Robin Hobb: Dragon Keeper

 Hi everyone

I felt it was time to start another Robin Hobb series, and since I’m reading her books chronologically, I started The Rain Wild Chronicles with the first book; Dragon Keeper.
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…"

There’s always something in Robin Hobb’s writing that compels me to keep reading, and in this case, it’s the promise of Kelsingra and the hope of learning more about the Elderlings. The worldbuilding is rich and immersive, and the premise; dragons returning to a world that has forgotten them, is intriguing. I’m curious to see where this journey leads, even if the execution in this book left me frustrated.

Unfortunately, Dragon Keeper lacks complexity. There’s almost no suspense or tension, and the plot crawls along at a snail’s pace. Even when the journey finally gets underway, it drags on far too long. The entire book revolves around a single storyline (with multiple POVs, yes), but reading about just one thing (the dragons and their keepers) gets boring quickly.

The characterization was not great. Some characters I hated with a passion (Sintara’s arrogance was insufferable), while others felt shallow and underdeveloped. Thymara, one of the main characters, felt surprisingly flat, and Alise was a bore. The dragons’ POVs added little depth, and the writing felt oddly childish or YA-ish ; very different from Hobb’s usual complex, layered characters.

This book would have been so much better if it were shorter and had more plotlines to keep things dynamic and engaging. As it stands, Dragon Keeper feels like a slow, meandering setup for something potentially (hopefully) greater. I’m still curious enough to continue the series but I hope the next book picks up the pace and gives us more depth.

Have you read Dragon Keeper? Did you feel the same way, or did it grab you more than it did me? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Happy reading!
Helena