Synopsis:
Seraphina is mistress of music at the royal court, but when dragon/human relations become strained, she fears that someone will discover her secret–that she is half dragon herself.
Review:
Seraphina was an absolutely delicious read. Fabulous world, great political intrigue, and a winning love story all centered around a fierce, strong, vulnerable, complicated protagonist. I am only sad that this is just Rachel Hartman‘s debut because I want to read more!
Synopsis:
As the dragons and their keepers grow restless and hungry, only the promise of flight and the ancient secrets of a dead city can save them from enemies without and within.
Review:
I really should have reread Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven before reading Dragon City, because I forgot so much! How did Selden end up a slave? What makes Tarman different from other liveships? What’s Tintaglia doing? Hobb didn’t do much to catch me up, which I do always appreciate–the book is free from burdensome exposition, but since I didn’t do my homework I was a little lost. However, the twists and turns in the plot were quite promising, and the book ends with a tantalizing tease set in Chalced, featuring a most intriguing princess (who’d be right at home with the Sand Snakes, it seems). Hope the next one is coming soon!
Synopsis:
Tyrion becomes a slave, Dany pines for Daario while marrying someone else, her dragons eat children and incinerate a prince, Jon Snow upends 8000 years of tradition, a couple of no-goodniks get baked into a pie, Stannis can haz teh dumb, Theon Greyjoy lives the worst version of a Lifetime movie thanks to the Bastard of Bolton, Arya kills time, Ser Barristan the Bold displays mad skillz, Davos is not dead, Victarion rows his boat, Asha picks the wrong fort to defend, Cersei and Jaime don’t get back together, everyone eats something called “neeps” and Bran turns into a tree.
Review:
My second read of A Dance with Dragons was the audio version, narrated by the no-longer-incomparable Roy Dotrice. Unfortunately, he turned Daenerys into a ninety-year-old Irish crone and gave Cersei almost the same voice as Tyrion. But I forgive him because he still brings incredible thespianship to his reading and I was definitely excited to take any chance I could get to listen.
Many have complained that Dance is just A Feast for Crows part two, complete with aimless wandering and annoyingly resurrected characters. However, I forgive Martin, too. I am too invested in this world to give up now. When we get to the end is when I’ll decide if it was worth it. For now, I’ll just assume that it is.
Oh, and I am in love with A Podcast of Ice and Fire.
Synopsis:
The breathtaking conclusion to The Auralia Thread.
Review:
Magnificent. To say much more about The Ale Boy’s Feast would involve an ungraceful unstitching of the intricate world and story Jeffrey Overstreet has created in the series begun in Auralia’s Colors. If you want to read a fantasy series that will expand your mind, challenge your perceptions, awaken your emotions, and make you ache for all that is possible, then please, get started on this series right away. I can’t wait to share these with my girls when they’re big enough.
Synopsis:
Now a king in the magical land of Fillory, Quentin still fights with the demons of depression and purposelessness, so he goes on a quest and risks losing Fillory forever.
Review:
You have to understand what Fillory means to Quentin to truly understand his position at the outset of The Magician King. He has literally gotten everything he has ever wanted–he is a king in the magical country from the books he loved as a kid. It’s as if you grew up loving Narnia, found out it was real, and then got to go sit on those thrones at Cair Paravel.
But it’s not making Quentin any happier than he was at the beginning of The Magicians. He’s aching over the loss of Alice, his girlfriend who died hating him for cheating on her in a sordid threeway with Janet and Eliot, now also sitting on thrones in Fillory.
And he can’t figure out what’s wrong with Julia, a girl he loved in high school who was denied entrance into Brakebills, the magical college that Quentin attended, and was forced to learn magic on the streets. Something is really, really wrong with Julia, whose eyes have gone totally black and who seems disconnected from reality.
So Quentin decides to head out on a quest, and that turns out to be pretty boring, too–until he turns the wrong key and gets kicked out of Fillory, along with Julia. He can’t get back to the land he loves, and his only choice is to trust Julia, who takes him through the magical underground in the hopes of finding a way back.
I loved the character of Julia. She’s edgy and fierce, a total loose cannon. The magical underground was just as fascinating as Brakebills, and I’m desperately hoping that Lev Grossman intends to write another book. That ending can’t be the ending… it just can’t…
Synopsis:
You really need to read the first 4 books.
Review:
I have never anticipated a book the way I anticipated A Dance with Dragons, not even Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This will be a spoiler-free review. I plan to listen to the audio book next month and that review will be spoiler-filled.
I was thoroughly entertained and satisfied by the book, and loved what happened in the new POV characters, especially Reek. I am impressed by Martin’s manipulative abilities–he is in such control of the reading experience and I love him for it. I loved the Cersei chapters, wanted one more Jaime chapter and was sad that another A Feast for Crows POV was missing from this one. I was totally wrong about the identity of the Ghost in Winterfell. I felt like I was tracking everyone’s location throughout Westeros, the North, Slaver’s Bay, and the Free Cities, which is a testament to Martin’s abilities. I’m also grateful for the hard work of the folks at Tower of the Hand for all their essays that helped me keep all of the houses and politics straight going into the book.
Very happy and very sad right now…
Synopsis:
As Fitz accompanies Prince Dutiful on a quest to lay the head of an ice-encased dragon on the hearthstone of the Narcheska Elliania’s mothershouse, he betrays his dearest friend and brings his own bastard daughter into grave peril.
Review:
Fool’s Fate is a thoroughly satisfying conclusion not just to the Tawny Man trilogy but to the entire tale begun in the Farseer trilogy and developed in the Liveship Traders. Hobb is after full-bodied resolution and she sure delivers. Everything is wrapped up and no thread, either physical or emotional, is left hanging. This doesn’t mean that she short-circuits a full emotional experience. She takes the characters as far as they can go, and then beyond that, showing that she has a deep understanding of the dramatic force of peripety.
I got lumps in my throat, both happy and sad ones, and I feel so satisfied, just as much as the first time I read these books. I can’t wait for my girls to be old enough to read them. I think they would be good for any middle or high schooler undaunted by length.
Synopsis:
The newly awakened dragon, the kidnapped satrap, the ships with living figureheads who are going insane, and the self-crowned King of the Pirate Isles come together in a rousing conclusion to the trilogy.
Review:
Ship of Destiny was just as much fun the second time around. I can forgive the crazy amounts of coincidence and deus ex machina because I just love the characters so much. I’d write more but I figure if you’ve gotten this far in the trilogy you already know how much you want to finish it!
Synopsis:
With the Vestrit family’s Liveship captured by the pirate Kennit and the family falling into poverty, headstrong Althea Vestrit plans a daring plot to regain her ship, even as her niece Malta becomes the family’s ransom to the shadowy, deformed Rain Wild Traders.
Review:
I know, I know, the plots of second books always sound so silly. You need to know who everybody is in order to appreciate Mad Ship, and if you’ve read the first book I’m sure i don’t need to convince you to read this one.
I enjoyed revisiting Bingtown and the Rain Wilds, not just because this is the second book but because it’s also my second read. Robin Hobb really created something special in this series and I’m glad she’s chosen to continue it with books beyond this trilogy.
Synopsis:
The bastard son of a dead king goes on a quest to find his missing uncle, gone to rouse the mythical Elderlings and save the Six Duchies from the fearsome Red Ship Raiders.
Review:
Assassin’s Quest reminded me why I fell in love with Robin Hobb. Despite some of the missteps in overly broad characterizations, I was swept away by the epic storytelling. I really got tired of the narrator of the audio version, and I have to say I’m a bit relieved that the Tawny Man trilogy isn’t available in audio form. I am excited to reread those stories as well, as well as revisit the Liveship Traders, which I have begun in audio form–and again, not crazy about the narrator. So we’ll see if I make it through. I’m a bit curious to see what it’s like to listen to Liveship Traders while reading the Tawny Man, since the former series precedes the latter in time, but the latter doesn’t offer too many spoilers. And since my readings of Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven are so recent, I wonder how fresh the Liveship Traders will feel.
