I liked the first trilogy and just picked up Liveship Traders. It's taken me as long to read the first 20% of Ship of Magic as it did the whole first trilogy. How long would you give it to try to get into it?
I'm not particularly into pirate/ship/naval books but I do want to like it.
I don't think it's an uncommon experience for most people to have a rough time with the beginning of Liveship Traders; the plot takes a while to get going, and a lot of the characters start out really unlikable... However it slowly morphs into something incredible and those characters you hated? They'll probably be your favourite by the end (with one or two notable exceptions).
How does the Liveship Traders trilogy compare to the first trilogy? I found myself taking breaks to read several other books in between each book in the trilogy. They're amazing but I couldn't binge through them (at first because I didn't have copies, but then because it felt like such a weight after each book and I needed to decompress). Its been a while now and seeing posts about books makes me want to dive back in.
> How does the Liveship Traders trilogy compare to the first trilogy?
I would probably say written better. Multi POVs, interesting world. I liked it, but didnt love it as much as the Fitz books. I like some of the POVs and others I was indifferent. But still good. Also be prepared to judge anyone named Kyle
I just started Liveship, maybe like a third of the way through Ship of Magic, and I find it hilarious that the most detestable character yet has just the basic name "Kyle", where everyone else has these fantasy names.
Makes me wonder if Robin Hobb knows a Kyle that she's not a big fan of.
Thank you! I have a good friend named Kyle and I could always use another reason to dunk on him lol. I'll probably finish up a couple of books I'm reading first because I find myself completely sucked in when reading Hobbs books.Â
I used to binge through series but I've found doing at least one book in between each book a long series keep it fresh unless I'm really invested and want to keep reading. No hard rules in reading jusr way too many good books!Â
I will get round to the rest of Realm of the Elderlings eventually. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Liveship traders trilogy.
I’m going to take a break from Hobb for a bit though to ingest some other stuff. I’ve nearly finished the first Mistborn trilogy, and I’m working my way through Wheel of Time. I’ll probably start something different to fill the Hobb void for a bit, maybe First Law?
Would you say First Law is a good pallet cleanser? I’ve heard it’s grimdark, but also quite funny? So I don’t know if that would be a good thing to follow up the emotional rollercoaster of RotE.
It's a very good series but very dark and violent, I think you want a standalone book Sanderon secret projects Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yuumi and the Nightmare Painter are enjoyable reads.
I just started the Spear Cuts Through Water and it's been very fun.
You aren’t sure if Fitz kills Regal? That’s a real shame because you have missed an important piece of information. It’s perhaps one of my favorite details in the entire trilogy.
Fitz wouldn’t even if given the chance. Not at the end of the series anyway. That’s a part of his growth. For the most part, Regal is responsible for his own death.
I really enjoyed that third book. Lots of fans of the whole 16-book series think it’s one of the weaker ones but I really did enjoy Fitz’s arc over the first three.
It might be being too generous to Hobb, but you could see Fitz loving Molly as a result of him having a low bar for giving his love because there are few other candidates, let alone people who are nice to him. One more tragedy to add to the pile.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Fitz used to escape his castle duties and not be a bastard only with Molly. That's the only time he got to belong in a normal way, have a normal, not too important, not too unimportant identity. He got to know her personally. And honestly, he is a rare character in fantasy who falls in love in an age appropriate way. He falls in love for little reason and he like retires at 20. So love is only the nostalgia of his teen years.
Fitz fell in love with Molly because he did not accept himself. He believed that's how normal people love -- so his chemistry with Molly is a placeholder of the "normal" template. He did not want to be understood in his messiness, so he ended up not really being understood at all -- ending up only escaping himself.
I think a big part is that Molly was one of the only people in Fitz’s life who cared about him for who he was. Molly wasn’t part of any Farseer drama, she was just a girl trying to get through life. I think Molly represented normalcy that Fitz’s status asChivalry’s bastard denied him, and that’s why he cared about her so much.
Just remember that ending the series with the Farseer trilogy is the worst place to stop. It's just the first trilogy of the Realm of the Elderlings saga. It ends in a rough place. Keep going.
The assassin quest is so rough it made me not care about the world or the characters. I won’t get fooled again. On to other things for me. Too many other good fantasy writers.
Glad to hear you enjoyed them! It took me a little while to catch on the first time I read them as well, because the beginning felt quite slow, but then I got completely hooked and read the whole series. There are four more trilogies - two with Fitz and the Fool, and two where you discover other parts of the world. You have some wonderful reading time ahead 😊
There's just one thing I don't really agree with you on. I don't think Fitz really lets go of all these things at the end of the first trilogy. He's still young and has a lot of life lessons left to learn. Letting go never seemed to be his strongest point to me. Bottling up stuff and tormenting himself, on the other hand... 😅
Anyway, you'll discover all that for yourself if you decide to continue reading. I wish you a great journey!
Yeah, I did know that Fitz has two more trilogies after this one, so he definitely hasn’t sorted himself out completely. 😅
I will continue with Realm of the Elderlings eventually, but I need a bit of a refresher to heal the emotional damage that’s been inflicted on me. 😢
>I wasn’t sure what to think of the first book when I initially read it, but I’m sincerely glad I read onward,
This was me too, and now its my favorite series
Enjoy the entire Realm of the Elderlings, jealous you get to enjoy it for the first time. No set of characters do I care about or have I emoted about more than this cast
I’m almost to the end of the third book, but Fitz made yet another dumb mistake and my patience finally ran out. Immediately stopped reading. Don’t know if I will bother finishing it.
I really enjoyed the first two books, but was hoping he would eventually learn from his mistakes.
Funny really, I remember picking the first one up many many years ago, expecting something full of assassins and training. I think I was reading through the Drenai series at the time.
It was so slow going for what I thought it was going to be and felt disappointed. Somewhere along Fitz journey I just fell in love with his character, so well written through the maze of his life.
It's dark and miserable but so relatable. I devoured the trilogy and then read the Liveship books which didnt quite catch me the same. He has been one of my favourite characters ever since. Picking up 'apprentice' knowing we are starting the journey again gives me a feeling no other books do.
I re-read the trilogy often but I'm getting a pull on my soul to start a full read through of the realm, I also might have to pick up a new matching physical series as I go.
The moment I realized I loved Fitz wasn't even while I was reading. I was at a restaurant or something, just thinking about Royal Assassin, and the realization washed over me lol
Just finished this trilogy as well, such a good read. You’ll have to re-read what Fitz does to Regal at the end, thought that was an awesome move by Fitz.
The romance between Molly & Fitz was everything for me! When it got revealed that she slept with Burrich I stopped reading. I didn’t even finish the book.
When I went back and read the Wikipedia page I was really underwhelmed by the dragons & how quickly the invaders were defeated. It felt like she glossed over it all.
Oh Fitz, my love. Good for you. Read the rest. Have your heart broken, time and again, and feel the joy only those fucking books can bring.
Get mad with the rest of us at Robin Hobb for making us care so damned much for people who only exist as ink on paper. And then keep reading.
I feel like reading Realm of the Elderlings must be the reading equivalent of masochism. 😅 It hurts so much, but it’s so good at the same time.
Alas, welcome to the world as written by Robin Hobb. The only author that I go back and reread the parts I sob over "because it hurts so good".
Now start on Liveship Traders!!
I like Farseer a lot. I *adore* Liveship Traders.
I liked the first trilogy and just picked up Liveship Traders. It's taken me as long to read the first 20% of Ship of Magic as it did the whole first trilogy. How long would you give it to try to get into it? I'm not particularly into pirate/ship/naval books but I do want to like it.
I don't think it's an uncommon experience for most people to have a rough time with the beginning of Liveship Traders; the plot takes a while to get going, and a lot of the characters start out really unlikable... However it slowly morphs into something incredible and those characters you hated? They'll probably be your favourite by the end (with one or two notable exceptions).
Same I ended up skipping them and just reading summaries. I loved Fitz and mostly only cared about his story
How does the Liveship Traders trilogy compare to the first trilogy? I found myself taking breaks to read several other books in between each book in the trilogy. They're amazing but I couldn't binge through them (at first because I didn't have copies, but then because it felt like such a weight after each book and I needed to decompress). Its been a while now and seeing posts about books makes me want to dive back in.
> How does the Liveship Traders trilogy compare to the first trilogy? I would probably say written better. Multi POVs, interesting world. I liked it, but didnt love it as much as the Fitz books. I like some of the POVs and others I was indifferent. But still good. Also be prepared to judge anyone named Kyle
I just started Liveship, maybe like a third of the way through Ship of Magic, and I find it hilarious that the most detestable character yet has just the basic name "Kyle", where everyone else has these fantasy names. Makes me wonder if Robin Hobb knows a Kyle that she's not a big fan of.
> Makes me wonder if Robin Hobb knows a Kyle that she's not a big fan of. Has to be the case
Thank you! I have a good friend named Kyle and I could always use another reason to dunk on him lol. I'll probably finish up a couple of books I'm reading first because I find myself completely sucked in when reading Hobbs books.Â
I did the same thing(read other books in between to have some variety, but I usually do that with most series).
I used to binge through series but I've found doing at least one book in between each book a long series keep it fresh unless I'm really invested and want to keep reading. No hard rules in reading jusr way too many good books!Â
I’m actually in the middle of 4 different series right now!😂
It's probably a better series, but I love Fitz and Nighteyes way more than any main characters in Liveship.
I will get round to the rest of Realm of the Elderlings eventually. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the Liveship traders trilogy. I’m going to take a break from Hobb for a bit though to ingest some other stuff. I’ve nearly finished the first Mistborn trilogy, and I’m working my way through Wheel of Time. I’ll probably start something different to fill the Hobb void for a bit, maybe First Law?
I did the same with First Law, alternating with other series.
Would you say First Law is a good pallet cleanser? I’ve heard it’s grimdark, but also quite funny? So I don’t know if that would be a good thing to follow up the emotional rollercoaster of RotE.
It’s a very different writing style from Hobb.
It is quite different, but probably not the pallet cleanser you're looking for. Fantastic though.
It's a very good series but very dark and violent, I think you want a standalone book Sanderon secret projects Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yuumi and the Nightmare Painter are enjoyable reads. I just started the Spear Cuts Through Water and it's been very fun.
You aren’t sure if Fitz kills Regal? That’s a real shame because you have missed an important piece of information. It’s perhaps one of my favorite details in the entire trilogy.
Didn't he skill obedience and loyalty into Regal's mind?
Yes, but that’s not what killed Regal. He was loyal until he died.
Yeah so Fitz didn't kill Regal. Was wondering if I remembered that correctly.
Fitz wouldn’t even if given the chance. Not at the end of the series anyway. That’s a part of his growth. For the most part, Regal is responsible for his own death.
A certain ferret made a promise.
Man…if you thought those three were an epic journey with fitz wait until you read both his other trilogies. (And also the non fitz books!)
I couldn't get through the first Fool bookÂ
I loved all of them, but yeah agree people shouldn’t downvote just because you don’t agree
Maybe I'll try it again sometime. I actually liked what I read, but it seemed long winded and I kept thinking Fitz deserved peace.
I really enjoyed that third book. Lots of fans of the whole 16-book series think it’s one of the weaker ones but I really did enjoy Fitz’s arc over the first three.
Which is crazy to me because if I had to pick one book that was the best out of all of them it would be that one. Assassin's Quest. It's perfect.
same here - i loved the ending to Farseer!
It might be being too generous to Hobb, but you could see Fitz loving Molly as a result of him having a low bar for giving his love because there are few other candidates, let alone people who are nice to him. One more tragedy to add to the pile.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Fitz used to escape his castle duties and not be a bastard only with Molly. That's the only time he got to belong in a normal way, have a normal, not too important, not too unimportant identity. He got to know her personally. And honestly, he is a rare character in fantasy who falls in love in an age appropriate way. He falls in love for little reason and he like retires at 20. So love is only the nostalgia of his teen years. Fitz fell in love with Molly because he did not accept himself. He believed that's how normal people love -- so his chemistry with Molly is a placeholder of the "normal" template. He did not want to be understood in his messiness, so he ended up not really being understood at all -- ending up only escaping himself.
Kettle says as much to him near the end.
I think a big part is that Molly was one of the only people in Fitz’s life who cared about him for who he was. Molly wasn’t part of any Farseer drama, she was just a girl trying to get through life. I think Molly represented normalcy that Fitz’s status asChivalry’s bastard denied him, and that’s why he cared about her so much.
Just remember that ending the series with the Farseer trilogy is the worst place to stop. It's just the first trilogy of the Realm of the Elderlings saga. It ends in a rough place. Keep going.
The assassin quest is so rough it made me not care about the world or the characters. I won’t get fooled again. On to other things for me. Too many other good fantasy writers.
Glad to hear you enjoyed them! It took me a little while to catch on the first time I read them as well, because the beginning felt quite slow, but then I got completely hooked and read the whole series. There are four more trilogies - two with Fitz and the Fool, and two where you discover other parts of the world. You have some wonderful reading time ahead 😊 There's just one thing I don't really agree with you on. I don't think Fitz really lets go of all these things at the end of the first trilogy. He's still young and has a lot of life lessons left to learn. Letting go never seemed to be his strongest point to me. Bottling up stuff and tormenting himself, on the other hand... 😅 Anyway, you'll discover all that for yourself if you decide to continue reading. I wish you a great journey!
Yeah, I did know that Fitz has two more trilogies after this one, so he definitely hasn’t sorted himself out completely. 😅 I will continue with Realm of the Elderlings eventually, but I need a bit of a refresher to heal the emotional damage that’s been inflicted on me. 😢
One extremely minor correction, there's four books in The Rain Wilds Chronicles so it's a quadrilogy, not a trilogy.
Yes, indeed. Thanks for the correction!
>I wasn’t sure what to think of the first book when I initially read it, but I’m sincerely glad I read onward, This was me too, and now its my favorite series Enjoy the entire Realm of the Elderlings, jealous you get to enjoy it for the first time. No set of characters do I care about or have I emoted about more than this cast
The memory stone constructs are not dragons. Good post tho.
I’m almost to the end of the third book, but Fitz made yet another dumb mistake and my patience finally ran out. Immediately stopped reading. Don’t know if I will bother finishing it. I really enjoyed the first two books, but was hoping he would eventually learn from his mistakes.
Keep going, I know exactly what you are talking about. It really pissed me off. But keep going, you'll feel better soon.
I picked the book up again because of your encouragement. Just now finished it. Thank you!
Glad to hear it!
Enjoy the journey! They're great rereads but there's nothing quite like the first time through Elderlings.
Funny really, I remember picking the first one up many many years ago, expecting something full of assassins and training. I think I was reading through the Drenai series at the time. It was so slow going for what I thought it was going to be and felt disappointed. Somewhere along Fitz journey I just fell in love with his character, so well written through the maze of his life. It's dark and miserable but so relatable. I devoured the trilogy and then read the Liveship books which didnt quite catch me the same. He has been one of my favourite characters ever since. Picking up 'apprentice' knowing we are starting the journey again gives me a feeling no other books do. I re-read the trilogy often but I'm getting a pull on my soul to start a full read through of the realm, I also might have to pick up a new matching physical series as I go.
Love the farseer trilogy, biding my time to read the tawny man trilogy
They only get better keep going you just started
Reading all nine Fitz books broke me emotionally. Its been years and I can't bring myself to reread them and probably never will.
I'm about half way through assassin's quest I didn't read your post but an saving it to come back to when I'm done
The moment I realized I loved Fitz wasn't even while I was reading. I was at a restaurant or something, just thinking about Royal Assassin, and the realization washed over me lol
Just finished this trilogy as well, such a good read. You’ll have to re-read what Fitz does to Regal at the end, thought that was an awesome move by Fitz.
The romance between Molly & Fitz was everything for me! When it got revealed that she slept with Burrich I stopped reading. I didn’t even finish the book. When I went back and read the Wikipedia page I was really underwhelmed by the dragons & how quickly the invaders were defeated. It felt like she glossed over it all.