The Robin Hobb Collection discussion

Who hated this book with a fiery passion? :(

I don't get the five star reviews- did those guys even read Tawny Man- those books were 5 stars and more, so far it's a 3.

I liked it, though not as much as Tawny man. Far from hate though.

No I really hated it :( 3/4 of the book was a simple filler. Nothing happened, save an endless discourse about decoration and clothes. I like some epicness in my epic fantasy, this book was as epic as a trip to the grocery store.

Also, I ran Bee in the mary-sue litmus test and the test confirmed her mary-sueism.

Shun and Lant are bad caricature of teenagers.

Molly is killed off because we don't really want Fitz to have any character development, so lets kill off characters instead (this is the second time. Burrich was the first).

I could go on, but you get the idea :\

The last three chapters were very disappointing. And that's because I expected the same warm reunion of old friends, which I endlessly enjoyed in Fool's Errand. Instead I saw a crippled broken and disgusting old man and my imagination refused to blend that image with the image of the Beloved I had. The fact that Fool was as talkative as my favourite Beloved never had been made me think at first, that it wasn't Fool at all. He just didn't want to shut up and go to sleep. somehow Fitz felt cold toward him, at leat it felt like that to me.

Tanya wrote: "The last three chapters were very disappointing. And that's because I expected the same warm reunion of old friends, which I endlessly enjoyed in Fool's Errand. Instead I saw a crippled broken and ..."

I agree. Hobb has shattered the beautiful illusion of Beloved. It doesn't make sense to me as a plot device, or in a 'business sense' to virtually destroy your best loved character. I don't necessarily think the fool is 'old'. I think malnutrition and emaciation have taken their toll. I'm hoping that with a skill healing and a good feed he'll be back to beautiful Beloved. The whole situation does not make sense. The fool was always using his initiative to find a way though any barriers. Even when blind, he could have sung for a copper for a meal, or juggled. As a creative mind, I would have thought he would have found a more successful way to survive. The fact that he has degraded to such an extent feels wrong. But then again, being tortured for so many years would have had a momunmental effect on his psyche, i guess.
I found the whole scenes in Chades work room very 'unnatural' and jarring. The whole thing about their connection was that, when meeting again after years, they slipped seemlessly into one another lives ,like completing the jigsaw. Apart, they appear to make poor decisions, but together they are supposed to be one being. It didn't read like that to me.( apart from Fitz slipping into bed and snuggling beside the fool! sob!)

LittleRed wrote: "Tanya wrote: "The last three chapters were very disappointing. And that's because I expected the same warm reunion of old friends, which I endlessly enjoyed in Fool's Errand. Instead I saw a crippl..."
exactly!
I think that all the fans got on Robin Hobb's nerves so much asking to write the story of their Beloved and Fitz, that she got so mad and made the Fool so ugly and made him suffer so much. Those tornments were not necessary. They tortured him for so many years with such a cruelty why? to let him go eventually and he ended up bringing them right to the Market's Square, where they saw Bee. It is evident, that they have been following Fool wherever he went and he wasn't able to see the "tail". Hobb was very cruel to the Fool, and I am afraid, her cruelty will grow toward the end of the book....if Fitz and Fool will end up in the black wolf craved from the memory stone, I will be content, not happy...but I doubt she would let them even end up like that...

There's more to who a person is than how pretty they are - as you say, that's just a 'beautiful illusion'. The Fool has been telling people for ten novels now that external physical appearances don't matter, and everyone has nodded along when that meant (a vain hope of) a sexual relationship between Fitz and Fool (which would have been completely out of character and not in a good way). But now it means that maybe Fool might not be the most beautiful person in the world, and now oh no, this is a travesty how could she.

I mean, that's the whole point of the Fool! If a 'disgusting' body can't be reconciled with your image of the Fool, that just shows, as I'm sure the Fool would point out, that your image isn't faithful to the individual anyway - just as in the first place we and Fitz were chastised for not seeing beyond his ugly and 'freakish' and disturbing physical appearance in Farseer. The Fool being physically ugly (again) now just shows how far Fitz has come that now he doesn't for a moment let the physical trivia get in the way of his feelings about the Fool as a person.

Heroes don't have to be pretty.

Wastrel wrote: "There's more to who a person is than how pretty they are - as you say, that's just a 'beautiful illusion'. The Fool has been telling people for ten novels now that external physical appearances don..."

I see your point and agree with you. But I have the right as a reader to mourn and feel for what has been done to the Fool, as well as I felt bad when Fitz nose and bones were broken. it is nothing but natural. What I couldn't really accept is not Fool being ugly and blind, but not being and acting like Fool I used to know. He changed not only outside, but inside as well, and this combination of two didn't let me "reconcile with my image of the Fool". And I am not going to be sorry for that of feel somehow guilty. I just need time to accept new Fool

Tanya wrote: "Wastrel wrote: "There's more to who a person is than how pretty they are - as you say, that's just a 'beautiful illusion'. The Fool has been telling people for ten novels now that external physical..."

'He changed not only outside, but inside as well, and this combination of two didn't let me "reconcile with my image of the Fool".'

Hobb actually told us very little about the fool, other than the descriptions of external damage. What I have difficulty accepting as a reader is that the core personality of the fool appeared to have been broken. People go through incredible trauma everyday. But inside, beneath the layers of pain, the core of the person is still evident. I didn't get much of an inkling that the character in Chades feather bed with Fitzy was 'our fool',apart from the mention of the night they spent in the elderling tent on Aslevjal. What were yet to see is how deep the damage is, and if an 'external' skill healing can in any way repair the damaged psyche.

I thought the Fool was pretty much 'in character' with the one we saw at the end of Fool's Fate. He's not had a good run when it comes to other Whites (The Pale Woman) or the Servants of the Archive.

I know this book isn't as good as the other books but I'm hoping that the next book will redeem it. I feel is like this is how Robin Hobb's books are; things start out slow in the first book to set up the stage for the next two books. I guess it would have been more enjoyable to wait for all three books to come out to read them all. Btw, I really hope that Hobb will fix whatever wrong with the Fool in this book. I want my Beloved back.

I know this book isn't as good as the other books but I'm hoping that the next book will redeem it. I feel is like this is how Robin Hobb's books are; things start out slow in the first book to set up the stage for the next two books. I guess it would have been more enjoyable to wait for all three books to come out to read them all. Btw, I really hope that Hobb will fix whatever wrong with the Fool in this book. I want my Beloved back.

I didn't hate it, but I really didn't enjoy it. It was dull, the new characters are uninspiring, and I didn't like the shift away from Fitz's point of view. I also can't stand the idea of Fitz dragging Bee around with him on his adventures, because it stops it from being about him and makes it about her instead.

It was a huge change in the dynamic, and I don't think it worked :/

I think it's appropriate at his time of life that everything stops being about him and some things start being about his daughter instead! After all, Fitz is going to die at some point.

[just had a sudden shudder run through me: what if Fitz dies at the beginning of book three, rescuing Bee, and then the last book is all from Bee's point of view?]

Wastrel wrote: "I think it's appropriate at his time of life that everything stops being about him and some things start being about his daughter instead! After all, Fitz is going to die at some point.

[just had ..."

That's enough of that crazy talk Wastrel! Fitz will never die, he is going to carve a stone wolf, isn't he? I just want Beloved to be healed and some servant ass kicked Assassin style!..Not much to ask. :-D

A thought just came to me yesterday that if Fitz were to die, I hope he dies with Beloved by his side.

The stone wolf angle is a good bet. Fitz, the Fool and Nighteyes will somehow form a coterie of sorts and finally become the one pack within the wolf. And no doubt park themselves in the Stone Garden.