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4.56 AVERAGE
4.56 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I would say that this feels like a fitting end to Fitz's story, because he gets his happily ever after, except that I know the series isn't done with him yet. I don't know what happens in the last set of books, but I know they exist. When this was published, it must have felt like a solid happy ending, though--it wraps up almost everything left hanging about Fitz and the Fool and the Six Duchies chunk of the larger story that spans all the books so far. In that, I am satisfied and have no real complaints about the plot.
I am, however, miffed at the incredibly slow pace of this novel, even for a Hobb epic fantasy tome. Compared to those that came before it, the first half drags and drags and drags. It's the reason this took me eight days to finish, despite being interested, despite wanting the rest of the story. This 900-page monstrosity of a novel could have easily been at least 100-150 pages shorter, and everything I would cut comes from the first half.
Did we really need that much detail and repetition of Thick's seasickness and cantankerousness? Did we really need half-page-long paragraphs where every sentence uses the words "ice" and "cold?" Did we need to go through the sea voyages almost day-by-day to wallow in Fitz's and Thick's misery?
That section could have been tightened up a great deal without losing anything important. It took me six days to slog through the first half of the novel, and two days to finish it, because that's where the good stuff was--the Pale Woman, the Black Man, the dragons, the culmination of the Forging subplot from the original trilogy, Nettle and Molly and Burrich. You know, the people and plot lines I actually care about far more than constantly reading about how cold and wet and miserable Thick is.
(I don't actually dislike Thick, if anything by the end of this book I like him more. I just think he's given far too much screen time, stretching out the most boring part of the book to ridiculous proportions.)
I'm going to keep going--of course I am--but I hope future installments will be pleasingly epic instead of bloatedly so.
I am, however, miffed at the incredibly slow pace of this novel, even for a Hobb epic fantasy tome. Compared to those that came before it, the first half drags and drags and drags. It's the reason this took me eight days to finish, despite being interested, despite wanting the rest of the story. This 900-page monstrosity of a novel could have easily been at least 100-150 pages shorter, and everything I would cut comes from the first half.
Did we really need that much detail and repetition of Thick's seasickness and cantankerousness? Did we really need half-page-long paragraphs where every sentence uses the words "ice" and "cold?" Did we need to go through the sea voyages almost day-by-day to wallow in Fitz's and Thick's misery?
That section could have been tightened up a great deal without losing anything important. It took me six days to slog through the first half of the novel, and two days to finish it, because that's where the good stuff was--the Pale Woman, the Black Man, the dragons, the culmination of the Forging subplot from the original trilogy, Nettle and Molly and Burrich. You know, the people and plot lines I actually care about far more than constantly reading about how cold and wet and miserable Thick is.
(I don't actually dislike Thick, if anything by the end of this book I like him more. I just think he's given far too much screen time, stretching out the most boring part of the book to ridiculous proportions.)
I'm going to keep going--of course I am--but I hope future installments will be pleasingly epic instead of bloatedly so.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Much better than the 1st two books of this series. A little slow at first getting to the island, but it picked up nicely. I had trouble with the series in general because I read the Assassin's trilogy about 5 years ago and didn't remember all the details towards the end.
I have loved this series and this book wrapped things up nicely. As always, the writing is excellent, the characters engaging, the world fully realized. But it was so so so long. And unfocused. Sadly, I was relieved when I finally finished it.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I will never stop screaming at anyone who will listen how amazing Robin Hobb is. This is a perfect trilogy after two other perfect trilogies. A complex story of friendship and trauma and what it means to love someone. This book is 912 pages long and I would not change one word.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes