/r/Fantasy Discussion Group discussion

Let us know what you think now that you have finished the book! No spoiler tags needed here.

This is one of my favorite series! Looking forward to seeing what people think of Fitz and his story.

Just an FYI, both topics are named "First Impressions and Spoiler Free Discussion."

Peter wrote: "Just an FYI, both topics are named "First Impressions and Spoiler Free Discussion.""
Thanks. Fixed. :)

I've returned to this trilogy after more than a decade. Still love it. Absolutely. :-)

Finished it yesterday. For being such a slow book, I really blazed through it! I've traditionally not liked first person POV stuff that much but I REALLY liked being in Fitz's head. It added a bunch to his character development. At first I kind of thought the story would fall into making Regal a stereotypical whiny brat bad-guy (and he kind of was) but I liked seeing his motivations and even competency at the end. A very bittersweet ending, which I find myself enjoying a lot recently.

Also finished yesterday, and I completely agree with Peter, I mean - it seemed like it was slow but I was completely hooked the whole way through, and I was surprised about that because I didn't think I'd like the book so much! I especially loved all the little twists, especially towards the end - there were times where I might have shouted at the book, lol.

In fact I thought the whole closing act at Jhaampe was really well plotted, it was really well done!

I also really loved the kinship between Fitz and Burrich and there were times, for example the infirmary scene, where I was like are you guys for real? No, Come on!

Chade was brilliant, and I also really liked Verity :)

It's just a shame that all the dogs I fell in love with had to die! At least Sooty still breathes!

Overall, I loved it, and I'm really curious to continue the series. I really want to find out more about the "elderlings" which were mentioned and I want to learn more about The Fool, and the Red Ships.

Just finished it and really enjoyed it. The Fool was probably my favorite character and hoping to see more of him as I continue to read this series.

What was everyone's thoughts on the ending? For me, I thought it tied up the plot nicely, but at the same time, left me wanting to read the next book.

Justin wrote: "What was everyone's thoughts on the ending? For me, I thought it tied up the plot nicely, but at the same time, left me wanting to read the next book.

I really liked how when they got to Jhaampe, the pace picked up, there were some twists and turns, and there was a really nice, almost foreboding feel to it all.

As for the epilogue, I was a little confused by it. I read it a couple of times, since the first time I was a little distracted.

When Fitz was looking at the ink blot, and seeing all of those scenes, it was a little confusing. There were all of these scattered memories, some of which felt more like surreal dreams than memories. I thought it was pretty great, since Fitz is obviously not in full control of his faculties. Him contemplating suicide was kind of a cool way to end the book.

I finished the book today after work. For a book that's supposedly slow, I found it to move quite quickly, especially compared to the Prince of Nothing trilogy that I was reading before this. I definitely agree with Peter, it was nice to see Regal was actually competent. It was pretty much just sheer dumb luck that kept his plan from working with Fitz not drinking enough of the wine.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series to see where it goes and how Fitz gets to the point that he's at in the intro and the epilogue.

The Tawney Man series is the next series primarily about Fool and Fitz, but don't skip the Liveship series! It indirectly is connected to Fool and Fitz, and there is a character or two that are directly connected, (LITTLE TEENY SPOILER) *****
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though you really don't learn who until Tawney Man. There is also a lot of important background that could limit your understanding of things in Tawney Man, things that will seem to just come out of nowhere in Tawny Man if you're unfamiliar with what happens in Liveship. When I first read Hobb, I didn't know Liveship was the same world. I wish someone had mentioned it!

So, I'm new to the group and I don't really know where to begin so I'll start out by saying this: I found you guys through Robin Hobb's facebook page, she discovered (apparently) that you guys were reading her book this month and wanted to let her fb followers know about it. In truth I can't help but wonder if she's reading these threads.

Anyway, I'm a long time fan of Hobb's and have been reading and re-reading the Realm of the Elderlings series for close to ten years now. I usually read them once a year and every year I do I discover new treasures in them, new perspectives, new thoughts. Truly, they never fail to engage me.

I probably won't post too much because I don't want to give away unintentional spoilers that might ruin the rest of the series for new readers but in regards to this book in specific I did want to ask a couple of questions about other reader's feelings and of course to answer some of the questions others have asked.

So.. thoughts on the ending. I've always loved the ending to this first book in the series, Hobb has an excellent way of building up to her major plot points. Someone above said that they had lingering feelings of foreboding toward the end of the book and I think that this is a major hallmark of Hobb's work. She has a way of tugging at your emotions so subtly that you aren't even entirely sure why you feel the way you do and then when everything comes together it leaves this feeling of inevitability, like it always had to end up that way despite the fact that the ending was not exactly obvious before you got to it.

I would like to bring up these points/questions as well:

1) Since this story is told from Fitz's POV we obviously get to see all of what is inside of him. He's an emotional character, he feels strongly, perhaps even too strongly at times. If we step away from Fitz's POV and view him from the POV of another character (really any of them, Verity, Chade, Burrich - take your pick) what does he look like to us then? I can't help but think that on the outside Fitz must appear to be rather stoic, he thinks more than he speaks, he doesn't often befriend others - mostly keeping to himself, ect. Considering this, does it change the scope of the story? Does it open new doors to you as a reader?

2) This is another Fitz POV thing. You'll discover, those of you that read through the rest of the series, that Robin Hobb is excellent at giving you every piece of every puzzle to every mystery in her stories but she does it so subtly that you often times miss these pieces entirely (and then, if you're like me and you re-read you are KICKING yourself for somehow missing the obvious over and over and over again). I think that some of the way that she disguises giving away major plot points in this book is by using Fitz's limited POV to do so. So I ask, what things do you think are skewed by Fitz's perspective? Are there untruths told to us by Fitz because his emotions color the story telling? A specific example of this, to me, is Burrich - often times it seems that Fitz both loves and hates the man - but he never really takes the time to truly assess how Burrich feels about him. He assumes, and often, that Burrich caring for him is an obligation, a task he does not much care for but accepts, a burden. At one point he goes so far as to state that it would be an injury to Burrich's pride if he were to be killed but he never ever at any point stops to think that Burrich simply loves him (as any adult person caring for a young child over many years would be bound to do). Thoughts on this?


Oh.. and one more thing, if you like Regal you guys should be really excited about other upcoming "bad guys" because Regal is easily the least interesting (which is not to say he isn't interesting, he definitely is!) "bad guy" in the entire Realm of the Elderlings books. In fact, in the Liveship Traders series a huge portion of all the books are written from the POV of the "villain". I place the word villain in quotation marks because after reading the chilling thoughts of said character it is still difficult to say that he is a villain, in a black and white/cut and dried sense.

It’s been really interesting reading everyone’s comments on the book. I don’t really agree with the idea that the book is slow. I think that the time is taken to establish the character of Fitz and all of the detail certainly helped me make a real emotional connection to the character. One of my favourite things about Hobb’s books is how the events of a character’s life have a truly lasting impact on their personality. They don’t just get injured, then get up and battle the hordes the next day, they take time to recover, and sometimes they change forever. If this novel were rushed, then we would miss a lot of the things that make Fitz who he is, and I think that would make him more difficult to empathise with.

This was, probably, my third or fourth reading of the book, and I come across something new every time. (As Britannia says, I could kick myself for missing them)! This time I went back into the story having a memory of Fitz as a lonely boy, dealt a terrible hand etc etc. But I think that was his internal perception of himself. Yes, he does encounter horrific hardship and danger, yet he is not alone. Again, this is down to Robin Hobb’s skill of studying the impacts of life’s events. Fitz was abandoned as a child. He never gets over this, even though, when you see his life from the outside, he is actually very well liked and surrounded by people who love him fiercely. I think that Fitz hasn’t even begun to understand the way others see him in this first book. And that he is very reluctant to trust…much like a poorly treated animal. So yes - again I agree with Britannia, Fitz has little awareness of the way others feel about him.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ‘gentle’ (don’t want to say ‘slow’), development of the storyline. I felt it so important to truly understand the relationships between Fitz and the other characters in order for the story to have the emotional impact it does. Even better on repeated readings, as you really start to understand the motivations of the other characters.

This book, this trilogy, is among my very favourite ever. Superbly well done, Robin Hobb.

Oh - and I probably ought to add...I love the Wit thing, and the red ship raiders, the fool, the zombie-forged ones, Chade's assassination lessons, Burrich, and the whole idea of the 'sacrifice' in Jhaampe, (any ideas on how to pronounce this)? Because, beside everything else, this is also a brilliant fantasy novel. :-)

Justin wrote: "Just finished it and really enjoyed it. The Fool was probably my favorite character and hoping to see more of him as I continue to read this series.

What was everyone's thoughts on the ending? For..."

It's been a couple of years since I first read it but I still remember the feeling I got on finishing it was that the book might have ended but I was nowhere near done reading it. I was so grateful and relieved to find out there was more...only I didn't understand then that the Liveship Trilogies were the next in the series and instead I went straight onto the Tawny Man. (I would have been too impatient to read three books that didn't include Fitz when I knew I had three waiting and untouched, anyway). I was a bit obsessed with him at that point. And by the time I was done with the Tawny Man, I was even more obsessed with the Fool. I am in awe of Robin's ability to create characters and, however strange they are, give them an identity that is whole and entirely theirs. She's a superb storyteller, and I think Fitz and the Fool will be my all-time favourite characters for the rest of my life...I can't imagine them being topped!

I can't help but notice the similarities between the fool in this book and the Wit in the Stormlight Archive books. Does anyone else read the characters the same? Any other characters from books that are similar?

Robert wrote: "I can't help but notice the similarities between the fool in this book and the Wit in the Stormlight Archive books. Does anyone else read the characters the same? Any other characters from books th..."
I thought the same thing, Robert. I think this genre of authors all read each others books & can't help but be influenced. Whether it be through names or character build. Regardless, both are great books.

I really like Hobb's writing and read this book about a year ago, and finished the trilogy last winter. I think this first book is the weakest of the series, which is saying something as this book is still pretty good on its own. I wish they had the Tawny an at Audible, for us U.S. people.

Sorry, I came to this late. I didn't realize this was the book you were discussing this month.

I found this book moving when I read it maybe ten or more years ago, and for me, it's the go-to recommendation for people who love Song of Ice and Fire and are looking for something else to read.

Certainly, there are other great high fantasy worlds to go investigate, but what attracts me about SoIaF is the crystal-clear characterization and the understanding that true courage comes in the face of adversity, both from within and without. And that is at the heart of this book and all of Hobb's writing. I love Fitz as a character, and our introduction to him is so unique and well-imagined.

I just love that his earliest memory happens when he is six years old and that it is a crystal-clear, detailed memory. Although we never, throughout all of the Fitz and the Fool books, get a straight-up explanation for this, based on what we learn, it becomes very understandable and kind of heartbreaking that this is so.

And for me, that's the brilliance of Robin Hobb. Truly, these books are among my favorites.