City of dragons (spoilers)

[KekPafrany]

You, finella, are most certainly a 'regular'!

I was just going to start maybe spreading some Farseer-to-CoD-and-beyond theories around here but I wasn't sure how much attention I should pay to spoiler tags now that CoD has been out for some time...thanks for letting me know.

I'm not regular, but curious. Tell us your theories.

[Farseer]

I know we have two CoD threads in the forum so didn't know which to dump this in but...

...I recall a discussion about how or why it is that Sintara was able to bring Kelsingra to life where Tintaglia could not. For no apparent reason (!) it came to me just now that it was not for Sintara that Kelsingra awoke but Sintara *and* Thymara. Dragon and Elderling both.

Fitz was there, Verity before him. Tintaglia was there. Nothing of huge significance happened though Fitz did well recall much and it was he who was the one in the prophecy who would bring Kelsingra to life. During his visit there in AQ, he was not able to fully awaken it on his own. I believe, as I ever have, that he *will* play a significant role in the full restoration of the city and future of the realm but it was not until both Elderling and dragon entered side-by-side that the city 'awoke' as it did in CoD.

The city was awaiting the return of both, maybe such is evidence of a return of balance to the realm (?), and so it was not until Sintara and Thymara walked up the steps side-by-side that its wait was over.

Just thoughts with no justification whatsoever (How's that any different to any other comment you've ever made here, Farseer?? ) but had to dump it in case I forgot. Now I have to run...

['thul]

These beings came across a reference now that verifies (the already known fact) that Elderlings traded with the ancient people of the six duchies (p.155 CoD). Rapskal found reference to it in the stored memories.

The city could've awakened much earlier than it did. It required a dragon and an elderling to do so, and Heeby/Rapskal did venture there long before the others, technically fulfilling that requirement, except that heeby did not have the memories as to how to wake the city. Sintara did, so she and Thymara could wake it.

[Wolfang]

Greetings everyone, I would like to start off by saying hello to everyone here
Anyhow, I'll delve right into then. I read the RotE books as well as the S'sS trilogy a 'long' time ago. Recently (a few months ago) I raided my local bookstore, by that I mean the only English-book store in the country with enough fantasy to keep me satiated aka Waterstones in Brussels, you see, I was studying for my exams and needed a foot and a half long pile of fresh books in reserve to read once I had finished studying all things economic.

Amongst the books I scavanged were Dragon Haven and City of Dragons. I had read Dragon Keeper the first time I'd ravaged through RB's extensive list of trilogies. I was excited to see they were both out, you see, I had recently once again re-read the entire RB series again (this time reading the Tawny Man trilogy after the Liveship trilogy as opposed to after the assassin trilogy ), excepting Dragon Keeper, I wanted to read the entire RWC series in one go.

Time passed by, and as all things do, my exams came to an end. I started reading additions to another series I had also re-read, but these were extremely dissapointing, and by the time I was on my second book in the series, I didn't feel like going on (even though I was just pages away from the end). This week, however, I was determined to end it, and brought Dragon Keeper with me to my 'kot', basically a student's dorm room. I finished reading the book in a day.

I was eager to return home, to read DH and CoD. Today, I read Dragon Haven and have just finished CoD. As I was nearing the end of CoD, I couldn't believe it when the knots and character lives weren't being set in place, but rather things were getting ever more complicated. The Duke of Chalced appearing quite extensively in the end, and Tintaglia, who had been spotted above Chalced, hadn't freed Selden and hadn't killed the Duke of Chalced in the process. Furthermore, Hest and his mother had NOT been murdered by the Chalcedian assassin, but rather he has been spurred on to seek riches and satisfaction. At this point I'm counting the pages, looking frantically back and forth and wondering how the hell Robin Hobb was going to pull this off. I mean, Reyn, Malta and his child haven't even reached the city yet, and they're being followed by either a 'gold-rush', pariahs in society looking for a new beginning, or Chalcedian scum.

It was only when I reached the epilogue that I accepted the fact to be true. Robin Hobb, Miss Trilogy, had tricked me! I would be forced to once again wait until the series was truly ended, by which time I might have forgotten the little details. I rushed to the nearest laptop (my mother's) jumped on the internet and surfed. Blood of Dragons. Release date: 2013. Nooooooooo! I would be forced to wait another year. But then I thought, what if right now, it is 2013. A student's life is not really affected by dates and time, I've spent most of my new years and chritsmasses in a daze, studying for my exams. I slowly hovered my mouse to the bottom right of my screen. It was indeed 2013 and not 2012.

I then quickly looked up the release date, April, 2013. Not March. I would be forced to wait a month. I decided I would look up and skim some forums to read what other people thought about the series, as I usually do (I have never actually signed up to a book-forum before). Having found this forum I was confused to see one of the threads named "Blood of Dragons". I read the first feww posts before realising these people were actually reading the book. I backed out (didn't want to read spoilers), registered, and made this post.

When and where can I buy Blood fo Dragons?

[Farseer]

Well met and welcome, Wolfang!

The answer will depend on where the reader lives. If they are up around the Netherlands, Finland etc, or the UK and Australia etc, then Blood of Dragons is already available in those places either in print or via e-book (Amazon etc). As such, I'd expect that it should be available to you there in Belgium (at least, I think you're in Belgium! ). Mervi or joost, as Europe-dwellers, would you expect otherwise?

Those in the US will still have a little wait with the release date there set as April 9th.

Hope this helps, Wolfang. Happy to answer anything else as best I can and, if I can't, someone else here surely will.

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Just remembered that I'd seen this post on Robin's own site http://robinhobb.com/2013/02/blood-of-dragons/ previously:

Avery 13/02/28 05:10

I found the book in the bookstore in Belgium (not the Dutch version, which has been here for a while, but the ENGLISH version) and was very surprised because that is way before the release date? Anyway, they did ask way too much money for it, so I refrained from buying the book and am waiting on Book Depository to send my copy. :-)

(For comparison, a hardback copy from BD costs 20.56 euros, while the store asked more than 30 euros.)

[Wolfang]

Thank you!

I hope the word isn't yet out on the streets of Brussels that this book has been released. I really need to buy this book. I'm willing to pay the higher prices. I'm just so pissed I might forget something before I have it in my possession and read it. I prefer reading my series in one go, as I'm sure most do. Yes I do live in Belgium and am quite surprised as to how many dutch-speakers read RB's books, I wouldn't be able to wait for the translations, I'm happy I read in English

[Valarya]

Welcome to thePlenty!!

Yes. Yes... as you live in a European city, you should be able to snag a copy of BoD well already.

Us unfortunate-enough-to-be-Americans have to wait until April.

[Farseer]

Yes I do live in Belgium and am quite surprised as to how many dutch-speakers read RB's books, I wouldn't be able to wait for the translations, I'm happy I read in English

The Dutch versions of the RWC books were actually released *first* Wolfang, with the BoD Dutch version having been released a year ago...the rest of us English-readers have been waiting since then! In this instance, I'd have rather been Dutch!

Ah, Valarya. I was wondering if you'd chime in. Ha, ha! Valarya is extremely frustrated to still be waiting despite the fact that she lives in the same country as Robin, Wolfang.

[Valarya]

The Dutch versions of the RWC books were actually released *first* Wolfang, with the BoD Dutch version having been released a year ago

I almost mentioned the fact that the Dutch readers had access to the translated copies A YEAR BEFORE ENGLISH SPEAKERS DID (wtf, Publishers. Wtf)... but I didn't want to upset him that he hadn't been able to find a copy, yet.

You should be able to find it in the bookstores, or at least on Amazon!

Ah, Valarya. I was wondering if you'd chime in.

[Farseer]

Wolfang, it's likely you stumbled into the BoD Discussion thread. If you'd like to have a sift through this one http://forums.theplenty.net/showthread.php?tid=362 , it's a link regarding the releases and discussions on theories etc of what we expected to happen post-City of Dragons. Anything BoD-related in there should be spoiler tagged so free for you to roam around in...

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^ In this link, toward the final page, you'll find links to excerpts of BoD for the Prologue and First and Second Chapters...that should keep you going for a few minutes!