Soldier Son - New Series

[nixie]

Most of the book centres on Nevare's first year at the academy,apart from the first few chapters that touch briefly on his childhood.There is little real magic in the book.We know the plainsmen have magic but that can be contained by iron.Also the Specks have magic,but we don't encounter them to near the end of the book.
What keeps you reading is the characters.You want to get to know them,you come to care about them.
I have seen some negatives reviews,bemoaning the lack of real action,that it's mundane,but what I see is a young man and his friends striving to suceed in a world full of injustices,that want nothing more than them to fail.

 

[rune]

Most of the book centres on Nevare's first year at the academy,apart from the first few chapters that touch briefly on his childhood.There is little real magic in the book.We know the plainsmen have magic but that can be contained by iron.Also the Specks have magic,but we don't encounter them to near the end of the book.
What keeps you reading is the characters.You want to get to know them,you come to care about them.
I have seen some negatives reviews,bemoaning the lack of real action,that it's mundane,but what I see is a young man and his friends striving to suceed in a world full of injustices,that want nothing more than them to fail.

Does sound like it may be a little slow. I may have to hire this one before I buy

 

[Rosemary]

I have mentioned this in another thread, so please forgive me if you have seen it already.

According to our Booktrack here in Western Australia 'Shaman's Crossing' has jumped straight in at #10. Not sure when it hit the bookshops here so it is certainly doing very well. Must check it out for myself I think!

 

[Jay]

I enjoyed Shaman's Crossing with soem smal lreservations, at any rate, I just want to say I finished and reviewed this book last week, Shaman's Crossing, if anyone is interested here

 

[MoonLover]

I've also just finished Shaman's Crossing. It is currently at number 5 on the Oz bestseller lists, which is fantastic for the author.
I quite enjoyed this book. Granted, it can be very difficult when you have fallen in love with the author's previous worlds and characters, to take an open mind into a new series. So I opened the book with both trepidation and curiousity, and I admit, I looked hard for any early references to events and places that I have come to love in the Farseer and Liveship tales. There were none that I could see. This is a brand new world. It seems slightly more technologically advanced than the Six Dutchies - the ruling people have access to guns and cannons etc, yet their society is very 18th century with it's strict social rules, especially regarding the roles of women. The main character of Nevare is a scion of a new nobility growing up in a fiercely guarded 'old nobility' society. He is portrayed as a good man, one who thinks he knows his place and duties as the 'soldier son' of his family. Honour seems to rule most of his actions. It took me a while to warm to this man - he seemed a bit too straightlaced to me, but his encounters with the native magic workers of his world planted in him an unusual destiny, one which I feel has not yet been fully developed, regardless of the small 'victory' that closes the book. Hobb has developed the world and history of Gernia very well, with enough hints to let the reader know that the 'hero' of the story may not necessarily be on the right side after all. I especially liked her description of the destruction of forests - a telling point in todays reality of deforestation in Asia and South America, amongst others.
All in all, a very enjoyable work, well worth the reading. Looking forward to the next volume.

Karen

 

[rune]

I've got this on order from my library. I feel the need to try it out that way first as Im a little concerned it may be overdetailed.
I'll probaby love it but seem to be more careful these days with impulse buying

 

[rune]

Just started reading this, got the first 30 pages in. It's slow going at present, I'm hoping it will pick up.

 

[rune]

I'm really struggling with this first book in her new series. It's very slow, plodding, nothing much happening at all

 

[rune]

I'm pleased I didnt buy this book and hired it instead. It's probably been the most boring I've ever read by this author It picked up, the last 100 or so pages, and considering it's a big book, that's pretty sad.

 

[Rosemary]

I'll be borrowing from the library as well Rune. So far the reviews I have read here and at other sites have not been very good. I also don't like the sound of an 18th century setting.
Still, I will try and read it. It always seems a little difficult to do that after reading so many bad reviews.

 

[Teir]

It wasn't that bad..actualy i quite liked it..Not as good as other works by this author but im going to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume it will pick up with the next book.

 

[disco]

I Agree I Thought It Took A While To Get Going And Then It Was Not Bad.

 

[The Blackfish]

(I have not yet read the book, but have it on order from my library)

I think what we have to remember is that Hobb is very strong on her characters, but that those characters take a long time to develop. However, once fully developed, it its the characters that extert the strongest pull on a reader, rather than a sequence of moving action scenes.
When I read the first book of the Liveship Traders, I hated every character so much that I wasn't sure I even wanted to read the second one. There was simply no-one that I liked, and that I think this is what makes Hobbs characters so alive - they do things that the readers do not necesarrily agree with, and yet are able to overcome and learn from their mistakes.
The assassin series was even worse, because it was written from Fitz's point of view, giving the reader access to his innermost thoughts, fears, doubts and desires. I got more emotionally involved with the Assassin/Tawny Man series than I have with any other book. At times I wanted to scream at Fitz in frustration, but this only made his victories, when they came, all the more poignant.
Part of my hesitation in reading the Soldier Son is that I don't know if I can allow myself to become so emotionally involved again with a new set of characters! Even if this first book is a bit slow, I have no doubt that the series will be every bit as powerful, if not more so as all the other Hobb books.

 

[braddockery]

Finished the book, but just could`nt find much to make me want to read the next one. The book was very predictable and childish in a way.

 

[Rahl Windsong]

I am nearly 1/2 way through this book and I am finding it to be an excellent setup for a real good story. This book, I think on purpose, explains the soldier's son's jouney to manhood and I really do believe this will pay off as the series goes on. The writing is very good as always with Robin Hobb, and I find I am enjoying this story quite a bit though it doesnt have a lot of action so far.

Rahl

 

[The Blackfish]

Well aren't you all lucky! I've only just finished the book less than half an hour ago and I thought that I would jump on here and share my thoughts -

Like Rahl, I believe that this book forms an excellent beginning to a solid series and, as the story progressed came to like Nevare more than I did in the beginning. What did frustrate me was the rigid society that Hobb has created - i like the weaponry, but the social and cultural customs of Gernia seem perhaps even more extreme than 18th century europe!

I too was hoping that the world of Hobb's previous books might appear, and hold out to the vague hope that across the sea beyond the Barrier Mountains is the world of Fitz and Co. ??! lol, perhaps that would be too cliche.

On another angle, I found the copy I borrowed from the library had the most incredible amount of typo's, spelling and gramatical errors. Any Aussies have the same problem? It was like it had never been properly proof-read, which for a major publisher like Voyager is rather disappointing.

I was rather surprised with the rather up-beat ending, given the way Hobb has ended her previous books with a rather more melancholic, or at the best a bitter-sweet ending. I half exected Nevare to properly die, and the next book to be about his "other-self". Or at the least be discharged from the Academy, or become a scout. But none of that happened.
I do like the way Hobb has set the series up for a major "magic show-down". And in a lot of ways the struggle Nevare had with his "two selfs" reminded me of the same theme that Hobb explored with Fitz and Nighteyes.

In all I liked it well enough to read the next one.

 

[dwndrgn]

Just finished this too. I enjoyed it, even though I truly don't like Nevare as much as I probably should - mainly because he is so blindly devoted to what he's been taught and even when faced with other possiblities, refuses to admit that there could be flaws in the accepted doctrine. Perhaps that will come later though. We'll see...I'll be picking up the next one when it is available.

 

[The Blackfish]

I disagree, dwndrgn. I think that Nevare is beginning to accept that his culture is not perfect, and that there might be better ways than what he has been taught to believe.
I think that Epiny and Spink's obvious happiness with each other even in the face of expected hardship forced him to review his acceptance of his arranged marriage with Carsina, even to a point where he was willing to break it off if she did not truly love him! Nevare was willing to face his fathers wrath because he had come to accept the new ideas Epiny had taught him about love.

 

[Teir]

Agreed blackfish but in that regard Nevare still has some growing to do i think. Hes getting there, but as dwndrgn mentioned, he has had his life view drummed into him by society not to mention his father, so it will be a slow process. .....im getting flashbacks to a stubborn, withdrawn fitz.....different circumstances and different character i know, but the readers exasperation is all to familiar

You mentioned typos in the Australian Voyager version. I confess that i cant remember picking up any, or perhaps wasn't paying attention. To satisfy my curiosity could you possibly indicate where you saw them?

I also looked in vain for some reference to the farseer world. It may have been cliché, but i think it would have added some familiarity and affection for this new world for me. She made the right choice in the end, I believe, by keeping the two story lines separate, but in regard to myself, once a fool/fitzy nut always a fool/fitzy nut

 

[The Blackfish]

I'm really sorry Teir, I realized that my copy was overdue at the library and returned it today. Unfortunately I did not make note of where the errors were. However, it was not necessarily anything specific, just a general sloppiness throughout the book. I do remember that at one point towards the end, the word "speck" was printed where instead it should have said "spink". A gross error, considering the vast difference in meaning of those two words.

Sorry I can't help you any futher, mate!