Robin Hobb: Farseer Trilogy (huge spoilers) loooong read
-
Jeremy
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 18 Feb 2015, 17:53
- Bookshelf Size: 0
Robin Hobb: Farseer Trilogy (huge spoilers) loooong read
Recently a friend turned me on to Robin Hobb, and having just finished an extremely long series with nothing pressing to read I said what the hell because I had heard her name before and heard good things.
I have yet to read The Tawny Man Trilogy, which I am told picks back up the story of Fitz after Liveship Traders Trilogy which I am just now starting, so please don't let me know that this or that gets explained or gets better during it.
Let me first say that I did really enjoy the first and second books and the third did have some good parts but was a bit of a long read for me. I did have a few problems with the books, mainly the third and the end of the series, but I don't want that to take away from the fact that I did enjoy reading them. I will try and keep my problems in a chronological as the books went.
The first book I didn't really have any problems. The only thing that comes to mind is that I could have sworn I read somewhere that when Fitz got back to Buck he tried to find Molly and couldn't, and when he went to her neighbors they wouldn't/couldn't tell him anything, but yet its a different story in the second book. I originally thought it was in the epilogue but its not. I'm going to have to go back and re-read the second half of that book at some point cause it may very well have been something that I imagined, or dreamed up lol.
The second book I only had a couple of problems with. My first problem pretty much got remedied towards the end and in book three, and that was with the character Fitz himself. I remember when Kettricken took everyone out to hunt Forged ones and Fitz and Burrich were straggling behind and they got stopped at the gate with the guards having previous orders to not let Fitz out of the castle and Burrich ripped the guard a new one. When that happened I texted the friend that got me to read this "Finally! Burrich has the pair of balls I wish Fitz had. Honestly im starting not to like him as a character, Fitz that is, he seriously needs to grow a pair". The main reason for this disappointment in him is because it was just after the guards wouldn't let him out when Molly was running towards the castle yelling for him and and all he did was tell the guards to go to her because she needed help. I understand that Hobb is trying to be somewhat realistic when it comes to breaking rules and actions having consequences, like being put in chains or thrown in a cell, but I don't think I have read a single book yet where the protagonist wouldn't have tried to shove or fight his way through those guards when his love was calling out to him obviously in fear of something. My only other problem was when Molly was saying she was leaving because she found someone she could put before herself, she couldn't have been any more obvious about having his baby if she gave birth right there and hit him over the head with the baby.
A couple of good things I will say about book two though was when Serene and Justin, the 2 coterie members, first attacked Fitz with the skill in his room and Nighteyes defended him and the fool came back to the room with elfbark for Fitz and asked what Serene was doing to Justin when she was holding him up she dropped him and the fool said "Poor fellow! Was she trying to force herself on you?" "Don't be ridiculous! it was him!" pointing at Fitz. To which the fool said "This is a grave accusation. Answer me truthfully, Bastard. Was she really trying to force herself on you?" I was laughing for like five minutes at that. Another good thing I can say about book two is when Fitz finally did find his balls after they killed Shrewd and he cut Serene's throat and chased Justin all through the castle finally catching him and stabbing him a number of times.
The third book. The first thing that got to me was how Burrich and Chade, pretty much the people Fitz trusted most in the world, outside of Verity maybe, kept from him that Molly had his child. There might have been reasons behind that that I have forgotten by now but even so that was pretty damn low. The second thing I had a bit of a problem with was when he finally got to Jhaampe and went to report to Kettricken, what right did she have to be pissed at him? Third, and probably the thing that got me the most pissed in this book and made me want to stop reading, yet at the same time kept me reading, I just get that caught up in books, was when Kettricken said she would take Fitz's daughter to raise as her and Verity's child. What pissed me off so much about it wasn't Fitz's complaint that he didn't want his daughter raised to be a queen but the fact that she would be torn from her mothers arms and Molly would have to go on knowing she could not be a mother to her and Nettle, the baby, would never know that Molly was her true mother. I don't know whats worse, a mother having her child die, or having her child growing up knowing that she cant be a part of her life, knowing that someone else is raising her, not being able to be there for her and give her the love that a mother can give. To add to that, no one in the room seemed to care and the person I was probably most pissed at in that aspect was Starling. Chade I could somewhat understand being fanatically loyal to the Farseer line and everything in his life being done for king and country. Kettricken I can understand not having too much emotion about anything having recently lost her child during birth. Even the fool I can understand because after all he was trying to save the world and the only way he could see that happening was with a Farseer on the thrown. But Starling, she sold his baby out for a song. She was willing to put Fitz and Molly, through torture just so she could have a song. As if that wasn't enough, eventually Fitz was able to forgive her. I'm normally not the type of person to hold a grudge but in something like that, I just don't think I could let it go. He is a far more forgiving man than I will probably ever be, but in that aspect I think I am going to be a critic of work and say that it was just bad writing. She shouldn't have been forgiven in my opinion.
Most of these things that I have complained about, except that last one, weren't against the author but just things that upset me throughout the books but in all honesty probably pulled me in more, but now its time for me to complain about the writing, in particular how it ended.
How Verity said that he couldn't awaken his dragon and Kettle said that Fitz would have to give himself to it for it to wake. Then all they did was switch bodies and Verity had sex with Kettricken through Fitz's body then changed back and then he could wake the dragon... I don't understand that. We all knew throughout the books that Regal was just a whinny little bitch that was power hungry with no moral compass, but for Hobb to put it in the simplest of terms when Fitz skill linked with him it pretty much killed any credibility he had as an antagonist throughout this entire series for me. Not to mention the fact that he could skill link with Will when he had no skill power to speak of and Fitz was so easily able to imprint on him this loyalty to Kettricken with this crazy skill power that suddenly developed, not being that great at it before, without any problem whatsoever. Most of this series was dedicated to the defense of the coast and getting rid of the red ships. How it was done, and the retaliation, and the rebuilding was blown through in less than a chapter. The significance of the white ships, that no one but Fitz could see that would suddenly vanish and the creature that Fitz repelled at and made fall in the water when they took the Rurisk to defend a town in book two, was never explained except to say they had black stones on them that caused the forging and that two were destroyed by the dragons. And last but not least Starling shows up on his doorstep with a boy she picked up off the street to leave with him... what the hell was that about?
In summery. I really did like the stories, they were really great books to read that kept drawing me in but had an ending that I felt was severely rushed and left a couple of things unexplained. As I said at the beginning of all this, I am still reading Robin Hobb and hopefully some of this stuff will be explained in the Tawny Man series and hopefully it has a much better, more thorough ending
I do apologize for the very long read, feels like I just wrote a book lol, but I had to let this stuff out
I have yet to read The Tawny Man Trilogy, which I am told picks back up the story of Fitz after Liveship Traders Trilogy which I am just now starting, so please don't let me know that this or that gets explained or gets better during it.
Let me first say that I did really enjoy the first and second books and the third did have some good parts but was a bit of a long read for me. I did have a few problems with the books, mainly the third and the end of the series, but I don't want that to take away from the fact that I did enjoy reading them. I will try and keep my problems in a chronological as the books went.
The first book I didn't really have any problems. The only thing that comes to mind is that I could have sworn I read somewhere that when Fitz got back to Buck he tried to find Molly and couldn't, and when he went to her neighbors they wouldn't/couldn't tell him anything, but yet its a different story in the second book. I originally thought it was in the epilogue but its not. I'm going to have to go back and re-read the second half of that book at some point cause it may very well have been something that I imagined, or dreamed up lol.
The second book I only had a couple of problems with. My first problem pretty much got remedied towards the end and in book three, and that was with the character Fitz himself. I remember when Kettricken took everyone out to hunt Forged ones and Fitz and Burrich were straggling behind and they got stopped at the gate with the guards having previous orders to not let Fitz out of the castle and Burrich ripped the guard a new one. When that happened I texted the friend that got me to read this "Finally! Burrich has the pair of balls I wish Fitz had. Honestly im starting not to like him as a character, Fitz that is, he seriously needs to grow a pair". The main reason for this disappointment in him is because it was just after the guards wouldn't let him out when Molly was running towards the castle yelling for him and and all he did was tell the guards to go to her because she needed help. I understand that Hobb is trying to be somewhat realistic when it comes to breaking rules and actions having consequences, like being put in chains or thrown in a cell, but I don't think I have read a single book yet where the protagonist wouldn't have tried to shove or fight his way through those guards when his love was calling out to him obviously in fear of something. My only other problem was when Molly was saying she was leaving because she found someone she could put before herself, she couldn't have been any more obvious about having his baby if she gave birth right there and hit him over the head with the baby.
A couple of good things I will say about book two though was when Serene and Justin, the 2 coterie members, first attacked Fitz with the skill in his room and Nighteyes defended him and the fool came back to the room with elfbark for Fitz and asked what Serene was doing to Justin when she was holding him up she dropped him and the fool said "Poor fellow! Was she trying to force herself on you?" "Don't be ridiculous! it was him!" pointing at Fitz. To which the fool said "This is a grave accusation. Answer me truthfully, Bastard. Was she really trying to force herself on you?" I was laughing for like five minutes at that. Another good thing I can say about book two is when Fitz finally did find his balls after they killed Shrewd and he cut Serene's throat and chased Justin all through the castle finally catching him and stabbing him a number of times.
The third book. The first thing that got to me was how Burrich and Chade, pretty much the people Fitz trusted most in the world, outside of Verity maybe, kept from him that Molly had his child. There might have been reasons behind that that I have forgotten by now but even so that was pretty damn low. The second thing I had a bit of a problem with was when he finally got to Jhaampe and went to report to Kettricken, what right did she have to be pissed at him? Third, and probably the thing that got me the most pissed in this book and made me want to stop reading, yet at the same time kept me reading, I just get that caught up in books, was when Kettricken said she would take Fitz's daughter to raise as her and Verity's child. What pissed me off so much about it wasn't Fitz's complaint that he didn't want his daughter raised to be a queen but the fact that she would be torn from her mothers arms and Molly would have to go on knowing she could not be a mother to her and Nettle, the baby, would never know that Molly was her true mother. I don't know whats worse, a mother having her child die, or having her child growing up knowing that she cant be a part of her life, knowing that someone else is raising her, not being able to be there for her and give her the love that a mother can give. To add to that, no one in the room seemed to care and the person I was probably most pissed at in that aspect was Starling. Chade I could somewhat understand being fanatically loyal to the Farseer line and everything in his life being done for king and country. Kettricken I can understand not having too much emotion about anything having recently lost her child during birth. Even the fool I can understand because after all he was trying to save the world and the only way he could see that happening was with a Farseer on the thrown. But Starling, she sold his baby out for a song. She was willing to put Fitz and Molly, through torture just so she could have a song. As if that wasn't enough, eventually Fitz was able to forgive her. I'm normally not the type of person to hold a grudge but in something like that, I just don't think I could let it go. He is a far more forgiving man than I will probably ever be, but in that aspect I think I am going to be a critic of work and say that it was just bad writing. She shouldn't have been forgiven in my opinion.
Most of these things that I have complained about, except that last one, weren't against the author but just things that upset me throughout the books but in all honesty probably pulled me in more, but now its time for me to complain about the writing, in particular how it ended.
How Verity said that he couldn't awaken his dragon and Kettle said that Fitz would have to give himself to it for it to wake. Then all they did was switch bodies and Verity had sex with Kettricken through Fitz's body then changed back and then he could wake the dragon... I don't understand that. We all knew throughout the books that Regal was just a whinny little bitch that was power hungry with no moral compass, but for Hobb to put it in the simplest of terms when Fitz skill linked with him it pretty much killed any credibility he had as an antagonist throughout this entire series for me. Not to mention the fact that he could skill link with Will when he had no skill power to speak of and Fitz was so easily able to imprint on him this loyalty to Kettricken with this crazy skill power that suddenly developed, not being that great at it before, without any problem whatsoever. Most of this series was dedicated to the defense of the coast and getting rid of the red ships. How it was done, and the retaliation, and the rebuilding was blown through in less than a chapter. The significance of the white ships, that no one but Fitz could see that would suddenly vanish and the creature that Fitz repelled at and made fall in the water when they took the Rurisk to defend a town in book two, was never explained except to say they had black stones on them that caused the forging and that two were destroyed by the dragons. And last but not least Starling shows up on his doorstep with a boy she picked up off the street to leave with him... what the hell was that about?
In summery. I really did like the stories, they were really great books to read that kept drawing me in but had an ending that I felt was severely rushed and left a couple of things unexplained. As I said at the beginning of all this, I am still reading Robin Hobb and hopefully some of this stuff will be explained in the Tawny Man series and hopefully it has a much better, more thorough ending
I do apologize for the very long read, feels like I just wrote a book lol, but I had to let this stuff out
