*spoilers all books* Dragon Haven, Enjoy it? Hate it?

[Farseer]

Your post was very insightful redchild

Yes, redchild is that...VERY insightful!

i love discussing Hobb's books with other fans,

Me too! I only wish I had more time to drown myself in all of the posts at the moment, rather than splash around superficially...I think it's like Nuytsia once said, "It can be like a full-time occupation"! It's so good to have you here to throw your thoughts into the mix, Lady Laura!!

Onto your comments- do you mean that DH is not really the end, cos there will be a book after that? I still feel that doesnt justify the book being anti-climatic

'thul has the answer re the next book well covered but I'd like to add that DK and DH are just one part of the 'whole'. I don't segment the series into books in my mind...I only do that for the sake of letting people know when and where during a discussion. For me, though I can see exactly what you are saying, and even though DK and DH are considered as one 'book' for the sake of being released to the public, really it is just a chapter or a portion of a certain proportion...another little window into the stream of time that we have been invited by RH (or El/Eda/Sa etc! ) to witness and what's more, will prove to be the calm, the suspension, leading up to the finale.

It is impossible to say more without spoiling the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies for anyone but even readers who have read every book still felt let down by the RWC. Yes, for me, it wasn't the most thrilling of all of the thrilling adventure aspects of the whole tale, but, a lot like each of the RotE-related short stories, it added more to the whole that we have been feeding on in the trilogies...it filled out some of the things we had known before, but through the eyes of different characters, and it gave us a snap-shot of what may have happened in the past while pointing us toward one of the possible futures (though offering us thousands!).

I liken it most to the short story 'Homecoming', which you will all get to read in 'The Inheritance' if you haven't already. It didn't pack a punch by way of a scorchingly brilliant short story but it was still an incredible tale because it made me think, sift through the riddles, both hidden and exposed, and connect to things that had gone on before. It too was set in the Rain Wilds and, like many a short story, could be said to be anti-climactic in a similar way many have found the RWC to be.

Here was where it was always going to be tricky…that moment where RH had to begin drawing in and blending all of those different threads and aspects of the realm to lead us to her conclusion. There is no way, in my mind at least, that the Realm of the Elderlings story can come to full conclusion until all of those elements can meet (or explode!) together in the middle. The story will have to end up like our posts…all characters and happenings all drawn in to the same space. No matter how we try to keep them separate, they gravitate back into each other, and that’s because the future of the Rain Wilds, the future of Bingtown, or the future of any other destination we have been taken to on our travels and beyond, is one and the same…it’s the future of the world that they share, just like they shared its past.

Though we knew throughout the RWC that it was always going to happen, that Kelsingra was always going to be the destination of the Tarman expedition, the actual reaching and “discovery” of Kelsingra was HUGE in the whole scheme of the tale, and it suddenly made things “real”. Kelsingra, if one looks carefully enough, has already well hinted that the various aspects of the realm are soon set to collide. Different ones have missed each other by moments, days, years…but soon, soon they will assemble in the same space (again, at least that’s my thinking!).

It could also be likened to a soapie. Those shows go on and on and on (like true history and the passage of time) but one day you turn on the television and sit down to watch. It was interesting and you connected with some of the characters, despite not being satisfied with how it ended and despite not knowing fully what had taken place to lead up to those events that you had just witnessed. Not knowing it was just one episode of a soapie, you also thought it fell well short of the mark of a movie. You then discover that it was just one installment. Should you decide to sit down again tomorrow for the next installment, you will learn more. Should you decide to purchase the DVDs from the last season’s viewing, you will gain an even greater understanding of what’s taking place. The only difference here is that we have to wait a little longer for the next episode.

Anyhow, I know I go on about this here, there and everywhere, but that’s only my take on it (though a nice little way for me to tease and excite myself about what's to come!!). RH is serving us up a feast of a tale…the trilogies are like the three main parts of the meal, the short stories are like the nuts and little chocolates, and the RWC is like small pieces of quiche in varying proportions. The feast isn’t finished and who knows what’s to come?

Here’s hoping it’s a changing time of Apricot Brandy with a BANG!

I want there to be more females who don't need a man in their lives, mayb I'm not very good at explaining this, sorry!

I think you do a fantastic job of explaining yourself! More to add on this female issue and all else later, especially as in-depth responses like that require time for thought from ones like me, and I’m, oh, only two plus hours late starting school today!!!

EDIT: Just discovered that there's a limit of ten images per post, so I just had to delete four - aawww!!