You searched for book_author:"Robin Hobb"
In many ways, one can consider Assassin's Apprentice a "standard epic medieval fantasy" and take it or leave it on those terms. The setting consists of six duchies united as a kingdom, which now faces a new threat from an old enemy: the Red Ship Raiders of the Outislands, who have the ability to "Forge" captives, removing any sense of humanity or even animal nature from them. There are soldiers, princes, lords and ladies, and…
Lately I’ve been playing a lot of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. It’s a video game in which you assume the persona of an assassin in Renaissance Italy. (There’s a whole frame story involving modern-day Templars and a machine that lets you relive genetic memories, but let’s not get into that right now.) Although nowhere near as captivating as my gold standard, Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed is a fun franchise that I’ve followed since its…
One of the difficulties of pledging allegiance to a sovereign monarch is that whole loss of individual volition. Most of the time you might hardly notice it—but when you fall in love with someone below your station, or when the monarch begins fading and his unscrupulous youngest son sets his eyes on the throne, suddenly this loss of volition is a big deal. FitzChivalry Farseer watches the Kingdom of the Six Duchies fall apart before…
I suppose we should call this one 600 Pages of Nevare Eating Things and Arguing with Himself.
In this conclusion to Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy, Nevare faces the enemy within, who goes by the name "Soldier's Boy." As the story opens, Nevare flees from Gettys after magically faking his own death. He heads straight for the Speck forest, where he unleashes his magic on the King's Road to wreak havoc and set…
Huh. Probably should have just called this one Bad Things Happen to Nevare.
Robin Hobb is swiftly spending the credit she earned with her last book. If giving Shaman's Crossing a second chance dispelled my vaguely unpleasant memories of it, those memories are returning with renewed vigour, despite the fact that I have not read Forest Mage before.
Bad things happened to Nevare in the first book, of course. Bad things have to happen…
I really haven't read enough Robin Hobb. She has flown under my radar, mostly because my first encounters with her were through the library, and I have this bad habit of checking out books in the middle of the series (ahem, Golden Fool) and then wondering what the hell is going on. Last year I read Assassin's Apprentice, and I have acquired the remaining two books in that trilogy, so I hope to…