Robin Hobb's books set in the Elderlings universe.
Robin Hobb, "Ship of Destiny"
(See the review of Ship of Magic.)
ISBN 0006498876. Buy this book at Amazon.
Robin Hobb, "The Mad Ship"
(See the review of Ship of Magic.)
ISBN 0006498868. Buy this book at Amazon.
Robin Hobb, "Ship of Magic"
(I'll review all three books here, since they're very much parts of a single story.)
Another trilogy in Robin Hobb's Elderlings universe, and the point at which it became obvious I was reading the series in the wrong order -- these come between the Assassin and Fool books. It doesn't really matter that much, but there are several bits in "The Golden Fool" that make rather more sense after reading this series, and a few spoilers going the other way.
The setting's great; Bingtown's a self-contained town with an interesting history that's being forced to deal with the war brewing around it, and the liveship mechanics are rich enough to drive the plot along without feeling contrived. (They're also a nice twist on the magic we've seen elsewhere in the series.) While other reviewers comment on the nautical bent to this series, I don't think it's an especially big deal; it's an important and well-handled element of the setting, but this is fundamentally a book about the bigger issues of the world, and not a Hornblower-style shipboard procedural.
While I greatly enjoyed this trilogy, I didn't think it was as compelling as the books written around Fitz; it's written in the third person, switching between multiple concurrent (but converging) plotlines, and there simply isn't room to develop all the characters that we follow in the same detail as Fitz. The format allows Hobb to use narrative techniques that weren't possible in the first-person Fitz books -- switching perspectives mid-conversation, for example -- but I found myself reading some chapters less carefully because I wanted to find out what happened to the interesting characters. That doesn't make it a bad series, though; it's still head and shoulders above most other fantasy.
Thoroughly recommended.
ISBN 000649885X. Buy this book at Amazon.
Robin Hobb, "Fool's Fate"
The final instalment of Fitz's story in the Elderlings universe. I found the telling of the expedition to find Icefyre more effective than that in "Assassin's Quest"; Hobb concentrates on the characters rather than on the setting. There's some extremely moving stuff with the Fool and Fitz, and the extraordinarily comprehensive ending is satisfying without being cloying. Thoroughly recommended; I didn't want it to end! I see Robin Hobb's started a new universe for her latest two books; hopefully she'll come back to this one at some point.
ISBN 0006486037. Buy this book at Amazon.
Robin Hobb, "The Golden Fool"
Following the exposition-development-expedition structure of the first trilogy, this second book follows Fitz as he struggles with events both inside and outside Buckkeep. The setting's one we're thoroughly familiar with by now, but the politics is thoroughly convincing, and the changes in the characters we know are handled skillfully. I was particularly impressed with the sensitive portrayal of Thick here; he's an interestingly flawed character (as are many of Hobb's) in a genre that's traditionally replete with strong heroes.
Strongly recommended.
ISBN 0006486029. Buy this book at Amazon.
Robin Hobb, "Fool's Errand"
Fifteen years after the events of "Royal Assassin", we follow the continued adventures of Fitz and the Fool in the Six Duchies. Enjoyable with some very strong writing in places; I thought it was a significant improvement on "Assassin's Quest". Strongly recommended.
(As I discovered later, I was reading these in the wrong order; if you've just finished "Assassin's Quest", you should read "Ship of Magic" next, not this book.)
ISBN 0006486010. Buy this book at Amazon.
Robin Hobb, "Assassin's Quest"
The room was too hot. And too small. Panting no longer cooled me. I got up from the table and went to the water barrel in the corner. I took the cover off it and drank deeply. Heart of the Pack looked up with an almost snarl.
Use a cup, Fitz.
If "Royal Assassin" was "The Empire Strikes Back", then this must be "Return Of The Jedi", just with Elderlings instead of Ewoks. Fortunately it's nothing like that bad, but I didn't enjoy it as much as the first two books in the series.
The end of the second book made it pretty clear that this one wasn't going to be set in Buckkeep, which means that Fitz is venturing out to the real world in search of Verity. The problem is that this turns much of the story into a pretty generic fantasy road movie where Fitz has to get from one side of the world to the other, and aside from the usual terminology changes we might as well be in a Wheel of Time book (and, as it happens, Kettle makes it clear that her view of how the world works corresponds exactly to the WoT).
While I didn't care much for the majority of the plot here, there were a few particularly good parts: the descriptions from Fitz's viewpoint at the beginning during his recovery, and the few pages describing the liberation of Buckkeep at the end. I'm curious as to why it took Fitz half of this book to figure out what even I'd been able to guess about Molly at the end of the second book, though.
If you liked the first couple of books, then I'd certainly recommend reading this one; just don't expect it to be of the same standard as the others. I see that there's another trilogy set in the same world a few years later; I'll look forward to reading it...
ISBN 000648011X. Buy this book at Amazon.
Robin Hobb, "Royal Assassin"
You are arrogant, Cub. And ignorant.
So teach me. He turned his head sideways to let his back teeth scissor meat and tendon from the bone he was working on. .It is your pack duty.
We are not pack. I have no pack. My allegiance is to my king.
If he is your leader, then he is mine also. We are pack. As his belly filled, he was becoming more and more complacent about it.
I changed tactics. Coldly I told him, I am of a pack that you cannot be part of. In my pack, all are humans. You are not a human. You are a wolf. We are not pack.
A stillness welled in him. He did not try to reply. But he felt, and what he felt chilled me. Isolation, and betrayal. Loneliness.
The second book in Robin Hobb's "The Farseer" series. Having returned from his dubiously-successful mission in the Mountain Kingdom, royal bastard (and trained assassin) FitzChivalry finds himself the centre of the political machinations at Buckkeep as he recovers from his injuries.
The formula of the first book -- most of the plot set inside Buckkeep with occasional excursions outside -- is followed, but the mood gets darker and darker as the story progresses. There's some extremely strong writing here, elegant and "fantastic" without being pretentious; it's especially clear by now that Robin Hobb's good at writing powerful endings, but it's hard to find flaws with any of this.
I would strongly recommend reading this (once you've read "Assassin's Apprentice"), and I can't imagine finishing it and not wanting to go on to the third volume.
ISBN 0006480101. Buy this book at Amazon.
Robin Hobb, "Assassin's Apprentice"
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