Review: Fool's Quest

Book two of the Fitz and the Fool trilogy
By Robin Hobb
Available now from Del Rey (Penguin Random House)
Review copy
Read more reviews of Robin Hobb novels

When Robin Hobb has a new trilogy coming out, I always get excited when it is time to buy the new book.  You can double that when it is a book about Fitz.  (This is the eighth book starring Fitz and the fifteenth set in this world.)  FOOL'S ASSASSIN, the first book in this new trilogy, made some choices I wasn't so sure about.  I'm still not sure about some of them - the new narrator speaks much less in FOOL'S QUEST and I'm not sure her separate point of view is actually needed.  Others are swiftly corrected, teaching me to trust again that Hobb has a plan.

FOOL'S QUEST ends with our heroes once more in peril, so I know I'll be on tenterhooks for the third and final book in the trilogy.  Those who were worried about the characters at the end of book one can look forward to long, soothing passages of recovery.  (Well, recovery for some characters anyway ...)  There's also some delicious, long-awaited vindication.  There were so many moments in FOOL'S QUEST that I've been waiting for as a fan of these characters.

And then Fitz does something else to prove he's too stubborn to learn easy.

As a fan, I continue to think that this trilogy is a delight.  I'm not sure it has much to offer newcomers, because it is more uneven than the previous two trilogies and generally expects the reader to be familiar with a large number of events and characters.  But seriously, it's worth starting at the beginning and working through these bricks.

Review: Fool's Assassin

Book one of the Fitz and the Fool trilogy
By Robin Hobb
Available now from Del Rey (Penguin Random House)
Review copy

I love the way Robin Hobb writes.  I dived right into FOOL'S ASSASSIN, devouring it in a single Saturday.  I was so happy to spend more time with Fitz, to see his continued happiness with Molly and contentment with life.  Returning to this character and setting was like a reunion with old friends, even though I knew bad things would have to happen in order to set a new trilogy in motion.  But once I finished FOOL'S ASSASSIN, I had to face the facts.  I might've enjoyed it, but it was a terrible book.

The pacing is super slow.  The opening tells of a messenger who is murdered before she can deliver her message, with Fitz ominously intoning that it would be years before he understood that it was the Fool trying to reach him.  The book then proceeds to detail the decade plus before Fitz gets the message, and then spend some more time detailing quotidian stuff while Fitz dithers.  I'm used to Hobb's books being filled with action and adventure followed by a long denouement, not this long build up.  Nothing really happens.  Even worse, nothing unpredictable happens.  I put together every twists approximately 500 pages before Fitz did.  Not good when Fitz is supposed to be clever.

FOOL'S ASSASSIN introduces several new characters, including a new narrator, Bee.  Her voice was distinct from Fitz's, and it was easy to tell their chapters apart even though they weren't labeled.  I liked several of the other new characters too, more fool me since something like 90% of them were dead by the end of the novel.  Before the ending, I at least hoped all of the elements being built up (including the new characters) were going somewhere.

If you are a fan of the Farseer and the Tawny Man trilogies, I do recommend FOOL'S ASSASSIN.  The Six Duchies world is as immersive as ever, and there is the promise of trouble on the horizon.  It seems that peacetime will end soon for Fitz and his country.  If you aren't familiar with the previous novels featuring Fitz and the Fool, then I don't recommend starting here.  FOOL'S ASSASSIN is too meandering to appeal to anyone but fans.

(And despite the title, you should be prepared for the Fool to take a very long time to show up.)

Review: Blood of Dragons

Book Four of the Rain Wilds Chronicles
By Robin Hobb
Available now from Harper Voyager (HarperCollins)
Review copy

Robin Hobb is one of my favorite fantasy authors.  Her worlds are so fully realized and she makes me emphasize with the characters so much, even when they're being petty or foolish or just plain stupid.  BLOOD OF DRAGONS brings the Rain Wilds Chronicles to a fabulous close.

Hobb has a tendency to end her series with long denouements.   That does not happen in BLOOD OF DRAGONS, and I kind of missed it.  I especially could have done with a longer ending to Selden Vestrit's story, post-gigantic dragon battle.  And honestly, the gigantic dragon battle was a bit anticlimactic.  That's not surprising, because humans versus multiple dragons is not a real battle.

Sedric and Alise's stories mostly came to a close in CITY OF DRAGONS, but Hest - Alise's husband - shows up for that final bit of closure.  It's not as dramatic as it could be, and unfortunately leads to spending time in Hest's slimy head.  More time is spent on the conclusion of the Thymara, Tats, and Rapskal love triangle.  It comes to the inevitable after much rehashing of what's been going on since the first book.  But I love that Thymara's stayed firm about making her own choice in her own time and that she doesn't have to pick either guy.

This may sound like I didn't like the book, but I blazed through it.  I couldn't wait to find out how everything ended, and who would make it out okay.  I liked that BLOOD OF DRAGONS also settled several questions about how the humans and dragons would live together.  Hobb has done a wonderful job of showing that the dragons aren't humans in any way, shape, or form, but that they have been affected by their keeper's humanity.

I would not read BLOOD OF DRAGONS without reading the first three books first.  And while the quartet can stand on its own, I'd at least read the Liveship Traders trilogy first for background on Bingtown, the Rain Wilds, and Chalced.  And better yet, start with the Farseer Trilogy, then the Liveship Traders trilogy, then the Tawny Man trilogy before embarking on the Rain Wilds Chronicles.  These four can stand alone together, but they're so much better with the full depth of Hobb's worldbuilding.  I am fully satisfied by her latest series and eager to read whatever she writes next.

Bad Book Covers

I receive several e-mails a week from different sites wanting me to feature something on my blog. Appoximately 99% of those e-mails clearly come from spanners who have no idea that a blog called In Bed With Books is about books.

OnlineCollege.org maintains a blog about a variety of topics designed to interest college students. Doesn't really line up with IBWB, but the article I received an e-mail about does fit my interests: 25 Worst Book Covers of All Time.  I'm impressed by the variety of genres covered, though most of the books are pulpy SF.  It's so easy to make fun of pulpy SF covers.

But I'm always interested in cover conversations.  After all, different people have different tastes.  Although some cover art is brilliant or awful no matter what.

Judge a Book by Its Cover is a hilarious blog by a former librarian Maughta (and a few others). If you think you know hideous book covers, wait to be astouded by the depths of awful she and her compatriarts have illuminated.

The famous Smart Bitches, Trashy Books blog frequently features awful romance covers.  (Cheesy romance covers come close to being as bad as pulpy SF covers.)

The super interesting Jacket Whys is another librarian blog.  She examines trends in children's and young adult book covers, whether they be good or bad. She also compares different editions of a book to track which covers work best.

I can't think of a cover I truly hate off the top of my head, but I love this one for Golden Fool by Robin Hobb.



It's detailed, beautifully colored, and the image directly relates to the contents of the book.  Plus, it shows a little skin without being faux sexy or impossible to carry on the bus without embarrassment.

Oh wait, I thought of a bad cover.



So, what covers do you hate or love?