Ship of Magic

In the trading city of Bingtown, ships grown from living wizardwood become truly sentient only after three generations of a family have died aboard them, and the Vestrit family's liveship, Vivacia, wakes for the first time just as her captain, Ephron Vestrit, dies at her helm. His daughter Althea, who expected to inherit the ship, is passed over for her sister Keffria, who hands command to her husband Kyle, a man with plans for Vivacia that favor profit over family tradition. Meanwhile, the pirate captain Kennit is quietly plotting to seize a liveship of his own. The opening volume of Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy.