Ship of Magic
1st edition cover
Author	Robin Hobb
Cover artist	John Howe
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Series	Liveship Traders Trilogy
Genre(s)	Fantasy novel
Publisher	Voyager Books
Publication date	January 9, 1998
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages	667 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-00-225478-6 (first edition, hardback)
Followed by	The Mad Ship

Ship of Magic is a 1998 fantasy novel by Robin Hobb, the first in her Liveship Traders Trilogy.

Plot summary

Ship of Magic is the first book of the Liveship Traders series and is reminiscent of C.S. Forester's and Patrick O'Brian's writing style concerning the details and subtleties of ship life. It follows the fortunes of the Vestrit family, centered around the liveship Vivacia. A liveship is a ship made of Wizardwood, a mystical substance, giving it magical properties. Wizardwood is very valuable, and the Vestrits, a prestigious Bingtown merchant family have a four-generation-old debt that is still being repaid. When three generations of a ship's owners die on board, a liveship "quickens", meaning that the ship awakens and becomes a sentient being with all the memories of the ancestors who have contributed to the ship's quickening. There are certain responsibilities and privileges to be had in an Old Trader Family. The Rain Wild Trade is one such privilege, with the Old Trader Family responsible for keeping contracts with the Rain Wild Trader families, either in blood or gold. The liveships are constructed by the Rain Wilders, and there is a massive price to be paid for such a rare construction. Captain Vestrit's grandmother had ordered the liveship Vivacia, and the Vestrit family is still in debt to the Rain Wild Trader family, even before the ship was quickened. Only a liveship is capable of crossing the perilous Rain Wild River to trade with the Rain Wilders, who have valuable goods plundered from an Ancient Elderling ruin.

The Vestrits live in Bingtown, which borders the sea, Jamaillia, Chalced and the Rain Wilds. Their charter comes from Jamaillia; however, the current leader of Jamaillia has ignored the promises his ancestors made with Bingtown, which causes outrage among Bingtown's citizens. Chalced's influence is spreading throughout the world, because of the profitable slave trade. Chalcedean customs are changing Jamaillia, which is affecting Bingtown, where there is conflict between the New Traders and the Old Traders.

The story begins when Ephron Vestrit dies on Vivacia and quickens it. His daughter, Althea, who had assumed that the ship would come to her after her father's death, is shocked to see that her father has given the ship to her sister, who in turn had given ownership to Kyle, her husband. Deeply humiliated, she had disappeared on the day Vivacia quickened, unwilling to see such a legacy denied to her. Kyle, a Chalcedean, believes that he can restore the family fortune by entering the slave trade. Ephron Vestrit, a traditionalist, had always abhorred this trade, even though it would have cleared the Vestrit family debt. Kyle said that Althea would never sail the Vivacia until she proves her seamanship by showing him a ship's ticket. Althea sets off to prove she is a capable sailor. Kyle discovers that he is unable to control the ship, as Vivacia will sail only with a blood relative of the Vestrits on board. Without Althea, the only alternative is to force his son Wintrow, who wants to be a priest, to serve aboard the ship. Wintrow finds it hard to adjust to life on the ship. Despite his bitterness at being torn from the priesthood, he has a growing bond with the ship that he can't ignore.

At the same time, the ambitious pirate Kennit desires to become more than a pirate: he wishes to unite all pirate townships under him as king. With Sorcor, his first mate, and Etta, a whore from Divvytown, Kennit sails the Marietta and pursues slaver ships to free the slaves while throwing the slavers overboard. The freed slaves then crew the captured vessels as a pirate fleet under Kennit's command. A crafty man with a gift for foresight, Kennit realizes that if he frees the slaves, he'll gain the allegiance of their family and friends. Kennit has gained a reputation among the Pirate Isles as word spreads about him. However, Kennit desires to a liveship of his own for his flagship. He targets the Vivacia, who was became a slaver ship under Kyle's persuasion. Also, we see the minds of the sea-serpents who are searching for She Who Remembers to regain memories they have forgotten of a place that has been long forgotten for reasons that have also faded from memory.

Althea works on board the Reaper, a slaughtership, under the name of Athel. Unfortunately, she is denied a ship's ticket when the captain of the Reaper discovered her true name. Kennit manages to capture the Vivacia and becomes her captain. Still trying to regaining her rights to the liveship, Althea manages to bring together Brashen Trell, the original first mate of the Vivacia, the mysterious woodcarver Amber and the mad liveship Paragon, which then leads to the next installment of the Liveship Trader series, Mad Ship.