The Mad Ship thread!

[Evil Agent]

Beat you all to the punch!

This thread is for Auntie Pam, cher, and whoever else wants to talk about Mad Ship. I remember liking this book a lot... cool cover art, lots of revelations.. but the exact details are now a bit cloudy in my head. Obviously I think this is where Paragon's story becomes more important, since he's the 'mad' ship.

I look forward to some comments by people who are reading the book now, or have read it recently!

 

[AuntiePam]

Hey, thanks!

I've been writing down questions as I read, and they're being answered fairly quickly.

I was wondering about the connection between Vivacia and Maulkin. Cut to a scene in the Rain Wild territory, with Jani and Reyn talking about the Wizardwood log. Hobb seems to be saying that dragons are born from Wizardwood. ! Maulkin has talked about a history that seems to say that they were once land creatures.

Wizardwood - Dragons - Serpents? All connected?

I'm enjoying Wintrow's ambivalent feelings about the slaves. He's lost sympathy for them, after the uprising. Is that how conservatives are born?

I was also wondering if the Rain Wild Traders actually made the items they sell, but it appears that these are creations of the Elderlings. I totally agree with Reyn that they should stop exploiting and start restoring.

 

[AuntiePam]

Oh, and I love the cover art here. Hard to believe that Youll did this cover as well as the blah John Boy Walton cover for Assassin's Quest.

 

[Eldanuumea]

I forget....is Amber introduced in Mad Ship or Ship of Magic? In the former, right?
Paragon is in my top 10 list of favorite fantasy characters. I can recall being very close to openly weeping at several points in his developing history.

Serpants-dragons-wizardwood are most definitely connected....... !

 

[AuntiePam]

Yep, we met Amber in the first book. She's sure determined to win Paragon's trust, isn't she?

Do the logbooks really contain the ship's memory? Or is Paragon blocking out the bad parts?

 

[Iskaral Pust]

Amber has a much bigger role in this book if I rememeber correctly. As does Kennit and Malta, whereas That-main-character-person-whose-name-I-suddenly-can't-remember fades a bit. I think the books generally stayed at a steady quality, so hopefully you won't be disappointed.

Wizardwood, dragons, serpants all linked? Of course they are, everything is linked in this trilogy

 

[AuntiePam]

You mean Althea? Yeah, I'm okay with her fading into the background for awhile. Right now (early on), she's on her way to getting what she wants (sailor creds), and a possible romantic conflict for her (Grag and Brashen) doesn't interest me very much.

 

[cher]

I'm well into Ship of Destiny now, and I'm already confused about what happens when in this series. It's all kind of bleeding together now. What's going on with Kennit and Wintrow, Auntie Pam?

I'm really enjoying the character development of some of the secondary characters. Etta, in particular, is fleshing out into something quite interesting. There are still so many questions unanswered! I want to know who and what the "Others" are, as well as the nature of their beach!

 

[AuntiePam]

The blending together -- that happened to me with Farseer, and I'm sure it'll happen with Liveship too. It gets hard to remember what happened in what book.

When I last saw Kennit and Wintrow, Wintrow had "operated" on Kennit's leg, and they're waiting to see if he'll survive. I confess, when Hobb ended that chapter with "Kennit took a deep breath, and it was his last" (or something like that), I skipped ahead to make sure he wasn't dead.

I still don't know why she worded it that way. Unless Kennit is dead and the CrazyFaceBracelet has taken over his body. That'd be cool.

 

[AuntiePam]

How are you picturing the characters?

Sometimes I see Etta as Catherine Zeta Jones with short hair, and sometimes I see her as Uma Thurman, the way she looked in Pulp Fiction.

Althea is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Amber is Nicole Kidman.

Wintrow is a young Leonardo deCaprio.

Kennit is Ian McShane (Al Swearengen on Deadwood -- the perfect pirate)

Ronica is Maggie Smith

Kyle is Clancy Brown (most recently Brother Justin on Carnivale)

Reyn -- Jude Law. I want Reyn to be handsome, but his personality is so appealing, it wouldn't matter if he was a gnome. (Except to Malta.)

 

[Nevyn]

Althea is Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo vomit! Sorry , but no way in a frosty hell , not that brooding , pouting , moaning ...... No!
Althea = Ashley Judd
Kennit = Bruce Campbell

 

[AuntiePam]

Ashley Judd works for me too.

You're right, Sarah Michelle Gellar would turn Althea into a comic book character. My bad!

 

[Nevyn]

That's cool AuntiePam , SMG is one of my least likeable actors and Judd one of my favourites !

 

[AuntiePam]

I was trying to think of a kick-ass physical actress, and Buffy popped up.

Now that I'm thinking more clearly, Jennifer Garner or Hillary Swank might be good Altheas too. Or a young Jodie Foster. (You're right, SMG is way too pouty and one-note for Althea. She's a fine Buffy though.)

How about Malta? I can't picture her at all. Kirsten Dunst? She's too old, isn't she? Kirsten as she was in Interview With the Vampire, maybe.

We're way off the subject of the book, but it's fun to think about this stuff.

 

[cher]

I finished Ship of Destiny last night at 3:00 in the morning. My eyes hurt and I'm grumpy, but it was very satisfying.

As for the look of characters, I don't really picture them that well. They're always pretty hazy to me. Of all of them, I picture Etta the most clearly, in body, face, and hair. I imagine someone who looks like David Duchovny in Kalifornia. She also played Ensign Ro in Star Trek, next gen. Very boyish, tall, angular, and striking. I can't see the rest of them.

 

[AuntiePam]

I'm about halfway through Mad Ship.

Paragon is afloat. Malta is getting ready for her first Trader's Ball and she's getting messages from the dragon imprisoned in the last Wizardwood log. Boy, that's something to swallow -- dragons coming from Wizardwood. Either I don't understand what Hobb is saying, or we're into some serious biological tricks here. Although if I can accept wood that lives, I should be able to accept this other thing.

Althea has cleared her head about Grag and Brashen. Poor Grag. (Clueless about Althea, and women as individuals.)

Maulkin's tangle has destroyed a liveship.

I'm enjoying the Kennit-Wintrow-Etta-Vivacia quadrangle. Kennit couldn't be more devious, could he? What a player!

 

[cher]

Have you gone to Kennit's place? As far as dragons coming from the wood, what exactly have you read so far? Hobb explains it in a fairly detailed way, and it seems plausible (at least from the perspective of a fantasy reader!), but I'm not sure where she explains it.

 

[AuntiePam]

Oh yeah! Forgot all about Kennit's place! You mean his old homestead, where his mother lives? He's such a good son. That explains a lot about his character, doesn't it?

Yep, Hobb explained (through Maulkin) about the Wizardwood giving birth to dragons. It just seems so biologically improbable -- it's the only time in the books where I went "Huh?" Unless I'm misunderstanding, and that might be so.

Is the dragon in the wood, or is the dragon born from the wood?

There's not a baby dragon trapped in the log, is there?

 

[Erfael]

There's not a baby dragon trapped in the log, is there?

Yes, there is, but since you are asking that question, it's my suspicion you haven't gotten far enough to get the reasons why it makes sense.

 

[Leiali]

I thought the lead in the first book was really important, but she really did fade in the background quite quickly didn't she? I asked somewhere else where you were at with the Live ships Auntie Pam, now I know you are quite happily ensconced in them! Interesting thoughts on actors for main characters...I don't remember them all that well but Paragon was quite an amazing character - kind of makes me think of those old 50's 60's greek mythology films - Jason of the Argonauts/Sinbad and all that.