The Robin Hobb Collection discussion

ch31 - ah! the things i would give to see this.
i love nettle and thick concocting this little plan to get a dragon head in oettre's living room.
seems pretty much thick logic, and nettle is just the one to go pestering tintaglia.

so i'm guessing nettle and fitz will meet soon. i wonder how that will go down. she's always imagined him as a wolf.

Ch31 - Ok, so there goes my theory about the Black Man being Hoquin. I'm not sure I'd put the dragon plan down to Thick because I'm not sure he gets the whole wedding thing or why they're there beyond they were supposed to be on an adventure to kill a dragon and it wasn't as fun as he thought because they had to go on a boat.

ch32 - finally.... fitz and nettle meet.
i like what mrs hobb did here, nothing emotional or happy, but downright awkward!


ch33 - King Fitz? KING Fitz?
I'm not sure that'll last long. Perhaps not long enough to be considered a regency.

i thought Prilkop's rational was quite nice. when the prophet changes things, he changes too. it's the failed onces that keep white, as a novice, not having passed their prophet exames

Hanne wrote: "ch32 - finally.... fitz and nettle meet.
i like what mrs hobb did here, nothing emotional or happy, but downright awkward"

And what about Fitz reunites with Patience. We could see that reaction coming.

And King Fitz lol. Seeings that Fitz means "bastard" we've gone from King's(in waiting) bastard to King Bastard! I don't think this will be a publicly proclaimed title somehow but more ranks him with those already in the know.

Patience might be my favorite character in the series.

oo, how could i forget already?
yes the meeting with lacey and patience was fantastic. "it'll take 16 years to talk about 16 years". lol, sounds like she wants all the details :)

Ch35 - And now Molly and Nettle know that Fitz is alive and Nettle is the bastard's bastard. And the Fool has severed the link to let Fitz find himself. More loss but more to gain I suppose.

ch35. Chade is annoying me a bit. what a selfish prick he is half the time

To fitz when he just appears back from the portal stones: "Ask him where he has been for the last month. We have been expecting these scrolls since before we arrived back at Buckkeep."

The scrolls? Seriously, that's all you cared about?
So when Lady Patience did this aftewards, I was actually cheering her on:
“Lady Patience whacked me quite soundly with her fan when she discovered that you had been in the infirmary for some days and no one had informed her.”



I love Patience.

Fitz and Nettle meeting: *grrr* *shakes fist at sky*
Why can Fitz never have nice things? WHY?

Hanne: in Chade's defence, he's saying that to give himself and the Prince a cover for why they care about this guardsman who's passed out outside the castle. These scrolls are very important! We've been waiting for these scrolls for so long! Nothing must happen to these scrolls! That's why the Prince and his chief advisor and their guards must personally secure them! Lord Fallstar does not stoop down and ask Mr Badgerlock how he's feeling, he's been so worried about him...

Plus, at this point, Chade thinks Fitz has abandoned the kingdom and gone gallivanting off somewhere for a month without telling him, so although I'm sure he's concerned, he's probably not feeling gracious.

I really didn't like Chade in this book. I hated how he just assumed Fitz wasn't torn between killing the dragon and setting it free. I also didn't like how he sent a spy to live with Fitz and he just accepted it.

The book in general was good but I was let down by Fitz ending up with Molly. I was also disappointed Fitz didn't get to see the Fool again.

It should be remembered that we only see Chade through Fitz's eyes. And Fitz is two tin foil hats short of clinical paranoia.
Fitz continually thinks Chade is sending people to spy on him. Even if they do work for Chade, though, maybe Chade just thinks he's giving Fitz a discreet assistant and go-between (the same way, eg, Chade apparently told Riddle to do whatever Fitz wanted, seemingly assuming that Fitz would know this just from the fact that he knew Riddle worked for Chade).

When you have an observer with paranoia and deep insecurities and an observed person who is habitually secretive even when doing perfectly innocent things, the opportunities for misunderstanding are high.

I noticed, for instance, that Fitz sees Chade smiling happily at Dutiful's wedding - but instantly corrects this to Chade being sour and resentful and envious and bitter and wanting to control everything. How much is that Chade, and how much is it just Fitz projecting his fears of being 'an old spider' onto Chade?

True. I do think that Fitz is paranoid but Chade obviously tries to control everything. He was quite fanatical about learning the skill and did not heed advice from anyone believing that he is right. He also exerts his control on still keeping secrets of the castle's secret passages that even Dutiful commented on.

Regardless, I just didn't care for his character in this trilogy like I did in the first one.