Scan barcode
A review by woahno
The Book of Swords by Robin Hobb, George R.R. Martin
5.0
I'm using this space to review just "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobb. There are authors and stories in this anthology that interest me as well and hopefully one day I will get to them and update this.
I have slowly been getting through The Realm of the Elderlings series and before I started The Rain Wild Chronicles I wanted to give one of the short stories a go. The goodreads reading order puts this story without a number in the series but I would put it at 2.5 between Royal Assassin and Assassin's Quest. I think having the context of what Fitz has been up to in Royal Assassin would be good to have going into the story but I don't think you need to have read any of the other books.
The story is about a small village called Smokerscot and a young woman named Taura. Her village is one of the many places that has been raided by the Red Ships. The invaders took some of the inhabitants of Smokerscot to be Forged after destroying half the homes and taking all the food leaving Taura and her family and her community devastated. Fitz makes a cameo as he rides through Smokerscot on his way to Shrike. He warns the villagers that their loved ones will return but be forever changed. He tells them to not let them back in, to fight them off. Understandably, many don't believe him or want to at least give their Forged family members a chance. Fitz leaves to fulfill his mission in Shrike and Taura and her village are beset by the return of their family members as Forged ones.
This story has the same tone and style as the other books in the series. Robin Hobb takes the time to set up everything and gives the characters time to breathe between scenes. It is a slow burn of a short story and feels a lot like a chapter from a Realm of the Elderlings novel. This idea, the upclose and intimate showing of a village beset by the Red Ships and the devastation caused by the returning Forged ones was brilliant. It was a micro view of the macro problem seen in the Farseer Trilogy. I loved it and felt like it delivered all the complex emotions and relationships that I have come to love from Robin Hobb and this series.
I have slowly been getting through The Realm of the Elderlings series and before I started The Rain Wild Chronicles I wanted to give one of the short stories a go. The goodreads reading order puts this story without a number in the series but I would put it at 2.5 between Royal Assassin and Assassin's Quest. I think having the context of what Fitz has been up to in Royal Assassin would be good to have going into the story but I don't think you need to have read any of the other books.
The story is about a small village called Smokerscot and a young woman named Taura. Her village is one of the many places that has been raided by the Red Ships. The invaders took some of the inhabitants of Smokerscot to be Forged after destroying half the homes and taking all the food leaving Taura and her family and her community devastated. Fitz makes a cameo as he rides through Smokerscot on his way to Shrike. He warns the villagers that their loved ones will return but be forever changed. He tells them to not let them back in, to fight them off. Understandably, many don't believe him or want to at least give their Forged family members a chance. Fitz leaves to fulfill his mission in Shrike and Taura and her village are beset by the return of their family members as Forged ones.
This story has the same tone and style as the other books in the series. Robin Hobb takes the time to set up everything and gives the characters time to breathe between scenes. It is a slow burn of a short story and feels a lot like a chapter from a Realm of the Elderlings novel. This idea, the upclose and intimate showing of a village beset by the Red Ships and the devastation caused by the returning Forged ones was brilliant. It was a micro view of the macro problem seen in the Farseer Trilogy. I loved it and felt like it delivered all the complex emotions and relationships that I have come to love from Robin Hobb and this series.