Spoiler warning: This review contains some mild background on Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderling series, although it does not contain spoilers for The Dragon Keeper. If you haven’t read Hobb’s previous works in this series, you probably shouldn’t be reading The Dragon Keeper or this review.
The Dragon Keeper, the long-awaited continuation of the events set in Robin Hobb‘s Realm of the Elderlings series, represents a solid accomplishment that that the revered author’s steadfast fans will enjoy as much as a hearty meal.
However, the book is ultimately a disappointment due to its lack of challenging ideas. The experienced reader will be easily able to predict the plot and much of the character development ahead of time, due to the abundant clues Hobb leaves littered throughout her text. The sense of deep mystery and Hobb’s glorious ability to gradually reveal the true workings of her complex world are somewhat lacking in her latest effort.
The Dragon Keeper is not a direct continuation of the story of perhaps Hobb’s most iconic character, FitzChivalry Farseer, and his companion The Fool. Instead, it can perhaps best be seen more as a sequel to The Liveship Traders trilogy: the middle, and I feel the best, trilogy in the nine book Realm of the Elderlings saga.
The book takes place in the Rain Wilds, the exotic area located upstream of Bingtown, the city where much of the action in The Liveship Traders is set, at a time shortly after the concluding events at the end of The Tawny Man trilogy.
The gradually revealed grand theme of the Realm of the Elderlings saga was the restoration of dragons, and the associated magic and marvels that their presence brings, to a world which had almost forgotten them. The focus of The Dragon Keeper, then, is the triumphant emergence of the dragons from the cocoons they entered in the Rain Wilds. The creatures entered the cocoons as serpents; they leave them as dragons.
But, as long-time Hobb fans will perhaps have expected due to her penchant for introducing difficulties her characters are forced to resolve and live with, that re-birth is not quite as expected.
As the book’s blurb notes:
“The creatures which emerge from the cocoons are a travesty of the dragons of old. Stunted and deformed, they cannot fly; some appear witless and bestial.”
With the dragons becoming a danger to the humans who tend them and live nearby, the logical next step is to move them to a more appropriate setting; a glorious ancient city the dragons themselves dream of: the fabled Kelsingra.
Hobb primarily tells her story through the viewpoint of several key characters: Sintara, a stunted but arrogant queen dragon who cannot fly; Thymara, a young and somewhat mutated Rain Wilder who faces the pangs of growing up, and Alise Kincarron, a homely Bingtown trader’s daughter obsessed with studying the dragons and their attendant Elderings. Then there’s Leftrin, owner and captain of an old-style liveship.
The author describes the lives of her subjects with pinache. As with her previous books, I found myself fascinated by the details of their daily lives; their sufferings, joys, and ultimately their pursuit of their dreams. I can’t fault Hobb’s characterisation and ability to get her readers to identify with the characters she creates.
However by the end of the book I couldn’t help feel that Hobb did not give those actors a large and dramatic enough stage to play out their parts on.
Within the larger plot arch of the book there are several smaller ones; the strained relationship between Alise and her husband by arranged marriage; the struggle of Thymara with the hostility of her mother towards her malformed and societally ostracised daughter; and the mysterious actions of the rascal Leftrin.
The direction these plots take within the overarching theme of the dragons’ enfranchisement is entirely predictable, and the gradual revelations Hobb leads the reader to can be anticipated well in advance.
In this light, the book is a far cry from Hobb’s Liveship Traders and Farseer Trilogies, and more in the vein of her Soldier Son trilogy, which in many ways also demonstrated a level of plot predictability that leaves the reader with a lack of satisfaction.
Of course, readers wouldn’t be left with this feeling if we hadn’t experienced a much higher quality of writing from Hobb, particularly in the Liveship Traders trilogy, where the clues as to the dramatic revelations ahead are scattered few and far between.
Speaking with my friends, their most memorable moments in Hobb’s previous books came when she finally lets the reader in on a grand secret that had been haunting them through the pages. “Do you remember when you found out about the true nature of The Fool?”, they’ll exclaim. “Or when you found out what the liveships truly are, and why the Paragon is the way he is?”
Ultimately, if you’ve enjoyed Hobb’s previous books, you are pretty much going to pick up a copy of The Dragon Keeper. When I saw it in a Dymocks window during lunch one day, I barely remember paying for it, that’s how fast I handed over the money and started reading! But don’t expect the book to be the beginning of another grand masterwork from one of fantasy’s greats.
“The gradually revealed grand theme of the Realm of the Elderlings saga was the restoration of dragons” — Thanks for ruining it for me. Learn how to write a review without revealing plot. I stopped reading this review at that sentence, and will never read a review on this site ever again. Nice job.
Fair call Jeff. I’ve included a spoiler warning.
Cheers,
Renai
Ok, so I don’t want to read your review just yet because I don’t want to spoil it. I love the US Cover for this novel. Have you seen it? It hasn’t been released in the US yet, so I’ll have to wait until next year. Do you know what the date is for the US release? I’ve heard Jan. 2010.
Sorry Steven I’m not sure! I’m surprised it’s not in the US yet, we’ve got it in Australia.
Cheers,
Renai
Thanks, Renai. I suppose I’ll just have to wait :)
Robin mentioned in a comment to me on her Livejournal blog that the US edition comes out in January 2010.
I was just looking at buying The Dragon Keeper yesterday. I loved Hobb’s Ederlings saga and re-read them many times & once rated Robin Hobb as my favourite fantasy author. Yet Soldier Son trilogy was a big disappointment for me. From reading Dragon Keeper’s back cover I could see it was along the same vein as Soldier Son. So in the end, I hate to say it, but I bought something else as I didn’t want to waste my time. Robin Hobb – what’s happening?!
Re-reading Assassin’s Apprentice recently it was as gripping as ever. It is hard to know what’s going on with Hobb!
Just finished and although it’s only the first book, I wasn’t as taken with the characters as the Liveship series. There are two mysteries, though — what is the nature of Tarman (the mostly quiet liveship in the first book) and of course Kelsingra — which I assume is the abandoned city visited in the first set of books. That said, Hobb will probably surprise us in the next book…
Tarman is not really a ship, it’s a ‘barge’. The book mentions that Tarman has eyes, but there is no room for a figure-head or face on a barge. Tarman is able to communicate with his passengers, much like the way a liveship could without speaking or a dragon is able to do- by imprinting on minds the thoughts they wish to convey. Though this doesn’t happen throughout the book as it did in the Liveship series, The Rainwild Chronicles aren’t about the liveships, they’re about the search for Kelsingra (the memory of a utopia built by the elderlings centuries ago) and those embarking on the expedition. And the city wasn’t really “abandoned”, it was destroyed in a natural disaster along with its inhabitants.
If you feel this explanation is a spoiler; feel free to have it deleted. I highly doubt it will be read by the reader it was meant for :) cheers!
Gee, I LOVED “Dragon Keeper!”
I’ve read all of the author’s books and, while some themes appeal more to me, personally, I’ve never been disappointed. I’m very interested in Thymara and Alise and all the characters and have been marveling that the author always delights me. I was particularly struck by the introduction of Sedrick’s character (I won’t “spoil,” but I love the author’s willingness to explore less “conventional” realities..).
I only wish the book were longer… (However, my copy of “Dragon Haven” should arrive shortly.)
Thank goodness Robin Hobb doesn’t commit George R. R. Martin cruel procrastination sins!
Oh, and for those of us in the U.S.; I always order from Amazon U.K.
Margaret
My daughter saw Dragon Keeper on the shelf at Barnes and Noble today and wants to read it. She is 14, and up until now has read books from the Young Adult section- Warriors, Guardians of Gahoole. Would this book be appropriate, or are there “adult” themes in it?
Many thanks-
Amy
There are some adult moments in the book, as there are a few in the previous trilogies. Because I don’t know what you would find appropriate for your own teenage daughter, perhaps you would like to read them first, I highly recommend that you do. Before beginning The Rain Wild Chronicles (The Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven)- I think that you should start by reading The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy and The Tawny Man Trilogy, in this order. These are the first nine books, and so much happened in the previous stories that you, or your daughter- won’t know what is going on in The Dragon Keeper (if you haven’t read them, there is a lot that won’t make sense). They’re terrific books and I believe that the first book in the chronicles- Assassins Apprentice, would be more age appropriate anyway, as through most of the book the main character is between the ages of 11 and 15. Plus it is an excellent introduction and personally, I haven’t put them down since I started reading them! :)
Thanks for this review. I thought maybe it was just me thinking it wasn’t up to her previous work. I also did not enjoy The Soldiers Son Trilogy and was hoping for more from the return to the Rainwilds.
(Of course I will still buy the second one.)