Canadian eReader

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info title=”Fool’s Fate – Canadian Audiobook” author=”robin-hobb-2″] Progress: Fool’s Fate 100% complete. Challenge 100% complete Today I finished Fool’s Fate, the final book in the Tawny Man trilogy and the last of the five books I was reading in my Realm of the Elderlings challenge. I was right in my prediction yesterday that the section I read today was very much a wrap-up.  Other than the expected resurrection of the Fool it was all about ensuring that the good guys were recompensed for their heroism.  Fitz gets his Molly (sigh), Dutiful gets his Narcheska, Tintaglia gets her Icefyre and they all live happily ever after and raise lots of children. The scene with the Fool and the Rooster Crown wasn’t as I’d remembered it.  It was a beautiful scene, but it doesn’t quite reach Perrin and his Hammer for epicness.  The secret of the Rooster Crown was very Fool-like.  Some readers have wondered why Fitz didn’t learn the secret of the Fool’s gender during this whole process, but I  easily understand why he didn’t even consider breaching the Fool’s trust in this manner. The writing of the Fool’s character development with his resignation…

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info] Progress: Fool’s Fate 71% complete. Happy book birthday to Robin Hobb and Fool’s Assassin which was published today!  The Kindle and Audible version hit my download queues overnight and I had to exercise great strength of will not to dive in immediately but to complete my reread of the Realm of the Elderlings series first.  Actually, that reminds me; those of you who have read Fool’s Assassin, please would you let me know in the comments if it contains spoilers for the Rainwild Chronicles?  Thanks!  I was also exceptionally pleased that Fool’s Assassin is Whispersync for Voice enabled.  Yay!  It’s one of those services that you don’t think you’ll need or use, until you have a book/audiobook combo without it. Speaking of audiobooks, after my whining yesterday about the North American version of Fool’s Fate not being available until the end of the month I was astounded to find it available on Audible.com today.  Mutter, mumble grumble.  I wish I’d known that before I bought the UK version.  I gave in and completed my collection.  I am used to the Audible app and prefer using it to the music app for audiobooks….

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info] Progress: Fool’s Fate 23% complete. So, onto the final book of my reading challenge, Fool’s Fate.  The audiobook hasn’t been released yet, so the cover art shown is that from the Kindle book.  This cover is clearly reminiscent of the date the novel was first released. This first section is pretty depressing.  It’s all about the Farseer contingent’s ship journey to the Outislands and Thick’s sheer misery during the voyage.  It does highlight Nettle’s Skill with dreams and shows the likely way in which she will aid the quest for Icefyre’s head.  I did feel this section could have been compressed considerably. The politics of the quest are starting to be discussed now.  Why did the Narcheska place such a demand on Dutiful?  What did she hope to gain?  Or is she being manipulated?  Of course, I remember the answer to that from my reading years ago! As I’m still shipping Fitz and the Fool, I did love the section where the Fool joins the Skill lesson and connects with Fitz.  Definitely more than plumbing!

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info title=”Golden Fool” author=”robin-hobb-2″] Progress: Golden Fool 100% complete. Woohoo, four books down, one to go!  Next up: Fool’s Fate.  I would just like to say thanks to everyone who has been following along with me on this reread. So, a lot happened in that last section of the book I just finished.  Here are some of the highlights. Dutiful’s Coterie is formed.  I loved this particular section.  It was beautifully written how Chade, Dutiful, The Fool and Thick all came together in the Skill to save Fitz’s life, with each of them bringing something to the table.  Chade’s arcane knowledge, the Fool’s love for Fitz, Thick’s sheer strength in the Skill and Dutiful’s skill at bringing it all together.  I believe they are making a big mistake in shutting The Fool out of the subsequent Skill lessons, which they may find to their cost. The rapprochement between The Fool and Fitz after their argument about love vs plumbing.  I can’t believe Fitz didn’t see that the reason The Fool was shutting him out was because of the deep, deep hurt he felt at Fitz’s reaction.  I hope the rapprochement continues. The revelation…

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info title=”Golden Fool” author=”robin-hobb-2″] Progress: Golden Fool 68% complete. So, as I guessed, Amber’s friend Jek’s arrival in Buckkeep caused the Fool’s Amber and Lord Golden personae to converge.  She also revealed to Fitz the depth of the Fool’s feelings for him.  Yep, still sailing that ship. I was very interested by Fitz’s reaction to all of this.  His thoughts were more along the lines of “oh no, everyone thinks I’m sleeping with my boss!” and “oh no, how could the Fool have had a totally different life about which I knew nothing?”  Not once did he think “oh no, the Fool’s feelings for me are deeper than I realised; how can I let him down gently?”  Nope, never goes there.  Clearly, Fitz doesn’t want to deal with his own feelings towards the Fool.   I suppose now is as good a time as any to address the whole issue of the Fool’s gender and sexuality in general in Hobb’s world.  At no point is it confirmed to which gender the person known as the Fool/Amber/Lord Golden belongs.  Right from the very beginning when we are first are introduced to the character in…

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info title=”Golden Fool” author=”robin-hobb-2″] Progress: Golden Fool 43% complete. I don’t actually have a great deal to say about today’s reading.  It’s more setup.  I was interested in the beginnings of Dutiful’s Coterie with Fitz, Dutiful, Chade, Thick and Nettle clearly being setup for that.  I was less involved shall we say in the whole Hap/Jinna subplot.  Hap’s pure raison d’être was to act as a comparison to Dutiful – both of Fitz’s “sons” need him and he’s struggling to balance the two and also to highlight Fitz’s own youthful indiscretions. I was glad that Hobb made it clear that Fitz really didn’t return Jinna’s affection in any meaningful way.  I’m still completely shipping Fitz and the Fool, but in any case Molly is still hanging around in the background <sigh>  In terms of the pairings, I’m a little frustrated that Hobb isn’t sticking to her “Molly is Fitz’s youthful fling, there’s someone (i.e. the Fool) in his future for a deeper relationship.”  I remember that Fitz ends up with Molly at the end of Fool’s Fate, so I hope that’s reversed in Fool’s Assassin. Speaking of the Fool, from the name of…

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info] Progress: Golden Fool 19% complete. So, onto a new book, Golden Fool.  Once again I must comment on the cover art – isn’t it gorgeous? Once again, at the beginning of the book there are lots of lovely character moments rather than fast plot progression.  I particularly appreciated Kettricken’s meeting with Fitz to share his grief at the loss of Nighteyes.  I’m so happy that Fitz – and the reader! – were given space to mourn this wonderful character.   Other notable character moments were Dutiful’s being torn between reaching out to Fitz as a father figure and maintaining his princely decorum.  I also look forward to seeing more of Chade’s servant, Thick.  If memory serves, he has a large role to play in the story. The seeds were also being set for the political intrigue around the Narcheska and who is really behind the marriage offer.  I look forward to seeing how that is developed. At this point I really should mention how incredible it is that I have been able to marathon Hobb’s writing to this extent.  Normally I like to change up my reading – I often have several…

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info title=”Fool’s Errand” author=”robin-hobb-2″] Progress: Fool’s Errand 100% complete. Progress: Golden Fool 7% complete Woohoo, three books down, two to go!   I have finished Fool’s Errand, the first in the Tawny Man trilogy.  Farewell Nighteyes, fictional wolf of my heart.  I miss him as much as Fitz does.  This last section of the book I finished was far more plot focussed than character driven unlike the earlier sections.  The smelly stuff really starts to hit the fan as Fitz, the Fool and Laurel must extricate Prince Dutiful from the Piebalds and return him to Buckeep to fulfil his royal duties.  Much as I enjoyed the adventure I did actually miss the quieter character moments. I noticed many little references to other books in the whole Realm of the Elderlings trilogy.  Icefyre, the Narcheska and the Pale Woman will have significance later on the Tawny Man trilogy (if memory serves me right).  There are also references to Bingtown and clearly the beach where Fitz and Dutiful were deposited by the Skill pillar was the Others’ beach of the Liveship Traders. It was only now that I realised the overarching theme of the entire…

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info title=”Fool’s Errand” author=”robin-hobb-2″] Progress: Fool’s Errand 83% complete. Today is a public holiday in most of Canada (except Quebec where I live) which meant it was very quiet.  I was able to listen to my audiobook of Fool’s Errand while waiting on work to come in and so got a large chunk of the book read.  (if my boss is reading this, I was working – honest!) In this section of the book the adventure really takes off.  Fitz, the Fool in his Lord Golden guise, Nighteyes and Huntswoman Laurel set off to find the missing prince Dutiful. Old Blood politics plays a large part in this section.  Of course when they finally catch up with Dutiful, he isn’t very enthusiastic about being “rescued.” As a cat lover, I was amused at the difficulties Hobb describes in creating a Wit bond with a feline.  Clearly, cats in the Realm of the Elderlings are equally as independent and strong minded as here! On a more serious note, there were some interesting points raised about the way Dutiful was manipulated into the bond with the cat – almost like a brainwashing cult.   Hopefully…

[challenge-progress for=”Realm of the Elderlings” bg=”black” font=”white”] [book-info title=”Fool’s Errand” author=”robin-hobb-2″] Progress: Fool’s Errand 45% complete. Excellent progress on Fool’s Errand – I wasn’t working today so was able to spend quite a bit of time reading or listening to the book. It is the shortest book on my challenge at 672 pages. My first comment is that it took until about 36% of the way through the book before we were actually presented with the main quest of the book – Prince Dutiful has gone missing. The first part of the book was spent reconnecting with Fitz and the Fool, learning what Fitz had been up to in the intervening years. I do feel this could have been compressed considerably.  On the other hand, I did enjoy watching Fitz and the Fool’s first meeting again. Much of the setup also focussed on the Wit.  Clearly, this is going to have far more importance than it had in the Farseer trilogy in terms of the Six Duchies society, not just in how it affects Fitz personally. It’s clear that Nighteyes is not the wolf he once was – it’s definitely preparing us for the book’s ending <sniff> More tomorrow.