Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb
reviewed by Dominic Cilli
Here, we pick up the story right where she left off in City of Dragons. The dragons and
the crew of the Tarman have reached the lost city of Kelsingra and now Alise, Tats, Rapskal and the others are trying to settle
down and make a life for themselves in the city. The dragons that remained earthbound all go through the process of learning to
fly and the dragon keepers are now developing into full-fledged Elderlings and searching for the silver that will allow the
dragons to complete their development.
City of Dragons by Robin Hobb
reviewed by Dominic Cilli
The story takes up with the crew of the liveship Tarman having reached its destination of the lost city of
Kelsingra. After successfully navigating up the Rain Wild River, Captain Leftrin has delivered his cargo of dragons,
keepers, and hunters and has embarked on his return voyage to Cassarick to collect on his contract and resupply
for his return voyage to his beloved Alise and Kelsingra. Meanwhile, Thymara and the rest of the keepers are
still struggling in their duties as dragon keepers to service and feed their dragons.
Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb
reviewed by Dominic Cilli
Robin Hobb's latest work is the second volume of The Rain Wild Chronicles. It
picks up right where the first volume, The Dragon Keeper, left off. We find the crew of the Tarman
escorting a group of dragons, along with their keepers and hunters, up the Rain Wild River in search of the lost
city of Kelsingra. Along the way... well, nothing much happens.
The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb
reviewed by Dominic Cilli
The story pick sup where it left off in Ship of Destiny, but shifts the action completely over
to the Rain Wilds. Tintaglia has successfully led the tangle of serpents up the Rain Wild River to hatch into
dragons, but the tangle is in bad shape when they begin to cocoon. The dragons that emerge are nothing like the
majestic creatures that once roamed the skies. These dragons are incapable of flight, feeding and other
essential daily activities. The task of feeding and housing the dragons then falls on the people of the rain
wilds in the town of Cassarick.
Renegade's Magic by Robin Hobb
reviewed by Dustin Kenall
If America has an existentialist fantasist, her name is Robin Hobb. Her writing, unique in a genre overpopulated with adolescent
sword-and-sorcery epics, avoids tired retreads of the quest format perfected over a century ago through the prose-poetry of Lord
Dunsany and the mythopoeic majesty of E.R. Eddison. It earns mention in the small but elite company of writers whose
methods -- ranging as wide as the multilayered complexity of Robert Jordan, the bracing realism of George R.R. Martin,
and the philosophical literacy of Philip Pullman -- are producing a renaissance in the field. Rather than offering mindless
escapism, Robin Hobb's works utilize fantasy conventions to explore weighty concepts such as identity and fellowship,
rights and duties, and permanence and change.
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Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb
reviewed by Donna McMahon
In Gernia, first sons are their fathers' heirs, second sons are soldiers and third sons enter the priesthood. It has always
been that way, and it would never occur to Nevare Burvel to question his destiny as the second son of a second son. His
father was a hero two decades earlier when the King's Cavalry conquered the nomadic tribes of the grasslands, and now he
expects to make his own career on the new frontier -- the mountainous forest lands that will give Gernia access to another coast.
Still, he doesn't expect his father to send him for training with an old enemy -- a fierce Kidona warrior.
The Golden Fool by Robin Hobb
reviewed by William Thompson
Like a spider slowly spinning its web -- a strand spun here, a thread strung there -- Robin Hobb's story slowly evolves until, almost
unaware, the reader is ensnared. Since Farseer, it has almost become almost a
signature, tales that increasingly are pinned upon foundations
gradually laid, plot lines whose long development are not immediately apparent. There is a lingering on detail, a charting of the author's
world and a fascination with its characters that in its emerging evolution creates a physical and social landscape more complete and
less intrusive than is typical of epic fantasy, without recourse to gaudy display or dependence upon flashy magic and over-wrought
swordsmanship.
Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb
reviewed by William Thompson
She may well be the best author today writing traditional high fantasy. A large statement, perhaps,
but taken within the context noted, readily defended. Unexcelled in the depth of her characterizations, and the
equal of any when it comes to the creation of an alternate society, her work is as much about the study of human
character as it is about fantasy or the trappings of a mythical world. Nor, as an author, is she dependent
upon mere action through which to drive her words, allowing her stories to naturally unfold around both the mundane
and more singular events occurring in her narratives, with a sureness of grip upon her plot lines that has much
improved since her writings as Megan Lindholm and her first Farseer novels.
Mad Ship by Robin Hobb
reviewed by Wayne MacLaurin
Wayne found there isn't a character in Mad Ship that is flat or inanimate. Everything
the author puts to paper comes alive, whether it's a struggle for power aboard a ship or the
haunted demons of Paragon's tortured soul.
Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb
reviewed by Wayne MacLaurin
Oh boy... pirates, talking ships, magic, sea serpents, slave revolts, dashing heroes, bloody battles and
lusty maidens... Ship of Magic has all of this and a whole lot more.
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
reviewed by Katharine Mills
This is a series about growing up, and Hobb doesn't spare us the painful moments. Katharine thinks
that's what she admires most about this series. A hero who invariably triumphs over all challenges is a sure sign of a
second-rate writer. Hobb isn't afraid to let FitzChivalry fail, yet his failures do not diminish him.
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