Genre: Fantasy
Series: Rain Wild Chronicles
Main Characters: Tintaglia (dragon), Thymara, Alise
Link to buy : Amazon
Borrowed on Kindle from Grandview Library
Published : January 26th 2010 by Eos
Story Overview from Goodreads
One of the most gifted fantasy authors writing today, New York Timesbestselling author Robin Hobb has dazzled readers with brilliantly imaginative, emotionally resonant, and compulsively readable tales set in far-flung realms not unlike our own. In this enthralling new novel, she returns to the territory of her beloved Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies with a story of dragons and humans, return and rebirth, and the search for meaning, belonging, and home.
For years, the Trader cities valiantly battled their enemies, the Chalcedeans. But they could not have staved off invasion without the powerful dragon Tintaglia. In return, the Traders promised to help her serpents migrate up the Rain Wild River after a long exile at sea—to find a safe haven and, Tintaglia hopes, to restore her species. But too much time has passed, and the newly hatched dragons are damaged and weak, and many die. The few who survive cannot use their wings; earthbound, they are powerless to hunt and vulnerable to human predators willing to kill them for the fabled healing powers of dragon flesh.
But Tintaglia has vanished and the Traders are weary of the labor and expense of tending useless dragons. The Trader leadership fears that if it stops providing for the young dragons, the hungry and neglected creatures will rampage—or die along the river’s acidic muddy banks. To avert catastrophe, the dragons decree a move even farther up the treacherous river to Kelsingra, their ancient, mythical homeland whose mysterious location is locked deep within the dragons’ uncertain ancestral memories.
To ensure their safe passage, the Traders recruit a disparate group of young people to care for the damaged creatures and escort them to their new home. Among them is Thymara, an unschooled forest girl of sixteen, and Alise, a wealthy Trader’s wife trapped in a loveless marriage, who attaches herself to the expedition as a dragon expert. The two women share a deep kinship with the dragons: Thymara can instinctively communicate with them, and Alise, captivated by their beauty and majesty, has devoted her life to studying them.
Embarking on an arduous journey that holds no promise of return, the band of humans and dragons must make their way along the toxic and inhospitable Rain Wild River—an extraordinary odyssey that will teach them lessons about themselves and one another, as they experience hardships, betrayals, and joys beyond their wildest dreams.
My Review:
Let me just say this is the first book I have read by Robin Hobb. I must say that I am now a total fan and will be devouring all of her books! How have I missed out on knowing about this wonderfully talented storyteller? This is her fourth series, but, and if you are a dragon lover, this is a great series to start. With some authors, you have to start out with the first book they wrote because the series is interconnected; if you jump in the middle, you really feel you are missing a big chunk of what is going on.
I did not feel lost at all by starting with this series. I got to know the characters very well, the descriptions of the dragons as they are hatching and how they got to where they are — all easily woven into the story. I do know that once I finish this series, I will be going back and picking up her first book. Robin has a wonderful story with characters you want to root for, characters you cannot believe are doing what they are doing, and characters you just hope get their just desserts. I am totally heading over to the library and queuing up the sequel Dragon Haven.
Happy reading!
