The Windsingers (Paperback)

One of the things i really didn't like about this book is actually nothing to do with how its written or anything like that, its to do with the way Megans earlier work is being republished to cash in on her success as Robin Hobb... Why couldn't they pair up her books? Why are they being drip fed to us? Why do I feel like I am being ripped off?

Now that I have that off my chest I will review the novel, it has well drawn characters who are understandable and realistic. From the bitter and twisted Janie to the rather strange and unhuman Dresh.

It is a rather strange world that Megan has created here with any number of weird sentient races that are hinted at but never really explored. Which I think is a shame as Megan has obviously gone to a lot of trouble to create them, as you will see with the Webshell incident.

All in all if you are a fan of Robins work and want to see her learning her craft this is a prime example of that, if you are looking for something a little different then this should be right up your street. However if you are looking for something on the same level as the Farseer or Mad Ships books then I would give this book a miss.

Unfortunately though this book is not as good as ‘Harpy’s Flight’, partly due to the lack of such a personally-meaningful enemy to Ki, as the harpy was to her in book one. It’s also lacking in respect to the themes developed by Lindholm in book one e.g. with only fleeting references to the harpy-human struggle and the mention only once of the grievous losses sustained by Ki and the vengeance she took for them in the first book, ‘The Windsingers’ is an oddly out of context story. After book one I had expected that the ‘Ki and Vandien’ quartet would largely be an exploration of the struggle between humans and harpies, and I had hoped for an explanation as to how the harpies have such a strong hold over the humans of this world, but rather disappointingly for me that’s not the case. Oh well, here’s hoping that the themes of book one will re-appear in the next two books in the series.

It was only a little way into the book that I began to re-consider the close comparison I made between Lindholm and Hobb in my review for book one. There’s a scene close to the start of ‘The Windsingers’ where Vandien barters with a member of one of the alien species, which is exquisitely phrased, but doesn’t resonate as well as it should because so little is known of this alien and his kind. As another reviewer has noted- the creation, but only surface description of these various alien species is disappointing, but further, is very uncharacteristic of Hobb for whom back story is always integral to plot. In fact one of Hobb’s trademarks is her ability draw on as many aspects to an individual, species, or culture as she can to emphasise the point she is making about her characters. Lindolm simply does not. But despite the slightly sad fact that this book never approaches the heights and depths of character, or excitement of those novels in Hobb’s trilogies I never found myself as I read wishing for more, because Lindholm’s stories can’t be classed as the inferior siblings of Hobb’s, but more appropriately- the similar and yet distant cousins. And unquestionably- this is one family tree that continues to hold great allure for me.