Can I skip the Liveship Traders trilogy?

[Kaladin]

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I have just finished the Farseer trilogy and was wondering if I could proceed directly to the Tawny man trilogy, as I understand that the Liveship traders follows completely new characters, while the Tawny Man trilogy is a sequel to the original triology.

[David Selig]

I haven't read the Liveship Traders, never had any issues with the Tawny Man due to that.

[Slick Mongoose]

The main problem is that you'll spoil Liveships. You'll also miss out on a few minor details but that's not too important.

I would recommend reading Liveships first. They are linked. But you don't have to.

[Shryke]

You can, though you'll spoil some interesting reveals from the serise.

The main problem is that Liveships is, for the most part, a really good series and easily the equal of Farseer. And Tawny Man is not and is mostly pretty crap.

[DaveSumm]

Liveship is a great series, why skip it? Plus it's not entirely true that it follows a completely new set of characters. I'm only on Fools Errand (first of the Tawny Man trilogy) and already there's been a good half a dozen events, tidbits, locations and names informed by the Liveship trilogy. You could skip it, it wouldn't be the end of the world, but I preferred Liveship to Farseer and am glad I know what happened to certain people and places in the intervening years.

[lojzelote]

Skipping it won't spoil your enjoyment of Tawny Man (IMHO), but if I were you, I wouldn't ignore it altogether and read it at least afterwards. :)

[Gertrude]

Agree with those who say skipping is ok, but it will ruins some of the bits of Liveships, which is also a good story. I can't actually remember how detailed Tawney Man gets in mentioning resolutions from Liveships, but I think the journey of a story is more important than the actual details.

[Zarafrustra]

Agreed with everybody that Liveship Traders is amazing, so having a little break from Fitz isn't that bad. I'm rereading Robin Hobb's books just now and I still think it's better to read Liveships Trader before Tawny Man.

[HexMachina]

Yes you can skip it, I did at first and then went back to it after the Tawny Man. But its a great series in itself, so I personally would try to read it some time. I don't feel I was particularly spoiled by reading Tawny Man first either. I mean, I knew a few things, like

who Amber was, what a Liveship actually was, etc.

but I still loved the trilogy. I thought the multiple POVs were very good, and at times I think I loved and hated every POV character (especially Kennit)

[Darth Richard II]

No. A million times no. It's all interconnected eventually. It would be like skipping an entire season of a tv show.

[Buckwheat]

Welcome to the forum, first-time poster. :)

I am only reading the third Liveships book, and I much prefer this series to the Farseer. So I would recommend you definitely read it, because it is a good series with great characters, although new (that is, not from Farseer). Actually I was wondering if I can skip Tawny Man and go directly to the Rain Wild Chronicles after that.

[RedEyedGhost]

No. A million times no. It's all interconnected eventually. It would be like skipping an entire season of a tv show.

A season of a television show set in an entirely different city with an entirely different cast of characters - except for that one character who has been cgi'd to look completely different. Then next season you're you barely get any mention of what went on the season before.

I read the three in order, and that analogy doesn't work at all, DRII. It was nice getting a few throwbacks in the Tawny Man from Liveships, but I'm sure skipping them wouldn't be too problematic.

[HexMachina]

Welcome to the forum, first-time poster. :)

I am only reading the third Liveships book, and I much prefer this series to the Farseer. So I would recommend you definitely read it, because it is a good series with great characters, although new (that is, not from Farseer). Actually I was wondering if I can skip Tawny Man and go directly to the Rain Wild Chronicles after that.

I guess you could, but personally I wouldn't. I can't really say why without spoiling you though but for the benefot of those who have read them I mean:

Icefyre being freed, allowing Tintaglia to abandon the dragon babies. Probably some stuff about the Skill too maybe. I mean, it wouldbstill make sense, I just think you benefit from knowing the entire story.

[Maester Hodor]

I skipped the Liveship trilogy and had no problems with Tawny Man.

I'm sure there's a bunch of references to Liveships that I missed while reading Tawny Man & Rain Wilds Chronicles, but I never felt like I was missing anything serious.

[Darth Richard II]

The real issue here is that Liveships is one of the best series ever and omg why arnt you reading them already

[Myshkin]

I wouldn't call Liveships one of the best series ever, but I would say that it's miles ahead of either of the Fitz series. I suppose you could skip it, and it wouldn't really be a big deal, but you'd be missing out on Hobb's best work.

[AverageGuy]

You can skip it. I read Tawny Man first and didn't really have any problems understanding what was going on. You will have a better understanding of things like the Others' beach and some Elderling stuff after reading Liveships. There are Liveships spoilers in Tawny Man. But knowing the end didn't prevent me from enjoying the story when I did get around to it.

[Darth Richard II]

Y'all are crazy.

[Kaladin]

Thanks for the input guys. Looks like the Liveship traders is well worth a read, even if doesn't spoil tawny man too much.

[Errant Bard]

I've read it translated and well after finishing the Tawny Man trilogy and it was still a better read than both Fitz trilogies. Myshkin has the right of it, it's Hobb's best work even if it's not perfect, and you would do yourself a disservice by skipping it.