Opinions: Robin Hobb's Farseer World/Fiction

[JoeGKushner]

Speaking of Robin Hobb, has anyone read his short story in Legends II?

I liked the first Legends book and was wondering if this was a good story to add ot the Hobb stories i'm getting ready to read.

 

[drothgery]

Speaking of Robin Hobb, has anyone read his short story in Legends II?

No, but just as an FYI, Robin Hobb is a woman; she also writes as Megan Lindholm.

 

[Olive]

Speaking of Robin Hobb, has anyone read his short story in Legends II?

I liked the first Legends book and was wondering if this was a good story to add ot the Hobb stories i'm getting ready to read.

Yes I have, but I can't remember anythign about it right now. I remember enjoying it, and I think it was to do with the Wit... although I'm not sure. I'll look when I get home tonight and ost then.

It's good for the Martin story though.

 

[JoeGKushner]

No, but just as an FYI, Robin Hobb is a woman; she also writes as Megan Lindholm.

Thanks for that bit of information. Didn't know either way and just assumed that it was a man.

 

[JoeBlank]

Speaking of Robin Hobb, has anyone read his short story in Legends II?

I liked the first Legends book and was wondering if this was a good story to add ot the Hobb stories i'm getting ready to read.

The short story, Homecoming, was the first Hobb I have read. It is sort of a prequel to the Liveship series. To me, the Legends books are a great opportunity to sample the writing styles and main settings of many authors. It worked for me in this case, as I liked the short story and have now read the first in the Liveship trilogy.

Olive, are you saying I should finish the Liveship trilogy before I start the Farseer, and then Tawny Man, trilogies?

 

[GSHamster]

Olive, are you saying I should finish the Liveship trilogy before I start the Farseer, and then Tawny Man, trilogies?

You could do this. Farseer and Liveship don't overlap. You should read Tawny Man after you've read both the first two, in my opinion. However, unless there are special circumstances, I suggest that you might as well read them in the order they were written: Farseer, Liveship, and finally Tawny Man.

 

[Olive]

The short story, Homecoming, was the first Hobb I have read. It is sort of a prequel to the Liveship series. To me, the Legends books are a great opportunity to sample the writing styles and main settings of many authors. It worked for me in this case, as I liked the short story and have now read the first in the Liveship trilogy.

Ah... tha's right. Yeah, it was good.

Olive, are you saying I should finish the Liveship trilogy before I start the Farseer, and then Tawny Man, trilogies?

No, I'm saying you should read the Tawny Man trilogy last, but I'd do as GSHamster suggests and read them in the order in which they were written. For those who haven't read the Legends II story already, from memory I'd read the Liveship books first, despite the background it gives to the trilogy as it might reduce soe of the mystery.

But I'd definitely read the Assassin and Liveship books before the Tawny Man ones.

I think there might need to be another trilogy to tie up some loose ends.

Spoiler

I'd even go so far as to say that I think that Hobb might be doing a kinda eternal champion thing with the character of the Fool/Amber. We'll see more after Hobb writes more, but I think she might have quite a grand plan that will slowly reveal the rest of the world.

 

[Wolf72]

Was Farseer the one with the intelligent dinosaurs?

if so I thought it was interesting, ... a bit different

 

[GSHamster]

Was Farseer the one with the intelligent dinosaurs?

No, you're thinking of a science fiction series by Robert J. Sawyer. The Farseer we're discussing is a fantasy series by Robin Hobb.

 

[takyris]

Pretty much what everyone else said. I agree in part with Kahuna Burger -- I wasn't satisfied with the resolution of the rape, especially given the fact that it should have been fairly easy to discover from a number of different magical angles.

What's interesting, KB, is that Hobb seems to answer some of your anger in her third book.

Spoiler

Remember how in the final book of the first trilogy, Fitz puts a lot of his anger and hatred and shame at being tortured into a block of dragon stone? It's strongly implied that doing this -- having his emotions magically removed from him -- is one of the things that made it impossible for him to have any meaningful relationships for a long time. While the ship's removal of the character's pain isn't exactly the same as losing that pain to the memory stone, it's close enough that I suspect you weren't alone in feeling that.

I didn't have a problem with the end of any of Hobb's trilogies -- although the end of the Tawny Man trilogy wasn't what I wanted. It wasn't badly done -- it just wasn't the ending that I would have chosen.