SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Anna, in all of her super-moderator wisdom, suggested I open a thread to help coordinate efforts around folks’ intention to read the entirety of The Realms of the Elderlings cycle.

As of now, there’s a thread for the first book in the series, Assassin's Apprentice, so for those who are starting that book, please use these previously-established threads for discussion:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

For those reading the second and third books in The Farseer Trilogy, Royal Assassin and Assassin's Quest, please use this thread for discussion:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

As we progress through the various series that make up the overall saga, we will be opening threads for each discrete series. Because I’m terrible at HTML, Anna has provided links to the various series (and will create links to threads as needed) as well as a rough calendar, in her post, which is two posts below mine.

I’m very much looking forward to finally getting to discuss at greater length these wonderful books.

I will definitely be here. I just remembered today that I had never finished the 4th book in the Rain Wild Chronicles series, and I also haven't read the newest trilogy. I'll be here to comment and read everyone's opinions. I started a re-read last year and stalled out after the first book of the Liveship Traders series, so I'll try to start reading it again when people get to that one.

Anthony, what we did in the Wheel of Time thread was just having the one main thread for the entire series. People would just make sure they say what book and chapter they are talking about, and put their spoilers in tags. Since some people may be just starting and some people may be near the end or re-reading, we can ask that all spoilers be in tags no matter what book they are for. As long as people mention where they are at the beginning of their post or right before their spoiler tags, it shouldn't be too hard to follow along.

Realms of the Elderlings
Buddy Read schedule and links to discussions

Farseer trilogy - Discussion
September 2018: Assassin's Apprentice (*No spoilers* / *Spoilers*)
October 2018: Royal Assassin
November 2018: Assassin's Quest

Liveship Traders trilogy - Discussion
December 2018: Ship of Magic (*No spoilers* / *Spoilers*)
January 2019: The Mad Ship
February 2019: Ship of Destiny

Tawny Man trilogy - Discussion
March 2019: Fool's Errand
April 2019: Golden Fool
May 2019: Fool's Fate

Rain Wild Chronicles - Discussion
June 2019: The Dragon Keeper
July 2019: Dragon Haven
August 2019: City of Dragons
September 2019: Blood of Dragons

Fitz and the Fool trilogy - Discussion
October 2019: Fool's Assassin
November 2019: Fool's Quest
December 2019: Assassin's Fate

I'm not a big fan of medival fantasy, but I certainly will read the first book to know what everybody is talking about, and see how I like it.

Totally good with me! So I take it we don’t want to try to coordinate within each series some kind of scheduling? I just want to maximize this wonderful opportunity to share in these books as well as not leave anyone overwhelmed or grasping to keep up.

Also, @Gabi you may not be ordinarily drawn to medieval fantasy and yet you loved Tigana... I consider Hobb and Gavriel Kay to be cut from similar cloths in terms of their approach: they both create richly human characters and unfold a complex, layered narrative with enormous skill and confidence. In other words I would be very surprised if you don’t like these books...

For the bigger series, we set timeframes for when we'd aim for books, such as "one a month" or "one a week." It worked well for something like 14 of the Tortall books, all three of the Stormlight books. I think the Wheel of Time got to book 6 or 7 before there was too much room between leaders and laggers (*ahem* *looks off guiltily*) So, if folks are committed to reading the whole...is it 16 books?? Jeebs! Well, if folks are prepared for that, maybe agree upon the number you think is reasonable per month and try to stay on top of that.

If we need to break it up a little, feel free to make updates as needed, as long as we don't have 16 new threads we're trying to keep track of, please o.O

Cool. With everything else going on with all of the buddy reads, I feel great about one book a month.

Maybe, if it’s not too overwhelming for the mods, we could, for the sake of clarity and aiding the leaders and laggers, have separate threads for each of the distinct series within the larger saga? Or is that too many?

Yeah, I think if you wanted to do Farseer first, that'd be fine. :)

I probably won't have time to re-read the entire saga, but I'll definitely be lurking in the threads to see what people have to say. I've been waiting for a chance to discuss these books with others who have read them. (No one in my "real life" nerd squad has gotten around to them....)

Total 16 books sound so cool (ahhh, this is so crazy.) I’ll follow you guys then…slowly…

*heavy sigh* Yes. If this is anything like Tigana, I might have to join in... at some capacity.

I’ve been planning since last year to start this series toward the end of 2018. I just now made it to Assassin’s Apprentice in my reading list, so I'll be starting it tomorrow. (I don't dare start it tonight, because I don't want to be up all night!) I read the first three trilogies around 2011 and loved them. The Fool is one of my all-time favorite characters. I’ll re-read the books I’ve already read, then continue with the new-to-me books. I plan to fit in some of the shorter works too; I haven’t read those before.

I don’t know how much I’ll post in the buddy read threads. I’m not a good buddy reader in any case, and I’ll probably outpace the thread anyway since I plan to read it straight through with only brief breaks. I prefer to immerse myself in a series from beginning to end. Still, I’ll read the thread(s) and may or may not be lured into posting if I think I have something to say. I always enjoy seeing what other people think about books I've read.

Jemppu wrote: "*heavy sigh* Yes. If this is anything like Tigana, I might have to join in... at some capacity."

I haven't read Tigana yet, but this saga very quickly became one of my favorites. Mostly because of the characters/relationships and the excellent worldbuilding. (Assassin's Apprentice was the first book in a long while that made me tear up when (view spoiler)[Fitz met Nosy again in the Mountain Kingdom. (hide spoiler)] And some of the later books did, too.) Absolutely what I would recommend to someone just starting to explore the genre.

I'm definitely in! I'm about halfway through the first book and really enjoying it so far. I know from experience that it is really hard for me to get back into a series once I stop reading for a while, so it would be great to have other people around to chat with and keep me on track.

Fully recommend this series of books.

Hopefully I can join at some point and finish the pending Fitz & the Fool books.

One word of caution, the Farseer trilogy (the first 3 books) while being excellent character studies are slow to build up and takes a while to move beyond the lead character’s personal struggles.

This is probably inappropriate but- there is another GR group doing a re-read of the whole series right now as well!!!

Thanks for putting this together, Anthony! I'm starting Assassin's Apprentice tomorrow and look forward to the discussion.

You’re very welcome. I’ve seriously been starving for conversation around these books!

One of my all time favorite authors ever!! But, I have to admit, that I haven't finished all the books yet. I still have the last Liveship Trader book to finish and I haven't read any of the Rainwild books so I will try to pop in when you hit those. I'd also like to re-read the first trilogy as well. Love to hear what everything thinks when they finish the Fitz & the Fool books. SO sad it's over! SOB!

We've added a tentative reading schedule to message 3, based on the proposed one book per month pace. Does that work for everyone?

Anna wrote: "We've added a tentative reading schedule to message 3, based on the proposed one book per month pace. Does that work for everyone?"

I think that would work great. It gives people a realistic goal instead of trying to read 16 books in a row. If people get ahead, they can always come back and discuss during the scheduled time.

Anna wrote: "We've added a tentative reading schedule to message 3, based on the proposed one book per month pace. Does that work for everyone?"

Looks temptingly achievable.

Anna wrote: "We've added a tentative reading schedule to message 3, based on the proposed one book per month pace. Does that work for everyone?"

Excellent. Thanks!

Sounds like a plan to me Anna 😃

I've read Farseer trilogy few years ago, but never got to other books in this realm. I'll probably do reread and join you on this quest :)

I'll be joining the whole series read, but I won't follow the schedule (cause I tend to forget too much, if I read too many other books inbetween series). I try to join in with my thoughts in the respective months - given I still remember details.

According to my Kindle, I'm about 50% finished the three book bundle, so I'm guessing I'm halfway through Royal Assassin. I guess I should move to that thread. Things are definitely heating up.

I’ve got the first book in my TBR shelf so I’ll read along and see how far I get.

Amanda wrote: "Would it be possible if people aren't on the one on schedule for that month for them to specify which book they're on in the thread? I noticed that in the first trilogy thread, it's getting a bit h..."

You're completely correct here. I just went and put the book title in all my posts in that thread, that contain spoilers.

Great idea with a schedule for the whole series! I’ve only read the first book and have wanted to continue but wasn’t sure when. I’ll try to squeeze them in one at a month but I may lump them together for when I have time between other buddy reads.

@Gabi I’m not into high fantasy either, but I did enjoy Hobb’s writing and the characters a lot so I was definitely caught.

Because I just remembered this: there's a lovely "Realm of the Elderlings" short story set in called "Blue Boots" in the anthology Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love.
It was the first thing by Robin Hobb I'd ever read.

I'd recommend the whole anthology, actually. I initially bought it because of the story by Diana Gabaldon it contains, but I also enjoyed the others in there.

Mareike wrote: "Because I just remembered this: there's a lovely "Realm of the Elderlings" short story set in called "Blue Boots" in the anthology Songs of Love and Death"

I’m glad to read you enjoyed Blue Boots! I plan to fit in the various shorter works this time around, and I really haven’t seen anybody talk about them.

I’m not usually too fond of either romances or short stories, so I planned to read Blue Boots in Songs of Love Lost and Found. It's shorter with 5 stories and only 136 pages, including Blue Boots. I thought I’d mention it as an alternative for anybody else like me who might prefer to read a shorter anthology. It doesn't have the Diana Gabaldon story, though.

You all made me remember one of my favourite series and now I just have to re-read it. I recently re-read the Assassins book and decided I’ll join you all with Liveship Traders as well as Rain Wild Chronicles, which I haven’t yet read. Unfortunately, the schedule is a bit too long for me, I prefer to read series in one go (probably with a few books between these two subseries). I hope it is okay, if I post my thoughts somewhat “out of schedule”. I’ll of course mark everything with spoilers as I hate them myself.

It's always OK to post later, or earlier when applicable! The trilogy threads won't open until a few weeks before the scheduled buddy reads start. Of course if a lot of people plan to start earlier, there's always the option of changing the schedule.

People are different, some can read several other books and/or wait several years between books in a series, but I can't, so I completely understand you wanting to read each series as a complete set. That's how I would do it. No one ever suggests a Hobb readalong or buddy read doing one trilogy per month, it's always one book per month, and who can do that?! :D (I'm not suggesting a change, I can't take on any more BRs anyway.)

Sabrina wrote: "You all made me remember one of my favourite series and now I just have to re-read it. I recently re-read the Assassins book and decided I’ll join you all with Liveship Traders as well as Rain Wild..."

I'm about halfway through Ship of Magic. I wasn't sure if there was a link to that discussion. I plowed through the Assassin trilogy. Like you, Sabrina, I tend to binge read a series once it catches my fancy.

There are indeed discussions for Ship of Magic. The links are in message #3 in this thread.

For what it’s worth, I also started Liveship Traders yesterday and will be reading it straight through. I’m not a very reliable poster, especially mid-book, but I’ll be following the threads if people post in them and may comment if I have something I want to say. The first three trilogies are re-reads for me, so I won’t be avoiding the threads like the plague until I finish like I normally would.

Eric, Ship of Magic does already have discussion threads from when the group read it in 2010. There’s a link to them in Anna’s post near the top, message #3.

Thanks, Anna & YouKneeK. I need to bookmark/favorite these links for the future.

YouKneeK wrote: "Mareike wrote: "Because I just remembered this: there's a lovely "Realm of the Elderlings" short story set in called "Blue Boots" in the anthology Songs of Love and Death"

I’m glad to read you enj..."

Right! I'd forgotten there was a shorter version of that anthology.

I liked all the shorter works I read and look forward to hearing what you think about them!

Eric wrote: "Like you, Sabrina, I tend to binge read a series once it catches my fancy. "

Nice to have you and YouKneeK "on board" ;-)

Sabrina wrote: "Eric wrote: "Like you, Sabrina, I tend to binge read a series once it catches my fancy. "

Nice to have you and YouKneeK "on board" ;-)"

Thanks! I see the discussion has started.

Mareike wrote: "I liked all the shorter works I read and look forward to hearing what you think about them!"

Of the shorter works, so far I’ve read The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince, Words Like Coins, and the shorter anthology with Blue Boots in it. I posted some thoughts about them in the “What Else Are you Reading in 2018?” thread (message #3067).

I thought Wilful Princess added the most to Hobb’s world-building and I liked it pretty well, but I enjoyed Words Like Coins the most of all three. There are still a few others I plan to read after I finish the Liveship trilogy, in the anthology The Inheritance & Other Stories.

Sabrina wrote: "Nice to have you and YouKneeK "on board" ;-)"

Ahoy! I see what you did there. ;)

YouKneeK wrote: "Mareike wrote: "I liked all the shorter works I read and look forward to hearing what you think about them!"

Of the shorter works, so far I’ve read The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince, Wor..."

Haven't read the first two yet, but will hopefully remedy that soon.
I really liked the ones in The Inheritance & Other Stories! They added nice glimpses at the world.

Are things on schedule in the Realms of the Elderlings? Should I start a thread for Liveship Traders?

I used the links you already had from the old reads.

https://www.goodreads.com/group/comme...

Yes, but there'll also be a thread for the other books in the trilogy.

You can read them out of sequence (I partly did), but there's a few allusions you miss in that way.

Amanda wrote: "Would we need to finish the Farseer trilogy before reading Liveship Traders?..."

If you do, you can join the discussion to that in here ^^

True. There is not much of a link between Farseer and Liveships, but there are subtleties among them. I burned through the three Farseer and Liveships. Now, I find I need a break from Robin Hobb. Perhaps too much immersion? I'll return with the Tawny Man sooner than later.