The Farseer Trilogy

[HexMachina]

I don't get the suggestions to read Liveship before Tawny Man, why? 

I read the Farseer and Tawny Man back to back and it was fine! 

Because Liveships follows chronologically, is a great trilogy in its own right, and provides the full story behind certain...things...in the Tawny Man trilogy, which are only briefly touched upon in Tawny Man. Reading Tawny Man and then going back, you already know how Liveships ends, which takes away from the story slightly. You are correct that it will still make sense (and most everyone who recommends this order admits that) but you get a much more complete story by reading Liveships first.

[Underfoot]

I don't get the suggestions to read Liveship before Tawny Man, why? 

I read the Farseer and Tawny Man back to back and it was fine! 

As HelenaExMachina noted, yes, you will be okay if you do it this way, but you'll also miss certain things in Tawny Man that the Liveships trilogy makes clear, so you definitely do get a more complete and satisfying reading experience if you read it in publication order, which is Farseer > Liveships > Tawny Man. Liveships is a great trilogy anyways, and I like having it as a buffer between the first two Fitz/Fool trilogies on rereads. It's a nice break. 

[TheRevanchist]

Tawny Man can easily picked without reading LIveship Traders. Sure, there are some things which will make less sense, but it isn't a problem.

The real reason for reading Liveship is because it is an awesome trilogy. I found it better than the Farseer, and significantly better than the Tawny Man. Its climax is one of the best I have read, and it has arguably the best set of female characters in a fantasy saga, in addition to Kent who is one of the best characters Hobb has ever written.

So, unless you read Hobb only because you're a Fitz fanboy/fangirl, there is no reason to skip Liveship. At the contrary, there is every reason to read it.

[red snow]

Still finishing Quest off. Didn't have much time over Christmas and it is a really long book. I'm not sure what to think of the book at the moment but i'll give it points for going in a direction I wasn't expecting.

everyone is sitting around carving dragons in the hope they come to life.OK...

[oberonus]

just continue reading

[DaveSumm]

Mind if I ask a tangential question here; for those that have read the F&tF trilogy, how many books are out? I think it's two. And should I bother with Rain Wilds? I'm sure it's good, but I just mean in terms of its bearing on F&tF. Thanks, it's tricky looking up this info without spoilers.

[Buckwheat]

Mind if I ask a tangential question here; for those that have read the F&tF trilogy, how many books are out? I think it's two. And should I bother with Rain Wilds? I'm sure it's good, but I just mean in terms of its bearing on F&tF. Thanks, it's tricky looking up this info without spoilers.

Yes, two. I hope the third one will be out this year, I think it is planned that way.

And yes, Fitz and the Fool is where both the Six Duchies and the Bingtown/Rain Wilds storylines start to really connect to each other. Rain Wilds is not a particularly good series in terms of character building (at least I think so), but I think the information in there is necessary to know before Fitz and the Fool.

[Nails77]

Mind if I ask a tangential question here; for those that have read the F&tF trilogy, how many books are out? I think it's two. And should I bother with Rain Wilds? I'm sure it's good, but I just mean in terms of its bearing on F&tF. Thanks, it's tricky looking up this info without spoilers.

If you like the rest of what Hobbs has written about the Farseers realm, you'll enjoy the Rain Wilds books.  I was not as invested in the characters and it was too slow at times, but the overall story was inventive.  As with many things she does, she took an unexpected approach to dealing with the situation that was left at the end of Liveships.  

I don't think it's necessary to read Rain Wilds before reading F&tF, but it will provide some context that makes some elements of F&tF more enjoyable.  As Buckwheat mentioned, F&tF really begins to connect all the elements of the world together.

As for book 3 of F&tF, I believe that will come out in early 2017.  Which gives you plenty of time to read Rain Wilds and the first two books in the new series 

[HexMachina]

Yes, two. I hope the third one will be out this year, I think it is planned that way.

And yes, Fitz and the Fool is where both the Six Duchies and the Bingtown/Rain Wilds storylines start to really connect to each other. Rain Wilds is not a particularly good series in terms of character building (at least I think so), but I think the information in there is necessary to know before Fitz and the Fool.

Assassin's Fate at last update was aiming for Spring 2017. And i know she has made mention on social media of struggling to write a certain part of it so it makes sense to those who havent read Liveships and Rain Wilds.

So i would say yes, read Rain Wilds. There are several parts relevant for Fool's Quest including

One of Bee's kidnappers being the Duke's old advisor. And the whole Kelsingra thing. Nice to know why there isnsuddenly a magical city of Elderlings in existence 

and it looks like it may tie in even more with the next book. Hqve to say, the mention she made of Liveships makes me hope we see some characters from there we didnt see agaim in RW

[Buckwheat]

I stand corrected. 2017 it is.

and it looks like it may tie in even more with the next book. Hqve to say, the mention she made of Liveships makes me hope we see some characters from there we didnt see agaim in RW

I am very much looking forward to this, especially if it means

Keffria and Ronica.

[DaveSumm]

Thanks guys. I thought book 3 was sooner, so I was eager to start. But I'll read RW first. I got all four and the first of F&tF for Christmas, Hobb now has an entire shelf of my bookcase to herself. :)

[red snow]

Finally finished the Farseer trilogy. It felt like it lost its way as it progressed through the book and the ending felt like someone rushing through 150 pages in 20 pages to hit a deadline. That said it's the different approach that makes the series appealing.

General thoughts about Quest

They seemed to breeze over the fact that Ketrakin and Verity's child is actually Fitz's. This seemed unsettling especially regarding Ketrakin as she's the only one who was actually sleeping with Fitz's body. It could be that the skill makes it Verity's child spiritually. If that's the case then Nettle is spiritually Night Eyes.

Part of my problem with the rushed ending is that the red ship raiders never had a face to them. The other was Regal. Despite him being a horrible person I weirdly felt that Fitz' punishment was unsettling. Was it the wit weasel who killed Regal in the end? In a sense mindwiped Regal would have been a massive loss to the 6 Duchies given his connections and power. what was the deal with the boy "mishap" at the end? Was I supposed to know who he was or is this something that's played out later?

I still really enjoyed the characterization in general - everyone was distinct and seemed to carry their own views and problems around with them. The evolution of Night Eyes was excellent. Even if i didn't appreciate the somewhat trippy "dragon carving" I like the fact I did not see it coming.

I'm definitely going to give the series a rest for a little while but will try and visit a trilogy every 3 or 4 months. It'd be nice to hit the last part of the Fitz and Fool trilogy.

[SeanF]

Finally finished the Farseer trilogy. It felt like it lost its way as it progressed through the book and the ending felt like someone rushing through 150 pages in 20 pages to hit a deadline. That said it's the different approach that makes the series appealing.

General thoughts about Quest

Hidden Content

I'm definitely going to give the series a rest for a little while but will try and visit a trilogy every 3 or 4 months. It'd be nice to hit the last part of the Fitz and Fool trilogy.

I would say that I really enjoyed the first 500 pages, and last 100 pages of Quest.  I thought it dragged somewhat between them.  Like you, I thought Nighteyes was a great character.

I thought Fitz's punishment of Regal was rather funny

It was the wit weasel that killed him, and I don't think that was Fitz's intention

[DaveSumm]

Finally finished the Farseer trilogy. It felt like it lost its way as it progressed through the book and the ending felt like someone rushing through 150 pages in 20 pages to hit a deadline. That said it's the different approach that makes the series appealing.

General thoughts about Quest

Hidden Content

I'm definitely going to give the series a rest for a little while but will try and visit a trilogy every 3 or 4 months. It'd be nice to hit the last part of the Fitz and Fool trilogy.

A lot of these points are explored more in Tawny Man.

[red snow]

I would say that I really enjoyed the first 500 pages, and last 100 pages of Quest.  I thought it dragged somewhat between them.  Like you, I thought Nighteyes was a great character.

I thought Fitz's punishment of Regal was rather funny

Hidden Content

yeah, it was nice that the Weasel unravelled everyone's well laid plans.  I did like the Fitz on a revenge mission segment and his PTSD really entertaining.

[red snow]

A lot of these points are explored more in Tawny Man.

I had a feeling they were being dangled out for future exploration. I can wait and read about them in that case.

 

 

[HexMachina]

I had a feeling they were being dangled out for future exploration. I can wait and read about them in that case.

 

 

regarding one of your points in particular

No, you shouldn't know who Hap is, though I'll give he extremely mild spoiler that he appears in Tawny Man. My take on him being included was to show how things run full cycle - Burrich took in and nurtured a young boy whose parents couldn't care for him, and Fitz eventually comes to do the same. But, as I say, Hap is explored a bit more throughout

[Which Tyler]

Just wish this thread had waited another month or so - I'm about 1/4 way through the 2nd book, on my first re-read having originally read them 20-odd years ago.

Can't really go through this thread in real time as it's bound to contain spoilers for too much that I've outright forgotten

[HexMachina]

Re-reading Farseer after the discussion on this board and I have to say with the benefit of hindsight I only find myself happier with the books. Right from the outset, a Hobb does actually set up the Inland/Coastal divide, although this is mostly done through the chapter openers from Fitz' attempts to write a history of the 6Ds. 

It was also nice to refresh my memory on Queen Desire and how exactly her and Regal fit into things. I had forgotten that had she not married Shrewd she would have been a Duchess, and that she continued to threaten Shrewd that she would return home and declare her duchy an independent Kingdom. Her death also seems to stir tensions between the Inland/Coastal duchies too.

Also needed the refresher on why she argues Regal should be King. I when she talked about him having nobler blood before it meant her family had recently we'd the Royals, but I realise now that she means Shrewd's first Queen was of lower tier nobility than her. Makes sense! So Regal (arguably) has a claim to a Dukedom.

And finally I'm loving some of the little things that seem to say Hobb had certain things planned out from the start. For example (Tawny Man spoilers)

When Fitz travels to the meeting with Lord Kelvar regarding manning Watch Island, Chade speculates that someone must be selling them out to the Red Ship Raiders because they are able to slip past the defences so easily. Then in Tawny Man, Lo and behold, we find out it was Regal all along.

Also, in one of the chapter openers about the Fool one of e speculations is that he was born of the Other folk. This makes no sense when you first read it, but then in Liveships we actually meet the Others, and learn of their prescience, and it all slots into place 

 

This is why I love rereads

[Consigliere]

13 hours ago, HelenaExMachina said:

Hidden Content

 

This is why I love rereads

I might be misunderstanding you. Are you saying that the Fool is born of the Other folk? I don't think this is possible since the Other folk are the offspring of dragons who have spent too much time around humans. Also, my understanding was that their prescience was due to She Who Remembers and once she was set free, they lost that ability. I hope that Hobb explains why they are afraid of cats.