Spoiler warning: This review contains some mild background on Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series, although it does not contain spoilers for Dragon Haven. If you haven’t read Hobb’s previous works in this series, you probably shouldn’t be reading Dragon Haven or this review.

With Dragon Haven, fantasy master Robin Hobb has begun to rekindle some of the magic that had left her most recent works, particularly the Soldier Son trilogy. The book represents a satisfying conclusion to the two book series –The Rain Wild Chronicles — Hobb has penned as a follow-up to her extended nine book saga The Realm of the Elderlings, while still leaving room for future works in that world.

What a seasoned Hobb fan will most note about Dragon Haven is that it contains a great deal of the subtle plot and character creation and gradual world revelation that Hobb had perfected in her Elderlings saga. There is a wonderful undercurrent of ideas and emotions swirling through Hobb’s prose that constantly leaves the reader both guessing and angsty that her characters don’t know the full picture and haven’t worked through their internal turmoil.

But the book doesn’t have the same kind of drawn-out pacing that plagued the Soldier Son trilogy. Instead, I found it a pleasure to read.

I came down pretty hard on Hobb after I finished The Dragon Keeper, the first book in The Rain Wild Chronicles. And now I have to admit Hobb has taken any criticism from myself and others she read on board, and created a book in Dragon Haven that her fans will simply love.

Like The Dragon Keeper, the plot of Dragon Haven 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.

In The Dragon Keeper, dragons had returned to the world, but in a stunted and degraded form — they could no fly, and some appeared witless and bestial. In short, they were far from the magical and all-powerful beings of legend.

With the dragons becoming a danger to the humans who tend them and live nearby, the logical next step was to move them upriver to a more appropriate setting; a glorious ancient city the dragons themselves dream of: the fabled Kelsingra. Half of this journey was completed in the first book.

Dragon Haven is in many ways a story of being on the road. Like many novelists, Hobb uses the plot device of her characters travelling through various hardships as a method to force them to grow and develop.

In both the dragons’ and the humans’ cases, the journey is both physical, in the sense that as the book wears on, they endure various hardships and traverse much terrain, and internal, in that these external trials serve as mirrors which force the characters to look into themselves and find who they really are.

For the dragons, this means both becoming physically larger and stronger, while also re-learning and remembering much of their power and their glory. For the humans, the struggle is often tied up in their sexuality. For Rain Wilder Thymara, it’s getting past the idea that her physical defects don’t mean she can’t have a relationship or potentially even bear children. For Bingtown wife and dragon scholar Alise, it means dealing with the reality of her marriage and potential future happiness.

And for poor Sedric, it means coming to a dreadful understanding of what his own relationship with Alise’s husband has truly been about.

Like other ‘road’ books, the eventual fate of Hobb’s individual characters, and indeed the entire expedition, is unclear. Kelsingra was abandoned long ago and may not even exist any more. When you add the constant grinding labour involved in even surviving the Rain Wilds, let alone travelling through them, to internal plots within the expedition and even the dangers of sharing the journey with a bunch of unpredictable dragons, it’s hard throughout Dragon Haven to know where the characters and the book will end up.

But I will say this — the eventual ending of the book is satisfying and worth reaching. Although it leaves room for a continuation of the story — particularly with relation to the potential future revelation of more details about Hobb’s world — it does not leave too much hanging.

All of Hobb’s strengths as a fantasy writer are found in Dragon Haven. Complex, realistic, multi-faceted characters who change and grow. A plot that deceives you into thinking you can foretell its changes in direction — and then twists things around on you. Subtle writing that leaves barely traceable hints of information that you really want to know.

And most of all, lurking beneath the surface of everything Hobb does in Dragon Haven, is the gradual, almost scientific revelation of the secrets of the dragons, their magic, and what it all could mean for the future of the whole world.

If you were disappointed by the Soldier Son trilogy and even by somewhat lacklustre first book in the Rain Wild Chronicles series, The Dragon Keeper, don’t lose your faith in their author just yet.

Robin Hobb is back in form. And with Dragon Haven she’s cutting up the fantasy scene once again. I can’t wait to see what she’s got in store for us next.

Obsessive hobbies such as video games can kill the ability of a writer to produce their books because they’re so addictive, fantasy master Robin Hobb has warned in a new interview.

The author is one of fantasy’s most beloved writers, due primarily to her nine-book Realm of the Elderlings Saga commenced with Assassin’s Apprentice. Hobb is the pen name of the author, who has also written other fantasy books under the pseudonym Megan Lindholm, which is derived from her real name Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden.

But, in an interview with gaming blog Grinding to Valhalla, Hobb said her novels might never have appeared if she had gotten into gaming:

“I think that early on I realized that gaming, online worlds and even the Internet connection presented a very real danger to me as a writer! Seriously. I can handle one obsession at a time, and writing is a career where the obsessive parts of it are actually very helpful to me.

Online gaming presents a very strong lure to me. After a couple of very small trials, I realized that it would be an ‘all or nothing’ occupation for me. And I do mean an ‘occupation’ as in something that would occupy all my life and time.”

Her children have played and do play video games, Hobb says, but she stays away.

Online bookseller Amazon recently made Hobb’s next book Dragon Haven available for pre-order. It is expected to ship in May 2010.

The book is the next in Hobb’s series The Rain Wild Chronicles, which follows on from her Liveship Traders series (itself a part of her larger Realm of the Elderlings saga that was initiated with Assassin’s Apprentice).

Commentary
There is no doubt that Robin Hobb is right! Anyone who has played addictive games like World of Warcraft or Diablo II will testify as to the amount of time they can take away from your life.

From what I’ve seen as a critic and journalist, good writers are obsessive about their work, and rightly so. Writing is an art form, and you need all your concentration to keep it at the sort of level that Robin Hobb writes at (that would be the highest level).

Robin Hobb

In a blog post today, fantasy master Robin Hobb mused about some rather odd potential sources of inspiration – including writing about a character getting breast implants.

Most of the author’s works are set in fantastic, mostly medieval worlds where modern surgery — including complicated cosmetic surgery — does not exist.

But, the author wrote on her LiveJournal, in an attempt to explain where writers get inspiration, that she had discussed the topic of “naked barista” coffee kiosks with a retail assistant during a shopping expedition:

“Well, the girls aren’t really naked, but they wear skimpy bikinis or outfits that are semi-fetish . . . the lowcut, too short nurse uniform, the naughty school girl look . . . you get it.  Anyway, she told me about the one girl there who hadn’t had her breasts ‘done’ and how all the other women who worked there were urging her to get implants so she could get more tips.  ‘I told her, don’t you do that!  You just be happy being natural with what God gave you.’”

As she drove home, Hobb added, she mused that if she were writing about a character getting a ‘boob job’, getting more tips as a coffee barista would be an unlikely motive to come up with.

“Then I wondered exactly how much jiggly jugs would yield in tips,” she added. “Could it possibly make economic sense?  How many months would that woman have to work before the extra tips equalled or surpassed the cost of the plastic surgery?”

Robin Hobb’s UK publisher has revealed the cover art for the fantasy author’s next book in The Rain Wild Chronicles series. Entitled Dragon Haven, it is slated to be published in March 2010 (via Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist).

The publisher’s web site gives the following blurb for the book:

Return to the world of the Liveships Traders and journey along the Rain Wild River in the second instalment of high adventure from the author of the internationally acclaimed Farseer trilogy.

The motley band of deformed dragons and Rain Wilders continue their journey upriver towards the ancient city of Kelsingra – if it even exists – but whilst the humans are becoming used to, and more adept at controlling their dragon charges, they are completely unprepared for the discovery that the dragons are irrevocably changing them the closer they become…

The Dragon Keeper debuted this year to somewhat mixed reviews from critics disappointed by Hobb’s percieved lack of form compared with her previously fantasy epics spanning nine books in the Realm of the Elderlings series begun with Assassin’s Apprentice, which is still one of the best-selling fantasy books on Amazon.com, and was recently made available online for free for a limited time.

Keeping the Door wrote about The Dragon Keeper that while the book was a solid accomplishment, it was 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.

Elitist Book Reviews went much further in a scathing review of The Dragon Keeper published only last week, with reviewer Steve describing the book as quite possibly the worst novel he had read in 2009:

Don’t read this novel. Ever. It doesn’t matter if you are a Hobb enthusiast. The book is awful. It’s bad enough that we read it. Our worry now is that the next book we read will incorrectly seem amazing when compared to this one. Be glad this book isn’t available in the US for several months yet.

Commentary
There’s no doubt that I’m going to rush out and buy Dragon Haven as soon as it’s released. It’s Robin Hobb, after all! Hobb has pretty much earned a space in my credit card statement for as long as we both shall live. Whenever I mention fantasy literature and “masterpiece” in the same sentence, Hobb’s name is never far from my lips.

However, there is no doubt that the author is facing a few disgruntled fans at the moment. Her Soldier’s Son trilogy, which was not set in the world she created in the nine-book Realm of the Elderlings saga, is commonly spoken of amongst the fans I speak to as being below par compared to Hobb’s previous work, although it’s still worth reading.

I’ve been reading Assassin’s Apprentice on my iPhone recently as an e-book, and it’s safe to say the book still pulls me in so fast I don’t even realise it’s been several hours since I looked up. In my opinion, after reading some of this older work, Hobb has slipped a little recently.

I just hope the author and her editors are paying attention to the reviews, and realise that none of her readers are pressuring her to get Dragon Haven out any time soon. Quality, not quantity, is what matters when it comes to fantasy literature.

For the next two days only you can legally download electronic copies of popular sci-fi and fantasy books such as Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Apprentice and Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars.

Random House sub-site Suvudu has been offering these titles, along with His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik, Settling Accounts: Return Engagement by Harry Turtledove and Blood Engines by T.A. Pratt for the past few months as a once-only promotion.

However it will end on August 18, so you had better be quick if you want copies. Keeping the Door thanks the generous folks at Suvudu for the copy of His Majesty’s Dragon we downloaded; we haven’t read it yet but plan to read it on our iPhone.

But don’t worry too much if you miss out; there are still a stack of other free e-books up, some from quite famous authors such as Stephen Baxter, whose book Manifold Time is available, Terry Brooks, who has Magic Kingdom for Sale — Sold! up and Michael Moorcock, who has Elric: The Stealer of Souls available.

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.