[Brandon]

Minor spoilers...

After finishing the Farseer trilogy I must say I was disappointed. Especially since I read the Liveship Traders first and already knew about the elderings and the dragons. It's like a mystery writer writing two series with the exact same mystery. I already knew how it was going to unfold.

Farseer trilogy:
Intelligent, handsome, youth with shady parentage goes through a series of hardships, gets the hell beaten out of him, scarred for life, constant mentioning of elderings, dragons unveiled mystery.


Liveship Traders:
Intelligent, handsome, youth with shady parentage goes through a series of hardships, gets the hell beaten out of him, scarred for life, constant mentioning of elderings, dragons unveiled mystery.


The Skill and the Wit are age old concepts. The Skill, psionicists anyone? How long has mind control, various forms of esp, and what not been around? The Wit, man bonding to animal? C'mon. Been there done that.

At least in the first book things were interesting, we were introduced to all the characters and learned about Fitz's assassin training. The second and third book offered nothing new...by the third I was just so bored I was turning pages simply to find out what the heck the Fool was...and it was quite a weak ending.

Out of the two series I enjoyed Liveship Traders about twice as much as Farseer. I mean, the elderlings and dragons were discussed in MUCH more detail, we had the rain wilds, the wizard wood, the Others, the story actually following Captain Kennit and Etta, or Wintrow's little sister instead of sticking to Wintrow the whole way. Captain Kennit is probably my fav. character out of both series.
A lot of people on this forum recommend this series, and hold FitzChivalry as one of their fav. characters...I just don't see it.

Don't get me wrong, Hobb is a good writer technically, but she can really drag things out...
I can name Forgotten Realms books I've gotten more enjoyment out of...and I can't say I would recommend Hobb to anyone.

[This message has been edited by Brandon (edited March 25, 2002).]

[vexed2002]

Firstly, I didn't enjoy the Farseer trilogy the first time around, that was nearly 5 years ago now.. I recently re-read it and loved every minute of it.

Secondly, I didn't enjoy the Liveships anywhere near as much as the Farseer Trilogy.

I expected Hobb to write in the same manner (firstperson), instead, she skips to different characters a la Jordan.. which personally, irritates the hell out of me, ESPECIALLY when you have to put up with a character your not particularly enamored with for a whole chapter!.. I found myself skipping pages, which I promised I would never do again)..

..in comparison, I couldn't get enough of FitzChivalry!.. I just can't understand how you couldn't like it http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif..

Just out of curiosity.. what Forgotten Realms books would you recommend over Hobb? Or was that just an intended insult? http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

Cleric Quintet?

[allanon]

I too dislike Farseer Trilogy. Too boring.

[Elan Morin Tedronai]

I hate books which includes charactes, who are always complaining and crying at others shoulders! So I am not fan of Hobb too!

[Rhaegar]

I must confess that Hobb's writing style leaves me cold. I didn't finish the first Liveship book, and while I am currently reading Farseer and enjoying it somewhat, the books are SSSLLLOWWWWW.

[Rob B]

I hate books which includes charactes, who are always complaining

...about sexual and violent content in fantasy books? http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif j/k

vexed-When I was reading Liveship and the viewpont kept switching to Malta, I was a bit annoyed, because I hated her so much. Hobb managed to get me to respect and like her (Malta) by series end.

[Bardos]

Apart from the 1st book, I too didn't like The Farseer.
As far as the Liveship Traders goes, I couldn't get past the 1st book. Too damn boring, even if I was skimming the pages!

[Alucard]

I enjoyed the Farseer trilogy. It was actually one of the more believable fantasy stories in the fact that the characters don't take traumatic events, like a serious beating, in stride. For anyone whose ever had something like this happen to them, you know what I'm talking about. Things like that change the way you view life. I thought the fact that Hobb included this really added a lot. Also, I liked how the characters got what they deserved, good or bad. Fitz, even though he is the "hero," made a lot of stupid decisions, and whenever he did, he had to pay for them. Even the ending, although not the most uplifting one, was true to the choices the characters made. There were no strings pulled to make sure it was all lovey-dovey by the last page. So, in this respect, the story was also very believable.

Also, Hobb's characters, IMO, were great. All of them were complex in both their feelings and their actions. Fitz was at times one frustrating "bastard," but he was easy to sympathize with, even if you wanted to dropkick him here and there. And I thought Burrich was great. He was one of my favorite characters throughout the story. His use of honor as not only a foundation, but at times a cop-out, was much more believable then this theme is in most other fantasy novels. It didn't feel cheesy and it showed that this was both his weakness and his strength, that when honor becomes an obsession it is not always healthy, and that sometimes it is easier than having to think for yourself. And easily one of the most interesting characters to read about (my opinion, of course) was the fool. I loved his/her character. From when he was first introduced, I always wanted to read more about him/her. Any little snippet I got perked my interest. As far as villians go, Regal was a super-prick, which made him fun to hate.

But the story is definitely not a fast paced one. Also, it is not what I'd call a 'plot driven' story. Not to say there was no plot, but in this tale, the characters were in the limelight. That's really what the story was about. And because of this, this story actually moved me to sympathy, or frustration, or nervousness (which is more than I can say for a lot of books).....simply because the characters were great to read about.

(But I can see where, if you didn't care for the characters, this would be a very boring story).

I have yet to read about her Liveship trilogy, but will probably give it a shot eventually.

[Mithfânion]

Hobb's a fantastic writer. I love the Farseer trilogy. Fool's errand was superb as well. I'll start Liveship soon.

Elan

So I am not fan of Hobb too!

It's "I'm not a fan of Hobb either" http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

hope you don't mind.

[Brandon]

vexed: I enjoyed the Dark Elf Trilogy quite a bit, but I lost interest in the Drizzt books that followed.

And, yep, Alucard:
"But the story is definitely not a fast paced one. Also, it is not what I'd call a 'plot driven' story. Not to say there was no plot, but in this tale, the characters were in the limelight."

You're right about that, I mean at the end off the book there was (were?) still loose ends to be tied up. Did she even explain Forging?

Btw how do I do that automated quote thing?


[This message has been edited by Brandon (edited March 25, 2002).]