you learn as you go. I highly recommend it.

I really enjoy what you said about Hobbs incredible character work almost making the story worse because that's exactly how I felt about SoM, it was the book that took me the longest to read out of all the RotE books just because it was so frustrating to see characters take one step forward and then imediately being forced to take two back because of Kyle. Kennit stuff somehow ended up being one of the few chapters where I could chill out lol. I feel like Malta ends up being the perfect evolution and subversion of Hobbs work with Kyle/Regal/etc. In a way that could really only ever be written by a woman.

The whole realm of the elderlings series is amazing, and the only reason it's not my favorite all around is WoT and the Cosmere exist