City of Dragons: The Rain Wild Chronicles Book Three [Hardcover]

Each of this author's first three trilogies; `Farseer', `Liveship Traders' and `Tawny Man' boasted outstanding character development, beautiful prose and momentously engrossing plot developments. The publication of the `Soldier Son' trilogy marked a divergence that surprised many with its less romantic style and less epic story, but was still a series that bore all the hallmarks of this author in its wealth of detail, gripping story and characters whose lives you felt yourself living. It was a series I greatly enjoyed and would recommend. The `Rain Wilds Chronicles' series (or more accurately- quartet, as it will be when the final book, `Blood of Dragons' is published in the UK in March 2013) is, once again, a divergence from the formula of Hobb's early successes.

'City of Dragons' is the shortest book so far in the series (at 425 pages, shorter even than `Dragon Keeper' and `Dragon Haven'), but more disappointingly- the novel begins with the pace once again feeling flat, there is little action and the character arcs evaporate rather than culminate. My sense with this series is that, unlike the authors first four trilogies, there is very little exploration of the profound consequences on the political and social landscape of the setting, which must surely result from the profound discoveries made by the main characters. The return of dragons as lords of the three realms at the closure of the `Tawny Man' trilogy promised much change for the Six Duchies, Bingtown, the Rain Wilds, the Cursed Shore and beyond. Those changes have sadly not materialized sufficiently in this series, with little sense of ripples extending outwards from the small band of Dragons, Elderlings and Humans at the center of this story.

`City of Dragons' is however an improvement in that area. In particular I very much enjoyed Malta's story-arc in this novel, but suspect this only proved so satisfying because I felt a connection with this character having read the Liveship Traders trilogy in which she figured prominently and evolved so intricately, while her new compatriots in the Rain Wild Chronicles feel woefully two-dimensional by comparison.

As the `Rain Wilds Chronicles' progresses the small faults become less easy to justify; the lack of a first-person narrative to engage the reader, the continued squabbling among (and lack of intelligence in the dialogue of) the dragons, the general sense of aimlessness in the plot and most significantly for me- the disconnection between the events experienced by the dragons and their keepers, and the greater world view.

All things considered though `City of Dragons' is an adequate read. Granted, it's slow to start (about one hundred pages worth of slow) and it's a terribly short book at 425 pages, and of course the standard is nowhere near as high as this author's best. The major disappoint though is that I just don't feel any excitement or anticipation for the concluding installment, except that it will mark the end of this series and the beginning of the next (and hopefully superior) one.

The great shame with `City of Dragons' is that the book ends so quickly and especially so as the quality really plummets in the final couple of chapters. This series is beginning to travel the same road as Naomi Novik's `Temeraire' series, since 'City of Dragons' is only as substantive as a handful of chapters in one of Hobb's early novels, not the satisfyingly rich, layered and self-contained story it should be.

If `Blood of Dragons' boasts a similar word count as `City of Dragons' then the publishers have truly done a disservice to readers by not merging these titles. Usually the yearly wait between the publications of the novels in a Robin Hobb series are justified by the length and quality of her stories. Even though I enjoyed parts of this novel, it is undoubtedly not shaping up to be worth the wait in the same fashion.

Therefore, I would recommend setting your expectations quite low before beginning this title and certainly not to the lofty heights of this author's finest past achievements in the genre. I'm now hoping for a satisfying and swift conclusion to this series, and let's face it, the final book, `Blood of Dragons', has much to prove...

Robin Hobb used to be my all time favorit phantasy writer - and I would give all her other books 5*s! I could hardly wait for this new volume to come out, but now that I have got and read it, I am a bit dissappointed.

The book feels like about half the size of her previouse Robin Hobb books. Perhaps I am a creature of habit, but I have gotten used to her trilogies. Now suddenly it looks like there is going to be at least 4 in this series?
I would not mind this if the size of this book would be the same as her usual books, but it does a feel bit short (I count about 200 pages less than usual).
Add to that that at least a third, especially the beginning, of the book reiterates plots from past books in partialyy tiresom retropections of the main characters.
If not for my loyalty to Robin Hobb I might have put the book down after 100 pages of notghing much 'new' happening.
I am glad I did not - as Robin does come up with some great and interesting 'new' stuff for the last 150-200 pages.
Nevertheless, after dragging myself through the beginning of the book and just warming up and starting to develop my usual enthusiasm for her writing - the book is finished and I feel somewhat cheated!

I pray Vol.4 will be here soon and that Robin will be inspired with many gifted ideas to bring it back to a standard, of richness and size, which is worthy of her talent!!!

Whilst in the past I have enjoyed Robin Hobb books, the more recent ones have left me feeling more Meh, than compelled to keep going as, for me, they feel more like writing by numbers than with passion. Don't get me wrong, there will be people that love this series but when it feels like more of the same with very little resolved in one form or another and all in as a reader you'll end up wondering it was left feeling incomplete.

Add to this predictable patterns which when backed with simplistic twists and a predictable pattern and for me I'll be sticking with her earlier books which are still favourites of mine. All in a great shame and whilst the prose are sharp it just feels like there is a lot of repetition with no resolution in not only the arcs but the characters.