The Robin Hobb Collection discussion

Hello, friends! Long time, no see! Hope you're all doing well.

Just wanted to jump on here and share a couple things, if you missed them from other sources.



There's going to be an illustrated edition of Assassin's Apprentice releasing in October this year for the 25th Anniversary. The illustrations will be done by Magali Villeneuve, who's done some artwork for Magic the Gathering. You can check out her blog here: http://magali-villeneuve.blogspot.com/



Sort of old news now, but a reminder that Unfettered III is releasing soon - March 25th. In addition to containing a new Megan Lindholm (horror?) story, it sports one of the most impressive lineups I've ever seen for an anthology. Brandon Sanderson, Mark Lawrence, Delilah S. Dawson, Lev Grossman, Tad Williams, Naomi Novik, Seanan McGuire, etc etc etc.

This is one of the few anthologies I'll probably end up reading cover to cover. I'll set up a group read thread closer to when it comes out, if anyone's interested in joining me. :)

Thanks for the info. I am not sure I can accept any life-like illustrations of Fitz and Fool, if the ghastly US covers are anything to go by!

Which US cover?

The US covers are pretty terrible. I'm relieved it's a different artist illustrating this! (Although Fitz on the US Assassin's Fate was pretty damn close to how I picture him...)

Don't think that style really fits my sense of the novels - too overtly TSR. Although I do love that cover.

Moreover: what another one?

How about, instead of another anniversary special edition of the first trilogy, they do an edition of Liveships or Tawny Man to match the last anniversary special edition...

/slinks away, knowing he's probably going to buy this eventually anyway.

Yeah, I agree. I'm still reeling from the size and cost of the last anniversary edition of AQ... TM anniversary edition would be so popular, don't the publishers realize that? TM was a game changer for many readers, at least, for me it was, by giving Fool a more emotionally pivotal role in the series.

Jeremy: The US cover of AF was pretty good, I think anything would be better than FQ... The arms look disproportionate - right one was overly beefy, and the left one missing the forearm, and that hair! Ugh. When you have to wait like a whole year for the book, and all you have is the cover to sigh at... and then it turns out looking like this.




Silvana: These were the worst of Fool's, imo.... Like suntanning gone overboard.






EDIT: Argh. Now you've all made me want to re-read the last trilogy with these memory triggers.

Wastrel wrote: "How about, instead of another anniversary special edition of the first trilogy, they do an edition of Liveships or Tawny Man to match the last anniversary special edition...

/slinks away, knowing he's probably going to buy this eventually anyway. "

Same!

Personally I would kill to see an illustrated edition of The Liveship Traders. Can you imagine? Or any fancier editions, to be honest. I'm really bummed they didn't get the 20th anniversary treatment.

@Alfred - I totally agree. I loathe the US covers so much that I've imported the UK editions since Tawny Man. I don't understand how the manage to flub the US editions every single time. Even when they inherit the UK art from Jackie Morris, they might as well throw Comic Sans on them for all the care they do to make them appealing!

[This will be at least the third special edition cover of Assassin's Apprentice in the UK alone - there's also a jacketless hardback with a wolf on the cover. There are also three non-special covers (the wonderful original by Howe, and two different covers by Morris), at least one of which came in hardback and paperback (although good luck finding an original hardback of AA that doesn't cost you half a small bungalow).]

Yeah, this will be my... sixth? Yes, sixth edition of this book. US, UK, Sub Press, Japanese 2-volume, 20th anniversary, then this.

Of them all, the original UK from Howe remains my favorite. His entire original run was fantastic.

It's worth noting that the illustrated is a US release, and a pretty welcome one at that. Prior to this, the 2016 Sub Press was the only hardcover available - which was limited, and fairly expensive. It will be nice for stateside fans to have access to a nice copy without importing. :)

Not to mention we're desperate for classier covers over here!

Wait, as in you have this Sub Press cover?! Get outta here!

Alfred wrote: "Yeah, I agree. I'm still reeling from the size and cost of the last anniversary edition of AQ... TM anniversary edition would be so popular, don't the publishers realize that? TM was a game changer..."

Ewwwwww Gosh I am glad I read ebooks sometimes I don't have to see the cover.

Alfred wrote: "Wait, as in you have this Sub Press cover?! Get outta here!

"

this is rather nice and unconventional cover.

Alfred wrote: "Wait, as in you have this Sub Press cover?! Get outta here!

"


I do indeed! I have all of the Sub Press Hobb releases. Sadly... I don't like them very much lol. I'm probably in the minority, but I think most Sub Press books are kinda tacky for the price.

Oh? In what way?
[I know nothing about this topic]

I'm not a fan of their cover designs. They could have the best artwork in the world, and they'll throw some gaudy, over-photoshopped text all over it. The binding and overall quality is good, I guess. But they just look cheap to me!

For a $250 minimum, I'd like a nicer looking cover than this lol.

That is...

*checks their website*

Oh good gods. First item in their shop, they seriously want $45 for a 120-page book with THIS as its front cover!? Someone, somewhere, in some universe, though THIS was an acceptable cover for a book that costs $40!?!?

There are self-published novels now by total unknowns for an audience of dozens with art made by college students on cheap laptops that are orders of magnitude more attractive. Why, how, are subpress so awful!?

And yes, those fonts, they're just terrible. Worse than terrible - inappropriate. There look to be some books where they work, coincidentally - here, for instance the font is totally over the top, but since the rest of the cover is (in an attractive way) totally insane, the font actually sort of works, I think. But yes, other times, no attention paid to style or mood at all!

So, other than bad covers (although that Hobb one is fine, in an underwhelming way), and in some cases signatures, what do you actually get for all that money? Are they illustrated?

Jeremy wrote: "I do indeed! I have all of the Sub Press Hobb releases. Sadly... I don't like them very much lol."

That's quite a collection there! I'll just admire from afar for free... These Sub Press ones are just crazy expensive; ok, you're officially a super-fan.

Also, *jealous of your personalized bookmark...*

and

*dreams of owning a couple funky foreign covers, just because.*

Is this one of baby Nighteyes insanely cute (and highly inaccurate) or what?

So, other than bad covers (although that Hobb one is fine, in an underwhelming way), and in some cases signatures, what do you actually get for all that money? Are they illustrated?

They do have a few that are illustrated, but mostly they're just signed and limited. Of the Hobb releases, The Inheritance has a small illustration under the title of all the short stories (does the regular release have these? I never bought it). Piebald Prince has two full color illustrations. The Farseer Trilogy... they're just signed, with I guess some textured endpapers.

@Alfred The Japanese ones are pretty cute, but I never pictured Fitz as cute lol. They do have some really beautiful Game of Thrones covers over there, though!

Some sample from Magali's tweet: https://twitter.com/Cathaoir1/status/...
I love her works with the A Song of Ice and Fire books and calendars.

Ready for preorder:
http://www.randomhousebooks.com/campa...

I might get this for my own Christmas present. SO EXCITED!