City Of Dragons: Volume Three of the Rain Wilds Chronicles [Hardcover]

I have long been a fan of Robin Hobb, and I devoured the Farseer, Tawny Man, and Liveship Trilogies. Unfortunately, I haven't found the Rain Wilds Chronicles nearly as appealing as her earlier works. Dragon Haven, the second book in the series, ended with such a lack of compelling storylines or suspense that I erroneously believed that the series was over. It was not until I saw City of Dragons that I realized my mistake.

Volume Three of the Rain Wilds Chronicles picks up where Dragon Haven left off, with a small group of dragon keepers trying to raise their stunted and deformed dragons to full strength. Hobb also weaves Malta and Selden Vestrit into the book as major players. Much of the intrigue revolves around their stories, but Malta's big scene is so hastily over that it might as well have been left out completely, and Selden is so poorly fleshed out that his approaching peril is not very interesting. A great deal of the book is spent describing the majestic ruined city of Kelsingra, which slows the book down to a snail's pace. City of Dragons is not an improvement over the other two books in the Rain Wild Chronicles, but it is definitely not without merit. The addition of the dragon Tintaglia adds much needed depth, and the character of Sedric has improved dramatically.

I will certainly read the next installment in this series, but I would only recommend City of Dragons and the rest of the Rain Wilds Chronicles to devoted Robin Hobb fans. Others who are looking for a compelling fantasy book would do well to try any of her other series before tackling this one.

The Liveship books are up there in my top 10 most enjoyed books ever. I have enjoyed the Rain Wild Chronicles as well - not as much, but still intensely happy to revisit this world of complex characters, deeply defined societies, and political intrigue with Robin Hobb's usual blend of drama, mystery, and intrigue. That, and dragons that are NOT your typical 13 year old girl ride-on-the-shoulder-kindred spirit dragon fantasy.

When I finished Dragon Haven, volume two of the Rain Wilds Chronicles, it seemed so conclusive that I thought it was going to be volume 2 of only 2. It ended with the discovery of Kelsingra, the ancient city of the Elderlings and dragons, and Sintara, the dragon queen, attempting flight. I am ecstatic that there is not only a new book in the series, but also that City of Dragons clearly is NOT the end of the series!

This book gives some good insight into...

- What is in Kelsingra? Does it hold Elderling magic and / or Elderling items?
- What happens to Sintara and her attempts to become all that a dragon should be? What about the other dragons?
- How do the dragon keepers fare, after all of the changes they've gone through due to exposure to the dragons, and now that they have reached Kelsingra...(sort of, it's across the river, the dragons can't get to it and even Tarman can't easily get there)
- What happens to Thymara, Sintara's keeper, now that she and the others are free from the harsh societal rules (such as those who are "touched" (deformed) by the Rain Wilds magic not being allowed to have children or even be intimate)
- Where is the dragon Tintaglia and will she return?
- What of Selden, Malta, and Reyn, the first new Elderlings? What of Malta's pregnancy? (they are altered with dragon characteristics due to being involved in the release of Tintaglia)
- What of Alise, a lady of Bingtown, and Leftrin, her rough sailing man? What of her husband, Hest, and his lover Sedric? What of Leftrin's liveship, Tarman?
- How far will the Duke of Chalced go to get the dragon blood and organs he believes will heal him?
- Does the rest of the world find out about the discovery of Kelsingra?

The Liveship series introduced us to a fascinating world with distinct cultures, populated with a large cast of fully realized characters who are fascinatingly flawed. Bingtown is a port town with flourishing trade where artifacts salvaged from the Elderling ruins in the Rain Wilds are sold. The Rain Wilds are an inhospitable place - the river water is acidic and dangerous to humans and those who live there in the tree cities become gradually more deformed (scaling, disgusting growths). One of the items they salvage is 'wizardwood', which has magical qualities, and is used to make liveships (wizardwood is imbued with sentience). It's a fascinating series about the Vestrit family in Bingtown and the Khuprus family in the Rain Wilds which plunges unflinchingly into human cruelty from the achingly painful view of both victim and victimizer. The mystery and the tragedy behind wizardwood and liveships is what the series is about...not dragons. And wonderfully so.

The Rain Wild Chronicles is about the dragons, though more so about the humans whose lives revolve around them. The dragons emerged from their cocoons stunted and sickly, and depend on humans to live. It is also about complex human interaction, the dark side of humanity, the machinations of the wealthy and powerful and the impact it has on the lives of others. I have found the mystery of the Elderlings and the inglorious return of dragons to the world to be very interesting, and although I am endlessly grateful that Robin Hobb has returned to the Rain Wilds, I do wish she had packed more into this book. I wanted a feast and I got an appetizer...a damn good one, but I'm still ravenous!

Robin Hobb is a fine fantasy writer with excellent characters and a complex world full of variety and wonder. The first two books in the Rain Wilds Chronicles got me hooked; I felt I had to wait a long time for the third book to find out what happened to my favorite characters.

To set the stage, the main story of the previous books was of the upriver journey of a group of crippled dragons, their outcast keepers and the crew of the Liveship Tarman. I wanted to find out what happened to Alise, the Trader Lady of a scholarly bent who had left her neglectful husband and discovered true love with the captain of the Liveship. I wanted to know if the crippled dragons would learn to fly and what would happen to their keepers.

The expedition has indeed found the legendary city of the Elderlings and their Dragons and magic does lurk within the stones. This part of the book is great and if the author had focused on these characters, their privations and progress, the book would easily have earned five stars.

But the author spends a lot of time with Hest Finbok and his anger over Alise's defection. We get a couple more chapters about the Duke of Chalced who seeks dragon blood and flesh as an elixir to restore his lost youth and health. The problem with the bad guys is that they are entirely predictable. We know they threaten our fragile expedition, particularly the flightless dragons who can't cross the river to get to the city Kelsingera.

I was not satisfied with the structure of this book because none of the narrative arcs were fully developed. The author gave me updates on the current status of a wide variety of people, threw in a couple more plot lines and called it a fantasy novel. It was more like reading a newspaper. I'm not a big fan of GRR Martin and the ever open-ended narrative that never moves forward. Fantasy writers, I'm putting you on notice: you've still got to tell me a story.

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