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…
…but alas, we made it home. And less than 24 hours later, my family expanded!
You may be wondering why you should give a flying fuck about my vacation and cat adoption. Fair. But the most important detail has yet to be revealed. May I delightedly introduce you to *drum roll* FitzWhiskery and his sister, Fifi!
FitzWhiskery (left) & Fifi (right)
Yes, folks. My dreams have come true. I brought the most adorable kittens into my family and got to name the boy Fitz- formally, FitzWhiskery.
A few acknowledgments:
- Yes, Fifi is not a RotE name (though a Fifi popping up in the final six books isn’t impossible, no whammies). But I got one. A win’s a win.
- This is admittedly a bold choice, given I still have an entire trilogy left in Fitz’s story. (We’ve all heard the cautionary tale of the Tamlin tattoo girl 😬.) BUT- I have put in a lot of time with my beloved Fitz. We’ve been through our ups and downs, but it’s hard to imagine having a full reversal.
- Also, Fitz is an excellent cat name on its own. And it’s not like I named him Dumbledore. (In fact, I’ll be delighted if anyone ever connects him to FitzChivalry). And worst comes to worst, I simply stop my emotional canon at the end of Tawny Man and disown the rest. Foolproof.
If you made it through that, kudos! Shall we talk Dragon Haven?
As I continue through the Rain Wilds Chronicles, I keep reflecting on the cadence of the series as a whole and the impact of the broader Realm of the Elderlings experience. I understand why diversions from Fitz’s storyline can feel frustrating. It’s hard to be deeply invested in characters and then suddenly asked to care about someone named Tats.
I’d agree that Liveship and RWC (so far) don’t carry quite the same emotional grip as the Fitz-centric books, but that belies the brilliance of the structure. Three consecutive Fitzian trilogies would be an emotional marathon. His story is rich and beautiful, but the intimacy of living in his head for that long is intense. These slightly breezier shifts in perspective – while still deepening the world and adding texture – provide necessary breathing room before we head back north, ready for pain.
And to be clear: this is not dismissal. I adore these series. To suggest Liveship Traders is fluff or lacking depth would be criminal. This is about interplay- the way these series enrich one another and make the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
All of which is to say: I’m soaking in my time on this dragon sojourn. I know that when I leave the Rain Wilds, my heart will be ready to return to Fitz and Friends and face whatever awaits me in Fitz and the Fool.
And so, we pick back up on our journey as the trudge upriver continues. The quest is a slog, but the story is not. I continue to love the interpersonal – and interdragonal – dynamics unfolding. And with that, let’s jump right in with…
MUSINGS!
Alise and Leftrin
Alise and Leftrin remain trapped in their own Disney movie, growing ever closer. Never have two characters been more adamant that nothing could ever happen between them while being so clearly willing to jump each other at the drop of hat. Every scene with them:
Sedric
Sedric, meanwhile, is having a truly terrible time. After ending Dragon Keeper with an extremely tough look – stealing the blood of an ill dragon and leaving it for dead – karma wastes no time. He’s formed an unwanted bond with the lowly copper dragon, and I am fairly sure Tarman is poisoning him??
The dragon blood he drank on a whim (wild stuff) made him sick, but Tarman is also pissed off, too? Reader, it was late at night as I read this, so I may be a bit hazy here, but regardless, the vibes are bad.
And if being sick, paranoid, and bonded to a dragon with limited mental capacity weren’t enough, Sedric is also forced to confront his sexuality. He’s receiving a great deal of care and attention from hunter Carson and Carson’s nephew, Davvie. Sedric, unable to see five inches past himself, fails to pick up on what’s going on until Carson spells it out: young Davvie is infatuated.
Carson, armed with a gaydar Alise can only dream of, cautions Sedric to tread carefully with the vulnerable youngster. Frankly, it’s the conversation Sedric desperately needed someone needed to have on his behalf.
But Carson isn’t done with the keen observations. In a moment that edges slightly past the grounded realism that we love so dearly (yes, I’m aware I accept talking dragons), he essentially says: “Hey, you work for Alise’s husband, right? You two must be fucking, so let everyone else get some too” (paraphrased).
“I’ve known Leftrin a long, long time. Never seen him gone on a woman like he is on Alise. And she looks pretty gone to me, too. Seems to me that if her husband has been able to find a bit of joy in his life, maybe she deserves the same. And maybe Leftrin does, too. They might find that, if she felt free to look for it.”
What in the Nostradamus is going on with Carson? I can tell you this much: the man’s talents are being wasted hunting for these ragtag dragons. Get this man a job with the FBI!
Is Carson being positioned as Sedric’s gay mentor? I’m not picking up any strong romantic vibes (yet), so perhaps he’s more a wizened elder who has navigated this world. Have we found Sedric’s gay sherpa- someone to show him there’s more to life than Hest’s groomer ass?
Thymara and Alise
When these two first came together with their shared bond with Sintara, I immediately hoped for a sisterly bond to form. They had so much to offer each other based on their wildly different life experiences. It didn’t take off right away, but their bond skyrockets here at the opening of Dragon Haven.
From Thymara teaching Alise to fish, to Alise standing up for Thymara to Sintara, their burgeoning relationship was one of the highlights for me early in this book.
After surviving the flood together, I don’t see their bond weakening anytime soon. We know we can always count on Hobb to give us top-tier wayward boys to root for, so I’m loving the gals getting their time to shine and grow.
The Flood
Leave it to me to bury the major action set piece in the fourth bullet of my reflections, but here were are: the flood.
I predicted some kind of big event to shake up this journey, and boy has it arrived.
We start out with a regular evening: dragons, keepers, and barge docked along the riverbank. Sintara, Thymara, and Alise are locked in a girl huddle where Sintara more or less tells them to grow up and get laid. YOLO, humans. Time is a ticking!
Meanwhile, Leftrin is off-boat dealing with his Jess-shaped problem (more on that in moment).
And then – bam! Flood.
This isn’t six inches of water in your basement. This is a biblical river-gone-wild, tearing through everything in its path. We follow a harrowing sequence with Thymara, Alise, and Sintara as Sintara goes into beast mode, redeeming herself by keeping her humans alive and muscling her way to the safety of the trees.
Once intercepted by Tats and Sylve, they’re given the rundown: most of the keeper group are accounted for. A few dragons are missing. And then the gut punch:
Heeby and Rapskal: whereabouts unknown.
FUCK. FUCK. MOTHERFUCKING, FUCK!
Did I not recently write “Protect Rapskal and Heeby”? I don’t know what I even expected. Perhaps I should start rooting for Greft. Yes, Robin- protect Greft. Please.
FUCK!
Elsewhere, Leftrin gets put through the washing machine but comes out on top. And as we know, there is no bond like that between a liveship and its human- cue Tarman rescue mode activated! (Jess’s status: currently unknown).
Villain Reveal!
I don’t want to dwell too long on Jess, but he makes a quick rise to prominence. He’s revealed as the secret Chalcedean agent aboard – here to collect dragon specimens (lowkey crowding Sedric’s hustle) and interfere with Leftrin’s relationship with Alise.
His introduction was interesting. Suddenly he and Leftrin are having a nasty spat in the galley, and I briefly wondered if I’d missed something. But then we get Leftrin’s retrospective POV, explaining how we got here.
At first, I was unsure about receiving all of this through reflection rather than seeing it play out in real time. Ultimately, though, I appreciated the framing. Jess exists for us only through Leftrin’s eyes- how he views the threat, reflects on his own past choices, and considers possible solutions; while showing how far he’s drifted from the kind of schemes Jess proposes (including simply absconding to Chalced with Alise and starting a new life).
Jess isn’t here to be a character we care about. He’s here to illuminate Leftrin’s morality and shifting priorities. And of course, Leftrin does conclude that killing Jess (reluctantly) is probably his only option.
Tarman’s Feet!
I’ve been quietly obsessed with the mystery of what exactly Leftrin did to modify Tarman using the found wizardwood. I wondered if there might be some sort of underwater figurehead. Here we finally get the reveal- and I LOVED it.
“Paddling with all his might, Tarman was coming for him. The barge’s thick sturdy legs and webbed feet would propel him against the current.”
Tarman has feet! Thick, webbed, river-walking feet. Perfect. No notes.
The image of him wading and paddling upriver is deeply satisfying. This reveal was well worth the wait.
(This is where I try not to go full Hobb Snob™, but this is a perfect example of the subtle brilliance you’re missing if you can’t get into Realm of the Elderlings. Like, if you aren’t into a sentient barge with eyes and amphibian legs powering through a flood to save his beloved captain, I don’t know what to tell you.)
Ick!
God, did I love Sintara reacting to rasp snakes burrowing into her body like a human reacting to a bug on their skin.
Next up: flood fallout. Most prominent missing “persons” include Rapskal, Heeby, and Jess. Alise is clinging to a tree, convinced her river-rat prince is going to come to her rescue. (I’m liking the odds.) And nothing like a near-death experience and dashing rescue to push a romance forward.
Didn’t I predict some sort of terrible event would finally get these two over the hump to actually humping?
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