Hi everyone
I felt it time to start another Robin Hobb series. The Rain Wild Chronicles is the series I'm starting now because I'm reading them chronological. So,this review is for Dragon Keeper, the first book in The Rain Wild Chronicles.
I got my copy from Bol (with a gorgeous cover as always).
You can read my other Robin Hobb reviews here.
"Guided by the great blue dragon Tintaglia, they
came from the sea: a Tangle of serpents fighting their way up the Rain
Wilds River, the first to make the perilous journey to the cocooning
grounds in generations. Many have died along the way. With its acid
waters and impenetrable forest, it is a hard place for any to survive.
People
are changed by the Rain Wilds, subtly or otherwise. One such is
Thymara. Born with black claws and other aberrations, she should have
been exposed at birth. But her father saved her and her mother has never
forgiven him. Like everyone else, Thymara is fascinated by the return
of dragons: it is as if they symbolise the return of hope to their
war-torn world. Leftrin, captain of the liveship Tarman, also has an
interest in the hatching; as does Bingtown newlywed, Alise Finbok, who
has made it her life's work to study all there is to know of dragons.
But
the creatures which emerge from the cocoons are a travesty of the
powerful, shining dragons of old. Stunted and deformed, they cannot fly;
some seem witless and bestial. Soon, they become a danger and a burden
to the Rain Wilders: something must be done. The dragons claim an
ancestral memory of a fabled Elderling city far upriver: perhaps there
the dragons will find their true home. But Kelsingra appears on no maps
and they cannot get there on their own: a band of dragon keepers,
hunters and chroniclers must attend them.
To be a dragon keeper
is a dangerous job: their charges are vicious and unpredictable, and
there are many unknown perils on the journey to a city which may not
even exist…"
As you may know, I hated Robin Hobb's series The Soldier Son. That was a huge miss and complete dissapointment. Every other series was a hit. This one was mixed so we'll see where this will go.
This book had all of Hobb's elements I associate with her writing. In-depth and flawed characters, amazing worldbuilding, too slow plot and amazing writing. This book ends very slow and anti-climactic which makes me think the series had better be three books because it was a real bummer. The story for the whole book can be said in three sentences; that's how snail-paced the book was.
I hated, loathed some characters and loved some others. As is usual for me with Hobb's books. I particularly disliked the dragon's POV.
But there's always something compelling me to continue reading.
Happy reading!
Helena
