Tag Archives: Robin Hobb

The Limbreth Gate by Megan Lindholm

American Literature March 17, 2007 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: A gypsy woman is drawn into a shadow world to fulfill the destiny created for her when she was briefly kidnapped as a child. Review: The Limbreth Gate is the third installment in Megan Lindholm’s Ki and Vandien Quartet, and is perhaps the most conventional of her books. The plotline is a familiar one–a shadow world opens up, sucking the main characters in–and while Lindholm doesn’t exactly take it to new heights, she does deliver a solid, well-written, suspenseful fantasy tale.

The Windsingers by Megan Lindholm

American Literature March 14, 2007 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: The second in the adventures of gypsy teamster Ki, hired by a wizard to reunite his head with the rest of his body, which have been seized by the menacing Windsingers. Meanwhile, Vandien has contracted himself to a fool’s errand retrieving a treasure of the Windsingers, trapped in a sunken temple. Review: As I mentioned in my post on Harpy’s Flight, it doesn’t seem like Lindholm will be developing an overall mythology, though she is using some recurring characters, and might be continuing some…

Harold Bloom’s Five Books vs. Mine

On Reading March 9, 2007 Superfast Reader

In Newsweek this week, literary critic Harold Bloom offers his list of the five books he’d take to the desert island with him. Touchstone Magazine’s blog has some intriguing commentary, and some fun lists in the comments. I will not be bringing the 2nd of 3 books I read tonight for work, because it was by-the-numbers chick lit. The five books I’d bring to the stupid desert island are:

Harpy’s Flight by Megan Lindholm

American Literature March 9, 2007 Superfast Reader 1 Comment

Synopsis: After her husband and children are brutally murdered by a god-like Harpy, Ki undertakes an act of vengeance that severs her ties with her husband’s people, and sends her on a dangerous journey up an icy mountain overseen by a malevolent force. Review: Megan Lindholm is Robin Hobb, whom I love. Harpy’s Flight is the first in a 4-book series featuring teamster Ki and her unlikely partner Vandien, and while the storytelling isn’t as accomplished as in her later works, Harpy’s Flight is a…

Deep Cover

On Reading February 17, 2007 Superfast Reader

A friend of mine and I were emailing about Robin Hobb’s Six Duchies books, and she wrote about why she liked them: Heroes aren’t all good. Love alone doesn’t conquer all. Women don’t pine away and die. Even the annoying characters can grow up and become really interesting. > This is why I read. This is what I’m looking for. One of my favorite techniques used by writers to create this depth is what I’m calling “deep cover,” after the Lawrence Fishburne movie where he…

Forest Mage by Robin Hobb

American Literature December 28, 2006 Superfast Reader

Synopsis: The strange adventure of magic-possessed soldier son Nevare continue, as he finds himself expelled from military academy when his weight skyrockets after a bout of the Speck plague. Review: Forest Mage is the second book in Robin Hobb’s Soldier Son trilogy begun in Shaman’s Crossing. Interestingly, I found echoes of Orson Scott Card’s Speaker for the Dead in the clash between the progress-loving “human” Gernians and the forest-dwelling dappled Specks, and spent a good deal of the read worrying that Hobb’s story was going…

Shaman’s Crossing by Robin Hobb

American Literature December 26, 2006 Superfast Reader 1 Comment

Synopsis: A young man’s military training is threatened by his seeming possession by a creature in thrall to an evil forest goddess. Review: Shaman’s Crossing is the first book in Robin Hobb’s newest trilogy, Soldier Son, and I ate it up with a spoon, thanks to a very long train ride to Canada. The world of Soldier Son takes place in a frontier-like environment much like the Old West at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, with Nevare, the main character, on his way to…

Robin Hobb – 3 Trilogies, One Love

American Literature October 14, 2006 Superfast Reader 6 Comments

Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy and the follow up trilogy called The Tawny Man are medievalist fantasy fiction are among the best books I’ve ever read in any genre. I lost myself in these six books, missing my subway stop more than once. I would actually get excited when my alarm went off in the morning because I knew that soon, very soon, I’d be waiting for the train and could dive into the Six Duchies with abandon. The Farseer Trilogy follows the bildungsroman model, and…

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