This is such a thorough and comprehensive review of the series. I'm currently on Royal Assassin and altho I'm enjoying it so far nothing groundbreaking has happened yet so I was unsure if I should finish the whole series or not. Now I really want to read them all bc I'm really interested in all the things you have mentioned
I just started. I've heard of Robin Hobb before but had no idea it was such a huge series. I picked up Ship of Magic thinking it was just a trilogy. So far, I Iove it. I'm about 70% through the first book and Wintrow is my favorite character at this point. I remember a friend like 10-15 years ago going on about Fitz etc. I'm going to start at the beginning after I finish Live Ship Traders.
I highly recommend you stop and start with the Farseer Trilogy, then return to the Liveship Trilogy, because there are little easter eggs hidden in the Liveship trilogy that only readers of the Farseer Trilogy will understand. It is taking place in the same world. I did the same mistake and started with the Liveship trilogy and when reading reactions to this series, everybody was just raving about easter eggs and a certain character being from the Farseer trilogy and how cool, and I didn't understand anything.
Brilliant overview of the series!! I am totally not surprised that our experiences were so eerily similar hahah. Though I did devour Fitz and the Fool quicker than Liveships, but I think I enjoy Liveships as a whole more in hindsight. And let's be honest, a 'meh' Hobb book is still amazing. Congrats on completing this epic adventure 🥰
My opinion is that it is a must read, and that if you haven’t you’re missing out, because I can’t put it down, and I’m addicted. Such a brilliant story line!
I have consumed the Liveship series on its own many times over. I think it gets less love because we are so attached to Fitz, starting Ship of Magic and it’s like “Where’s Fitz?” is almost a deal breaker. However, sticking with it is absolutely worth it. The Liveship series is amazing.
I already know I won't be continuing with RotE (I stopped after Fool's Errand and just can't handle being in Fitz's head any longer) but I always love seeing how you break down the elements/"project" of a series! You're so good at it and these are always my favorite videos of yours to watch. Also I felt the same about that thing in Ship of Destiny and now I'm super curious how Tawny Man sheds new light on it. But not enough to keep going 😂
I've been meaning to pick up Golden Fool for ages and this has inspired me to finish Tawny Man in the cold months so I can jump into Rain Wild once it gets warm again! ⛵🐉
I think I know which moment you were talking about in Liveship and if it's the thing I'm thinking it absolutely ruined the series for me 😅 I haven't given up on Farseer yet and it's good to know that it's addressed in later books but it will never not bug me that that wasn't addressed in the series it happened in...
This was my first adult fantasy series and I was worried about how long it was. But I decided to take it one trilogy at a time, and after book 3 I was hooked.
⛵️First of all just wanted to say I love your videos and I hope you have a wonderful 2024! I've been so on the fence about starting this one as 16 book is so long, but I need to give it a go hopefully this year. I'm definitely the most excited about The Live Ships, so maybe if I hate Assassins Apprentice, I can just go to that one. Do you think that Rain Wild Chronicles can be skipped? Also, what's your take on the audiobooks? I tend to read complex fantasy with my eyeballs so not too sure. 😊
I’m about to start Assassin’s Quest soon and I was really wondering if I wanted to continue on because Fitz…oof! He might be the most pitiful character I’ve read about 😂. But now you’re making me think I do want to keep going ⛵️
Hobb's real name is Megan Lindholm, When asked why the pen name -- when she still publishes books under her own; she said it was because she sells more books using the gender neutral name. So her choice of which one to use seems to be a tone thing. I would like to recommend a book she wrote before she split her personas, though. The first Megan Lindholm book I read was Harpy's Flight, Judging from what you said about her writing in this and other vlogs, I'm guessing you would recognize the author of it as the same person. Gets you right in the feels. The other books in that series kind of lose their momentum, but reading Harpy's Flight I was very conscious of having encountered a new favorite writer.
I gave up in book 3. Author simply refused to move the plot forward. Hero is captured, rescued, captured, escapes, captured -- everyone except hero is rescued, hero then rescued after multiple pointless pages of nothing. Hero is continually enfeebled by wounds, super f--ing annoying, where he lies in bed with anxiety, whining, and zero agency, page after page. Some call this character building. I call it bad storytelling. I really liked the first two books and am thinking about starting the next series. But for Assassin's Quest, after about half way I just looked up what happened on wikipedia. A LOT is going to happen but how continually tedious would it be to get there?
Assassin's Quest has been my favorite in the Realm of the Elderlings so far (with the exception of _the_ icky event that happened at the end of the book). I have started the Liveship Traders a few years back, read about 100 pages of Ship of Magic, wanted to scream at all of the characters how much I disliked them all 😅 and promptly gave up on it. But the mystery setup in Assassin's Quest was so fun that I have been trying to persuade myself to push through 😅 Would it be a good idea to try the The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince mid Ship of Magic to try and reignite my interest in continuing on? 🤔
I've heard Hobb's books described as misery p*rn because everyone is just having an awful time all the time...which doesn't sound like a fun experience. Would you say this is true or do you have a different take on it?
This probably gets into my point about exploration of heavy themes. For me it doesn't feel more traumatic than other classic fantasy books but it focuses more on the human experience of those actions which I think can make it harder. I have a pretty high tolerance so for me I wasn't feeling like I was sad or overwhelmed by what was happening. But if you read for escapism or are just currently not wanting to watch a world where you are reminded life is largely unfair its totally fair to pass on this series. I have read literary fiction that I would describe as misery porn and this does not come close to it in my opinion.
Well I was going to ask if Live Ship ever gets good, but I bet I know your answer 🤣 I love Fitz, but it has taken me three months to get 300 pages into Ship of Magic and I hate every character so far. I started these as a buddy read with my mom, who doesn’t read fantasy, and she finished the entire series in five months. I on the other hand, who predominantly reads fantasy, am really not enjoying them and it is making me sad.
I also hated every character at first, but some characters become very likable over the course of the trilogy, one even very unexpected, but I don't want to spoil. I would give it a second try.
@@kingofthejungle2894 thanks for the encouragement! I haven’t made it any further than I had at the time I made the comment, but I was starting to feel like it’s time to pick it back up.
I read Assassin's Apprentice and liked it, but I ended up disliking Royal Assassin quite a bit. I've been dreading reading Assassin's Quest partly because there reviews make me think I won't enjoy it-given that the previous book was a flop for me-and the 800+ page count is off-putting too. I really want to read Ship of Magic though; do you think it's okay to skip Assassin's Quest and move on to Ship of Magic?
I also liked Assassin's Apprentice and finally forced myself to finish Royal Assassin. I just can't bring myself to read Assassin's Quest. I skipped to Ship of Magic which I loved.
@LiteratureScienceAlliance just looked it up and Assassin's apprentice and Ship of magic. Could have sworn i read all of the livetrader books but nope lol. I did really like Ship of Magic though!
