On Reading Robin Hobb's Epic Series The Realm of the Elderlings
(No spoilers, I promise!)
I started, as most do, with Robin Hobb's first three books, "The Farseer Trilogy," which I adored. I then looked to see what I should read next, and read the article Where To Start With Robin Hobb (check it out, there are no spoilers) and I decided to take its advice and follow the story of FitzChivalry Farseer to its conclusion because I cared so much for those characters. Reading Fitz's story straight through involved reading three trilogies--The Farseer Trilogy, The Tawny Man Trilogy, and The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy--for a total of nine wonderful books; a terrific, epic story.
Except it became obvious to me that around book eight--the penultimate book of the Fitz series--that the characters from the (apparently unrelated) books that I skipped--The Liveship Traders Trilogy and The Rain Wild Traders Chronicles--were intersecting with Fitz's story. This didn't detract from Fitz's story at all, but it did spoil several big reveals from the books I skipped.
As I go back now to fill in the gaps, there are still plenty of surprises and the books are wonderful, but those big reveals were exactly that; BIG. I'm halfway through the Liveship Traders Trilogy and seeing plenty of foreshadowing, but none of those big twists have happened yet and part of me wishes I didn't know about them. So now I'm feeling the urge to read the last six Fitz books again, along with the Liveship and Rain Wild books, so I can witness all the connections of the amazing chronological meta-story in order. Interesting.
Based on this experience, I can only conclude that the best and most satisfying reading order would be as follows:
The Liveship Traders Trilogy (3 books)
The Rain Wild Series (4 books)
The Farseer Trilogy (3 books)
The Tawny Man Trilogy (3 books)
The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy (3 books)
Even though these aren't chronological, because the Liveship and Rainwild stories don't collide with the Fitz story until the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy, this would give you the most impact with the fewest spoilers.
I'm definitely interested in other opinions! What do you think?
I started, as most do, with Robin Hobb's first three books, "The Farseer Trilogy," which I adored. I then looked to see what I should read next, and read the article Where To Start With Robin Hobb (check it out, there are no spoilers) and I decided to take its advice and follow the story of FitzChivalry Farseer to its conclusion because I cared so much for those characters. Reading Fitz's story straight through involved reading three trilogies--The Farseer Trilogy, The Tawny Man Trilogy, and The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy--for a total of nine wonderful books; a terrific, epic story.
Except it became obvious to me that around book eight--the penultimate book of the Fitz series--that the characters from the (apparently unrelated) books that I skipped--The Liveship Traders Trilogy and The Rain Wild Traders Chronicles--were intersecting with Fitz's story. This didn't detract from Fitz's story at all, but it did spoil several big reveals from the books I skipped.
As I go back now to fill in the gaps, there are still plenty of surprises and the books are wonderful, but those big reveals were exactly that; BIG. I'm halfway through the Liveship Traders Trilogy and seeing plenty of foreshadowing, but none of those big twists have happened yet and part of me wishes I didn't know about them. So now I'm feeling the urge to read the last six Fitz books again, along with the Liveship and Rain Wild books, so I can witness all the connections of the amazing chronological meta-story in order. Interesting.
Based on this experience, I can only conclude that the best and most satisfying reading order would be as follows:
The Liveship Traders Trilogy (3 books)
The Rain Wild Series (4 books)
The Farseer Trilogy (3 books)
The Tawny Man Trilogy (3 books)
The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy (3 books)
Even though these aren't chronological, because the Liveship and Rainwild stories don't collide with the Fitz story until the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy, this would give you the most impact with the fewest spoilers.
I'm definitely interested in other opinions! What do you think?
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