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Blood of Dragons
Book 13 - Blood of dragons
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Blood of Dragons > Part 1: Chapters 1 to 5
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Hanne
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Jan 08, 2014 11:02AM
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I'm being good. Starting when I'm supposed to this time :)
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At least she's on her way back. Anyone else hoping she'll go straight to Kelsingra? Would be cool, but i guess she'll go shout at humans in Trehaug first about 'abandonging' the dragons. But hopefully she'll head down to Kelsingra quickly, there is a baby to save!
ch1 - Didn't think Alise would take the whole thing so badly, but i guess the memory stones are ruining a lot of her research though. That is, it's not worth much for the elderligns themselves, but humans cannot use the memory stones, so still needed.
Mod
but then Thymara and Tats discovered the bridge that can be used as launching platforms. cool!
still hoping the bridge does more. like it's going to unfold before them when they walk on it.
Hanne wrote: "Prologue - Poor Tintaglia!At least she's on her way back. Anyone else hoping she'll go straight to Kelsingra? Would be cool, but i guess she'll go shout at humans in Trehaug first about 'abandongi..."
She'll assume Malta is in trehaug so I guess she'll go there first and then maybe head over.
It was a bit of hit to her pride that Icefyre was rather indifferent about whether she stayed or went. Once he had her fertilized that was it.
Ch1 - It seems Alise's encounter with the "Pard" has shocked her into deciding to let go of her old life and embrace her new life.
Ch3 - Alise contemplates that a world full of dragons would be a world ruled by dragons. Even though dragons don't technically rule their keepers, they kinda do through glamour.And it looks like Kim is trying to fend off charges of stealing birds. There aren't as many birds around as there should be.
Ch4 - So Hest is throwing Redding to the wolves. I can just imagine Redding throwing up when he sees the packages with body parts get opened by the Chalcadeans.The impervious ship from Bingtown is still in pursuit of Tarma. I'm guessing there are some rather nasty fellows on that ship.
Poor baby Phron isn't doing to well.
And Kim is putting the hard word on Trader Finbok. Threatening that if he doesn't pay up then he might find his own secrets being sold to the highest bidder.
Ch 5 - So spit and Relpda manage to fly and get it onAnd Redding pays the price for Hest getting in over his head. The Chalcadean isn't playing games.
And Ronica weighs in on the bird tampering coming right out ansd accusing Kim in no uncertain words
To Whatever Incompetent Bird Keeper is accepting messages in Cassarick
The patron requests this be posted in the Bird Keepers’ Guild Hall
Once might be an accident. Twice might be coincidence. Four times is deliberate spying. You have been tampering with all messages sent to me from Cassarick.
Mod
the baby doesn't look to go indeed. hopefully mercor will know what to do, or that rapskal will find the answer in the memory stones. whatever happens to phron must have happened a bizillion times beore.
Mod
i loved how all these dragons start flying. sintara was out of revenge and pride, relpda out of vanity, and spit just wants to be part of it! :)
bit worried about our wounded tintaglia, if she goes to trehaug will she just end up in the hands of the chalcedeans? join selden somewhere near the duke?
CH 1 This book is off to a disappointing start. The Alise pity party was both unexpected and unwanted. I hope things pick up soon.She is way overreacting.
Ch 2 and we have more flying Dragons. A bit more of a pity party, but Alise seems to be coming out of hers and Tats is a teenager.. So yeah.
Ch 3 I really don't like Tats much anymore. Maybe because I knew guys like him in High school. Personally I think Thymara is choosing between two not great guys. You have Date Rape Raskal, and double standard Tats.I wonder if those wolves have any connection to Nighteyes.
Poor Seldon...
Mod
Agreed, not much of a fan of Tats anymore. I love your choice descriptions though :)
Ch 4 I'm still going Hest gets what's coming to him, but he looks to be setting up Redding to take the fall for him.I hope things work out for Malta's baby. I think Mercor might be there best hope.
I suspect those on the pursuit ship may have family members who have been taken hostage.
Ch 5 I find it amusing that the reason the copper dragon flies is to avoid the mud.Hest gets more than he bargained for. Redding is dead when he was simply looking to make him a scapegoat.
<3 Ronica. I wish this series had more of the Liveship characters. At least Malta, Seldon and Rhyn have larger roles in this one.
Alex wrote: "His utter audacity before in bad-mouthing those who accused him, and now with the language he used to a very old and respected trader (Finbok). ."He probably wouldn't be very respected if people found out he was phone tapping.
Mod
I can see that. Though i have to say that i have these issues more with Sintara than Tintaglia. Perhaps because we have a more straight line into Sintara's head via her own POV chapters and Thymara's?
Alex wrote: "Kim thinks he has power and is clearly drunk with ambition, but I feel (and hope!) it will all come crashing down on that little shit.."
I'm rooting for a real kick-in-the-ass-downfall for this guy. Ugh. I hated him the moment he used him being 'tattoo' as an excuse/attack/defense.
We often see that here with racism (which is a real thing and i don't want to diminish that) but some people use that in the way Kim used him being tattood. I have a colleague to whom you cannot give any sort of feedback or corrections without her throwing 'you're a racist' in your face.
Which reminds me that those chapter introductions are so well done. They give us so much information and give us even more characters in so little time. I like these introductions more than what she did in the previous trilogies!
Ch. 3: mating flights, dragons depressed because of the death of their I'm interested, though, in how she uses dragons to parallel human relationships. First we get the Hest=dragon thing reinforced with Sintara: Thymara defends her, saying Sintara does love her in her own way (almost exactly how Sedric particularly and iirc also Alise early on attempt to defend Hest), with Tats left to point out (as Leftrin and Carson do about Hest) that jealousy isn't the same as love.
But now we also get indirect criticism of Thymara: what she and everyone else is condemning Sintara for, fomenting conflict among the males by teasing them, is also basically what she's doing. And actually, although the emphasis has been on the inadequacy of her suitors, it's not as though she's behaving all that decently either. She's been kissing both of them (fairly extensively 'kissing' I think it was implied), encouraging them in pursuing her, knowing that the relationship means a lot more to them than to her, yet avoiding any straight talk about this that might discourage them. She won't pick one or the other, she's not telling either that she wants to pick both, and though she tells herself she's not picking either she's not really telling that to them (at least not in a coherent and consistent way). As a result, conflict arises - and she, meanwhile, gets all jealous over both of them.
Don't get me wrong, from Thymara's point of view I like the message of empowerment, that she doesn't have to accept the choices the men are offering her (and I'm certainly happy with her not picking either of the two poor choices on offer*), but the way she's going about it isn't exactly considerate of others or wise in terms of the effect her actions have on others.
Long story short: Thymara is determined to show that Greft was wrong, while Sintara is showing that Greft was right.
[if you don't buy that what Thymara is doing is problematic, a thought experiment: what would you feel about a boy who was behaving with two teenage girls the way Thymara is behaving with her boys?]
*although Tats is right that his thing with Jerd and Thymara's thing with Rapskal are totally not comparable situations!
Mod
i like your parallel's between the dragons and humans.
Not really on topic here btw, but while I remember: you might want to change the group description to reflect where the group is in the read, as it's a long way out of date now.
I'm late to the party but just read these chapters today after a back to back to back reading of Dragon Keeper, Dragon Haven, and City of Dragons. I'm enjoying each book more than the last!As usual, I'm loving Hobb's use of the "nobody's right" situation... Rapskal and Tats have a point about the use of the city, just as Alise has a point about needing to be careful in studying it. Everybody's expectations are shifting again and again in this story.
Gotta admit, I'm actually kind of pulling for Tats. Most of his issues are just a teenager making stupid choices. I mean, he's stubbornly unable/unwilling to see Thymara's side of things but there is some hope that he might grow up. And I agree with Wastrel, Thymara is on the mark about making her own choice but could be a little less oblivious about the consequences of her actions/inactions. Rapskal, OTH, is gathering knowledge faster than wisdom (to appropriate an Asimov quote). The memory pillars setup in the last book... yikes.
Alex wrote: "It's still funny how Kim thinks he has so much control over Finbok though."
I thought that was funny, too, because a successful Trader will surely allow himself to be blackmailed by a bird keeper. He has a reality check coming... I enjoyed Ronica's message to him!
I felt a little sorry for Tintaglia here, alone and in pain. She and many of the other dragons are coming to realize that they need humans/Elderlings for some things. Mercor seems to have a handle on the need for mutual respect. Why does he get it when the other dragons are so arrogant?
The danger to Malta & Reyn's son makes me shiver. I don't handle young children in danger well, even in fiction!
