Re: The Dragon Keeper
Have any of you read this? What happened to Robin Hobb? In her other series, any dislike I had for her characters extended only to a set limit because her characters were written to be self-destructive (Althea running away the first night, Fitz in general, Nevare all the time). I hated all the female characters in this series. Thymara is ..jealous. And selfish. Alise is weak and very frankly desperate. I don't understand why Sedric is written so badly - I understand his motivations, Hobb relays them to us in flashback form (she was so much more subtle in all her other books), and I know that he has conflicting motivations but why do they always appear singularly? Hobb writes Sedric such that one motivation dictates a piece of advice he gives, and the very next moment he remembers the other motivation and experiences the emotion/ does the action appropriate to the motivation. Are we not capable of having inner conflicts before we act?? Her writing is so crude that the flawed characters she's trying to portray are made so much uglier; all the characters are written so uglily. She didn't use to write like this. Her first three series are still some of my favourite books. What is this, Robin Hobb???
Btw the cameos of Althea/Brashen/Paragon were unnecessary and not at all like them. Much as I want to know more about them, dragging them in this way feels like they're being mauled.
BBtw every character in this was morally unambiguous. Thymara's father is kind and good, her mother is selfish but not-evil, Tats is good, Greft is bad and he pairs up with the largest, meanest looking black dragon, ooh! who is also bad. Thymara is selfish but we know that she'll eventually learn, she is Good At Heart, Alise is Good At Heart, Sedric is Morally Weak and Gay and he is Doing Bad Deeds, Haft rapes people and is therefore bad. What happened to interesting, principled characters? Ronica? Keffria? (God, I loved Keffria's change.) Paragon? Kennit? Chade? Burrich (if you think he's two-dimensional.. look at how he treats the wit, his son, Vixen, and how he ends up dying. That is a real person. He is a beautiful person and I learnt from knowing him)? Fitz? Althea? Real people.
Have any of you read this? What happened to Robin Hobb? In her other series, any dislike I had for her characters extended only to a set limit because her characters were written to be self-destructive (Althea running away the first night, Fitz in general, Nevare all the time). I hated all the female characters in this series. Thymara is ..jealous. And selfish. Alise is weak and very frankly desperate. I don't understand why Sedric is written so badly - I understand his motivations, Hobb relays them to us in flashback form (she was so much more subtle in all her other books), and I know that he has conflicting motivations but why do they always appear singularly? Hobb writes Sedric such that one motivation dictates a piece of advice he gives, and the very next moment he remembers the other motivation and experiences the emotion/ does the action appropriate to the motivation. Are we not capable of having inner conflicts before we act?? Her writing is so crude that the flawed characters she's trying to portray are made so much uglier; all the characters are written so uglily. She didn't use to write like this. Her first three series are still some of my favourite books. What is this, Robin Hobb???
Btw the cameos of Althea/Brashen/Paragon were unnecessary and not at all like them. Much as I want to know more about them, dragging them in this way feels like they're being mauled.
BBtw every character in this was morally unambiguous. Thymara's father is kind and good, her mother is selfish but not-evil, Tats is good, Greft is bad and he pairs up with the largest, meanest looking black dragon, ooh! who is also bad. Thymara is selfish but we know that she'll eventually learn, she is Good At Heart, Alise is Good At Heart, Sedric is Morally Weak and Gay and he is Doing Bad Deeds, Haft rapes people and is therefore bad. What happened to interesting, principled characters? Ronica? Keffria? (God, I loved Keffria's change.) Paragon? Kennit? Chade? Burrich (if you think he's two-dimensional.. look at how he treats the wit, his son, Vixen, and how he ends up dying. That is a real person. He is a beautiful person and I learnt from knowing him)? Fitz? Althea? Real people.
And she seemed arrogant to me. 
