The Farseer Trilogy

[metaldragon]

Does it get better?

 

Book 1 was fine but im 1/2 way through book 2 and it feels like a romance novel much more so than a epic fantasy series.

 

I actually read "an ember in the ashes" a few weeks ago and it had less romance than the 1st half of this book. It feels like the romance is overshadowing the rest of the story.

 

This is an epic 12 book series I just need to know if the romance takes a back seat later on and we can get more into the world and figuring out whats going on in the world.

 

 

[Voidus]

The third book completely blew it for me, it's one of the only series that I haven't re-read after finishing.

[metaldragon]

I'm honestly thinking of stopping after book 2 and just getting to the powder mage trilogy.

[Briar King]

Hmm I thought bk 2 was the best of the 6 Fitz I've read. Bk 3 had me struggling for 1st half but it finishes strong. Bk 4-6 are much more Fantasyish but 2 is important for the whole series

[Zea mays]

Personally I love the Fitz and Fool books, but it did take me a long time to warm up to them. I would recommend at least finnishing the first trilogy. Things get very epic there at the (bittersweet) end. You owe it to nighteyes (you've met him by now, no?). Also, Royal Assassin ends on a bit of a cliff- hanger.

The next trilogy, The Liveship Traders, I did not care for as much. You could skip it and go right ahead to the Tawney Man trilogy, though itvis still worth reading.I read those "trilogies" in close succession so they melded into one long book in my mind.

I for one cannot wait for Fool's Quest to come out next month.

[Briar King]

Yep I read Fitz 6 back to back skipping Live Ship. Seriously bk 2 has lingering effects for the entire series. I loved that bk so much.

[PeterAhlstrom]

Liveship is my favorite Robin Hobb by far. The third-person multiple-character-POVs just gives it a more epic feel, and the character growth in some of the characters was amazing to me. A certain whiny brat who I at first hated turned into one of my favorite characters in the trilogy.

 

Now, what I remember of the second book of Farseer is that it is seriously, seriously depressing! If there is romance in the first part, you must not yet have gotten to the part where everything sucks for Fitz. And everything is going to suck for Fitz, especially in the romance department, for a lot of books after that (though it eventually resolves

end of book 6

). So if the happy happy romance is grating on you now, don't worry, you'll probably like the part that gets depressing.

 

I actually do highly recommend that you just keep reading. There is some worldbuilding retconning that happens in the third book, but overall the entire series is some of the best fantasy I've ever read. However, a big part of it is the Orson Scott Card writing method, "Find the thing that will hurt your character the most, and do that to them." Be prepared.

Edited July 14, 2015 by PeterAhlstrom

[Yados]

This is a great series but it's never not going to be about love, betrayal, and heart wrenching sacrifice. Part of that is romance, but it's also the base code of the series. 

 

Depending on why you don't like the romance, you might not want to continue. It's always going to be the kind of series that is going to be like that even if it's not actively doing that.

 

It's really great, though. 

[metaldragon]

Liveship is my favorite Robin Hobb by far. The third-person multiple-character-POVs just gives it a more epic feel, and the character growth in some of the characters was amazing to me. A certain whiny brat who I at first hated turned into one of my favorite characters in the trilogy.

 

Now, what I remember of the second book of Farseer is that it is seriously, seriously depressing! If there is romance in the first part, you must not yet have gotten to the part where everything sucks for Fitz. And everything is going to suck for Fitz, especially in the romance department, for a lot of books after that (though it eventually resolves

end of book 6

). So if the happy happy romance is grating on you now, don't worry, you'll probably like the part that gets depressing.

 

I actually do highly recommend that you just keep reading. There is some worldbuilding retconning that happens in the third book, but overall the entire series is some of the best fantasy I've ever read. However, a big part of it is the Orson Scott Card writing method, "Find the thing that will hurt your character the most, and do that to them." Be prepared.

 

Thank you!

 

So I'm about done with book 2 and going to pick up 3.  How important is the live ship trilogy to the overall story?

I do find the story growing on me even though alot of the major twist so far have been pretty predictable (a reason i love brandons works...keeps me on my toes).

If I could make it through wheel of time....than this should be np.

 

Though I thinking of getting to the powder mage trilogy asap at some point. 

[maxal]

Liveship is my favorite Robin Hobb by far. The third-person multiple-character-POVs just gives it a more epic feel, and the character growth in some of the characters was amazing to me. A certain whiny brat who I at first hated turned into one of my favorite characters in the trilogy.

 

Yes. That. I felt the same as well. I hated this very same whiny spoiled character in the beginning only to start rooting for it (sorry for English people here, I have no idea when it is OK to use word "it" and when it isn't. We don't have "it" in French. I had no idea which pronoun to use in my sentence and "it" made the most sense as the word "character" does not have a gender, well it does, word "character" is masculine, but the English language does attribute gender to objects) by the end of the story.

 

Apart from this, I am surprised to see so little love of Fitz over here... Robin Hobb's work are typically well loved and appreciated in the fantasy community. She sure likes to make her characters suffer and her endings are not the most satisfying (they tend to be bitter-sweet), but the journey itself is worth it. I have read all of her books and enjoyed them all, except perhaps Soldier's Son which was way too depressing... I was pregnant with my son then and I nearly turned suicidal after reading it  To read on a bright sunny day 

[Pestis the Spider]

(sorry for English people here, I have no idea when it is OK to use word "it" and when it isn't. We don't have "it" in French. I had no idea which pronoun to use in my sentence and "it" made the most sense as the word "character" does not have a gender, well it does, word "character" is masculine, but the English language does attribute gender to objects)

Sorry, for off-top, but I'm also not English native speaker, so I would be grateful if someone could clarify this for me as well.

But as for the question I believe that you shouldn't call 'character' 'it' since it's not an object, but a person. I think you should use 'he', 'she' or (if you don't want to reveal the gender of t he particular character) 'they'. But I might be totally wrong.

As for the topic: I'm a great fan of Hobb's books about Fitz. They're maybe not the epic type of fantasy we love Sanderson for, but they are brilliant books still. They really remind me of some older Polish fantasy books which had similar feel. I'm planning her new trilogy as soon as possible, when I'm done with the books I'm currently reading.

EDIT: Tried to correct the mistakes my phone put in this comment.

Edited July 19, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[maxal]

Sorry, for off-top, but I'm also not English native speaker, so I would be grateful if someone could clarify this for me as well.

But as for the question I believe that you shouldn't call 'character' 'it' since it's not an object, but a person. I think you should use 'he', 'she' or (if you don't want to reveal the gender of t he particular character) 'they'. But I might be totally wrong.

 

 

But "they" is plural and we are talking about one character, not many... Character is an undefined person, it can have both gender, but in French words have a gender, so it is easy to just say "he".

 

I hate word "it". English people think it offensive when badly used, but I have so little feelings as to when it is alright and when it isn't... For a dog, do I say "it" or do I use the gender of the dog if known? 

[Bort]

Yes. That. I felt the same as well. I hated this very same whiny spoiled character in the beginning only to start rooting for it (sorry for English people here, I have no idea when it is OK to use word "it" and when it isn't. We don't have "it" in French. I had no idea which pronoun to use in my sentence and "it" made the most sense as the word "character" does not have a gender, well it does, word "character" is masculine, but the English language does attribute gender to objects) by the end of the story.

 

Apart from this, I am surprised to see so little love of Fitz over here... Robin Hobb's work are typically well loved and appreciated in the fantasy community. She sure likes to make her characters suffer and her endings are not the most satisfying (they tend to be bitter-sweet), but the journey itself is worth it. I have read all of her books and enjoyed them all, except perhaps Soldier's Son which was way too depressing... I was pregnant with my son then and I nearly turned suicidal after reading it  To read on a bright sunny day 

 

Soldier's Son and its sequels were terrible, I thought.

 

As a total contrast though, all of her Farseer books have been great. I'm not entirely sure who this whiny person is in the Liveship books that grew on you. I can think of a few like that.

 

As for your English and the use of the word 'it'. If you are unsure on a gender, or want to keep it to yourself, you should refer to the person you are speaking about as 'them' (as in "I'm not sure if they are male or female" - even applies when talking about a single person). Same goes for pets, cats, dogs, etc. Or, if you know the gender of a dog, use that instead.

[navybrandt]

The third book was better for me than the first two. It answers questions and ties up loose ends.

And Fitz isn't such a wimp anymore. Let's see... I'm an assassin and can talk to animals, so I could kill Regal in any number of ways. Yet I just let him bring his evil plans to fruition at the detriment to all I love and the entire kingdom I'm sworn to protect? Finally, in book 3 he takes action - or at least tries.

I'm trying the Liveship books next per a recommendation from Peter. Sure there's romance in the books but for me it's a fantasy first. I struggle with romance books that just happen to take place in a fantasy setting - which this isn't.

[Left]

The third book was better for me than the first two. It answers questions and ties up loose ends.

And Fitz isn't such a wimp anymore. Let's see... I'm an assassin and can talk to animals, so I could kill Regal in any number of ways. Yet I just let him bring his evil plans to fruition at the detriment to all I love and the entire kingdom I'm sworn to protect? Finally, in book 3 he takes action - or at least tries.

Now that's what I needed to hear! I hated book two so much for just those reasons plus others. I've put off reading book three since I mired through the second book two(?) years ago, but if stuff actually happens....well I might be willing to finish the trilogy.

[Briar King]

This is honestly the 1st time I've read about people not liking bk 2 that much. It's amusing me lol. If yall get to the 2nd set of Fitz books yall will see that 2 set the stage for the overall story. This thread has me itching to go to Amazon to but Fitz 7. Ugh must refrain ATM but it's so hard.

[Bort]

Fitz 7 (Fool's Assassin) was shocking. That is all I'm going to say because I don't want to spoil it. If you must refrain from visiting Amazon for it, perhaps your local library?

[Hood]

Book 2 is my favourite book in the Farseer Trilogy. The problem with book 3 is that, for most of the book, its just Fitz going around from one place to another. I don't know if it counts as a spoiler or not.

 

Though, things do get better in the Tawny man trilogy.

 

By the way, I am more excited about the Fitz and Fool book 2. It is releasing on 11/8 (11th August), isn't it ?

[Orlion Blight]

Book 2 is my favourite book in the Farseer Trilogy. The problem with book 3 is that, for most of the book, its just Fitz going around from one place to another. I don't know if it counts as a spoiler or not.

 

Though, things do get better in the Tawny man trilogy.

 

By the way, I am more excited about the Fitz and Fool book 2. It is releasing on 11/8 (11th August), isn't it ?

 

Yeah, that third book was kinda a drag for a bit... once things happened, though, it was pretty good! I was actually reading it during a chemistry experiment when the experiment exploded... kinda covered the pages I was reading in ashes. I got my friend a new copy to replace it and still have it to this day... hopefully one day I'll get Robin Hobb to sign it

[Briar King]

Yep for me the 1st 1/2 of bk 3 was just boring and slow. I hated it. Then it hits a huge take off point till ending.

[Shrike76]

It's been so long since I read it that I don't remember the specifics of why, but I had the same reaction as many above. I loved book 1, book 2 was excellent, and book 3 made me never pick up another of her books.

[Hood]

Yep for me the 1st 1/2 of bk 3 was just boring and slow. I hated it. Then it hits a huge take off point till ending.

 

The same thing is for Fool's Assassin. I mean, in first 300 or so pages, nothing happens which accelerates the story. 100 pages for such a thing is nice, 200 is OK if your writing is awesome (like the siege of Y'Ghatan in The Bonehunters), but 300 is way too much. I wonder why authors do this ?