The Robin Hobb Collection discussion

Discussion for Chapters 11-15.

I'm having trouble keeping track of chapters with the audio version. They seem very long and it's 1 giant file so I tend to forget which chapter I'm on. This is maybe up to somewhere in chapter 11 or 12.


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Well there is the pain I was expecting. Molly dying. Of a heart attack or maybe a stroke? Poor Fitz.

Now Nettle wants to take Bee away and Fitz (and Bee) are having none of it. Things are finally picking up.

Ch 12

Well Another Bee chapter, albeit a short one. It seems like this is going to be a common thing. I'm not sure I like that. I'd be OK with some Fool chapters, maybe. It could ruin the mystique if we got that.

Ch 13
I haven't finished this chapter yet, so maybe this is coming before the end, but I wonder if this new female assassin is Regal's Bastard. She already grates on me like he did.

Ch 15

Finally some sign of the Fool. Fitz almost missed them. I was yelling at him during my drive home. He can be so frustrating at times.

Alex wrote: "Rob, what do you mean by frustrating? I see this comment often about Fitz, and I wonder what you mean here specifically."

I mean he gets in his own way and does stupid things. It's something everyone is guilty of, but Ms. Hobb does such a good job portraying it, it drives me crazy. I just want to reach in the book and throttle him sometimes.

Alex wrote: "I hope you all agree that this one also got you RIGHT IN THE FEELS. "

Never.

I know this isnt really the place for it, so I apolegize in advance. But can anyone on this board tell me the size of the audiobook version (preferably itunes one, but Ill take what I can get). Thx in advance, dying to get this book, but only have an ipod, and a few 100 mb of internet. Again, sorry to ask but Ive looked everywhere, and while Im happy to pay 3 times the ebook price, I do want to be able to listen to it now, not a month when Im back home.

No idea about iTunes. I got it as an mp3 from the publisher. It's 1.5 gigs.

That could probably be converted to a much smaller m4b file though.

Thanks for the info, storage space isnt the problem, its just that 1GB of internet costs 13€. But if you say 1.5 gigs, I'll risk it. Pricey, but worth it.

Well my point was if iTunes sells the m4b file, it might be s smaller.

I must be still in Ch11 because I haven't got to Bee's second POV yet. I love the process of discovery for both Fitz and Bee as they learn to connect. I loved that Fitz now knows why Bee looks away. I love the bit where Fitz shows Bee the secret passages.
Also, Bee is drawing stuff she hasn't seen yet, like "Sea Serpents dragging ships" (not an exact quote). So I'm guessing she's drawing from the future visions she sees, which includes scenes that harken back to Liveships.

I haven't read most the comments on here because I'm still not done.

ch12-14 first of all, regarding Bee that little fox, i didn't see an explorer in her, i guess i was underestimating her like everyone else.
of course, 'Father Wolf' coming to rescue her was amazing and intriguing. how is Nighteyes coming in here? did the 9 years of open skilling give nighteyes some kind of access? did she just absorb nighteyes information? sure as hell, nighteyes was pretty protective of the little cub.
i wouldn't have expected her to go right back into all the passages after having gotten lost.
perhaps it's a good thing chade doesn't know much about bee, it seems like bee would be an excellent addition to his spy network.


ch13 big revelation of yet another farseer bastard. anyone tought chade was feeling a bit too uncomfortable? but then it's not really an option is it? shun's mother is clearly an aristocrat and 19 years ago chade was still a spider hidden away. so who's bastard is she? verity's? the younger brother (who's name i forgot)? as long as it isn't regals, though so far i sniffed some regal character-traits...
and then, who's the mother??
another puzzle i'm sure will not be solved straight away.

ch15 - the pale woman... the mystery continues. from the tale she tells it actually sounds like she was the one 11 years ago who then was found on the street with her companion dead somewhere on a road. where did she hide all that time? and then to come back in a similar state? (or is this a second messenger that just came back in a similar state the other one left?)

her disappearing from the bedroom before telling her whole tale was odd as well. even though she said she was too late to deliver her messenger. surely the fool would have send a bit more than that?
so was she captured already? fitz seems to think so.

the introduction text for this chapter was a bit weird too, telling of a very unwilling catalyst. is that pointing to shun being our next catalyst? she sure sounds unwilling ;)))


sorry for the rambling, my head is full with too many questions and options of what might be going on! perhaps i would be a good addition to chade's network too :)

Rob wrote: "I haven't finished this chapter yet, so maybe this is coming before the end, but I wonder if this new female assassin is Regal's Bastard. She already grates on me like he did. "

Aha! Interesting that i'm not the only one who jumped to that link. who knows, he was admired enough to have a lover somewhere at a party that's for sure. and he would have had plenty of enemies too.
who knows? not sure how fitz would feel about that. but perhaps that's why chade didn't say anything about her parentage.

David Sven wrote: "Also, Bee is drawing stuff she hasn't seen yet, like "Sea Serpents dragging ships" (not an exact quote). So I'm guessing she's drawing from the future visions she sees, which includes scenes that harken back to Liveships.."


yes, it seemed that way. fitz seemed properly shocked when she spoke about her dream. i guess it's a good thing for bee that her father knows a think or two about white prophets.

My first thought was that Shun was Chades bastard

my gut said chade, but rationally i thought that wasn't an option. reading back though, i got my timeline wrong!
fitz remarks that she's younger than dutiful, so chade would be out of the spider webs and walking openly around at court by that time, meaning it could be his.
he did give her his family name too, (or was that the general name dor a bastard in buck?)

Hanne wrote: "he did give her his family name too, (or was that the general name dor a bastard in buck?) "

Fitz is the convention these books for bastards and Farseer bastards are still Farseers - unlike Game of Thrones where you have Snow, Sand, Turd etc.

Also, Chade's desperation to save Shun and then Shun being moved when Chade gave her his name makes adds to my suspicions.

Michael wrote: "I know this isnt really the place for it, so I apolegize in advance. But can anyone on this board tell me the size of the audiobook version (preferably itunes one, but Ill take what I can get). Thx..."

I think if you join Audible, they give you a month for free or give you half price for 3 months. That should only see you paying from a possible $0 to a maximum of $14.95. You can then quit your subscription if you just want it for this book. Also, once you install the Audible app on your iphone, you can go into settings and download the standard quality version rather than the hi quality version - which will save you megabytes. You can also select to download over a few files instead of one big file - that way you can just download like a third of the book and then download the rest later on.

Hanne wrote: "of course, 'Father Wolf' coming to rescue her was amazing and intriguing. how is Nighteyes coming in here? did the 9 years of open skilling give nighteyes some kind of access?"

I think Fitz tells an old blood story at the beginning of one of these chapters where the witted animal (which I think was dead) was still able to enter another persons dream to go get help. It seems the same sort of thing.

I never considered Chade..that seems like a pretty plausible one too.

David Sven wrote: "Fitz is the convention these books for bastards and Farseer bastards are still Farseers - unlike Game of Thrones where you have Snow, Sand, Turd etc."

Aha could be that i'm mixing up my fantasy series!
Still, the fitz and farseer convention is whenever the father is known (fitz was named after his arrival) what happens to bastard children when the father is either not known or cannot be named? (perhaps just whatever the mother names him/her - i'm reading too much into this)



David Sven wrote: "I think Fitz tells an old blood story at the beginning of one of these chapters where the witted animal (which I think was dead) was still able to enter another persons dream to go get help. It seems the same sort of thing. "

true, i forgot about that. it seemed so weird that nighteyes could access without fitz being there or being aware.

Rob wrote: "I'm having trouble keeping track of chapters with the audio version. They seem very long and it's 1 giant file so I tend to forget which chapter I'm on. This is maybe up to somewhere in chapter 11 ..."

I actually got so upset at the bad narration that i retuned the book to audible and got a refund for my TWO credits (another bugbear, how dare they charge us for 2 credits for a 27 hour book, when the longest in tawny man was 35 hours for 1 credit!) The narrator on Tawny man was masterful, his Fool voice was perfection. The dude they got for Fools Assassin sounded like he was reading his shopping list- and his voice for Chade, oh my, he sounded like an automaton. There was no drama or flow in the delivery. I ended up with the kindle version and a more satisfying read.

Michael wrote: "I know this isnt really the place for it, so I apolegize in advance. But can anyone on this board tell me the size of the audiobook version (preferably itunes one, but Ill take what I can get). Thx..."

Best advice, maybe too late- DON'T waste your money on the audiobook. The narration is shockingly poor, eight hours in i gave up on the book beacuse the narration upset me so. Nick taylor , who narrated Tawny man performed with such perfection, and this new guy can barely read two charachters having a conversation with a natural flow. His chade sounds robotic, with seconds pauses between words. I eneded up returning the book for a refund and got the kindle version.

Who is your narrator? Different markets have different readers I believe.

It was the Uk version, There were two narrators Lee Maxwell Simpson voiced Fitz and Avita Jay voiced Bee. Ms Jay did a slightly better job than Mr Simpson. I cannot believe this guy is a voice actor- he didn't even have a clue that two people conversing do not sound....like....robots.....leaving...spaces...between...words. Woeful!

Oh. Yeah, I have a different guy and just the one.

On Nighteyes: I think he's just part of Bee's own subconscious, based on what she's learnt from Fitz. With the Skill (and in her case seemingly no or few natural barriers to the Skill), someone can tell you everything about something, without even meaning to - Bee has grown up with full access to Fitz's memories of Nighteyes, which are so complete that they've become part of Fitz's subconscious, capable of talking to him. Likewise, I think, they're now part of Bee - but of course she doesn't know they're subconscious memories, so they feel more real and external than they do to Fitz.

Yes Alex, I was bloomin' furious! The last six *longer* books cost 1 credit each- and had multiple downloads. The publishers are taking advantage of the fact that this is such a well loved series and we have waited so long for the release. The last book they did this with was The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss- a stunner of a book, and incredible narration by Rupert Degas. I was willing to pay 2 credits, But not for Fools Assassin.

I was so surprised when we followed Bee all of a sudden. It also made me cry for two reasons: 1) Of happiness because Hobb is probably thinking that Bee is going to be an important character and it feels like she will have a continuing story for books in the future. 2) Of sadness because I have a feeling that Hobb is gradually showing us a new character that will be the new generation after Fitz dies. And I don't want him to die!

Now when we get to read both of their thoughts I get frustrated when they don't understand each other. I want them to speak their minds!

Linnea wrote: "2) Of sadness because I have a feeling that Hobb is gradually showing us a new character that will be the new generation after Fitz dies. And I don't want him to die! "

that's definitely true, but i hope it's going to be a long long time before we get to that point. he still has his skill-healing to protect himself. ^^

Or to take too much too fast from him.

david, message 37 is ch16. can you move it to avoid any spoilers for others?

Done. I must have missed the chapter break.

Little wrote: "Yes Alex, I was bloomin' furious! The last six *longer* books cost 1 credit each- and had multiple downloads. The publishers are taking advantage of the fact that this is such a well loved series a..."

Every time I've complained to Audible about having to pay two credits for a book they give me an extra credit - sometimes I even buy the book.

David Sven wrote: "Little wrote: "Yes Alex, I was bloomin' furious! The last six *longer* books cost 1 credit each- and had multiple downloads. The publishers are taking advantage of the fact that this is such a well..."

Wow! Good job!Is that US or UK? They just refund the credit to me.

Little wrote: "Wow! Good job!Is that US or UK? They just refund the credit to me. "

I get mine from Audible Australia - but having complained, mistakenly, that it didn't look like this was coming out till Sept in Australia someone "lent" me their copy. I suppose I should go ahead and buy the Australian version now it's come out - after I complain about the two credits - but I was not too fussed on the sample of the Australian choice of audio narrator - I could then I suppose return the book for credit not being 100% satisfied. There just isn't any way for me to buy the Ben Elliot version I'm listening to.

I wish I could get a copy with a decent narrator. I complained to audible yesterday, who suggested I complain to the publisher, so I did, and a few minutes later got a reply from Harper Voyager- Not about the audio book- I'd entered a comp to win a print of Withywoods signed by Hobb and the artist-and I'd won! Ha! The world is strange!

I've just started chapter 12. I've finally warmed to Bee, really like her now in fact. I begrudged her at first and didn't really want to hear things from her perspective but she sounds so much like the Fool that I've become attached! That scene where she got lost in the tunnels and was wailing 'Mama' brought me to tears.

Em wrote: "I've just started chapter 12. I've finally warmed to Bee, really like her now in fact."

I warmed up to her with her first POV chapter. She seemed such a bright little thing, and so utterly misperceived, so she got my sympathy vote.

No, it took me a while but I'm definitely grown attached now. I can't believe there's no Fool yet!