Ship of Magic : Paperback : Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc : 9780553575637 : 0553575635 : 01 Mar 1999 : Demonstrating world-building finesse, Robin Hobb begins the climatic story of a seafaring clan and its tangled destiny. Though expected to inherit her family\'s newly quickened liveship, Althea Vestrit loses the honor to her scheming brother-in-law, who plans to use it as a slave ship. The ruthless pirate Captain Kennit also sees a captured liveship as his key to success. Soon Althea is forced to fight both men to regain the animate, intelligent liveship, her family\'s most treasured possession.