Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review Subseries 3: The Tawny Man Trilogy (The Realm of the Elderlings) by Robin Hobb by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review

Subseries 3: The Tawny Man Trilogy (The Realm of the Elderlings)

by Robin Hobb

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. Also, reading my previous appraisals will foster understanding about certain facts about this umbrella series that are required to make sense of things included in this particular review. 

In an attempt to spend less money on books that half the time I don't even enjoy, early in 2025, I figured out how to check out ebooks from the app my local library uses for this purpose. Utilizing Libby, I can check out ebooks and audiobooks. Unfortunately, the selection of material is limited. A lot of the books I like to read aren't available on it, but I was glad to see that most of Robin Hobb's titles are available. It's just a lot of waiting when I "place a hold" and patiently endure the, at times lengthy, delay in it becoming available for me to read. 

Robin Hobb is the author of The Realm of the Elderlings. Within this umbrella series, she's written five "miniseries" and numerous short stories. In previous Alien Romances Blog reviews, I covered The Inheritance & Other Stories, which contains a couple Realm of the Elderlings offerings. I also reviewed the first two trilogies within this series, The Farseer and The LiveShip Traders trilogies, along with two miscellaneous novellas in the series, "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" and "Words Like Coins". 

The Farseer Trilogy was focused on Fitz, the illegitimate son of Prince Chivalry of the royal line presiding over the Six Duchies. In that first subset, we learned something of the Elderlings (including dragons) and their ancient cities and settlements around the world, especially in the Rain Wilds. In the second subseries, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, we moved away from the royal Farseer lineage and problems within the nobility to focus on "liveships", which are the outer cocoons of sea serpents that were in the process of transforming into a dragon. These logs were buried in the destroyed city of the Elderlings in the Rain Wilds and found by traders who excavated the ruins for valuable, magical artifacts. 

The Tawny Man Trilogy includes the following novels:

Fool's Errand, Book 1 (2001)

The Golden Fool, Book 2 (2002)

Fool's Fate, Book 3 (2003) 

Once again, we return to Fitz from the first Elderlings subseries, The Farseer Trilogy. He's now in his mid-thirties. It's been fifteen years since the events of Farseer. The events of all previous stories that I mentioned above reviewing before play into each of these stories in a wonderfully cohesive and illuminating way that I really enjoyed. I felt like I was pulling threads from different tapestries until they began to fit into one. The author is to be lauded in how she meshed her subseries seamlessly, at least for the most part. 

As a preface to this review, in this series there are two "magical" talents: With the Skill, a person can reach out to another's mind, no matter how far away, and read thoughts and influence thinking and behavior. An even older magic is the Wit, in which humans feel such a kinship with animals, they share thoughts and behaviors, sometimes becoming so bonded that they themselves become little more than beasts. The strength of the bond can also lead to performing powerful attacks. The Wit is looked upon with scorn and fear by most humans. 

In the first book of the trilogy, Fool's Errand, Fitz is living a quiet life in the middle of nowhere with his wolf Nighteyes, to whom he's Wit-bonded, and a foundling son he's adopted as his own named Hap. 

In The Tawny Man, few know Fitz as anyone but Tom Badgerlock. Most believe FitzChivalry of the royal line to be dead. The man who taught Fitz as an assassin, Chade, visits Tom. In previous stories, Fitz conceived with the queen as King Verity used his body for the purpose of providing an heir to the throne. Their son has shown signs of being both Witted and possessing the Skill. Prince Dutiful is untutored and there are few if any teachers of both abilities in the current climate. At Chade's request that Tom teach Dutiful, Tom protests that his knowledge of both of these powers is incomplete and erratic. Chade also tells Tom of the unrest among the Witted in the land. The rebels call themselves the Piebalds. (The story of Piebald origins is told in "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince", a favorite of mine in this series.) 

Chade leaves after Tom refuses to train the prince, and later the Fool (who has remade himself in many ways, shapes and forms in his appearances in the series, becoming known in this trilogy as The Tawny Man, Lord Golden) visits him. In previous trilogies within the series, the question of the Fool's identity was revealed to be ever-changing. The Fool worked as an actual "fool" at court in Buckkeep for the king in the first subseries. In the second, he was a she, the carver Amber in Bingtown. I'd wondered in my review of the previous subseries The Liveship Traders Trilogy how/when this anomaly was revealed. Now I know it's in The Tawny Man Trilogy that the facts behind this situation come to life. The Fool is much more than any have previously suspected--a being called a White Prophet whose purpose is to set the world on a better path. As such, this creature invents and reinvents itself in order to serve its impetus. The Catalyst is the one who makes the changes, and that one is Fitz. The Fool reveals in this book that he doesn't believe he's fulfilled his destiny correctly--during the time he was Amber, he went awry and therefore warped all that came afterward. 

In Fool's Errand, Prince Dutiful is believed to have been kidnapped by Piebalds. In truth, Dutiful has been enslaved by a Witted Woman who died and forced her essence into an unwilling cat. Lord Golden and Tom, appearing as his servant, must rescue Prince Dutiful--possibly from himself. 

In The Golden Fool, Book 2, Tom intends to return to court and train Prince Dutiful with the intention of forming a coterie of Skill users. The group will include Dutiful, Lord Golden and Chade, along with the disabled servant of Chade's named Thick. Fitz's daughter with Molly, Nettle, also possesses the Skill, and she reaches out to Tom against the will of the person she believes to be her father--Burrich (from the first trilogy), who's now married to Fitz's love Molly and they have a Skilled son together named Swift. Additionally, a Witted coterie is in the works as the scourge against this magic is being actively turned over. The kingdom wants to show that Wit is a talent instead of a distrusted curse to fear. 

In this story, the Fool reveals his deepest feelings to Tom, believing him to be his beloved. But Tom can't accept this, and a schism forms between them. There's also a thread about the princess of the Out Islands potentially marrying Prince Dutiful to establish an alliance between their people, thus reunited the Six Duchies. However, she requires that, to win her hand, he must bring her the head of the dragon IceFyre, who's trapped beneath the ice on the isle of Aslevjal. The Golden Fool has foretold that he'll die there trying to stop this fate from happening. 

The trilogy concludes with Fool's Fate. Tom makes an effort to steal away by ship with the coteries to go to the Out Islands and give the princess what she needs to accept Dutiful's troth. Tom wants to prevent the Fool's death at all cost, but fate isn't so easily thwarted. The Fool joins them despite their scheming, and together the Witted and Skilled coteries attempt to free IceFyre from its prison. However, another White Prophet would see the dragon killed in order to prevent the Fool's prophecy that dragons would return to the world from being fulfilled. Though the Fool is destined to die during all these events, Tom refuses to allow it and intends to do everything in his power to save them both. 

While I enjoyed it, I concluded this subseries feeling a bit unsure what the purpose of it was. More than anything else, The Tawny Man Trilogy seems to be little more than an extremely long bridge (very close to 5000 pages!)--from the previous subseries to the next. You get to see events that happened before play out in the present here and, yes, familiar characters move along toward future events. Mind you, this isn't so much as a complaint as a comment that left me a bit baffled. Tom is a complex character, and I didn't always understand him. Also, in a tiny way, the whole plotline about the Fool's androgynous nature as a prophet that's reinvented itself over the course of perhaps centuries struck me as a little far-fetched and convenient to the plot in this subseries. Finally, apparently unlike, say, the council of wizards in The Lord of the Rings, White Prophets in this series don't work together and in fact can actively work against each other to see their own ends fulfilled. Who or what's guiding all that is anybody's guess. I'm not sure how or even if that'll play out further in the next subseries. 

As an aside, the ebook version of Fool's Errand was over 1,300 pages. It took me 7 hours and 19 minutes to read it. I was surprised I enjoyed reading an ebook, though it was annoying to drag my iPad around everywhere so I could snatch a few minutes here and there to read. It's also frustrating because I have crappy internet and sometimes I couldn't get the app to load the book so I could read when I wanted to. You never have that problem with a paperback. But I also didn't spend $30-$75 on purchasing the three books either used or new. There are trade-offs when reading traditionally or electronically, I'm learning. 

In any case, I enjoyed this trilogy, though it was a good 3000 pages too long for me. I was eager to see the evolution of the characters as well as the world The Realm of the Elderlings is set expanded. For whatever reason, I didn't feel quite as exhausted reading this third subseries as I did those that came before. I believe the ebook medium had a lot to do with that. But I also didn't enjoy this subseries in the Realm of the Elderlings as much as the last one I read. While I do want to get started on the fourth subseries, The Rain Wilds Chronicles, which has four books instead of just three, and is set in the city of the ancient Elderlings, I do need another break before I turn to those paperbacks I own. I suspect that final subseries will at last include everything I've been looking forward to so eagerly since I found this amazing series. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

An Author's Legacy by Karen S. Wiesner

 

An Author's Legacy

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

While writing the final review for a subseries in Robin Hobb's The Realm of the Elderlings (to be posted on Alien Romances Blog in the future), I came across an interesting thing on Hobb's website blog posted August 21, 2025 concerning WorldCon Seattle 2025. The author commented on SFF Addicts Podcast's (rude) question posed to author (and Hobb's good friend) George R.R. Martin about what would become of his work upon his death. Hobb herself gave her answer to such a question about her own legacy as: "Upon my death or me being admitted to memory care, my very loyal daughters will torch any and all papers on my desk and filing cabinets. All files saved to the cloud will be deleted and accounts closed. Hard drives will be removed from computers and destroyed or wiped. When I go, all my imaginary friends will go along with me. As they should."

 

My opinion, which mirrors both Hobb's and Martin's, is that if I can't get the actual author's version of any sequel to their series, I don't want it. Nor will I waste my time reading anything else as a substitute. If either author passes detailed notes on to another, trusted author to finish their legacy, then, yes, of course, I'd read them. Otherwise, no. Just no.

 

Not surprisingly, readers had mixed reactions to Hobb's and Martin's answers. Many said of Hobb's that, if her daughters really were loyal, they would save it all (implying the only right thing to do is to give it to the world). I don't believe that's the case at all. The only loyal thing Hobb's daughters will be able to do is to follow their mother's orders. Maybe, but just maybe, they can retain their own copies for themselves (destroying them before their own deaths), but only if their mother expressly allows it.

 

This is a task no author can safely forgo while they yet live. Only now can we have our say about our writing legacy. When authors are no longer anything more than names on a family tree to those who come after us, our wishes will no longer matter. It's better to take unwanted possibilities off the table while all this is still within our control.

 

Authors, I beseech you, make your wishes known to those who come after you--write it all down, preferably in explicit and complete detail, then talk to your family and to the ones who'll control your writing legacy once you're gone.

 

Don't assume your family would know what you want or that what they want is the same as what you want. I had a recent discussion with my husband about some aspects of all this and found out that he believed the exact opposite as I do--he thinks all written works should immediately pass into the public domain upon an author's death. I was horrified. That was the opposite of what I wanted. I want a trusted next of kin to hold onto my very considerable legacy (with 156 books, several writing columns, countless articles, etc.) as long as it's possible, not just thoughtlessly give it all away.

 

Needless to say, it's a very good thing we had this discussion and also very good that I've written down my wishes exactly for what I do want for the future of my written work. Having those deep, maybe uncomfortable discussions as well as establishing firmly for those that follow what you want to see happen with your own work isn't merely an option. It's critical. You're never too young or old to undertake this. Tomorrow isn't certain; the next hour isn't certain. Do it now! You can't finish what you don't start, and you can do it a little over time. Just do it. What happens when you're gone should be your decision. Just remember, once it's over, it's forever out of your hands.

 

For me, the thought of anyone other than a first-generation family member (who knows and fully understands what I intended) writing anything for my series, characters, or settings would make me turn over in my grave. And, yes, I've already done this myself. Okay, full-disclosure, I've committed to file and paper thousands of pages of information, master copies of my published work, instructions, etc. and this to the largest, commercially available binder as well as onto mega-large flash drives. All of this contains my wishes for the body of written work that is my legacy. These have been prepared for those who will handle said body of work when I'm gone. Additionally, I've spoken at length to the two I've chosen for this task. All this has been a massive project I've worked on for the last couple years.

 

As my publisher and I are wrapping up the editing of my last projects before I retire from fiction and nonfiction reference writing, I'm completing the last of my legacy instructions and storing master files, etc. as we finish them. I've already also begun to undertake children's book illustration and various other art projects, authoring and designing Christian devotionals, as well as composing my own songs, which will be the exciting second chapter of my career. Honestly, I wouldn’t feel comforting going into any of that without first doing the critical work of setting down my writing legacy wishes. This next phase of my life promises to be filled with wondrous new endeavors to keep my mind and body active in my "Golden Years". I know I'll rest easier, knowing I've done all the work of leaving behind my written legacy as I see fit. Be sure to check out my website and the blog there to remain in the loop of all I'm doing: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/.

 

 

In the meantime, another sentimental milestone in my writing career has been marked. The publication of my final adult fiction novel, Bad Blood, Book 11, the epic conclusion of my Bloodmoon Cove Spirits Series, has recently been released. This paranormal fantasy series was one of my favorites to write. Find out more here:

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/bloodmoon-cove-spirits-series.html

https://writers-exchange.com/bad-blood/

"BAD BLOOD weaves together people and episodes from previous novels in the series to create a satisfying culmination for the Bloodmoon Cove story cycle. Sympathetic protagonists and secondary characters face dire threats in a conflict whose outcome will change the town and the tribe forever, whether for better or worse. The overarching series theme of the past elders’ disastrous rupture of a portal between this world and the spirit realm at last reaches its resolution. The climactic battle is entirely worth the wait. Especially effective is the way the author blends mundane, wholly realistic problems and tensions with mythic motifs. This is a can’t-miss experience, as readers will rejoice in witnessing some characters attain well-deserved happiness." ~author Margaret L. Carter

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Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review Subseries 2: The Liveship Traders Trilogy (The Realm of the Elderlings) by Robin Hobb by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review

Subseries 2: The Liveship Traders Trilogy (The Realm of the Elderlings)

by Robin Hobb

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Robin Hobb is the author of The Realm of the Elderlings. Within this umbrella series, she's written five "miniseries" and numerous short stories. In previous Alien Romances Blog reviews, I covered The Inheritance & Other Stories, which contains a couple Realm of the Elderlings offerings. I also reviewed the first trilogy of novels within this series, The Farseer Trilogy. After recovering from the intensity of that first offering, I took a month or so off before I could get myself to read anything else the author has written within this overarching saga. Following that break, I was able to read two miscellaneous novellas in the series, "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" and "Words Like Coins", and those reviews have also been posted previously on this blog. 

Almost immediately following that, I started reading the second trilogy set, The Liveship Traders Trilogy. Technically, I'm reading the subseries in The Realm of the Elderlings in order of publication, not the suggested reading order. The reason I'm doing that is that I sometimes feel like an author makes the most sense of a series by writing the installments as they come to her--even if particular stories don't fit in chronologically with what's come before. I figure if the author gained understanding of it that way, then it's also how I as the reader will best piece it together as well. 

The Farseer Trilogy was focused on Fitz, the illegitimate son of Prince Chivalry of the royal line presiding over the Six Duchies. In that first subset, we learned something of the Elderlings (including dragons) and their ancient cities and settlements around the world, especially in the Rain Wilds. 

(The) Liveship Traders Trilogy includes:

Ship of Magic, Book 1 (published 1998)

(The) Mad Ship, Book 2 (published 1999)

Ship of Destiny, Book 3 (published 2000) 

In this second subseries, we move away from the royal Farseer lineage and problems within the nobility to something very different. The main setting is Bingtown, a colony of Jamaillia, and deals with "liveships". Liveships are built from wizardwood, which isn't actually wood but the outer cocoon of a sea serpent that was in the process of transforming into a dragon. These logs were buried in the destroyed city of the Elderlings in the Rain Wilds and found by traders who excavated the ruins for valuable, magical artifacts. After three family members die on board, a liveship ship "quickens" and becomes a living, sentient ship. From that point on, these merchant ships have consciousness all their own. With supernatural properties, liveships are the most coveted of all in the realm. The liveship of the family that paid to have it created becomes deeply bonded with all generations of their owners. Once upon a time, owning such a rare and special ship all but guaranteed prosperity for a trader. Not so any longer. 

Liveship traders have fallen on hard times because of the war in the north (detailed in The Farseer Trilogy). Trade is the lifeblood of Bingtown and it seeks independence from Jamaillia and Chalced in particular, not wanting to deal in raiding or slave trading. But a selfish, short-sighted, pleasure-seeking Satrap who controls trade for the realm demands that tradition must change with the times. Meanwhile, pirates, migrating sea serpents, a slave rebellion, and a newly hatched dragon complicate things. 

In Ship of Magic, Book 1, the main focus is on Althea Vestrit. Her family holds to their contracts and traditions with a death grip until the male head of their family passes away. Althea is the younger daughter and has given her life to their liveship Vivacia. She fully anticipates becoming the captain of the ship someday. However, her mother talks her father out of it, something she soon regrets, just before his death. The eldest daughter is married to a Chalcedean sailor, Kyle Haven, and he gains control of Vivicia after the elder male Vestrit's death, turning her into a slaver vessel. Kyle forces his oldest son Wintrow, who has been training as a priest of Sa for years, to become a sailor because a direct line of the family must always be aboard when a liveship sails. 

When she's forced off Vivacia permanently by her sister's pompous, boneheaded husband, who's also been given complete control of the family fortune, Althea leaves Bingtown to find a way to retake her ship. Her family scrambles in her absence. Malta, the manipulative, self-seeking young daughter of Althea's sister, insists on being treated as a woman of marriageable age though she hasn't had the proper training and is barely old enough to be out of pigtails. A series of greedy, spoiled choices on her end have her abruptly being wooed by Reyn, the youngest son of the Rain Wilds trader that provided Vivacia. Althea's family remains indebted to them for the ship, but a marriage between the families could mean the Vestrit's financial situation doesn't prove as dire as it's rapidly becoming. 

Althea is wroth at all that's befallen her. Her only allies in regaining control of Vivacia are her old shipmate, roguish Brashen Trell; a mysterious Bingtown woodcarver named Amber; and the Paragon, a notoriously mad liveship owned but essentially abandoned by the Ludluck family. Paragon can't remember how he got the way he is--insane and beached at Bingtown for the past thirty years. 

Meanwhile, Captain Kennit is a pirate following a prophecy that tells him he'll become King of the Pirate Isles if he can capture a liveship. But first, on the advice of his first mate, he becomes the hero of slavers when he begins capturing slaver vessels and liberating them. 

As with the subseries that came before, these books are undeniably massive, and very introspective and slow-moving. The sheer number of characters thrown in almost from the first page of Book 1 became a chore to keep track of easily. Even the points of view of a tangle of sea serpents following the liveship in search of "She Who Remembers" are included in these books. 

While reading the first book, I kept wondering how in the world these seemingly disparate plotlines could possibly converge and make any sense. But they actually did--and explosively. Ship of Magic established the plots, and they were all just the first brutal wave of a hurricane of events and players. As intense as the first 832-page mass market paperback (mmp) was, it was also wholly gripping. I was immersed in each and every aspect. As soon as I finished it, I jumped headfirst into Book 2 despite that I was rapidly becoming exhausted. 

(The) Mad Ship starts where Book 1 left off, continuing all the plotlines. Althea learns from Brashen that Vivacia has been claimed by Captain Kennit, and she determines to retake her. Althea and Brashen's relationship is strained due to unresolved feelings between them. Further complicating the situation is her recent marriage proposal from the son of another liveship trader. She's been working aboard that family's liveship Orphelia in order to prove she has what it takes to be captain of her own ship. Meanwhile, Amber is determined to save Paragon with help from Althea and Brashen, and the mad ship begins to remember the traumatic events that led to his madness. 

In an attempt to save himself and his father, who are hostages aboard the Vivicia, Wintrow heals Kennit. The pirate captain begins to recover from having his leg bitten off by a sea serpent. Kennit's bond with Wintrow and Vivicia increases. Elsewhere, the Jamaillian Satrap intends to sail to Bingtown and force the traders to bend to his will. The corruption in Bingtown is forcing Old Traders to compromise on nearly every front but rebellion is afoot and one of the Satraps own "heart companions" (traditionally, advisors) schemes to deal fairly with Bingtown traders, though a trauma experience en route changes her for a time and makes her self-protective at any cost. Readers also begin to learn more about Captain Kennit's past, his connection to Paragon, and why his pirate heart is so justifiably black. Also, Althea, Brashen, Amber, and other Bingtown traders begin to outfit Paragon for sailing once more in order to retake Vivicia. 

Finally, Malta becomes even more nefarious in her quest to secure the rich, extravagant life she feels entitled to and manipulates on many fronts to see her selfish ends achieved, playing two men in seeking her hand at once and doing her bidding by saving her beloved father Kyle. 

Reyn has fallen for Malta, but part of his mind is ensorcelled by the very last dragon in existence. She remains cocooned in the wizardwood trapped in the Elderlings ruins. Reyn longs to free it, but to bring it out of where it's all but buried would be a monumental task requiring many men. No one else wants to see a dragon reintroduced into the world for fear it'll seek to destroy instead of coexisting or even helping them. Malta is also able to communicate with the dragon through the trinket Reyn gave her from the ruins. The dragon promises Malta anything she wants in exchange for her help in freeing her. A schemer like Malta thinks of nothing beyond her own desires. If she unleashes a volcanic explosion upon the world in the process, what does it matter to her as long as she gets what she wants? 

At 864 pages in the mmp, this middle story was both even more overwhelming than the last and impossibly more engaging. 

The final book of the trilogy, Ship of Destiny, had another daunting 800 pages (mmp). All the twists and turns that have been playing out in the last two books slowly resolve in a way that I heartily approved of and had been hoping for. The bad guys got what they deserved, the good found victory, and many characters realistically made a transition to become heroes instead of villains in the course of the trilogy. The climax wasn't a single action scene but a process that took at least a full quarter of the end of Book 3, including exciting peaks and emotionally satisfying valleys. 

As mind-blowing as this trilogy was, I won't deny that I was almost too tired to enjoy the final tale the way I would have if the endeavor hadn't been so daunting. How I wish the author had chosen to divide each installment into three or four books instead of one massive, overwhelming tome! A twelve to sixteen book series of manageable volumes would have been much more enjoyable for me, not to mention less mentally (and physically--the huge paperbacks became hard for me to hold for any great length of time, cutting down on my ability to read faster) taxing. There's simply so much here, I sometimes felt while reading the three books that my head might explode with it all. 

While I originally thought I wouldn't be a fan of this second trilogy because the main character Fitz in the first subseries doesn't really factor into them, I ended up liking The Liveship Traders Trilogy even more than The Farseer Trilogy, which is saying a lot. I loved them both. I'm apparently not the only one who feels that way. George R. R. Martin describes it as "even better than the Farseer Trilogy—I didn’t think that was possible". It's apparently also a favorite of author Orson Scott Card. 

Not surprisingly, this series has been compared to A Song of Ice and Fire--not in content, but in execution. (The two authors are friends.) Hobb has a similar manner as Martin of writing a story almost as if she's setting down the facts in a history book and not flinching as she establishes every last, excruciating detail just as raw and painful as it gets. Her characters are so realistic and life-like you can't help becoming enmeshed in their lives--sometimes, whether or not you actually want to be. There are a lot of villainous characters in this trilogy, but they're not through and through evil. The reader is given not just a one- or even two-dimensional portrayal of them, but the full three dimensions. Some of those aspects aren't particularly pretty or redeemable, which might be difficult for some readers to stomach. Nevertheless, always, the characters are made understandable. And that's even better. You may dislike or even hate them, may be shocked or sickened by the things they do and say, but you can at least understand the makeup of the characters and what drives them. I do have to warn you that there were several rapes in this series. None of them was detailed or gratuitous--the author handled them skillfully--but beware those who are sensitive. 

I can't wait to find out where all this is going in the wider world Hobb has created in The Realm of the Elderlings. I'm open to any direction at this point, as long as there's more of everything I've come to love. All this said, I do wish entertainment producers would make a series of this. Like A Song of Ice and Fire, The Realm of the Elderlings would be amazing in the form of several movies or a TV series. 

Incidentally, I read in many articles posted on Wikipedia concerning The Realm of the Elderlings that the character of Amber in Liveship Traders supposedly played the part of the Fool in the Farseer Trilogy (though no sources for where they came by this information are given), but I will say that I didn't see actual reference to that being definitively the case in the specific books for this subseries. In other words, it didn't explicitly spell out, "I'm Amber in The Liveship Traders Trilogy; previously I was the Fool at court in The Farseer Trilogy." Maybe I missed something because there was simply too much here for that not to be a possibility. Make of this what you will. Maybe it becomes important later on in The Realm of the Elderlings. I'm really not sure at the point I am in traversing this world. 

In this second subseries trilogy, I learned much more about the Elderlings and the Rain Wilds than previously. That's definitely the overarching plot in all the subseries that keeps me coming back eagerly for more. Here, dragons are reintroduced into the world with humans aiding them. There's also a bit of a disturbing implication that the dragons so influence humans that they're physically and mentally changed as a result--possibly outside of their own wills. In any case, I look forward to more expansion on all of this in further installments of The Realm of the Elderlings. 

Unfortunately, I just read in excess of 2400 pages with this subseries. I'm finding I need another lengthy break before I can start on the third subseries, The Tawny Man Trilogy. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince and Words Like Coins (The Realm of the Elderlings) by Robin Hobb by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince

and Words Like Coins (The Realm of the Elderlings)

by Robin Hobb

by Karen S. Wiesner 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Robin Hobb is the author of The Realm of the Elderlings. Within this umbrella series, she's written five "miniseries" and numerous short stories. In previous Alien Romances Blog posts, I've reviewed The Inheritance & Other Stories, which contains a couple Realm of the Elderlings offerings. I also reviewed the first trilogy of novels within this series, The Farseer Trilogy. Do a search on both of them if you missed them previously. 

After recovering from the intensity of that first offering, I took a month or so off before I could get myself to read anything else the author has written within this overarching saga. Following that break, I was able to read two miscellaneous novellas in the series, "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" and "Words Like Coins" which are the focus of this review. I was only able to buy ebook versions for both of these stories, which disappointed me as a collector. If I love a series, I want tangible copies. 

I was expecting to dislike both of these stories since I've found I prefer Robin Hobb's full-length novels immeasurably more than her short work (especially the stuff written under her real name Megan Lindholm), but I was very impressed with both of these short tales. I read them within a few hours. "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" was the first I read. I opened "Words Like Coins" immediately after, and I simply couldn't put it down. 

"The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" was published January 1, 2013. It's referred to as a prequel to The Farseer Trilogy (#0.5). At 159 pages, the novella takes places before the time of Chivalry Farseer (Fitz's father from the original trilogy), and deals with another imprudent royal. Princess Caution Farseer is anything like her name. As queen-in-waiting, she's headstrong and rash. Caution has absolutely no interest in learning anything about the duties, responsibilities, and politics of running a kingdom, and rules and regulations have nothing to do with her! Caution falls in love with a Witted (a human bonded with an animal, allowing them to share thoughts and behavior) man with piebald markings. He possesses a piebald horse that will act tame with none other than himself. Caution literally throws all care to the wind and becomes pregnant by this Witted one. But can a happily-ever-after be in store for a spoiled princess and a man who's partly beast through his Witted skills? 

The story is told from the unvarnished point of view of Felicity, a low-born who becomes a sometimes treacherous companion to the princess almost from birth. Felicity more often than not follows the ill-advised, selfish wisdom of her own mother, and this leads to her own downfall as well as that of her charge. That made for some very excited reading! While it was often difficult to feel sorry for many of the characters in this novella, since they made their own beds, so to speak, with their poor choices and behavior, the plot nevertheless held me enthralled from start to finish. 

This tale serves as a kind of explanation about why the Witted are looked upon with such disdain in The Farseer Trilogy and more firmly establishes Fitz's origins there. 

 

"Words Like Coins" (first published in the 2009 anthology A Fantasy Medley) is considered Book number 1.5 in The Realm of the Elderlings. The 10,000 word tale was published as a standalone ebook on May 10, 2012. 

Mirrifen is the failed apprentice of a hedge witch (utilizing "natural" herbal magic). She married for security, as did her sister-in-law Jami, who's pregnant. When their husbands go off in search of work, a severe drought overtakes the farm in their absence. Rats accumulate, and Jami becomes paranoid about the fact that rats are rumored to bring pecksies. 

A pecksie is a mythological fey creature (something like a pixie) about half the size of a cat. Humans can bind them by providing assistance to one, who will then give favors. Pecksies don't take kindly to any human doing this to them, of course, since the binding can't be reversed. Jami relates the story about how her folks tried to bind a pecksie and soon paid the price when they were overrun with them. 

Mirrifen doesn't believe a word of it--until she comes across a pecksie who begs for a drink at the well, even if it means she'll be bound to Mirrifen. The fey brags that her people hunt in silence, no words necessary. "Words are like coins. To spend carefully, as they are needed only. Not to scatter like humans do." But her people are too small to draw water from the well. Only Mirrifen can help them. 

When she does, the binding between them is accomplished. This particular pecksie is a charm-maker. When Jami and her baby need help, the only one capable of saving her may not be Mirrifen but the pecksie Jami fears most. 

"Words Like Coins" is such a delightful tale with irresistible characters and a conflict that's not easily solved. As I said, I read it in almost no time at all, since I couldn't put it down until I found out how it resolved. 

While "The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" has a direct connection to the world and characters the previous trilogy created with the Farseer kingdom and royal line origins, "Words Like Coins" is simply a story that takes place somewhere in that world without any real connection beyond the author's word for it that it's related. But that doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. Both are definitely worth your time and money. "The Willful Princess" will only set you back $5.99, "Words Like Coins" $2.99. 

As I'm writing this, I'm in the process of reading the next novels in the series with The Liveship Traders Trilogy, so that review is coming up soon. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review Subseries 1: The Farseer Trilogy (The Realm of the Elderlings) by Robin Hobb by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review

Subseries 1: The Farseer Trilogy (The Realm of the Elderlings)

by Robin Hobb

by Karen S. Wiesner 

Last week, I did an overview of Robin Hobb's The Realm of the Elderlings series, which has multiple subseries within it. This week, I'll review the first subseries, The Farseer Trilogy. 

 

In this first trilogy, FitzChivalry Farseer is the illegitimate son of a prince (Chivalry, the King-in-Waiting until Fitz's birth forces him to abdicate the throne). Chivalry willingly steps aside and moves away from Buckkeep, the royal castle, to live a quiet life away from what was once his legacy. Meanwhile, Fitz is shuffled around in his early life. As the story and subseries progresses, Fitz learns he possesses two forms of magic. The Skill is an ability that mainly only the royal Farseer line tend to have, though there are "wild strains". With the Skill, a person can reach out to another's mind, no matter how far away, and read thoughts and influence thinking and behavior. An even older magic is the Wit, in which humans feel such a kinship with animals, they share thoughts and behaviors, sometimes becoming so bonded that they themselves become little more than beasts. The strength of the bond can also lead to performing powerful attacks. The Wit is looked upon with scorn and fear by most humans. 

In Assassin's Apprentice, Book 1, Fitz is a six-year-old boy when handed off to his father's most loyal servant, Burrich, who currently tends the animals within the castle keep. Fitz doesn't know his own name or origins and remembers little of his upbringing, only that nothing was ever home and he was always hungry. Burrich provides Fitz with both, though at first Fitz doesn't see his guardian as much more than a hard (though never cruel) caretaker. Burrich tries to stamp the Wit out of Fitz from an early age, with only mild success. (Why he did this was obvious to me from the first.) Later, Burrich becomes the one Fitz trusts most. 

Burrich determines that Fitz must take his rightful place within the royal family. Though he's only a bastard, his life must be made to serve, and early on King Shrewd determines Fitz will become his secret weapon in exchange for allowing him to live in the castle and partake of its bounty. Eventually, Fitz is trained as an assassin as well as formally instructed in the Skill by a jealous, ruthless teacher who damages young Fitz far more than he ever helps him. Also, the King-in-Waiting, Verity, is the oldest son of Shrewd, and has given himself over almost entirely to the Skill in his relentless attempts to circumvent the Red-Ship Raiders, while his fashionable, frivolous, and scheming youngest stepbrother Regal seeks to usurp his brother's rightful place on the throne. Quickly, Fitz becomes the King-in-Waiting's man instead of King Shrewd's, but political machinations within the royal family inevitably and always become honest and good Fitz's downfall. 

In this first Farseer title, we learn little more than that Elderlings and their ancient cities and settlements are found throughout the Six Duchies. However, almost nothing is written down or known about them so they've become as obscure as fables that no one living is entirely sure were ever true. As barely a mention in Assassin's Apprentice, it's said that in the olden days of King Wisdom, Elderlings came to the aid of the Six Duchies in the deadly sea raiders' war against the people of the land and promised to return in the future if help is ever again needed. 

Royal Assassin, Book 2, continues almost directly after the previous story, with Fitz initially little more than a cripple after circumventing his uncle's botched attempt to claim a birthright that doesn't belong to him. Fitz is a teenager but also a grown man. He dreams of the girl he'd met when he was a child--a lowly candle maker, the only daughter of an abusive drunk. Molly has become a maid in the royal household, and when Fitz realizes it, his heart wants nothing more than to marry her and live with her in a way that proves impossible. As a bastard, an assassin, a fumbling Skill user who's unable to tamp down on his Wit abilities with a wolf he rescued, his life is complicated, to say the least. There are secrets he can't share with anyone, least of all the woman he loves. Shrewd already has plans to marry Fitz off to someone with a desirous position, influence, and wealth. 

Meanwhile, the Six Duchies are in turmoil with increased raids and the jealousies of a spoiled younger prince that again puts Fitz in the center of the worst of it. While his father's health is ailing, no doubt part of Regal's renewed, ruthless efforts to become ruler, Verity's focus has been on building massive ships that, with his Skill, he can now send out to the sea and meet the Red-Ships head to head. He charges Fitz with being his protector (to that end, Burrich begins training him in earnest for combat) as well as his physical eyes and hands in dealing with the enemy on the high seas. In this way, Verity begins re-teaching Fitz the Skill. However, their efforts aren't successful in turning the tide against the raiders. The court Fool, a being who in later trilogies becomes androgynous seems to have Farsight, investigates the Elderlings' promise to help them with future raiders. Soon, Verity decides he must go himself to seek Elderling aid before the battle against the Red Ships is lost once and for all. He leaves behind a pregnant queen wife who hasn't been fully accepted by the people, let alone by his devious younger sibling who's intent on regicide and deposing his older brother through any means necessary. Fitz again stands between selfish ambition and the destruction of the Six Duchies until the King-in-Waiting, hopefully, returns with help enough to save them. 

In the second book of Farseer, Hobb described Elderlings very briefly: "Of stone were their bones made, of the sparkling veined stone of the Mountains. Their flesh was made of the shining salts of the earth. But their hearts were made of the hearts of wise men. They came from afar, those men, a long and trying way. They did not hesitate to lay down the lives that had become a weariness to them. They ended their days and began eternities, they put aside flesh and donned stone, they let fall their weapons and rose on new wings." Elderlings were said to live beyond the tallest mountains of the Mountain Kingdom. The only explanation I can think of why Hobb describes these creatures as humanoid (those men from afar) in this passage is because of what happens at the very end of Book 3 between Verity and the Elderling he awakens. 

Assassin's Quest, Book 3, spends nearly three-fourths of its length dealing with issues that came up in the first two books. As necessary as it was to address the critical plot threads that were left dangling, the thrust of the book--and almost my sole focus at that point--was on the last quarter of the tale and the trilogy. Finally, finally, in this last installment, after Verity is thought to be lost, Fitz and his friends go on a quest to find the king. In the process, they also discover the nature of the Elderlings--stone dragons that can only be woken by carving them out and filling them up with everything the person of Skill has and is. So the dragons are also "men" in the sense that they have a Skilled man's entire being--memories as well as the tangible--incorporated into their beings. 

In this final book, we also learn that Regal long ago stole everything written about instructing those in the Skill (and maybe also in the use of Wit), which is necessary to truly wake these Elderlings. We also find out that a companion that made the journey with Fitz to find Verity and the Elderlings was once a powerful Skill user during the time of King Wisdom, having used her abilities (as was common at that time) to make herself young and all but ageless. Though it was assumed that Verity had the most Skill of anyone alive up to this point, it becomes clear he doesn't know enough to do what must be done to awaken the dragons. Able to use Skill and Wit magic, Fitz must utilize both to do what seems impossible. 

~*~

These three books that make up the first trilogy are very introspective and slow-moving tales. Despite the inherent clichés of the basic theme of the stories, Fitz is a singular character and introducing him to readers at such a young age allowed me, for one, to grow to care for him. Despite all that he's made to do, he remains innocent, if a bit naïve and childishly reckless, unwilling to do harm where it isn't warranted. He's taught by the court assassin Chade to never assume but to follow every single lead until you're absolutely sure you know everything before you act, and Fitz does that. Though as a "king's man" he's forced to do what he's told, he always has a mind and a conscience of his own that direct his actions. I was deeply drawn into his story in Book 1 and moved by his successes but mainly his failures, as those seems to be more prevalent in his lamentable life. In a review, the Los Angeles Review of Books stated, The Farseer Trilogy offers "complete immersion in Fitz's complicated personality." 

That said, I can't deny that by Book 2, my interest was waning. I desperately wanted to find out more about Elderlings, and so much of Books 2 and 3 of this particular trilogy aren't really about that. Additionally, I became very frustrated with all the characters because it seemed like there was a trend in everyone to make the stupidest decisions possible in whatever came about as a result of the plots and conflicts. For instance, in Book 2, Regal's mad schemes to gain power should have made everyone--especially the older brother Verity--wise to his ways. Instead, after nearly killing their father, Verity, Fitz, and Burrich, what happens as a result of this megalomaniac's grab for power? Basically nothing. Regal continues on with his plans without punishment, let alone restraint or confinement, and, gee and golly, what happens in Book 3? Yup, you guessed it! Regal attempts to kill his king father, his brother, Fitz, while trying to seize the throne. He does this all but unfettered. It was senseless on the part of everyone. Not one of them ever learned the lesson of not trusting Regal. Locking him up and throwing away the key might have been the best course of action here, but illogically no one ever thought to do that. In one particularly moronic situation, Regal orders every last horse in the Buckkeep stable to be sent away. What possible reason would he have for doing that, other than nefarious purposes? Yet everyone follows his orders, letting the castle be plundered while Regal sets up his own keep somewhere else in the ultimate goal, of course, of ruling the land from there. It was hard to escape the everybody's-too-stupid-to-live assessment of the trilogy after that point. 

One other thing that bothered me about The Farseer Trilogy was that Fitz's Skill abilities seemed a little too convenient. For most of the trilogy, he didn't know what the heck he was doing, his training was abysmal (which makes a lot of sense), and yet when he most needs to use the talent, suddenly he's able to do all but impossible things with it (which doesn't make a lot of sense). This reminded me of Terry Brooks' Shannara Series. In that, those from the Shannara line would be called upon to utilize magic without any idea how to go about doing that. There were fits and starts, some success, a lot of failure, and eventually confidence grew as the user and the magic within whatever the instrument of power was (a sword, a stone, a song, etc.) melded into one--a scary proposition that frequently led the users to put magic as far from them as possible once the immediate danger was past. In some ways, it's logical that someone who comes from a lineage of magic users wouldn't necessarily know how to use it effectively themselves. It's like learning a language. At first, nothing makes sense; it's all Greek. But, as the learning process continues, things start to gel as understanding and adeptness grows. But Fitz's Skill advancement felt a bit too contrived as the trilogy progressed, too convenient to whatever the plot needed it to be at the moment of direst need. 

All that said, finally having the Elderlings "realized" in this trilogy was thrilling, though I felt like it came far too late and also, once they appeared, the story wasn't focused enough on the actual battle of Elderlings driving back the Red-Ship Raiders, nor on the in-depth information I wanted about these majestic, powerful creatures of legend. I wanted much, much more of that. I hope to get it in reading further subseries, though I do need to take a break from The Realm of the Elderlings. This first trilogy was intense and complicated, to the extreme. I do intend to review the rest of the offerings in The Realm of the Elderlings series in coming months, though at this point I'm not sure what order I'll do that in. Stay tuned. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/