Ship of Destiny

The conclusion to the Liveship Traders did not disappoint though it also did not quite sweep me off my feet as I had expected to. With all of Amber's prophecies I had expected a more climactic end than it was, hence 'only' 4 stars. All in all however I enjoyed the series more than the Farseer Trilogy (I need to re-review those) and was quite satisfied with the ending, with the exception of really really wanting to stay with the Vestrit family. Those formidable ladies are staying with me for a long long time.

Looking at the whole series, it has a far more diverse cast than the Farseer books, way more PoV characters, just a broader scope than the narrow focus on Fitz Farseer. Also, see the above mentioned formidable women characters, above all Althea and, what I would never have expected after the first book, Malta. Caveat though is that in this series men do truly terrible, repulsive things, and there's an abundance of sexual violence, actual rape or the threat of rape. I am still more shocked by how Serilla was raped than Althea. Traumatic events both, but the repeated assault of Serilla as casual punishment by the Satrap still makes my stomach churn. Also, wouldn't it be nice if all victims could have their trauma absorbed by wizardwood like that? Sigh.
It makes the series a bit of a rough read in spots. Also, the author is not kind to the characters, so don't go in reading expecting nothing harmful to come their way. It's about women trying to get ahead in a world that strongly favors men, protecting their families. And dragons. I want more dragons now.

Highly recommend the series, even if you haven't read the Farseer Trilogy.