December 21, 2009
Here be dragons—but debilitated, deformed, damaged dragons, hatched too soon, sick and starving, into a world that has mostly forgotten them. The first of Hobb's Rain Wild Chronicles, an absorbing extension of her Liveship and Tawny Man trilogies, introduces 15 young dragons who struggle to survive with the grudging help of mutant Rain Wilders. Eventually driven out by the Traders Council, the hatchlings decide to seek Kelsingra, their ancient home. Caught up by the dragons' plight and longing to escape unhappy families and the stifling Rain Wild culture, self-taught dragon scholar Alise Kincannon and teenage tree-dwelling mutant Thymara volunteer to accompany them on the quest, with the help of magnetic liveship captain Leftrin and a host of colorful characters. Hobb's meticulously realized fantasy tale is a welcome addition to contemporary dragon lore.
November 1, 2009
Hobb (Renegade's Magic, 2008, etc.) delivers the first of two dragon-filled fantasies, set in the same world as her popular Liveship Traders trilogy.
This inaugural title deals mainly with the swirl of events leading up to a quest to find the legendary city of Kelsingra by a group of sickly, deformed, sentient dragons and their human keepers. A host of human and dragon characters are introduced, but two well-drawn women take center stage: unhappily married Trader Alise, a scholar of dragons; and teenage Thymara, a dragon-keeper who is herself deformed by scaly skin and claws. Hobb does an admirable job of creating a complex and engaging medieval fantasy world, greatly expanding on the Rain Wilds setting she introduced in previous books. Characters from past novels make cameos, but the author takes care to keep her new tale self-contained. She handles with originality and subtlety such traditional fantasy elements as dragons and magical items. The only complaint readers may have is that, after hundreds of pages of buildup, the novel ends abruptly before the main quest really gets going.
A nicely imagined fantasy setting that will engage readers and raise anticipation for the second installment.
(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)
November 15, 2009
The cocoons spun by the migrating sea serpents have burst open to reveal a new generation of dragons that will wreak havoc on the communities of Bingtown and Cassarick. Council members select humans born with strange physical mutations to help with the problem, as well as an unusual dragon "expert," the unfulfilled wife of a Bingtown Trader. Hobb's two-book miniseries, set in the same world as the "Liveship Traders" and the "Tawny Man" series, continues the tale of an exotic land and the people transformed by its inherent magic. VERDICT Human and dragon characters achieve a remarkable degree of believability in this inventive saga marked by its vivid detail and keen insight into human (and draconic) nature. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 10/15/09; the second book, "Dragon Haven", pubs May 2010.Ed.]
Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from December 1, 2009
In a novel as good as it is massive, the first of two Rain Wilds Chronicles, Hobb returns to the dragons of the Rain Wilds forests, first met in her Liveship Traders trilogy. They have survived but arent thriving. Weak and sick, they must be cared for by the forests inhabitants. The only way to save them is to send them back up the Rain Wilds river, lest they run amok and destroy the more civilized peoples who dont want the responsibility of caring for them. On the perilous journey to do just that, a rich merchants wife from Bingtown and a 16-year-old girl from the Rain Wilds tribes meet. They initially have nothing whatsoever in common except wanting to help the dragons, but that is enough for a bond between them to be eventually established as they fight natural and man-made hazards. The scenes on the water will remind readers of the Liveship Traders, as will the good characterizations and the lush forest settings. Hobb continues to occupy a perch at or near the top among contemporary fantasists. This book is imaginative, literate, and compassionate from first page to last.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)