![]() Her novels are driven by the conflict between the status quo and the threatening or destabilising force represented (consciously or not) by those on the edges of society. To paraphrase a conversation I was having with Heloise (and I hope she doesn’t mind), Hobb’s main characters always seem to be outcasts or outsiders of some kind. And so they set off, dragons and humans, all of whom fall short of the ideal in some way, driven by a determination to reach this mystical promised land. Officially it’s a chance for adventure and independence but in reality few of them see it for anything other than what it truly is: exile. ![]() ![]() Even among the relatively tolerant Rain Wild communities there are some who are too marked by the area’s strange magic to be accepted – and these young people find themselves invited to apply for the job of dragon keepers. The Traders are keen to oblige: for them, it’s nothing but a relief to see the back of a group of hungry predators, and the obligation to provide guides and keepers also gives them to chance to tie up some other loose ends. ![]() (I’m assuming this is the ruined city where Fitz managed to get lost on the way to the Mountain Kingdom in the Farseer trilogy.) But they will exact a price for their departure: they will need guides to protect them and hunt for them as they make their long and arduous journey up the Rain Wild River. With food running short, the dragons clutch at the one thread of hope which might offer them a chance to recover the glories of their past: a half-formed memory of a place called Kelsingra. Tormented by ancestral memories in which they could swoop and soar, these crippled creatures are earthbound and embittered, frustrated by their own lack of ability and causing ever greater concern to the human communities nearby. When the newborn dragons struggle out of their cocoons they are stunted, half-made, deformed by their weakness as serpents and the unfortunate circumstances of their cocooning. But new worlds, as they’ll discover, have a habit of not living up to expectations. The Rain Wild Traders and their Bingtown colleagues wait with baited breath for the day when the transformed dragons will fight their way out of their cocoons and take to the skies again: the first batch in generations, and the beginning of a new world. The sea serpents have made their torturous way up the Rain Wild River, under the dragon Tintaglia’s guidance, and formed their cocoons on the shore at Casserick. Set in Bingtown and along the Rain Wild River, The Rain Wild Chronicles takes place a few years after the conclusion of the Liveship Traders trilogy. More to the point, I’m not allowing myself to read the new book until I’m completely up to date. And so it’s now important to read The Rain Wild Chronicles, because there may well be developments in this series that will affect Fitz’s story. Secondly, in a stroke of unbelievable good fortune, I’ve been granted an advance review copy of this new book. However, the situation has changed since then.įirst, I heard about the impending publication, in early August, of the first book in a new trilogy about Fitz and the Fool. Although I’d enjoyed The Liveship Traders, the Rain Wilds wasn’t necessarily a place I felt the need to go back to and, moreover, I’d read a number of lukewarm reviews of the series. My heart has always been on the Farseer side of Hobb’s fantasy world and, when I finished The Tawny Man trilogy, I believed that storyline was tied up. Those of you who followed my Robin Hobb reread a few months ago will remember that I had no plans to read The Rain Wild Chronicles.
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