Reviews

Blood of Dragons by Robin Hobb

magicalbooks's review

adventurous emotional informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

thaakier_am's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

4.0

_ottavia_'s review against another edition

3.0

Although I enjoyed this cycle of stories I'm actually quite glad it's over. For me, this was the weakest section of books taking place in the Realm of Elderlings, and being four instead of three they particularly suffer a lack of rythme, slow place, spots in which nothing happens and the pages just feel a bit useless. The characters are unfortunately not as poignant as some that Robin created before and there's a lot of teenage drama going on that after a while gets boring. That being said they remain great books, wonderfully written by Robin Hobb (as always, she's an amazingly skilled writer), that, like the Liveship Traders before them, you cannot miss if you want to fully understand what's happening in the world she created.

Also, I've become an incredibly slow reader.

gimleafs's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

katieinca's review

4.0

Highly satisfying in the way it tied up SO MANY loose ends - both of favorite characters, and in explanation of how the world and its magic work - but I do wish it hadn't taken quite so long to get there. By the end I was getting tired of characters I had loved.
Someone I know has to read this so we can discuss: Hest = a gay Gaston, yes? Makes me want to see this as a cartoon.

brendalovesbooks's review

4.0

This was a great ending to this series (or at least, I assume it's the last book). Robin Hobb has a way of ending books that nearly always makes me just love them, and forgive any slow parts that might have come before.

sr4's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

yodaka's review

Got bored.......

actualresultsmayvary's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-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

4.0

Hobb never misses and all of my usual gushing positive descriptors do apply to The Blood of Dragons but it wasn't my favourite RotE book (so this review will read more negatively than is fair). 
There were lots of beginning of explanations about things such as the relationship between Silver and the skill but it was not satisfactorily concluded. For me the focus was also not spent in the best places, Thymara's endless faffing about Rapskal and Tats was tedious and I was absolutely on Jerd's side of being sick of her. I found it odd that the narrative wasn't more critical of her leading them both on for so long and I just found it boring and didn't have any empathy for her position.
The ending also felt a little rushed with the conclusion being quickly wrapped up by being told not shown, I think the book needed another 200 pages in order to give all the various storylines time to breathe. 
I am both excited and daunted to be moving into the final trilogy but I will definitely be taking a break with other books before coming back refreshed for Fool's Assassin.  

maiakobabe's review

medium-paced

3.0

I got through this book fairly quickly, even though it's about the same quality level as the previous book in the series. It has a fair amount of action and payoffs. I liked learning more of the secrets and history of Kelsingra, and I'm curious about the future of the new Elderling and dragon settlement. But I don't understand why this series has 4 books instead of the usual 3; there just isn't enough plot to sustain four books. I wish books 1 and 2 had been condensed into one and much of the angsty teen drama cut out. I just don't enjoy when Hobb writes from multiple POVs the same way I enjoy her single POV books; I don't love any of these characters the way I love Fitz and the people in his life.