Insomniac
08-27-2007, 02:42 PM
Whew....how to start this......The Farseer Trilogy was some of the most excellent reading I've done in a looong time. I think there's a general consensus on that, which is why I'm not writing a review of it. :)
The Tawny Man trilogy starts off where the last left off. It was an incredibly engaging book. Robin Hobb's mastery of imagery is awesome. She does, at times, try to kind of pound into your head major themes throughout the book. She re-caps events to the point where it mildly annoyed me, and I skipped over those bits. I don't know if most people need that, but I don't think they do. The story, though...the story is definitely worth those bits and more. The way she writes is more like you're listening to someone tell the story, rather than mash it onto paper.
It seems to me that this is one of those stories, and worlds (much like middle earth) that are there, with stories waiting to be told. It's there, and she gave shape to it in words. Although, in this series, I'm sure it actually ended in a much different way than she wrote. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. =D
And here's where we come to my bone of contention with Robin Hobb.
(Warning: Super spoilers. End of the book spoilers.)
Why in the world did she create all of that tension between the Fool and Fitz, building all of that suspense that perhaps he was a woman, only to let it fizzle in the end, and have them part ways!? I know it was her intention to make people wonder if the Fool was a woman, with how long it took him to get himself presentable before he'd let Fitz see him all the time, and that Amber character. I understand that it was supposed to be some kind of "higher" love, but why build all of that toward "human" love, only to let it just kind of fizzle out? It aggravates me. If you couldn't tell. I guess my main problem with it is that the Fool was my favorite character through both trilogies, one of the only truly selfless characters, and it seems to me that he just kind of gets cast off in the end.
Okay, well, I guess that's it. And it ended up more as a rant than a review, I guess. =P This story affected me more than I expected it to, and now I'm kind of in a slump, because it didn't end how I wanted it to! Haha.
The Tawny Man trilogy starts off where the last left off. It was an incredibly engaging book. Robin Hobb's mastery of imagery is awesome. She does, at times, try to kind of pound into your head major themes throughout the book. She re-caps events to the point where it mildly annoyed me, and I skipped over those bits. I don't know if most people need that, but I don't think they do. The story, though...the story is definitely worth those bits and more. The way she writes is more like you're listening to someone tell the story, rather than mash it onto paper.
It seems to me that this is one of those stories, and worlds (much like middle earth) that are there, with stories waiting to be told. It's there, and she gave shape to it in words. Although, in this series, I'm sure it actually ended in a much different way than she wrote. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. =D
And here's where we come to my bone of contention with Robin Hobb.
(Warning: Super spoilers. End of the book spoilers.)
Why in the world did she create all of that tension between the Fool and Fitz, building all of that suspense that perhaps he was a woman, only to let it fizzle in the end, and have them part ways!? I know it was her intention to make people wonder if the Fool was a woman, with how long it took him to get himself presentable before he'd let Fitz see him all the time, and that Amber character. I understand that it was supposed to be some kind of "higher" love, but why build all of that toward "human" love, only to let it just kind of fizzle out? It aggravates me. If you couldn't tell. I guess my main problem with it is that the Fool was my favorite character through both trilogies, one of the only truly selfless characters, and it seems to me that he just kind of gets cast off in the end.
Okay, well, I guess that's it. And it ended up more as a rant than a review, I guess. =P This story affected me more than I expected it to, and now I'm kind of in a slump, because it didn't end how I wanted it to! Haha.