"First, let me introduce you to yourself" (Beware RotE Spoilers)

[Farseer]

...my screen name is Narya.

Well met, Narya. We are most happy to have you join us here in thePlenty, so, welcome!

I stumbled upon this forum through the wiki.

I am amazed by how many come here via the wiki...I was the other way around...forums first, wiki second and, after quite a few years as a lurker, finally registering as a member third.

It really makes me aware of the work that still needs doing in the wiki and I feel guilty!

So I'm glad to have found you.

Me too!

Several times. It felt like a Skill command - I just had to keep reading them.

Yes! Instead of "Come to me" it's "Read me"...

I started the latest RotE book, but put it down - I just couldn't get into it. But I think I'll try again, as several of you have said it was good, after a slow start.

I think it's a natural response when heading back to a familiar world that fetaures new characters. I know I felt that way when I began reading LST after the end of Farseer. It was extremely difficult accepting that I had to read it instead of heading straight on into Tawny Man. I feel differently about it now though, and am glad that I kept at it.

Here's a response I made to someone else's blog (on another site) with regard to Dragon Keeper. It reiterates much of what the 'thul beings said. The person I was responding to felt that it wouldn't keep a reader's attention, ended far too abruptly and read like a "first act", was far too long and the characters not engaging enough...and so this Hobb fan thought it would be quite time before he ever picked up the rest of the Rain Wild Chronicles books.

I agree that, of all of the Hobb novels dealing with the Realm of the Elderlings, the RWC books can possibly seem ‘less’ somehow…when read individually. It has certainly not received the reviews that the other novels have. Of course, this was always going to be the case because, for example, Dragon Keeper is actually only half of a novel and this is why it reads like “a first act”. It does not follow convention and flow as a stand-alone novel should, with clear intro, conflict and resolution etc. It is literally the first half of a whole novel that has been sheared into two parts – one novel, two books. It ends abruptly because it does not ‘end’.

In this, if you were to purchase both Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven, and then staple the back cover of DK to the front cover of DH, then you would have your ‘full’ novel.

From my understanding, this is due to the fact that Robin Hobb had only ever planned to write the one novel but, once the original manuscript became too long, it was simply cut into two parts to make two books. After that decision was made, Robin was then able to go back and flesh out some things just a little more. From this, the Rain Wild Chronicles were born.

After the release of both ‘books’, Robin decided to add another novel to the Rain Wild Chronicles but the very same thing happened – the manuscript got too long and so was, again, cut in half and each half then able to be fleshed out just a little more. All in all, one novel became two books and then two novels suddenly became four books – all making up the Rain Wild Chronicles.

While some wish that there had been ‘less’ in the first place, and thus no need for all of these volumes, I’m glad that I got to read ‘more’. Sure, I don’t disagree regarding the characters, as I didn’t overly connect with any of them either, but what takes place in the pages of the RWC increases our understanding of what has or hasn’t happened in the Rain Wilds in the past, and this increases our understanding of what has also happened within the entire realm…not to mention that all parts of the realm or tale must soon converge within the present.

Much as I would love to, I cannot say much more without adding spoilers. I’m glad to hear you haven’t sworn off Hobb. Keep going and you will be rewarded, I think…especially now that City of Dragons (Volume Three) has been released. Rather than think of the books as ‘novels’, think of them as ‘instalments’ (Aussie spelling there! ) for the whole Realm of the Elderlings saga, in much the same way as you might read one of the RotE-related short stories such as Words Like Coins. It all adds to the overall tale, and that is enough for some of us (for me!)…and I’d rather longer than shorter any day.

Of course, not everyone will enjoy the story no matter how the books are viewed (for the reasons you have outlined) but I think if the Rain Wild Chronicles ‘instalments’ are approached in this way, readers will enjoy them all the more.

In Robin’s own words from another RotE work, “It is like the anticipation that a clever minstrel evokes when he pauses, letting silence pool before sweeping into the final refrain of his song. Sometimes a gap can be seen like a promise yet to be filled.” Robin, I believe, is one such clever minstrel and I am very much looking forward to the rest of her RotE tale.

For me, DK and DH have been more bridging books than anything else...something that needed to be done to bring everything together nicely, in preparation for what's to come afterward. Keep going with it, Narya!

[finella]

A warm welcome from me too, Narya. I hope you'll have a great time here in this forum.

Hm, it's funny, but I didn't have any problems at all with the first book of the Rain Wild Chronicles. I simply loved it, because it carried on in a world that is so dear to me and explains and deepens a lot of things, that kept a bit on the surface in the Liveship Trilogy. And I love to follow the development of the dragons and their fate. I appreciate that Robin takes her time to explain, describe and bring everybody and everything closer to the reader. I never get bored, as she is such a brilliant writer.
Sure, there are no such unique characters like The Fool/Amber, Fitz, Nighteyes etc., who just creep in you heart and never leave again. But actually I do not have the expectation to meet similar heartgoing characters in every new book or series. Because they are just "unique", aren' they .[/u]

[fool-ish]

Hello Narya! I shouldn't think anything will ever live up to The Farseer/Tawny Man for me. From the minute I met Fitz as a boy, he had my heart. Fool, Nighteyes, Verity, Chade et al soon occupied a decent space too.

Do try to persevere with RWC though. I read LST after TM, enjoyed it very much and found DK and DH to be worthy extensions of the story. It is difficult to get to grips with new characters when they're in such a well known and much loved world where we're used to reading about certain other characters. It all adds to the story as a whole though and of course there is reference and homage to our old favourites as well! It was great to learn more about the rain wilds. Vague descriptions in previous books didn't prepare me really for what they are actually about! It's all good stuff and I don't think you'll regret reading them.

[Farseer]

I'm with you, fool-ish! Ah, Fitz...

Sure, there are no such unique characters like The Fool/Amber, Fitz, Nighteyes etc., who just creep in you heart and never leave again. But actually I do not have the expectation to meet similar heartgoing characters in every new book or series.

Indeed - well said!

['thul]

These beings disagree. Tarman crept in just like that, and he ain't leavin'.

[fool-ish]

Some characters 'creep' in, others fly in at full clatter! Notably, Fitz, Nighteyes, Wintrow and Rapskal!

['thul]

Tarman would've flown in like a winged elephant in a constricted museum of glass art, had he had wings and a verbal voice.

[finella]

Thul, is this after having read City of Dragons, or did Tarman won your heart in the books before? I wonder, because he wasn't that "eye-catching" in the first two books to me .

['thul]

Dragon haven class spoiler

Both. It became most clear in DH when he took a stand at the two tributaries of the RW river. It became far clearer in CoD.

[Narya]

OK OK I'm reading I'm reading!

Part way thru first book. The task gets more pleasant as I move along. I can't believe how much a certain couple remind me of a couple I know in real life.