1.22k reviews for:

City of Dragons

Robin Hobb

3.96 AVERAGE

m114m's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous tense slow-paced

staceyrenee's review

3.0

adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

sunandsaltyreads's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous medium-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

britbooks's review

4.5

adventurous emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

karenina4777's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I'm still enjoying this series, but it's beginning to feel like we could have condensed most of book two and three into one much shorter book.

kath_hancock's review against another edition

3.0

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2.5*
So much re-telling of the story. Skipped through parts.

laurenansleigh's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous 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: No

faedyn's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous emotional slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

morton_aj's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging emotional funny fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

gracie_and_her_books's review

3.5

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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3.5 (might bump it up to a 4)

My favourite in the Rain Wild Chronicles so far !

(I guess mild spoilers, the most significant ones are tagged)

• The pacing was flawless, the plotlines were interesting, I think this book was perfectly executed, it worked very well as a standalone, compared to the first two, which were obviously one book cut into two. This shorter 425 pages was just what was needed without excessive fluff like we tend to get in this series sometimes, which can drag the momentum down *ahemFool'sFate*

• I really liked the prologue and epilogue

featuring Tintaglia and Icefyre

, and the first and last chapter

featuring the Duke of Chalced

, finally getting to be in that part of the world opened it up and drew me in immediately. This format was neat and they were great bookends.

• There are two main things that made me love this one more that the others :

➸ More pov characters, which took time away from the keepers, who I cannot stand. I don't care    about their petty fights about who is going to "mate" with who. 

- My least favourite character being Thymara. She was endearing in the beginning, but over time her focus shifting completely to which mediocre guy she was going to sleep with took all my interest away from her. I wouldn't mind this side plotline if it wasn't a main one, if it wasn't what most of her inner monologues are about.

Hopefully now that her and Raskal have done the deed, I won't have to read pages and pages of that inner conflict anymore.

Her having wings is amazing and I hope she can eventually learn to fly.

- Less dragon pov. It's just so damn repetitive. We get it, they feel superior in all ways to their keepers, yet need them for hunting and grooming. Their open disdain and disrespect towards humans was funny at first, but now it's just gotten repetitive. I find we had the perfect amount of dragon pov here.

-

Selden being captive, another thing I wasn't expecting, and it got me flipping the pages with worry. And that last scene with the duke eating (probably his) "dragon man" flesh was new Hobb Trauma Material™ . 
Also Hest getting the HUMBLING he deserves for being an asshole and treating people like his lapdogs. When the Chalcedean man said "you are my dog" I may have laughed. Robin Hobb queen of giving terrible men their comeuppance.

- Maltaaaaa. What a pleasant surprise having her featured more in this installment ! And she mentioned my baby Wintrow as well. She has had some of the best character development in the whole Elderling saga, and continues to show her bravery here. 

- Alise is the best character in this quartet, she's really giving Jane from Tarzan, which leads me to my second point :

➸ The LORE
More than anything, I love me some good lore and exploration and discovery in a fantasy book. Alise's exploration of Kelsingra is one of my favourite chapters from Elderlings. The descriptions are sensational and it's now in my top fictional places I wish I could visit. Seeing people tread this city that we've know about since Assassin's Quest when Verity and Fitz passed through, seeing it in a new light, seeing it return to life with the dragons. I am sure the last book is going to be epic.

I do wonder what happend to the Skill river, since we know Verity dipped his hands into it, Fitz saw it and the dragons remember it as well, but it seems to be gone.

We've come so far since Fitz first mentionned the Elderlings on his bedroom tapestry.