About and introductions

[Lindsey]

Hi all! I'm Lindsey. A mutual member of the Fantasy Book Club posted a link here. I started reading Robin Hobb back in 2010 and tore through Farseer and the first two Liveship books... then I had a kid and all my reading stopped for a bit. But I picked Ship of Destiny back up a few months ago and loved it. Since then I've moved on to Tawny Man and am in the middle of Golden Fool.

Looking forward to some great discussions!

[Hanne]

hi lindsey! welcome.

i agree, i loved ship of destiny too! i'm really looking forward to starting Tawny Man

[Hudson]

Greetings from Boston! So glad this group is here as I have just started reading Hobb and I think she is fantastic! I had given up on fantasy for many many years because I grew tired of elves and faeries etc....Martin got me turned around on that and after I finished Martin I started looking for something similar....and here I am. Read the Farseer trilogy last month and now I am on Liveships (Mad Ship). Looking forward to reading your posts!

[Hanne]

Welcome Hudson!
We're a little bit ahead of you, but i'm checking older posts, so feel free to add your opinions and insights! Scarlet O'Hara already got me thinking :)

[Bryan]

Sorry, I probably should have introduced myself here before posting on other threads. I started reading Hobb when I was in high school a million years ago. She had just changed to the Hobb pen name and I think Assassin's Apprentice was pretty new when I read it, and then, of course, I was hooked. I don't really re-read anymore (too many good books I haven't read yet!) but I look forward to seeing everyone's reactions to some of my favourite fantasy stories. Any chance this group might read The Inheritance? That's one of her books I haven't read yet.

[Hanne]

hi bryan, that's fine. we're flexible :)

The Inheritance isn't planned to be read now, but we always can when we're done with the series if you want. I quite like short stories, so i'll be curious to see what Robin Hobb does with that

[David Sven]

I picked up The Inheritance at a book sale and it's been sitting around for a couple of months making my bookshelf look pretty - or maybe it just makes it look empty - it doesn't have a lot of company. I wonder if it would help to prop my kindle beside it.

[Hanne]

David Sven wrote: "I picked up The Inheritance at a book sale and it's been sitting around for a couple of months making my bookshelf look pretty - or maybe it just makes it look empty - it doesn't have a lot of comp..."

one of the disadvantages of ebooks indeed... less pretty shelves! :)

[Stephanie]

Hello everyone!

I just started reading Robin Hobb a couple months ago and I am addicted! Right now I am reading the Liveship trilogy but I might start the Rain Wilds Chronicles since that is next for this group. Either way, I will be reading with everyone when the newest Fitz and the Fool book is out!

[Rob]

You shouldn't skip Liveship for sure and probably not Tawny man before reading rainwild. I can't say for sure about the later, but rainwild follows the events of liveship and takes place at the same time as tawny man.

Welcome.

[Hanne]

hi stephanie.
it certainly is addictive! i haven't read Rain Wild, so no clue whether Tawny Man can be skipped or not. generally speaking it's probably best to read it in order though. whatever you decide, welcome! :)

[Stephanie]

thank you!
I have read Tawny man. I skipped the Liveship because I didn't realize it was tied in to the rest of them. And because I couldn't wait to read more about Fitz and the Fool. Almost done with the first book of Liveship and will then move on to Rain Wilds

[Hanne]

got it! in that case there is obviously no issue at all!

how are you liking airships?

[Hanne]

damnit, too fast. did I read there you might go straight from book 1 to rain wilds? or finish liveships first.
I don't know rain wilds but I have a suspicion that you will need all the info from liveships trilogy before moving on.
we can give you the short version on the go of course, but it might not be the nicest way?

[Stephanie]

hoping to finish Liveship trilogy before starting Rain Wilds. Initially read the Farseer trilogy. Skipped to Tawny man, now reading Liveship, then hoping to read Rain Wild. I am reading them way out of order! So fart the Liveship is ok. Having a hard time getting into them like the Fitz books but it is getting better. Don't know if I will catch up with everyone reading Rain Wilds but I might! If I get into a book, I have a hard time putting it down.

[Hanne]

sounds like a plan!
i think liveship took me a little while to get into as well, but so far i still think it's the best trilogy of the bunch. it doesn' thave Fitz, but purely storywise i think it's better.

[Kathryn]

Forgot to introduce myself in to this group!

My name is Kat and I seem to love everything I read by Robin Hobb.

So far I have read all of The Rain Wild Chronicles, Assassin's Apprentice, and short stores Blue Boots and Homecoming.
All a little out of order but I don't feel like it has affected my enjoyment in the slightest.

I've become such a big fan that I have bought every book that Hobb has published and plan to buy every anthology she features in, mainly those edited by Gardner Dozois and G.R.R.M.

My goal this year is to get through The Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders :)

[David Sven]

Welcome to the group Kathryn!

[Rob]

Welcome.

[Hanne]

hi Kathryn! welcome. I'm sure you'll enjoy Farseer and Liveship traders, maybe some mysteries from Rain Wilds will become clear after reading the others :)

[Will]

So happy to find this group :) huge fan of the Farseer and tawny man trilogies, can't wait to read some more of Robin Hobb's work :)

[Rob]

Welcome Will.

[Wastrel]

Question: is there a place in this group for reviews?

I was thinking that, particularly with books discussed some time ago, it would be nice to see what people thought of them without having to go to the person's page and search through all their book reviews. It might be nice to have them linked to from here.

I myself was thinking of putting links to my (off-site) reviews in the appropriate pages for each book - but I wasn't sure whether that would be seen as inappropriate self-promotion. And if it is OK, would it be better to have:
a) links to reviews in the last discussion page for each book
b) a reviews discussion for each book, added after the last discussion page
or
c) a single reviews discussion page for the group as a whole?

Personally, I would think that b) would be the ideal option, but it might depend on how many other people would actually make use of it.

Anyone else have opinions on this?

[Wastrel]

I take it that's a "no"?

[David Sven]

Sorry Wastrel - I missed your initial question. This is really Hanne's group so she has the final say on anything we do - but my two cents worth

a) I personally have no problem people posting their reviews in the last discussion page for each book - that's what I do now. However, I would think it weird if someone posted to an off-site web page when they haven't participated in the discussion threads. I think that would be more likely to be perceived as spam. If, however, there was active participation in the threads then I wouldn't have a problem with an off-site reference - I'm just less likely to read it because I joined goodreads to interact with other readers - It's more convenient to do that with goodreads friends within the framework of the goodreads reviews system.

b) & c) - I would think it a lot easier to discuss individual reviews using the comments section on the individual review pages. Discussing individual reviews away from the review pages seems unnecessarily convoluted. And the discussion threads are already here to discuss thoughts on the books - It seems a bit redundant to then add an additional section for discussing thoughts on our thoughts(as contained in reviews)

That's what I think anyway.

[Hanne]

hey, i missed this too, and more than once because i didn't get a notification when david answered either! grbml!!

i think many of us have posted links to their reviews in the final page and i'm all for that. i typically don't read them until i have finished the book, but i always like reading them afterwards.

i am all for discussing books, so whether that is underneath a review (which seems more logic, except perhaps when there are massive spoilers) or here i do not mind. i think it can go on the last page as well though, and might not need a specific thread?

[Wastrel]

OK. In deference to David, though, I may limit it to GR reviews (which link to my larger off-site ones anyway).

In terms of the specific thread idea, it was more just that since each thread is for part of the book, it seemed a little wrong to post a review of the whole book in it.

[David: sorry, you all read more quickly that I do. Or, at least, more quickly than I was reading at the time, so I tried to contribute but was always coming along after the party, as it were. Plus I'm only now catching up with the rainwilds books. I hope to join the main re-read when the new novel comes out, though. (Then again, I hoped I'd catch up during Tawny Man but never did. Still, I suspect that when the new book comes out I'll devour it pretty quickly...)]

[David Sven]

@Wastrel - I know what it's like coming late to a party. I'm happy to see any of your comments whether they be in the discussion threads or via link to your reviews

[[deleted user]]

Hi all! I'm rather late to things, apparently, lol. Alex invited me when I mentioned I'm going to chain read all of Robin Hobb's books in one month in September. Looking forward to discussing em with anyone that's still active in the threads!

[Hanne]

hello hello. can you just ask you to repeat, you're going to read all robin hobbs in one month? that's 16 books in one month.

consider me impressed :)

[[deleted user]]

Hanne wrote: "hello hello. can you just ask you to repeat, you're going to read all robin hobbs in one month? that's 16 books in one month.

consider me impressed :)"

Crap, I meant the Elderlings books. 13 in all.

[Hanne]

still, remains impressive.
in any case, good luck and glad to have you :)

[[deleted user]]

Thanks! I'll be around :)

[Wastrel]

Rabindranauth wrote: "Hanne wrote: "hello hello. can you just ask you to repeat, you're going to read all robin hobbs in one month? that's 16 books in one month.

consider me impressed :)"

Crap, I meant the Elderlings ..."

There'll be 14 by September...

[[deleted user]]

I'm actually reading them all in August because I have an ARC of Fool's Assassin :)

[David Sven]

Welcome to the group Rab! I fully support your Guiness world record attempt at reading all the Elderling books in one month.

[[deleted user]]

David Sven wrote: "Welcome to the group Rab! I fully support your Guiness world record attempt at reading all the Elderling books in one month."

Thanks! What could possibly go wrong with that attempt.

[David Sven]

Oh I don't know - maybe sleep, or maybe too much Guinness - but I'm not sure how else to do a Guinness world record without Guinness.

[[deleted user]]

Everything's better with Guinness. Except maybe Red Bull. That's a coronary in the making.

[David Sven]

But it would at least eliminate sleep as an obstacle

[[deleted user]]

You're right. I'll keep it as a backup for if I fall behind >_>

[[deleted user]]

Lolz. You're making me even more excited to get to them. I'll see how things go :D

[Bookworm]

Hello, New to the group :) Currently reading golden fool and soon fools fate. Ive read the assassins triliogy in may and june.

have travel plans to see Robin Hobb at her UK book signing as well in August. So this seemed the appropriate group to join

[Hanne]

hello hello, welcome! we're always glad to have more robin hobb readers amongst us. :)

[Bookworm]

Thank you :)

[Hanne]

and if you want my five cents of advise: don't skip the liveship traders. especially fitz the fool fans tend to skip them, but they really add to the world-building and i think they are pretty amazing too :)

[Bookworm]

I already have them ordered thru Amazon lol Im thinking Robin will overtake Robert Jordan as my fave Author soon

[David Sven]

Welcome Bookworm!

[Bookworm]

Thank you David :)

[Dara]

Hello. My name is Dara and I'm slowly making my way through Robin Hobb's books. I read the Farseer Trilogy about a year ago and I'm starting the Liveship Traders now.