Robin Hobb **** POSSIBLE SPOILER****

[burgs]

Hey guys,

I finally got around to reading The Tawny Man trilogy. I read The Liveship Traders quite a while ago, and frankly don't remember much of it. Does anyoone know if there was a character, peripheral or otherwise, named Amber? That's all I want to know. I haven't finished The Tawny Man.

If so, off the top of your head, where did she come in? I want to find those passages.

Thanks.
TRB

"The other 'R'".

(Just kidding. Totally. Please.)

[duchess of malfi]

Yes, there was a character named Amber, but it's been awhile, so I cannot cite specific page numbers or scenes.

Amber lived in Bingtown, and was the person who recarved the figurehead for the mad ship

Spoiler

to look just like a young Fitz!

. She had a store, and was an artist. I seem to rememebr her being in the second and third book more than the first?

Sorry I cannot be more helpful than that.

[burgs]

Spoiler

I don't remember it being recarved as Fitz at the time, but I know that it was now. I want to back and reread those books now...sheds completely new light on the Fool.

[Waddley]

Spoiler

Amber was the Fool. There is now discussion on Hobb boards of whether or not the Fools is male of female. Hobb has said herself that she doesn't know. Then again, maybe you knew that.

As I recal, Amber had a lot to do with Paragon. But... it's been a really long time since I read them, so I could be off...

[burgs]

Spoiler

I'm only halfway through the second book, and just read the passage where the Fool admitted his love for Fitz. Which raised my interest in Amber, of course. Jek asked about Paragon, so yeah...

It wasn't terribly surprising to me given the Fool's overall behavior towards Fitz.

I thought Hobb handled it well. Homosexuality hasn't received great treatment in the fantasy/sci fi genre (I know there are exceptions), so if this was an expression of such, kudos to her. It's at least an expression of something that's not entirely heterosexual. I think.

I never finished the Liveship Traders. It seemed to me that RH was getting a bit RJ-ish, slowing down the action by drawing out dialogue and scene/sceneryclothing descriptions. It feels like she's doing that again here. Don't get me wrong, she's not as plodding as RJ (I feel a bit guilty being criticial of him right ow), but I wish she'd pick up the pace.

Still, she's a terrific writer. It's amazing how quickly she can churn these books out and have them be as good (well written) as they are.

[Trapper]

I've only read the Farseer Trilogy of her books. I absolutely loved it. Every aspect.

I'd like to hear any comments on whether her following books are even close to that quality. Should I grab them wherever I see them?

burgs has pretty much voiced the concern that I have. I'm not overly concerned about a slow pace to the books, rather whether the overall story would engage me as much of that of FitzChivalry in the First Trilogy. 'Cause like I said I thought the Farseer trilogy was... magnificent.

It is quite unusual that in her second series she has kept the same World but gone with different Characters.

Did she succeed in this ambitious plan?

If she didn't, I'd rather not diminish my view of her first trilogy by reading lesser works.

[danlo]

Haven't read Hobb yet, though duchy's has recommended I do. I do see that members of her site say very nice things about SRD so that's a definate plus.

[burgs]

GRRM liked The Liveship Traders better than The Farseer Trilogy. I clearly didn't. That said, I did not dislike it. Her creativity is humbling. But I think that she plods...even in the Farseer books.

Are the others worth reading? Absolutely...if only to give money to her and not Terry Goodkind. I still haven't figured out his fan base. I'm not sure they exist. It might be like the Dianetics scam of the 80s when we found out that Christian Scientist's were buying paper back copies of Dianetics to keep it in the top 10. Hysterical.

But they are worth it on merit. Again...she has a keen eye for detail, though not as frustrating as Jordan.

[Trapper]

Thanks for the tip burgs.

Sounds to me like the later books are worth it, and I'll give them a go .

I'm just finishing the 4th book in Jordan's "Wheel of Time".
It does plod along sometimes like you say. He's no SRD, but it passes the time.

I haven't read any Terry Goodkind.

I'm re-discovering Fantasy after I read the Farseer Trilogy. Again, I absolutely loved that. I just picked it up when I was bored and asked my house-mate if I could have a look at his bookshelf...

I'm so happy I did.

[burgs]

Where is her BB, by the way?

[duchess of malfi]

I have yet to read the third trilogy (though it is in my TBR stack), but had a bit of trouble initially getting into Liveship. It started out a bit slowly, and while the charcters were well drawn, I simply didn't like any of them (at all). But Hobb has a way of putting her characters through the wringer in a way only SRD and GRRM do...she tortures them and torments them, and as a result I actually came to admire some of the characters in Liveship quite a bit. Perhaps not like them, but I did come to respect them.

In addition, she has one of the most interesting villains I have ever run into in this series. A guy who is a true rotter, but whom is seen as a great guy and great hero by everyone around him. Really makes you think, since he actually does a lot of good stuff and improves the lives of a lot of people - and all for the most selfish of reasons. Fascinating.

[Trapper]

I have yet to read the third trilogy (though it is in my TBR stack), but had a bit of trouble initially getting into Liveship. It started out a bit slowly, and while the charcters were well drawn, I simply didn't like any of them (at all). But Hobb has a way of putting her characters through the wringer in a way only SRD and GRRM do...she tortures them and torments them, and as a result I actually came to admire some of the characters in Liveship quite a bit. Perhaps not like them, but I did come to respect them.

In addition, she has one of the most interesting villains I have ever run into in this series. A guy who is a true rotter, but whom is seen as a great guy and great hero by everyone around him. Really makes you think, since he actually does a lot of good stuff and improves the lives of a lot of people - and all for the most selfish of reasons. Fascinating.

I had a bit of trouble getting into the Farseer trilogy, but I was bored at the time. For some reason the thing that convinced me was when Fitz went to bed without being sure if the ocean could be seen from his new bedroom's window. Then that was cleared up and he could. I saw that as attention to detail, and I didn't see anything in the rest of the Farseer Trilogy that went against that.

As burgs said, Hobbs is capable of dawdling.

But if a question is raised you get an answer.

I tried to find Hobb at a local 2nd-hand bookshop today but they have about half a dozen people waiting for the Liveship traders, so I guess I'll have to find it new.

[duchess of malfi]

Actually, truth be told, I had a bit of trouble getting into the first trilogy as well. For whatever strange reason - and I have not had this with any other author - I would get to the same point in the first book of each of the two trilogies - lose interest - and put them down. A few weeks or months later, I would stubbornly pick up the book and start over, only to get stuck in the same place again.

Stubborness eventually got me past that sticking point, and I really enjoyed both series once I would get past that one point in each of the first books.

When I do get to the third trilogy, I am wondering if the same thing will happen again with the first book!

And yes - Hobbs really can get draggy at times. During the third book of Farseer

Spoiler

I felt like they had been trudging through those mountains for freakin' forever!!! Of course, the characters probably felt the same way.

However, she is truly gifted at creating realistic characters and telling a character driven story. She also has some of the most interesting villains out there.

Spoiler

A royal born playground bully with enough power to make life hell for the people he wants to pick on.

A selfish and ambitious man who is seen as a true hero by nearly everyone around him.

A very nice change from your stereotypical dark lords.