well i just finished this book, called "Mad Ship" its the second book in a trilogy. the first book was "ship of magic" and the last book, which i intend to start reading soon, is called "ship of destiny". the books are by fantasy author robin hobb. and although these books are fantasy, they felt more like jane austen novels with fantasy elements. i swear, for books with "ship" in the title, there is realitively little about sailing. and all three books are almost 900 pages each, so with classes and all, it tok me about a week and a half to finish the second one. overall they're pretty good, it takes a while to get into them, but once they get going, the are very interesting and well written. Im reading these books because ive read other books by hobb. her "farseer trilogy" (assassin's quest, ect...) was published a while back and i read them and liked them a lot. these "ship" books were published next (they are called "the liveship traders" trilogy), but i didnt read them when they first came out, even thought they take place in the same world (but different characters) as the farseer trilogy. Just recently she started publishing a new trilogy("the tawny man" trilogy)with the same characters as the farseer trilogy (two have been published so far, the third in spring) and while reading them, i found out that all the characters and events that occur in all three trilogys (farseer, liveship trader and tawny man) are sort of interlinked and share a few characters, and events in one effect another, so i decided to read the tilogy that i skipped, so that my friends, if you could follow it, is why im reading these books now. and i must say, reading the books sheds new light onto some events in later books, and i am enjoying them as seperate books and also as a part of the larger story. siiigh, so thats all for now. good times for all