Forest Mage

[disco]

Just finished this and find the series is getting better and just wondering what anybody else feels.

 

[nixie]

I thought it was getting better, but was very disappointed with the ending

 

[Somebloke]

To be honest, I hated the way she utterly changed the tack of the series. It seemed like almost all of the direction of the first book- Gord, the academy, the chances of being a scout rather than an officer, the city, the plains magic even the plains girl from the intro, as well as his desire to impress his father- were dropped or resolved in the first third of the book. I also found his 'decent' into becoming a forest mage somewhat inevitable.

Kudos, though, for making a morbidly obese hero in a fantasy novel.

 

[Mouse]

I'm halfway through and I'm liking it, intrigued about the ending, everybody keeps saying how bad it is!!

 

[nixie]

Personally I think she copped out, she could have done so much more.

 

[Talysia]

I picked up this book, but I just couldn't get into it the way I did with some of her earlier works. Maybe at another time I'll be able to read it at a later date.

 

[The Ace]

It's the only one of hers I'd read, and I feel that the ending was alittle weak, but surely the thid book will resolve this ?

 

[Kitera]

I feel traitorous; being a fan of Robin Hobb and I haven’t even read her new trilogy. *sighs*

 

[nettle]

the books, i think, are good but i did not like the ending of the cesond one

 

[milsurphunter]

Hello, I could not put the book down. I do have to agree that it was not the follow up to the first book that i expected. I did enjoy it though. Poor navare just kept getting dumped on throught the story. I hope the last in the series brings him back to his former glory.

 

[TheHappyScientist]

Honestly, I love Robin Hobb but I would have to say her newest books have not thrilled me. Although, right now I am in the middle of Forest Mage and am quite hooked I do not feel the same emotional attachment that I did to Fitz, even when he was middle aged and no longer the same character that I fell in love with in the earlier trilogy. Despite these tellings of a somewhat lackluster ending, I can only hope that she pulls it all together.

 

[BrightFeather]

I cant like it!
i was impressed by the first book Shamans crossing,
but Forest mage, i dont know it went kind of weird on me
and i put it down half way through and i can bring myself
to pick it up again!!

there is so much more to the Farseer and Tawny man books!
and after reading Shamans crossing i was expecting so much
more from the second book,
i cant even explain what it is about it, it just doesnt seem to follow!!

 

[Rahl Windsong]

I have just started Forest Mage and I have to say that this series does not spark any sort of emotional attatchment to the characters like I had with Fitz and Nighteyes and many of the other characters in those two trillogies. I am reading it but I am not really sure if I care which way Nevare goes and I think that is the whole point to this story, that the reader cares about Nevare. Well I don't.

 

[Rahl Windsong]

Well I finally finished The Forest Mage and I have to say I can not for the life of me figure out why Robin Hobb would write Nevare as she did in this book. Why does she think that we want to read about this incredibly obese character, described in great detail exactly what it is like to be so over weight? I am pretty much certain anyone who is over weight would not even want to read the book simply because it would constantly remind them of their own problems.

It seems as though she attempted to make the reader feel sorry for the Nevare character, when all I really felt was disgusted with how she tried to make Nevare into Fitz by making him fat. There, I have said it, Nevare is a carbon copy of Fitz in terms of how she attempts to make the reader feel about the character.

I will not be reading the rest of this series and I am really glad I found Forest Mage at my local library, I almost did purchase it...whew!

Edit: And no, I am not over weight so I don't hold a grudge in that regard. However I do have friends and family that are over weight and I know they would hate this book with a passion. Robin Hobb made a mistake with the Nevare character, either that or she only has the one main character type in her because I kept seeing Fitz under all that weight.

 

[Fahim]

I am only about a third through "Forest Mage" at the moment. However, I've hated the characters with a vengeance though the writing keeps me going I could sort of understand Nevare's character and his rather chauvinistic views in the first book because he is a product of his world. However, the beginning of this book just exasperated me.

Leaving aside the detailed description of each food item that Nevare eats as if this was a book of recipes, there's the whole "It's my fault, no it's not my fault, it's my father's fault, it's x's fault" business. It was just too damned annoying to be reading about somebody so sanctimonious, self-righteous and whiny

Perhaps the book will change (as will Nevare) as I go into the second third (yeah, that sounds weird doesn't it? second third?) of the novel but I have a feeling that it isn't going to change all that much ...

 

[timelord4]

A bit flat this book, however, I do recommend persevering and try Renegade Mage. It has a good ending and wraps up the series tidily.

 

[murphy]

Well I finally finished The Forest Mage and I have to say I can not for the life of me figure out why Robin Hobb would write Nevare as she did in this book. Why does she think that we want to read about this incredibly obese character, described in great detail exactly what it is like to be so over weight? I am pretty much certain anyone who is over weight would not even want to read the book simply because it would constantly remind them of their own problems.

It seems as though she attempted to make the reader feel sorry for the Nevare character, when all I really felt was disgusted with how she tried to make Nevare into Fitz by making him fat. There, I have said it, Nevare is a carbon copy of Fitz in terms of how she attempts to make the reader feel about the character.

I will not be reading the rest of this series and I am really glad I found Forest Mage at my local library, I almost did purchase it...whew!

Edit: And no, I am not over weight so I don't hold a grudge in that regard. However I do have friends and family that are over weight and I know they would hate this book with a passion. Robin Hobb made a mistake with the Nevare character, either that or she only has the one main character type in her because I kept seeing Fitz under all that weight.

I too put the Forest Mage down for months. However, when the third book came out, I ordered it and finished FM. Having now finished Renegade's Magic, I'm glad that I persevered in finishing up the trilogy. I liked the final ending and thought it worthwhile. I did like the first series better, though.

 

[Fahim]

I'm done with the second third and am on the final third. I can't believe how stupid, oblivious and pig-headed Nevare is It's great writing by Hobb in that I want to bash his head in for being so blind to everything that goes on around him, for being totally contradictory in each of his actions, for dismissing anything which does not adhere to his own world-view. So I keep reading to find out more about how much more stupid he can get in the course of one book. But at the same time, I keep thinking that this is not the best way to spend my time if I simply wanted enjoyment out of reading. Nevare is absolutely, infuriatingly annoying and if he's supposed to be one of the brightest amongst the Gernians, I have no idea how those people came to be in power in the first place. But then again, I guess parallels can be drawn to our own world and our history to show that just such situations are more than possible

On to the last stretch to see what the ending that everyone is talking about, is

 

[Anomander]

My issues with the book is the way she gave really powerful negative views of the other tribes in the story, and never gave strong positive views. Savages! She didn't do enough research to show the underlying civilisation of these "savages", she just ended up making them seem really.... savage.

It was a good story - I read it in one go, but as a non-european, I always winced whenever she gave a negative view of the tribes.

 

[Fahim]

My issues with the book is the way she gave really powerful negative views of the other tribes in the story, and never gave strong positive views. Savages! She didn't do enough research to show the underlying civilisation of these "savages", she just ended up making them seem really.... savage.

Not sure I understand you correctly here. The viewpoint is that of Nevare and obviously, he doesn't believe that the plains people or the Specks are anything but savages because that's what he's been brought up to think. I don't believe you can blame Robin Hobb for that since the whole story is in Nevare's perspective. Of course, you might be saying something different and I might be missing the point here

But there are indeed hints and in the story (at least in Forest Mage, haven't gotten to Renegade's Magic yet) where she manages to convey the fact that while the Gernians might think them savages, the Specks might have a culture of their own which is nothing like that of the Gernians. She also conveys the image that neither of the cultures are inferior to the other - just different. The place where that came out strongest for me was when Nevare visits the Speck village with Olikea and sees not a village of huts but a people who live completely one with nature ...