Realm of the Elderlings

Reactions from the Realm: Dragon Haven, Chapters 16-Epilogue

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It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane…

***Spoilers for The Rain Wilds Chronicles through Dragon Haven. Mentions of the events of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy are fair game, too.***

It’s HEEBY AND RAPSKAL!

My heart.

They mocked silly Rapskal and his “slow-witted” dragon. They scoffed at their daily flight practices. So sure it was futile. Well, who’s laughing now?!

Rapskal and Heeby make their triumphant return – IN THE SKIES.

Not only is Heeby the first dragon to take flight and Rapskal now a majestic Elderling- they also found the lost city of Kelsingra while the rest of you were busy fucking around in the reeds.

Triumph indeed.

And it couldn’t go to a more deserving pair.

It’s punctuated beautifully when Alise tries to extract Rapskal’s tale for the history books, but our restless hero can hardly sit still for her. He just wants to return to the friends he’s been missing throughout his separation from the group. Our boy was lonely. 🥺

Welcome back, Rapskal. I knew your story wasn’t over.

Ok, so Rapskal and Heeby returning to save the day was the most exciting part of Dragon Haven’s finale, but a lot more went down. Before we get into it all, let’s quickly review where we end things and pause at the midpoint of our Rain Wilds Chronicles adventure:

  • The dragons, keepers, and crew have mostly reached Kelsingra – with only one minor detail inhibiting the final push to inhabit the city: they’re on the wrong side of the river. Eh. What’s another few days after months of a harrowing, often hopeless-seeming journey.
  • Alise and Leftrin are in LOVE. (What else is new?)
  • Sedric and Carson continue to put the wild in Rain Wilds.
  • Tats and Thymara: it’s complicated.

Now that “Does Kelsingra exist?” and “Can we find it?” have been answered, here’s what I’m hoping for in the remaining two books:

  • The fallout: Hest. I need to be present when Hest learns what Sedric and Alise have been up to.

  • More ties to the broader RotE: Malta and Reyn. Selden. Amber/the Fool. Tintaglia. What is Wintrow doing? Let’s get some old friends back in the mix.
  • How the Elderling transformations progress. I feel like some won’t go well. (Carson?)
  • Chalced?

Oooh, I’m getting excited for things that may never even happen. But before I get too far ahead of myself, let’s get into how we got here.

MUSINGS!

Greft

Yes, I’m starting with Greft.

He’s been bad news from the beginning, but his demise is still brutal to watch.

He demands blood from his dragon, who refuses and tosses him into the river. Rescued and back aboard, he lashes out, and it gets ugly. He makes the critical error of calling Alise a whore, and we know the captain doesn’t play about his lady.

But what emerges most clearly in all of this is that Greft is a truly tragic figure.

“’I’ve known all my life that I wouldn’t get as much as anyone else did. Not respect. Not even time. People like me, like us, we die young. Unless a dragon takes us on and makes sure we don’t. … But not Greft. Not for me.'”

And then:

“’I’m going to die… Things are starting to go wrong inside me. I can feel things going wrong. My gut hurts when I’m hungry and hurts worse when I eat. The shape of my mouth has changed so much that I can’t chew or even close my mouth comfortably. My eyes are dry, but I can’t close my eyelids all the way. Nothing simple is simple anymore. I can’t get enough air through my nose when I try to breathe, and when I breathe through my mouth, my throat dries out until it cracks and I spit blood.’ … ‘That’s my life,’ he said quietly. ‘Or my death. The death of someone who is changing, without a dragon to guide it. The death of someone who was born so Rain Wild touched that I can’t even live to be middle-aged, let alone old.’”

I know that’s a lot of quote to include, but it’s just so visceral and affecting. This is some sad shit.

Greft isn’t someone we rooted for, but Hobb works her magic, giving him dimension and wringing out sympathy.

Now shunned from the group and painfully dying – yada yada more turmoil and conflict – Greft sets out on his own early one morning. Carson and Sedric are sent to track him down. (Hey, they need those ship biscuits.)

They find him wedged in his small boat, dying from gallator poison.

A grim end for a complicated character.

🪦

Let’s stay in Downer-ville for a moment.

Alongside Greft’s death, we get the devastating conclusion to the Jerd’s pregnancy: she miscarries. The women handle it, and Bellin – no stranger to miscarriages herself – delivers a stern warning to the keeper gals not to sleep with anyone not fully committed to dealing with the consequences.

It’s harsh, but it’s a needed reality check.

Which makes a fitting segue to the Tats-Thymara situation I’ve been skating around in my reactions.

I’ve been hard on Thymara for being wishy-washy all series. In hindsight, I probably should have been harder* on Tats for his pushiness. Because no, Tats unequivocally should not be pressuring Thymara past her comfort level. And it’s entirely understandable that she’s torn between physical desire and very real consequences.

(*Important note: My lack of direct admonishing hasn’t been excusing the boys’ behavior, my “critical” focus has simply centered more on Thymara as a main POV character.)

But we’re in Hobbland, so of course the situation has been crafted with grounded nuance. We don’t have to agree with the characters to understand their motivations. And through Jerd, the sobering stakes of procreating in the Rain Wilds are no longer theoretical. They’re immediate and can’t be brushed aside.

These relationships aren’t clean or tidy, and we leave Tats and Thymara (and Rapskal) in an open-ended place:

“’Oh, something happened. It just wasn’t what you expected. I said no and I meant it. I still mean it, Tats. But it’s not about you. It’s about me dealing with what I’m becoming, and dealing with it one change at a time.’
He glanced over at her. His lashes were long and thick as they had always been. ‘Then it isn’t…forever. It’s just a decision for now.’”

I don’t know what the future holds for them. And not every pairing needs to end in romance. But I hope Thymara gets to a place where she can accept love on her terms. She deserves that.

Buckle up: I’m about to take a wild swing in tone…

Mega “Horny Moments” Musings

1️⃣

We’ve been tracking the non-healing wound on Thymara’s back for quite a while, and now we finally get some answers. Sintara – not one to settle for a status quo transformation for her keeper – decides to make Thymara the first Elderling with wings.

This was right up there with the Tarman feet reveal for me.

Thymara is horrified and Sylve discovering the finger-like bone protrusions in her back was admittedly gnarly. But, me? I loved it. Especially because it leads to a very enjoyable scene between Thymara, Tats, and Rapskal as we close things out.

If anyone has mastered the art of eroticism divorced from overt sexual context, it’s Robin Hobb. We saw it most potently with Fitz and the Fool in Tawny Man. But this wing inspection scene? It’s seriously charged.

First, Rapskal coaxes Thymara to show him her wings:

“’Your wings, of course! Everyone else has seen them but me. Take them out, I want to see them.’ …
‘I’m not ready for people to see them yet.’ He turned his head to one side. Sunlight ran down the scaling along his jaw, and she had to suppress the impulse to trace the same line with her fingers. …
‘…it’s only fair I get to see them now, because everyone else got a chance to see them then.’
‘That doesn’t make sense.’
‘Please.’
She tried to think if he’d ever said please to her before.”

Light begging ✅

Then:

“…she felt his fingers on her wingtips as he gently guided first one and then the other out of her shirt. His gentle touch put a shiver up her back and when she shook, she felt her wings suddenly quiver in response.
…she heard Rapskal catch his breath. ‘Oh, they’re lovely. Can I touch them?'”

👀

We’re not done yet – let’s not forget Tats is part of this ménage à wing:

“He crawled around behind her, and she felt him take the outermost tip of each wing in each of his hands. Then, as carefully as if she were a butterfly, he opened her wings fully to the light. …
‘The colors just got brighter,’ Tats said quietly.”

Why choose indeed.

2️⃣

We know Alise and Leftrin are gone. Gone gone. They are in their own world, and the rest of this expedition feels like background noise. They are almost too mushy for my comfort.

I mentioned very early – when they were traipsing through the Trehaug (or was it Cassarick?) treetops – that Leftrin’s level of smitten was giving me the ick. And listen, I’m happy for them. Especially Alise. I am firmly Team Lady and the River Tramp. But the ick has lingered.

May I present:

“For how could any man feel discouragement when every night a woman engulfed him in tenderness and sensuality? She woke in him appetites he had not known he had, and she sated them as well.”

They did exchange “I love yous,” and it was all very sweet and hurrah for them.

3️⃣

Moving on to chief freaks of the expedition: Carson and Sedric.

They set out on a mission to track down Greft and recover the stolen goods. Time is presumably pretty important when you are trying to catch up to someone with a head start.

But that doesn’t stop these two.

Sedric hits him with “I love your smile,” and that’s all it takes:

His voice was hoarse when he spoke. “I’ve never done this in a boat before. It might be tricky.”
“Tricky can be good,” Sedric responded breathlessly.

Honorable Mention🏅

Goes to Tats and his “throbbing urgency.” I’m just going to leave that there.

Fitz Watch: Kelsingra Edition

We get a brief mention of Alise longing to explore Kelsingra proper to search for records, scrolls, artifacts, etc. The reference to scrolls immediately made me think of Fitz (to be fair, he’s rarely far from top of mind).

But I’m not insane: Kelsingra is the defunct Elderling town from some of our key Fitz moments, right? Or have I invented this entirely? If it is, will we get some remnants of what Fitz left behind?

Just give your girl a crumb.

Sedric’s Confessions, Part III: The Finale

Greft’s final act is to use his last breath to expose Sedric’s original dragon-part selling plan in front of Carson. (Gotta respect the petty ’til the very end.)

Carson is disappointed and makes it clear that full transparency is the only path forward.

And with that, we get one final wild reveal for poor, dear Alise. I loved the opening to their conversation:

“‘I’ll have nothing else left to apologize for, no more dirty secrets that I’ll have to dread you discovering some day.’
She clasped her own hands. ‘That’s not a reassuring way to begin a conversation.’”

Through this final confession, Sedric lays the groundwork for rebuilding.

Alise forgives, and is more than ready to leave the past behind. For the first time in her life, she is happy and free. (And getting good loving on the regular doesn’t hurt).

“It had been a chain of events that led to her finding Leftrin. That led to her finding both love and a life.”

Yes! How far we’ve all come. (Resisting come joke here).

There’s a shared recognition of who the real villain in their story has been, which gives us the incredible moment of Alise unceremoniously removing Hest’s portrait and lock of hair from the locket and replacing them with Relpda’s scale. She returns it to Sedric, now encapsulating a bond worthy of the inscription: Always.

Sedric then flips Hest’s likeness into the cookfire.

And with that, folks, I think we can call the Hestorcism complete.

Be gone, doofus! You hold no power here.

(At least until the next book. Bring it, man-demon.)

Alright. We’ve done it. We’ve found love, lust, Kelsingra, and new appendages.
Let’s keep this party rolling.
See you in City of Dragons 🐉

Reactions from the Realm: Dragon Haven, Chapters 12-15

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Fork in the Road

***Spoilers for The Rain Wilds Chronicles through chapter 15 of Dragon Haven. Mentions of the events of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy are fair game, too.***

I found it hilarious to jump into this section of chapters – directly after my groundbreaking speculations regarding Elderling transformations – only to have it all immediately laid out in the open.

At first, I felt a little silly for framing the possibility of Elderling transformations as some grand prognostication. But the more I sat with it, the more it felt like a testament to Robin’s masterful storytelling.

You see, I hit the point of needing to comment on the hints and signs we’d been fed at almost the exact moment she chose to bring the discussion fully into the open. That is some impeccable timing and buildup on her part.

It’s not that the information was hidden, or that I had cracked the Da Vinci Code. Robin’s brilliance isn’t in covert plotting and shocking reveals. She will often tell you exactly where the story is heading, and still blow your mind on the way there.

Which is what makes this Elderling lore reveal so satisfying.

Elderling transformations happening isn’t the interesting part; it’s the depth and detail that bring this world to life and place Robin among the all-time world-building greats.

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Reactions from the Realm: Dragon Haven, Chapters 6-11

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Where things ratchet up…

***Spoilers for The Rain Wilds Chronicles through chapter 11 of Dragon Haven. Mentions of the events of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy are fair game, too.***

I knew these post-flood chapters would deliver, and boy did they. With so much action taking place, it feels only right to start with a character who has not physically appeared on the page since very early in the previous book: Hest. And while Hest may not be physically present in our story, his shadow certainly looms large- never more so than in this stretch of chapters.

Both Sedric and Alise cannot escape his insidious specter. Even as they’re finally free from his direct control – and experiencing real personal growth and self-awareness as a result – his influence still lingers in absentia.

But good news! They’re both making some serious progress.

For Alise, it’s a case of one step back, two strokes steps forward.

Caught in a liminal space – unaware of Sedric’s fate (and not loving the odds) – she discovers a locket bearing Hest’s image tucked inside Sedric’s pillow. I almost shrieked with joy that she was finally being let in on the “secret.”

That joy, however, was short-lived when it became clear we were not getting a moment of realization at all. She had instead reached peak delulu. I’ll let Alise’s thought process speak for itself:

“What did it mean? What could it mean?…
There could be but one explanation. Hest had had the locket made and entrusted it to Sedric to give to her. Why had he done such a thing?”

But one explanation indeed. 😑

If that’s our one step backward, a mere few chapters later Alise takes a giant leap forward by bedding Captain Leftrin in the very bunk of her presumed-dead friend – the same place the locket was discovered.

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Reactions from the Realm: Dragon Haven, Chapters 1-5

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Snakes on a Dragon

***Spoilers for The Rain Wilds Chronicles through chapter 5 of Dragon Haven. Mentions of the events of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy are fair game, too.***

Ahoy, friends! I’ve returned from vacation and am delighted to jump right into book two of the Rain Wilds Chronicles with Dragon Haven.

After a week in the World of Disney, I found myself deeply relating to Sintara’s inner monologue regarding humans in the prologue:

“She would not have minded human sounds so much if they did not persist in spouting out their thoughts at the same time they tried to convey them with their squeaking. The dual annoyance sometimes made her wish she could just eat them and be done with them.”

Don’t get me wrong – we had a wonderful family trip – but Disney adult, I am not. (And as an adult who operates a blog with a fairly large focus on dragon mating, I am not yucking anyone’s yum either. Just different strokes.)

If you’ll allow one more personal update before I descend into my crazed ramblings literary analysis, I’d like to share some exciting news.

Now, devoted (theoretical) WWS readers will recall that at the end of my Tawny Man journey, I said goodbye to my longtime animal companion, Scampi the cat. I’ve since spent several months unmoored- a cat lady with no cats. Like Fitz without Nighteyes, it just wasn’t right.

With our January vacation on the books, we knew the only rational decision was to wait until we returned before adopting new animal companions. This created a hilarious dynamic in which our dream Disney vacation became less a vacation and more an obstacle between us and kittens (exactly what you want when you’re spending the equivalent of Igrot’s lost treasure on a trip).

A winter storm further delayed my return to my beloved blog – and new kitties…

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Reactions from the Realm: Dragon Keeper, Chapters 14 – 17

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Here Comes the Groom!

***Spoilers for The Rain Wild Chronicles through chapter 17 of Dragon Keeper. Mentions of the events of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy are fair game, too.***

Like the dragons, I just keep marching my way through the Realm! Another book down and another step closer to completing my RotE journey. With the tenth book complete, there are just five left to go- say it ain’t so!

I quite enjoyed Dragon Keeper. It’s something of a new beginning, which means we don’t hit the ground running with the same emotional investment we’ve developed with Fitz and our prior Cursed Shores main characters. Still, I liked getting to know our new cast, the complicated dynamics that unfolded, the setting, and the story developing thus far.

It also isn’t the most complete of stories, as we leave off fairly abruptly. I haven’t heard much about the Rain Wild Chronicles, but I have heard the rumor(?) that Dragon Keeper and Dragon Haven were initially intended as one book. That would make sense to me- Hobb setting out to write trilogies. Regardless, it doesn’t have a huge impact on me, 2025-26 reader, just tapping my way through on my Kindle.

Okay, enough preamble. Let’s just get into it. And predictably, today’s headline focus goes to my favorite dynamic duo: Sedric and Alise.

Sedric

I have to start with Sedric. As someone who initially seemed like a background character, he steps into the spotlight and doesn’t give it up. Sidepiece no more!

He is the embodiment of a great Hobb character to me: complicated, sympathetic, beaten down- selfish at times and strong and protective at others. We’ve heard a bit of Sedric’s backstory with his father and familial expectations (giving real Hermey the Elf of Bingtown Traders vibes).

But here, we get the origin of Sedric and Hest’s relationship. It’s hard to encompass the complexity of it. It’s certainly devastating as we witness Hest take advantage of a young, vulnerable Sedric, grooming him into what he wants him to be. Sedric escapes being trapped by his father’s expectations only to be molded into Hest’s instead.

As a young Sedric attends the wedding of his tutor and unrequited crush, he’s confronted with all that’s being denied to him: a happy marriage, open love, a life of his choosing. Being a good emo-Hobb boy, he takes his emotions out into the middle of a snowstorm, into a copse of pines. Older, more experienced Hest follows his prey and takes advantage of Sedric’s tumultuous state.

I won’t feign knowing what it’s like for a young man to come to grips with his sexuality in a closed-off society, but this scene gripped me.

“Sedric had shut his eyes tight then, and again as he recalled it. Every moment of that wild night under the cold and stormy sky was clear in his memory. It was etched into him, defining him. Hest had been right. It had been easier when he’d admitted what he wanted.
Hest had been merciless. He’d teased him, and hurt him, then soothed and smoothed him. He’d been rough and then gentle, harshly demanding and then sweetly urging. The storm swept around them, making the trees bow and dance, but the cold couldn’t reach them.”

We know what’s happening isn’t right, but we are in Sedric’s POV – and in a snowy, secluded setting – so it’s also intense and, in a way, romantic. Sedric is coming directly off a heartbreak he can hardly articulate to himself, let alone acknowledge, and is suddenly being given a taste of affection and acceptance he didn’t even think was accessible to him.

So here we are with him: a man who has never made his own way. Molded by the expectations of one man and then another. He thinks it’s Alise’s first time out experiencing the world on her own, but it’s just as much that for himself. He wants to seize the opportunity to make something of himself on his own. It’s just that his current plan – stashing away highly valuable (and highly illicit) dragon parts to be sold for a fortune – is deeply misguided. And it culminates with a possible dragon murder at his hands, followed by panic as he feels the walls beginning to close in around him.

He seizes on the increasing (and inappropriate) closeness between Alise and Leftrin to insist they cut this “vacation” short and head back to Bingtown ASAP. But I don’t think the mysterious forces of the Rain Wild River are done with Sedric yet.

Alise

Well, I suppose we can’t talk about one side of the coin without the other. The juxtaposition of their stories is absolutely brilliant.

I may have briefly cooled on her romance with Captain Leftrin last post, but we are so back, baby!

Through recollections the next day across various characters, we learn about a pretty romantic evening interlude for these two on the deck of the Tarman. I previously worried that Leftrin was more into Alise than she was into him, but with lines like-

“She longed to kiss that mouth, and to feel those calloused hands clasp her close. She missed sleeping in his bunk, missed the smell of him in the room and on the bedding. She wanted him as she’d never wanted anything or anyone before.”

-I think we can put that concern to bed.

It’s going to take some time for Alise to get comfortable with the idea of shedding her former life and breaking her word/contract, but seeing things clearly is a good first step. She has no more illusions about what her marriage can be or who Hest truly is. And I loved her spelling out for Sedric the abuse she’s endured at Hest’s hands, pushing forward his disillusionment as well.

Robin Hobb really connects all the dots here with this aching reflection from Alise:

“…she closed her eyes and thought of Althea, wife to the captain of the Paragon. She’d seen that woman dashing about the deck barefoot, wearing loose trousers like a man. … She and the captain had moved without even looking at each other, like a needle drawn to a magnet, their arms lifting as if they were the halves of the god Sa becoming whole again. She’d thought her heart would break with envy.”

Warning: Earnest Observation Alert. At the end of Liveship Traders, I wrote about Althea’s desire to live authentically, and the toll to be constantly told you’re wrong to do so. That throughline lives strongly here in RWC with both Sedric’s and Alise’s storylines. It’s a subtle, beautiful reminder that living authentically can embolden others to do the same, even without your awareness. Althea may never know the impact she’s had on Alise (or maybe she will!), but either way, she influences others simply by being true to herself.

Hear, hear!

Musings!

Dragon Temperament and Time Passage

I’ve certainly enjoyed ragging on Tintaglia’s bitchiness throughout the series. But with our introduction to new dragon personalities, it’s clear that this isn’t a singular trait so much as a common dragon… cuntiness. And I like that, while the dragons are certainly personified, they still feel distinct from humans. It’s subtle, but it’s there.

Likewise, as the humans keep commenting on Tintaglia abandoning the dragons and her contract with the traders, I keep recalling how differently time passes for dragons than for humans due to their elongated lifespans. Tintaglia dipping out for a few years feels immense to our puny human friends, but it’s nothing for her. Let a gal enjoy her honeymoon – sheesh!

Keeper Beef

The tensions are ramping up. After Thymara takes down a elk with her bow (slay queen, literally), Greft happens upon her and offers his assistance transporting the meat back to camp, hoping to share in her spoils. After telling him, essentially, “yeah, no thanks- I can handle this myself and will get my real friends to help,” she returns with Tats and the other young keeper girl (truly sorry, but I’m not committing to remembering all the keeper names at this point), only to encounter Greft and his goons heading back with meat from her kill.

She is enraged and ready to burn this whole operation to the ground over the perceived slight. What I loved is Tats, socialist king, playing devil’s advocate and suggesting that pooling resources and sharing with the group might actually be the better approach. And if he is semi-siding with Greft, you know there’s probably some merit to his argument.

I like that, although we’re clearly positioned to be anti-Greft (don’t worry, still am), our leads aren’t infallible. Thymara makes some interesting choices here. With evening approaching, the smartest move probably would have been to let Greft to bring some meat back with her, rather than wasting time going solo to fetch help. But I understand Thymara, too. She hasn’t been treated generously by the world, so it’s no surprise her instinct is to protect her bounty and keep it for herself and her friends.

I’m not going to spin off on a tangent on the economics of dragon keeping and uncharted river journeys (surely enough has been written on that topic, right?), but I enjoyed how the script flipped in this confrontation, and how the pot continues to simmer within the group.

Bad Prediction Corner

As we wrap up Dragon Keeper, this feels like an excellent spot for some terrible predictions of what’s to come.

In Our Agatha Christie Era?

There’s going to be some big, awful event on this journey. We end with one dragon on death’s doorstep, but I don’t think the misfortune stops there. I suspect we could have a few more dragons – and travel party members – to lose before we reach the promised land.

Could this turn into a murder mystery, à la Murder on the Nile? I think I’d dig that vibe.

The Fool/Amber Enters the Fray

With three entire books still ahead of us in RWC, I found myself wondering who we might encounter from the broader RotE world when – bam! – it hit me: we already have a series-leaping character in the Fool/Amber.

If (and that’s a big if) my understanding of the timeline is correct, the events here are happening somewhat concurrently with, or just after, Tawny Man. In that case, we know the Fool peaces out post-Icefyre freeing. Don’t think you’re sneaking into another series unnoticed by me, Fool. I’m watching.

Even More Crossover!

Along similar lines, as I examined what broader world elements could make their way into this story, I immediately thought of the Skill pillars. I have no clue exactly how they might come into play here, but they were teed up pretty heavily at the end of Fool’s Fate, and we know they offer a path to Kelsingra.

I see Rapskal riding Heeby and accidentally falling through one into the Skill abyss.

Pretty Prose Prize

You know I will always make space for it when a piece of Hobb prose stops me in my tracks. The blue ribbon in Dragon Keeper goes to this line:

“The sounds of the forest changed too, as the rushing of the river was hushed by the intervening of the layers of foliage.”

Love is in the air

It wouldn’t be a wizardwordship post if I weren’t placing a disproportionate amount of focus on romantic narratives that may or may not exist. Let’s examine our top contenders:

  • Alise and Leftrin – Well covered and the obvious choice. These two are down bad. I’m placing my hope on some major event (intense storm, mystery killer) thrusting them into each other’s arms for safety and comfort… and more!
  • Sedric and ?? – Recent questionable choices aside, I’m still pulling for Sedric to find genuine love on equal footing. Earlier I floated the idea of Selden making an appearance and teaching our wayward Sedric to revere the dragons (if anyone is up for that job, it’s Selden). I’m willing to play the long game with Sedric’s redemption – we’ve got three books ahead of us, folks! – so I’m holding on to this possibility.

    (Though I’m very open to a new character swooping in and stealing Sedric’s heart. Wasn’t it alluded to that one of the new hunters might swing Sedric’s way? I do love the idea of both Alise and Sedric coming home with rugged river men.)
  • Thymara/Tats/Rapskal – I was pretty all-in on Thymara and Tats, and with Greft disgracefully exiting as a romantic contender, their path seemed clear. But don’t think I didn’t notice Thymara pointing out how good-looking Rapskal is multiple times in this section.

    We also get a curious little scene of Captain Leftrin pondering the laws of the Rain Wilds as they pertain to heavily marked persons not boning down procreating. He wonders whether he’ll be responsible for stepping in to enforce the rules if things start heating up among the keepers, which:

    A) Methinks it’s bit late to be starting that line of inquiry. We’ve got a bunch of young people isolated on a river journey- this is not an if, it’s a when.
    B) I don’t think we get this moment if our little freaks (affectionate) aren’t about to get freaky.

Obviously, count me in for all of it. Or give us nothing, and I’ll continue to fabricate narratives on my own as we go. (Also, that will be the last time I put “freaky” into the GIF search bar).

I might slow down a bit over the next few weeks with a family vacation on deck (literally not a soul is waiting on my posts – fake it ’til you make it 😆), but then I hope to pick up the pace again, because momma wants to know where all of this is heading.

Catch you soon!

Reactions from the Realm: Dragon Keeper, Chapters 10-13

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Like A River

***Spoilers for The Rain Wild Chronicles through chapter 13 of Dragon Keeper. Mentions of the events of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy are fair game, too.***

It might just be that I am writing this on December 26th, but the Island of Misfit Toys vibes have never been stronger.

There are two elements really jumping out to me so far:

  1. how rapidly my feelings keep shifting, and
  2. the amount of mirroring happening, on both a micro level within the story and a macro level across Hobb’s entire body of work.

Let’s start with my emotional whiplash.

Shifting Feelings:

In my last post, I had a lot of pep in my typing fingers. After Dragon Keeper’s bleak opening, the story started gaining momentum. Then I dove directly back into a Sintara POV and realized it was the lack of dragon experience that lightened things up. I mean, with lines like:

“And now they were masters of nothing, doomed to mud and carrion and, Sintara did not doubt, a slow death by slog up the river.”

… it’s hard to be buoyed by optimism.

As counterbalance to the dreary dragons, we have Captain Leftrin floating in the clouds with his crush on Alise. Sir- you are a grizzled, murdering (only once, but that counts), ruthless river man. Get ahold of yourself! As hard as I rode for their meet-cute, I have to admit I developed a smidge of an ick this time around. Leftrin is fucking gone for our girl, and Alise is relishing the attention, but it doesn’t feel like they’re on equal footing. Alise seems more lost on the sauce of someone being into her (rightfully!) than genuinely attracted to Leftrin, so surprisingly, I’m finding myself a bit worried for the captain’s heart.

It’s not just them- my feelings across the board have been shifting as rapidly as the Rain Wild River itself. Part of Liveship Traders’ brilliance is how Robin Hobb not only develops characters, but actively reshapes our perceptions over time. Most notably, of course, with Malta- going from the absolute worst to the Elderling queen we worship. In Malta’s case, it’s a long arc, but here in Dragon Keeper, I’m finding my opinions shift chapter to chapter.

Take Sedric. Sympathetic one moment, near-villainous the next. We learn he doesn’t care for animals (red flag), so Alise’s hackles are raised at his interest in assisting the dragons. She doesn’t know his actual motivations like we do, but she’s right to sense something is off:

“Oh, he shared some of her scholastic interest in dragons, but she had never seen him pet a dog or talk to his horse. And now he was going to assist this girl in doctoring a dragon? There was something here, and she felt she stood at the edge of a strange and perhaps dark current. Could he possibly be interested in the girl? She was so young and so peculiar looking. It would be very inappropriate.”

Alise’s ability to read a situation, as ever, remains unmatched.

Mirror Mirror

One of the clearest structural throughlines in Dragon Keeper is mirroring. In the overt sense, we have the dragons and their keepers; Alise and Sedric; Tats and Thymara. But there are lots of smaller examples too. My favorite odd pairing is Sedric and Thymara.

These are two characters who, outside the premise of this story, would never cross paths. Yet thanks to Sedric’s underhanded goal of bringing home dragon specimens (the little shit), he buddies up to Thymara with his sudden interest in veterinary medicine, offering to help tend one of the unpaired dragons. But the real gem of this combo comes when they are walking together and Thymara vents to him about the keeper dynamics:

“‘He behaves as if he can’t stand for me to have a friend, like it makes him less important. It’s almost as if he tries to drive a wedge between Tats and me. Why are some people like that?’
She hadn’t expected him to have an answer, but he looked startled, as if she had asked him something of great significance. When he answered, his words came slowly. ‘Maybe because we let them be that way.’”

Which triggers:

“It had snapped a stinging realization into his mind. Hest didn’t like him being friends with Alise. Hest didn’t want him to have conversations with her or have opinions about her…
He didn’t like thinking of all the implications of that. He pushed aside the thought of other friendships he’d neglected for Hest’s, even how he’d alienated his father by taking the position with Hest…”

It’s a tidy little lightning bolt of self-awareness. I maintain that Sedric has a lot of growth ahead, and I’m excited to watch it unspool.

The Gang’s All Here!

Our main characters have congregated in Cassarick. I’m enjoying how Dragon Keeper blends elements of Liveship Traders and our Fitz-centered series. We have a Liveship-like ensemble, but instead of scattering them across the map, Hobb drops them all into Cassarick to join a central mission. (The sort of shit quest we’re usually watching Fitz get sent on.) That doesn’t mean, however, our group is unified. Let’s examine:

Keepers/Dragons

There’s a lot of meat on the bone (not literally for the dragons, of course) when it comes to the dynamics of the keepers and their dragons.

Last post, my commentary on Thymara’s experience of becoming part of the keeper cohort got left on the cutting room floor. Her joy at feeling part of a community was so endearing. I mean:

“She looked from face to face and named them to herself, counting them off as if they were jewels in a treasure box. Her friends.”

Don’t get excited- the kumbaya camp vibes didn’t even make it to the next page. Fractures almost instantly materialize, and rivalries and power struggles continue to widen the gaps as we prepare to set off upriver.

But it’s not just the keepers facing division. There are a lot of fascinating social dynamics at play.

Sedric-Leftrin

They don’t trust each other, but these two have more in common than they realize beyond just caring for Alise in their own ways. Both are harboring secrets: Leftrin with his blackmail resurfacing via a mysterious note, and Sedric with his quiet mission to collect dragon specimens. Oh! And of course they hate each other.

Alise-Thymara (and Sintara)

Alise strolls in armed with Selden-level dragon flattery and immediately forms a bond with Sintara, stoking Thymara’s jealousy. Add Sedric slinking around, and there’s a lot simmering here. At first, I imagined a big sister/little sister dynamic developing between Alise and Thymara, but I think we’ve got some ground to cover before we get there. I’m hopeful that these castoff women (Sintara included) have a lot to teach each other about their worth.

Tats-Greft

Our clearest emerging conflict. Greft is wanting to assert leadership over the group, and while some are happy to fall in line, Tats (with Thyamara) is not especially keen to accept his authority.

Add in the fighting over Thymara, and these two are a real tinderbox. I haven’t even mentioned the other keeper chickadee simpering over Tats and fueling Thymara’s jealousy. Ahhh, the social politics of youth. Let’s make things as complicated as possible and then send everyone on a brutal river journey with ill-tempered dragons. What could go wrong!

Of course, we’re firmly Team Tats as a good-guys-versus-bad-guys dynamic seems to be taking shape. And I would like to go on the record that I am getting extremely bad vibes from Greft. Major concerns for what he’s capable of as the story progresses.

Musings!

Alise is the epitome of book-smart, not street-smart.

She interprets Sedric’s protectiveness around Leftrin as possible jealousy. She reminisces on her youthful crush on Sedric and muses:

“Was it possible that he had once cared for her? Was it remotely possible that in some corner of his heart, he still did?
Oh, it was a silly fancy, as silly as her timid flirtation with the captain. Silly and absolutely delicious.”

Oh, girl.

Her rise is going to be satisfying, but I fear she has a rough road to walk before we get there. Or Sintara is just going to bluntly spill the beans: he’s just not into you.

But for now, a girl can daydream (and hope she’s transformed into an Elderling with the power of gaydar).

For those who rode with me on my Liveship journey, you’ll know how important this line was to me:

“But the deal had been struck. Kalo had pressed his muddy, inky foot to a piece of parchment…”

I’m here for the talking ships. I’m here for the animal bonds. I’m here for carving giant stone dragons with one’s fingernails. I’m here for prophets, catalysts, forging, unforging- I’m here for it all.

But dragons signing contracts with muddy dragon footprints is pure absurdity.

I loved our time with Malta. She enters chewing the scenery in all her bitchy, Elderling glory. And if, during her arguments about why the dragons need someone advocating for their interests, you found yourself wondering why she isn’t down in the swamp tending them herself, we learn that after struggling to conceive and carry a pregnancy to term, she’s once again pregnant. 🤞

Last post I asked, where’s Wintrow? But the better question is: where the fuck is Reyn? Why is my gal spending hours advocating for the dragons alone? There may have been a passing line about what business he’s attending to, but it clearly wasn’t a good excuse because it didn’t stick with me.

Reyn- I want you present and doting, stat!

Protect Rapskal and Heeby!

They didn’t seem quite significant enough to mention in our list of most interesting dynamics, but I love these irritating little sweeties. Yes, Rapskal is endlessly annoying, but also deeply endearing.

(Greft is going to murder Rapskal, isn’t he? FUCK.)

Hard to believe, but we are approaching the end of Dragon Keeper. I’m sure all the issues will be ironed out and we will set off on our journey upriver smooth sailing.

‘Til then!

Reactions from the Realm: Dragon Keeper, Chapters 6-9

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Old Friends & New Beginnings

***Spoilers for The Rain Wild Chronicles through chapter 9 of Dragon Keeper. Mentions of the events of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy are fair game, too.***

After starting off with a good amount of stage-setting and introductions, our story is picking up quickly! Each time I start a new RotE series, I’m never quite sure what to expect, and the transitions from one storyline to another can be a bit jarring. Let’s examine:

  • Starting The Farseer Trilogy: Who’s this little boy? Oh yay, a puppy! 😦
  • Farseer -> Liveship Traders: I miss Fitz. Who are all these awful people? Talking Ships?!
  • Liveship Traders -> Tawny Man: Yay, Fitz! I miss Malta. Booo, Chade.
  • Tawny Man -> Rain Wild Chronicles: I miss Fitz. A whole new cast of characters? Serpents be struggling!

I suppose with each change, I worry about leaving the magic of the previous series behind. But with every new installment, it never takes long before I find myself swept away by the incredible characters and plots- whoever and wherever they may be.

The moral of this rambling prologue: never doubt our supreme leader, Robin Hobb.

So what exactly is hooking me so far in RWC? Thank you for asking.

Trehaug

I’m enthralled by this new slice of life we are getting in Dragon Keeper. We’ve spent most of our time in the realm among the upper echelons of society. Sure, our characters may be down on their luck and facing hardship, but by and large, our main POVs have come from the privileged class.

So spending time in the slums of Trehaug with Thymara was a real breath of fresh air (kind of literally, since the poor live in the treetops). I’ve been fascinated by the social strata of the Rain Wilds, especially how Thymara’s family is forced to move higher and higher into the trees as their status sinks lower and lower.

Trehaug itself is such a unique setting. It’s hard to grasp the sheer immensity of this treehouse town, but Hobb does a fantastic job unfolding it for us. We got a small peek into life in the trees during Liveship Traders, but having so much additional color and detail filled in now is incredible. No offense to that smelly, sewage-filled pirate town – or even my beloved Buckkeep – but this may be my favorite setting in all the realm.

One of my favorite details is the naming of the various housing regions. Thymara’s family currently lives high up in the Cricket Cages, having been pushed there after being forced out of the art district, the Bird Nests, due to rising costs from gentrification. The only place higher to move from here is the Tops.

These details add so much whimsy and texture that it’s impossible not to feel enveloped in the Rain Wilds’ rich ambiance.

Ahoy, Mateys! (pt. 1)

If we ever get my Dragon Court procedural (and if you weren’t with me on my Liveship journey, don’t worry about it), Alise is going to be a force to be reckoned with.

We pick up with her exactly where we left off: miserable in her marriage to Hest. She insists that Hest honor the part of their contract allowing her a trip to the Rain Wilds to observe the dragons (sis needs a vacation). He’s not pleased- and, determined to maintain his position as “Top Dick,” also picks a fight with his lover, Sedric, when Sedric encourages him to be minimally decent and grant Alise’s request.

Hest, exasperated by both legal wife and functional “wife,” throws up his hands in a real these hoes be wildin’ moment and decrees Sedric will escort Alise on her dragon-seeking adventure.

What a fun pairing this should be!

Sedric then turns POV character, and we get a mopey boy to fill the Fitz-sized hole in our hearts. My favorite petulant Sedric moment:

“Trehaug was the prime city in all the Cursed Shores for a Trader to find Elderling goods at a reasonable price, and he’d had to race past it without even a glance because Alise feared she wouldn’t get to see her smelly, deformed dragons.”

Honestly? I can relate. At this point, Sedric is like a luxury vacationer dragged along on a roughing-it camping trip. But he feels primed for real growth- and I suspect those smelly, deformed dragons may just capture his heart.

In fact, I can see both Alise and Sedric breaking out from under Hest’s shadow and finding their own place in the world. I’ll get back to Alise shortly (don’t you worry), but I couldn’t help wondering: who in this region might catch Sedric’s eye?

And who crossed my mind (not just because they practically share a name)? Selden. Years have passed, so he should be of age for some romance. And while not every arc needs to be romantic in nature (though it would be nice), I like the idea of these two opposite sides of Hest’s shitty partnership coin finding both themselves and the love they deserve.

Welcome to the POV squad, Sedric!

Ahoy, Mateys! (pt. 2)

Imagine my delight when Sedric and Alise reveal they haven’t booked passage on just any old ship. Nope, it’s our old friend ShipFitz Paragon, complete with Captain Trell, Althea, their young son, and Clef.

We’re so intimately familiar with Paragon and crew that it’s slightly jarring seeing them through a relative stranger’s eyes. And frankly, I did not appreciate how often Sedric dismissed Paragon as insane. (He may be a bit nuts, but he’s our nutso, so stfu.)

They primarily serve to shepherd our new friends, both physically and through knowledge, toward their dragon-seeking adventure. Regardless of their role, it was just wonderful to be back in their midst.

Musings!

🚨 New Wayward Boy Alert 🚨

Warming up to new characters usually takes time, but whether it’s the familair setting or Robin being the GOAT, I am getting down with these characters at record speed.

Enter: Tats.

We meet him climbing onto Thymara’s branch during her post-fight-with-evil-mom reflection hour. (Ok, evil might be a tad strong, but Thymara’s mom is a rough hang. At best: vapid.)

I (obviously) instantly loved their teen-angst dynamic. Thymara doesn’t just feel unworthy of love, she’s been explicitly told that it’s forbidden to her. And Tats, a marked-slave orphan from another world, is clearly enamored.

He signs up for the dragon keeper job alongside her, and we’re also introduced to a dickhead rival for her affection (a sort of a bizarro Grag situation). I’m sat. My popcorn is buttered. I’m rooting for these two!

Where is Wintrow?

We’ve checked in with Althea and Brashen, heard mentions of Malta and Reyn, plus Selden- so where is my most favorite would-be-priest-turned-reluctant-bad-boy pirate king usurper?

We know Hest is heading to pirate town. Is this the duo we’re destined to see?

Careful, Hest. He took down the king of all assholes, Kyle. You should be child’s play.

(My deepest apologies to Ronica and Keffria for not giving a flying fuck what they’re up to.)

Lady and the Tramp

Speaking of these hoes be wildin’, Leftrin didn’t make a huge impression on me in the opening chapters- but boy does he come roaring back into the story.

This is where I really started to feel giddy.

Paragon delivers Alise and Sedric to Trehaug, but from there they need a second ship capable of navigating the shallow waters to Cassarick, where the “dragons” reside.

Lucky for them – and for us – our favorite flat-bottomed barge, the Tarman, happens to be setting off in that very direction. As Alise and Sedric rush to board, we get the most Jack seeing Rose for the first time moment between Captain Leftrin and Alise.

Think I’m exaggerating? Exhibit A:

“She had large gray eyes set wide apart in a heart-shaped face. She had bundled her hair out of the way, but what he could see of it was dark red and curling. Freckles sprinkled her nose and cheeks generously. Another man might have seen her mouth as too generous for her face, but not Leftrin. The single darting glance she gave him seemed to look not into his eyes but into his heart.”

Easy, loverboy!

Safe to say our rough-around-the-edges river rat is immediately smitten with proper Bingtown lady Alise- and I couldn’t love this more. Yes, he’s a bit shady. Yes, I’m ignoring red flags like I always do for sailors on the Cursed Shores. 🤷‍♀️ YOLO.

After Alise’s self-perception as plain and the emotional deep-freeze of her marriage, seeing someone outright bewitched by her? Love this for her!

The way I want this man to ravage her and remind her she’s desirable.

And listen, if Lana Del Rey can marry a swamp tour guide, Alise can ditch her douchebag husband for a barge captain. This is how I will be picturing them moving forward:

Breaking the 4th Wall

Part 1: wizardwordship gets corrected

Alise drops this line that felt aimed directly at me:

“The Rain Wilders who found the dormant dragons in their cases, sometimes incorrectly called cocoons, had no idea what they were.”

Yes. I have repeatedly called them cocoons. Oops!

Part 2: wizardwordship gets clocked

Hest patronizes Alise with:

“You’d come of age in a harsh time in Bingtown. You needed to escape reality, and what could be a better fantasy than tales of Elderlings and dragons?”

You know what? It is a harsh time. And I will never apologize for getting wrapped up in tales of Elderlings and dragons.

(Side note: Am I Alise?)

I’m very excited to learn more about what’s going on with the Tarman. We’ve gotten several intriguing clues:

  • Leftrin mentions crafting something for it from the found wizardwood
  • Remarks around its ability to sail just as well, if not better, with a reduced crew
  • Allusions to something new beneath the waterline
  • And little lines like:

“The barge moved up the river steadily, avoiding shoals and snags as if bewitched.”

Are we going to be introduced to a figurehead that lurks below the surface?

Lots of “point-at-the-page” moments in these chapters. My favorites:

“She stroked an insignia on the side of the kettle, an image that looked rather like a chicken with a crown.”

“All had believed that Tintaglia was the last true dragon in the world. To discover it was not so was shocking, and the tale of the black dragon who had risen from the ice was almost too far-fetched to believe.
Some prince of the far Six Duchies had unearthed the dragon…”

“She recalled that his original boyish face had been damaged, chopped to pieces; some said by pirates, while others believed his own crew had done it. But someone had recarved the splintered wood into the visage of a handsome if scarred young man.”

Onward to Cassarick!

Reactions from the Realm: Dragon Keeper, Prologue – Chapter 5

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Suffering Succotash

***Spoilers for The Rain Wild Chronicles through chapter 5 of Dragon Keeper. Mentions of the events of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy are fair game, too.***

Well, well, well. Here we are. It took me a month to recover from my life-altering Tawny Man journey, but I am finally ready to return to the realm. And where does Robin send me? Right back onto the motherfucking serpent struggle bus. And guess what? If you thought the suffering in Liveship Traders was bad, it’s even worse now! Sa almighty.

Hearing secondhand in Fool’s Errand that the dragon hatching didn’t go well wasn’t enough. We jump straight into the prologue with a new serpent POV of the harrowing trip up the Rain Wild River and the cocooning process. And let me tell you: shit. is. bleak. Dragging their exposed, chapped bodies through shallow water. Eating their fallen brethren along the way. Finally arriving at nesting grounds with neither the reserves nor the support needed to craft proper cocoons.

As the story gets underway, we witness an incredibly depressing hatching day where deformed dragons emerge unfit for survival. It’s hard to even crack jokes (though I’ll try, because I’m a pro) – it’s really just that sad. I actually struggled to keep reading at points because the scene is so relentlessly dreary. It’s like we’re being punished for the hopeful note Robin left us on at the end of Ship of Destiny. The pain man is here to collect!

After the excruciating hatching sequence, we jump a few years forward to check in on our cocooning serpent from the prologue, who now goes by her dragon name, Sintara. Hold on to your hats, folks- things haven’t improved.

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Reactions from the Realm: The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince

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No Stone Left Unturned

***Spoilers for The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince***

Everyone, buckle up… I’m going to say something shocking: Robin Hobb has once again impressed me. Ok, yes- me praising Robin is as guaranteed as the sun rising in the east. But with each expansion of the Realm, she continues to deliver awe.

And The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince is no different. With this installment, it’s not the story or characters themselves that particularly dazzled me – though they’re compelling on their own – but the immense color and context this tale adds to the world and the arc unfolding in Fitz’s story.

At the end of Fool’s Fate, I noted that I was getting answers to questions I didn’t know I had. Likewise, TWPATPP provides the deep clarity on the climate surrounding the Wit in the Farseer and Tawny Man storylines. It leads me to suspect there are no plot holes in RotE, only gaps in my own Realm-specific knowledge.

We’re given this story in two parts, related by Felicity, a Buckkeep servant with unusually close proximity to our titular royals. Let’s dig in…

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Reactions from the Realm: Fool’s Fate, Chapters 30-33

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How Fitz Got His Groove Back

***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 33 of Fool’s Fate.***

If the revelation of how Fitz was previously able to return to his deceased body thrilled me last post, then that was just the appetizer for this section’s full buffet of answers. There’s a lot to cover, so allow me to get right to the goods.

Fitz and the Fool are lingering in their market-square campsite, recovering and wrestling with where things go from here. Once again, we get that wonderful parallel between the Fool’s sense of lostness and desire to retreat from life, and Fitz’s past experience:

“…you cannot hide forever from your life and friends. Eventually, you must face it again.”
He almost smiled. “This, from the man who spent over a decade being dead.

They almost feel outside of time in this suspended healing sojourn, but eventually the Fool declares himself recovered enough, and it’s time to rejoin the story. Not before a detour to the stone dragon garden for a visit to Girl-on-a Dragon.

Turns out the Fool has promised the rooster crown to the sort-of-lead minstrel of Girl-on-a-Dragon’s entombed coterie, Realder- a former wearer of the crown. (The crown/Skill-dragon/coterie lore goes pretty dense here, so let’s just stick with that and keep it moving).

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