"Robin Hobb - Liveship 2 - Mad Ship" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hobb Robin)

Mad Ship
by Robin Hobb

Book Two of the Liveship Traders Trilogy

A Bantam Spectra Book/April 1999
All rights reserved.
Copyright ┬й1999 by Robin Hobb
Map illustration by James Sinclair
Book design by Laurie Jewell
Jacket illustration ┬й Stephen Youll
Jacket design by Jamie S. Warren Youll
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hobb, Robin.
Mad ship / Robin Hobb.
p. cm. - (The liveship traders : bk. 2)
ISBN 0-553-10333-4
Bantam Books, 1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036.
Visit Bantam's website at www.bantam.com/spectra


Description:
In Ship of Magic, the breathtaking first volume in her new fantasy
trilogy, Robin Hobb wrote of the Liveship Traders of Bingtown. Now a new tide
of glory and terror sweeps forward the story of the proud Vestrit clan, their
priceless liveship Vivacia, and all who strive to possess her.
"If Patrick O'Brian were to turn to writing fantasy, he might produce
something like this," raves Booklist, and truer words have never been spoken.
This is a tale of the Old Traders of Bingtown and their rare magic ships-
carved from sentient wizardwood that bonds them mystically with those who sail
them. Theirs is an ancient tradition, but one that is slowly eroding under the
harsh realities of a cold new order.
For these once proud Traders, it is a humbling lesson to learn that the
foundations of their world, which had seemed immutable, are resting on
shifting sands. Their corrupt ruler is deeding away their ancestral lands to
upstart newcomers, and a growing traffic in human flesh is eroding the
boundaries of civilized society. A plague of sea serpents and pirates off the
coast is destroying the established trade routes, and ancient fortunes are
dwindling. Old debts are coming due, and talk of rebellion is growing. And
added to this uneasy mix, ancient powers are stirring on the banks of the
mysterious Rain Wild River.
At the center of the conflict lies the Vestrit clan and their liveship
Vivacia. The Vestrits long for the Vivacia to make port, certain that her
arrival will restore the family fortunes. And Althea Vestrit, beautiful and
dauntless, yearns more deeply than any. For she lives only to reclaim the
liveship as her lost inheritance and captain her on the high seas.
But unknown to Althea, the lovely magical vessel has been seized for a
slave galley and a privateer by the ruthless pirate captain Kennit, and now
the Vivacia sails, her decks washed with blood, through the perilous southern
passages of the Pirate Isles. Held captive onboard is Althea's nephew,