Hobb-A-Long Read-A-Long discussion

Such a sad way to end the book! I'm worried about the little dragon and I can't believe Sedric could be so heartless and cruel!! Even his thought that dragons are like cows and chickens, to be used in any way man sees fit, disgusted me. I don't see animals that way, even fictional dragons. I took it personal.

I'm very excited about the next book! I'm loving the story of the dragons journey. The characters are growing on me and there seems to be a few romantic connections as well. I hope the dragons all survive! I'm already attached!!!

Sarah wrote: "Such a sad way to end the book! I'm worried about the little dragon and I can't believe Sedric could be so heartless and cruel!! Even his thought that dragons are like cows and chickens, to be used..."

I think that both Sedric and Alise still think of everything in connection with their relationship to Hest, and until they can get Hest out of their skulls, they will not be able to make wise decisions for themselves. Everytime Alise wants to back out of her commitment to the dragons, it's because her memory reflects on what Hest would think of her, and then her confidence is shattered; Sedric has inculcated a lot of Hest's cold blooded thinking and elitist notions about exploiting people and creatures Hest might consider inferior or insignificant to themselves; and Sedric's more empathetic sentiments have become atrophied; Hest is sort of like Mephistopheles to Sedric being like Faust, and under his spell: the corrupt manipulating the corrupted.

Eventually, as memories of Hest become less vivid and emotionally resonant, Sedric and Alise may start acting like different versions of themselves, more independent minded and reflecting more of the gestalt of being more and more like a Rain Wilder, and less mindful of Bingtown proprieties. But at this point you wonder if Sedric has already gone too far down a dark path than he can reemerge from with his actions in hurting a defenseless dragon.

One of the curious things about the Kelsingra expedition is the fact that the keepers, who are pretty much the rejects of Rain Wild society, and are mostly teenagers besides, were not provided a supervisor to oversee their activities; maybe because any competent prospect would take one look, and realize this was likely a project doomed to failure, and would probably cost them their lives.

Greft, who is the most heavily marked of the keepers ( perhaps giving him the most street cred) and is moreover, being in his mid-twenties the oldest, sees this vacuum of power, and is trying to leap into the breach and assume the status of their leader. There is at least some merit to some of his ideas, among them that the old rules that well- meaning elders like Thymara's father or Leftrin have against mating of heavily marked or afflicted Rain Wilders so to prevent major health problems from being perpetuated through procreation; are not really very practical, given that teenagers have drives and instincts that are normal like everybody else's, and can't be resisted forever. Maybe if the medical technology of this society were advanced enough and birth control were an option, this might not be an issue, but as it is, Greft sees a future with the dragons shaping them all into full-fledged Elderlings in a new colony in Kelsingra as the only chance these keepers have at any sort of decent life; therefore they have to make their own rules.

The problem is that Greft, who has become bitter and warped through his own alienating experiences with Rain Wild culture, has a propensity for fashioning the new rules to his own convenient and selfish ends, and then changing them according to his shifting interests. For instance, he argues for each keeper to mind their own affairs with their own dragon ( so Greft doesn't have to do much sharing himself); but when Thymara kills a large elk, and needs help to move it, Greft tries to persuade her to make the elk part of the collective kill of all the keepers; and for her not to try to keep the bulk of her kill for her own dragon ( though there is also a good argument for this as well, given that Thymara is the best hunter among the keepers, and has probably the most important dragon (as Sintara is the largest, most aesthetically beautiful and intelligent of the small number of female dragons they have; and so is probably the best mating prospect for the males); and it could be said this would make for better optimalization of Thymara's time and efforts toward providing for this dragon at a priority over the other dragons, who often have liabilities that make them poorer breeding prospects). It's obvious from the way he comes into the encounter, with no catch of his own, that he is simply trying to take advantage of Thymara's logistical situation of being unable to move the elk all at once, and is using his situational ethics to rationalize victimizing her. If he had made the big catch, of course, he would have kept it all for his own dragon and himself.

Sedric confronts Leftrin to prevent a romance from blossoming between Leftrin and Alise, not only because he doesn't trust the rough captain's questionable designs on her; but he realizes that Hest would never forgive him if Alise took up with this Rain Wild captain, and refused to return back to Bingtown with him. Hest would be publicly cuckolded and humiliated and would hold Sedric responsible, destroying any chance Sedric has in winning Hest's affections with his dragon parts venture, now that he has obtained the "merchandise" he needs, and is ready to return as soon as he can extricate Alise.

As far as the incident goes of Sedric spontaneously licking the dragon's blood off his fingers and ingesting it, it would ordinarily be something one would consider the bizarre action of a depraved person, but I think rather ( particularly as the chapter ends with that dragon communication telepathically arising in Sedric's mind) that the copper dragon has used her dragon/Skilling ability to persuade Sedric to absorb the blood in order that she can exert influence on him and make him susceptible to her dragon glamour and magic

John wrote: "One of the curious things about the Kelsingra expedition is the fact that the keepers, who are pretty much the rejects of Rain Wild society, and are mostly teenagers besides, were not provide a sup..."

I hadn't thought of Sedric ingesting the dragons blood as a type of glamour from the Dragon herself! This is a better theory as I thought Sedric to be cruel and acting like someone with an addictive behavior stumbling upon an addictive substance!! But it could very well be the dragons own influence… Somehow this makes me feel better about the scene.