The Dragon Keeper > Part 2: Chapters 6 to 10

[David Sven]

Ch6- so it looks like Thymara is to be the Dragon Keeper to lead them all to the promised land. Her mother is a real cow.

[David Sven]

Ch7,8 - Alise puts her foot down about going to the Rainwilds. Sedric sticks up for her and Hest shows what a real bastard he can be.
It was cool that Alise ended up taking passage on Paragon. Looks like he's bitter about the serpents not making it into proper dragons.

[David Sven]

Ch 9: So Leftren has a thing for Alise. Rainwilders taste might be different to Bing Town - what's plain for one might be drop dead gorgeous for the other?

[David Sven]

Ch10 - Looks like Alise might be gone for a little longer than she initially thought.

[Hanne]

ch6-7:
First something on Thymara, which is such a sad story. It looks in a way like some of these kids are genetic adaptations perhaps to live better in these rain wild circumstances. They got claws to climb etc.
But these people have been killing off those children time and time again.
We also don't have much info on the elderlings, we know the Elderlings had scales, but did they have claws? Who knows? (Alise perhaps)

I'm waiting for Alise to meet Selden, I think the two of them together could be the best thing ever for dragons and Elderlings alike. Perhaps Alise has the clues to this city they are searching for from her scrolls.

Oh, and Hest is an asshole! I can't wait for him to be eaten by a dragon!

[Hanne]

It must be, we know that the rain wild traders get scales when they age (hence the veiling), not necessarily when they get born. But with thymara's story it seems sometimes (frequently? rarely?) babies get born already with some scaling and claws, in which case they put them out with the rubbish bins.

The liveship trilogy talks about this scaling a lot, but doesn't really give clear answers on why. We stuck with some lingering dragon presence too

[David Sven]

Yeah - you can see why the Rain Wilders were keen to get outsiders to replenish the genetic stock. I imagine that Rainwilder + Rainwilder would reinforce the genetic mutations - like inbreeding, even though it's not really.

Also, I think probably just being born in the Rainwilds might give you some dragon qualities - but it hasn't really been allowed to manifest a lot because they kill babies that are too different.

[David Sven]

Hanne wrote: "But with thymara's story it seems sometimes (frequently? rarely?) babies get born already with some scaling and claws, in which case they put them out with the rubbish bins."

I think this was the curse or Blood plague(?) mentioned in Liveships. I can't remember if that's exactly what it was called.

[Hanne]

ch8 - we get a bit more background here. those who are born with too many rain wild signs already, tend to live very short lives (it's mentioned they rarely live past 30) and often have mental problems too.
it kind of hit me that i'm not sure how different this is with all the checks women get when they get pregnant to make sure their child doesn't have any big disease. obviously here it happens at birth but still, which makes it more awful, but it seems taken from life nonetheless

So Hest sends his wife and his lover off together. Seems like him taking sweet revenge on Sedric for choosing her side in the argument. The comment to Alise "I'm sure you'll find him delightful" wanted me to throw something at his head
And voilà, Robin Hobb does it again, I want to strangle one of her characters! :)


David, RE: blood plague, wasn't that a disease that killed children that were already born? i didn't have the impression of it being similar to being born with scales, but i might remember this wrongly!

[Hanne]

ch9 - "Hest expresses domination and control through sarcasm and humiliation". No shit, sherlock!

What on earth is Sedric trying to collect, to impress Hest? Pieces of a dragon to be sold off? Dragon blood, a scale, a claw... Or is it merely Elderling finds?

Alex - I'm with you here, Kim the bird keeper managed to sneak into my bad book with those few lines. He/She (?) sounds like a complete Government-oid.
I do have to add that i like these brief letters to introduce the chapters, I actually like them more than the introduction sentences we got in the previous trilogies. And sneaking a hateful one like this in there, nice!

[Hanne]

David Sven wrote: "Ch7,8 - Alise puts her foot down about going to the Rainwilds. Sedric sticks up for her and Hest shows what a real bastard he can be.
It was cool that Alise ended up taking passage on Paragon. Look..."

Yes! I was cheering here, finally one of my beloved liveships shows up. Now i need Ophelia to turn on the gossip tap!

[Hanne]

ch10 - i really liked this chapter! seeing Alise come alive and becoming completely enthralled by the rain wild city was really nice. the descriptions of the city make me want to go, and arrive there in the evening to see all the city lights between the trees.

it's not a complete surprise that she is heading out with the dragons, but i like it nonetheless. take that, hest! and i bet the lover you sent with her in resentment will be gone from home for a very long time now as well.

[Rob]

Grr. This is the third time writing this post now.

I really don't understand how Ms. Hobb manages to keep my interest despite so little action. Any other writer and I think I would be bored.

I loved getting to see Althea, Braydon, Paragon and Malta!

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@Hanne
My understanding is Sedric wants Dragon parts to sell to Chalced in order to impress Hest. They are in high demand as the ruler is dying and paying a premium for them due to their legendary healing powers.

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I'm starting to like Leftren more. Initially I thought him nothing but a greedy person, and that may still be true, but his crush on Alise has him being incredibly generous. I hope he isn't simply playing that expecting to take advantage of her later.

[Hanne]

Rob wrote: "I'm starting to like Leftren more. Initially I thought him nothing but a greedy person, and that may still be true, but his crush on Alise has him being incredibly generous. I hope he isn't simply playing that expecting to take advantage of her later. "

Agreed! He's steadily moving up in my estimation.

[David Sven]

Hanne wrote: "David, RE: blood plague, wasn't that a disease that killed children that were already born?"

I always had in my mind that the practice of infanticide at birth was about about the blood plague. I'm not sure that it mentioned any scales or anything specifically other than genetic defects.

Leftren's internal thoughts about Alise at least let us know he's infatuated with her. It's just we didn't get a picture of him in the beginning as being a particularly ethical man so I wonder if he ends up taking things too far.