Blood of Dragons (Rain Wild Chronicles, #4) in Beyond Reality

Jun 22, 2017 Flying Monkey rated it liked it

Shelves: 2017

3.5 stars. Wow, Finally to the current series for Robin Hobb. This was a good conclusion to the Rain Wild Chronicles but did leave a few characters stories unfinished. Also a couple characters were not as exciting as previous books.

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Jul 13, 2013 Duffy Pratt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

A good ending to a very solid series. I enjoyed this series quite a bit, but feel that it stands below Hobb's previous three series in this world, and just a hair below the Soldier's Son series. Overall, these books focus on the struggles of people to free themselves from an old way of life, a way that was never suited for them in the first place, and to adapt to new circumstances while trying to build a world for themselves. On this level, I think all of the stories work very well with each oth A good ending to a very solid series. I enjoyed this series quite a bit, but feel that it stands below Hobb's previous three series in this world, and just a hair below the Soldier's Son series. Overall, these books focus on the struggles of people to free themselves from an old way of life, a way that was never suited for them in the first place, and to adapt to new circumstances while trying to build a world for themselves. On this level, I think all of the stories work very well with each other. The main trouble I have is how relatively easily almost all of the keepers made their adaptations. And as a result, the series had to look elsewhere for its true conflicts - again to Chalced. Lot's of spoilers after this, so be warned.

I loved the handling of Hest in this book. His trip up the river happens late, and he is the best example of a person who is absolutely unable to adapt. I liked his confrontations first with Alise and then Sedrec, and I thought at that point we might be done with him. And then I absolutely loved his confrontation with Davvie's dragon. Even to his last second, Hest just doesn't get it. As he's about to be swallowed whole, he's wondering how he's going to live with only one leg. His inability to see anything changing is hilarious, and I couldn't have begged Hobb for a better end for him.

I liked less the triangle between Thymara, Tats, and Rapskal. For whatever reason, I was just never sucked into this. I think Rapskal got the worst treatment here. There's some suggestion that his absorbing the memories of Elderlings was a bad thing, but I see him as the true hero of the book. He was the first to get his Dragon to fly. He discovered Kelsingra for the keepers. He discovered that baths. He learned the most about how Elderlings worked, and he sacrificed some of his own identity to do it (or incorporated other identities into his own). He also figured out how to get the Silver that they so desperately needed, or at least figured out that getting Thymara down the well was the key. And for all this, he loses the girl, and we are somehow supposed to think less of him. I don't buy it. Also, I realize that Hobb gave him something at the end by having him assert his independence and reject Jerd, but that just made me feel sorry for Jerd. Yeah, she's selfish, but she also found her own way to live in the circumstances, and I thought it interesting that her sluttishness was one convention that Hobb had trouble overlooking.

I liked the ending with Chalced, but after months of reading Erikson's battle scenes, I found the cut-away from the fall of the Duke to be somewhat anti-climactic. Let's fact it, the guy is a vampire, and I was looking forward to seeing him suffer. I know he fell, but I would have liked to have seen more. Call it the sadist in me. In general, I didn't like the Selden story. He was way too passive a character for my taste. Things happened to him, but I can't think of anything that he did on his own. So, I was happy to see him rescued, and it was inevitable, but I saw it as an anti-climax to a thread that was sort of thin to begin with.

I loved the framing story by messages from various bird-keepers. Hobb managed to tell a separate story within the main books, while still interweaving it with the central tale. I thought she handled this part amazingly well, and I would like to see her trying her hand at a full epistolary novel.

It's pretty clear that there's quite a bit more material for Hobb to work with in this world, and I will be happy to read anything she decides to set there. I do have a question for Hobb fans. In the first series, the prince turns into a dragon and disappears. The feeling I had at the time is that he wasn't a "true" dragon. Was that so? If yes, then what happened to him. Or, is he Icefyre? (Edit: never mind, I went back and checked. Icefyre was rescued in Fool's Fate. Verity as dragon went back to rest as a statue at the end of the first series. Not the same. No idea what the difference is between a stone dragon and a true dragon.) Also, it seems clear to me that Fitz ran into a huge source of Silver at the end of that first series. Do you think Hobb will use that source in a series that truly links the Bingtown world with the Six Duchies? ...more

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Apr 04, 2013 DivaDiane SM rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

This was an excellent (for me, seeming) return to form! Lots of exciting things happening and interesting reveals about all things Dragon. Not many wasted words (I feel like the previous books in the series and esp. The Soldier Son trilogy really needed more editing!) and only one cardboard villain. I kept thinking the whole time that I need to read the Farseer Trilogy again. All in all this series comes highly recommended. It wasn't quite as mind-blowing as the LiveShip Trilogy but close. ...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Lindsey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, fantasy

I've never said this about a Robin Hobb novel before, but this one needed to end about 100 pages sooner.

In all honesty, up to that point, it was great. Fast paced, satisfying resolutions to plot threads, emotionally resonant characters, dangling hints for the future... all the elements I look for in a good fantasy novel. Like the first two novels, it would have benefited from being sold as one novel in combination with City of Dragons. In this form, this last entry feels a little like we're chec ...more

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