This was the final book to the 5th trilogy she has written in this world. It was an excellent read suggestion from GreenChileTiger to me about 6 months ago, and I was able to get thru 4/5 of the trilogies in that time.

It's high fantasy in the same mold as much of what we generally discuss in book threads, but there is a noticeable difference for me in how SHE writes compared to the guys that generally dominate the genre. Much more emotion and focus on relationship development. And much less focus on the "intensity" and details of war/battle. But still tons and tons of political intrigue. That's not to say war and battle are not there, but just presented differently. The most intense battle scene I read from her was a close quarters fight towards the end of the last book. It was very well done, but it somewhat stood alone in the series.

The magic systems are tame and scarse enough to make them somewhat "believable". Animal bonding and mind/thought magic being the most prominent. Dragons are a key component. The main characters relationship and bond with his wolf was probably the most enjoyable aspect of the whole series, IMO. Their dialogue was wonderful. She can have some pacing problems at times. The first book of this last series was difficult to get through. But she was always able to build enough intrigue and suspense to make me push through. The last book was my favorite. It was able to merge and wrap up storylines from the previous trilogies in a seamless way. I probably cared more about her characters by the end than any other fantasy series I read. And I would attribute that to all that relationship building I mentioned earlier.

I would definitely recommend them all as good reads. Fitz and the Fool have 3 separate trilogies. The pirate, sailors, and live ships have their own trilogy. And the dragons and dragon keepers have their own trilogy. And I think I would have gotten more out of reading them sequentially as GreenChileTiger suggested I do. I skipped the dragon Keeper series, and regret it after finishing this last book. They all intertwine significantly.

Thanks to GCT for the suggestion. Now I'm back to not knowing what to read next.

This post was edited on 6/2/17 at 11:09 am

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Posted by auyushu

Surprise, AZ

Member since Jan 2011

9904 posts

Posted on 6/2/17 at 4:01 pm to MSMHater

I still need to read this one and the dragon keeper series. Glad to read this post so that I know to read the dragon keepers first once I finally get around to it.

I really enjoyed the first Fitz trilogy as well as the Live ship trilogy, but thought the second Fitz trilogy was merely decent. Is the last trilogy an improvement over the second, or about the same?

This post was edited on 6/2/17 at 4:02 pm

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Posted by dcw7g

Member since Dec 2003

2231 posts

Posted on 6/2/17 at 4:22 pm to MSMHater

I finished the last book a week ago too and agree with your review. Definitely a strong finish. The first book of the trilogy was slow, but somehow Hobb was able to make it interesting anyway. She's got a different writing style but it really draws the reader in. I read all the other books set in this world, but quit the Dragon Keepers series after the 1st book and kind of regret it now. I suspect it got better.

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Posted by MSMHater

Houston

Member since Oct 2008

23195 posts

Posted on 6/2/17 at 6:31 pm to auyushu

The last book was my favorite, but the first book in this last trilogy is my least favorite of all her books, so it drags it down just a bit for me. It shouldn't have taken as long as it did to get to the main plot. But once it got there, it was great.

I think the 1st trilogy is my favorite, and the 2nd and 3rd about the same.

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