City of Dragons

The Rain Wild Chronicles, Book 3

By: Robin Hobb

Narrated by: Saskia Butler

Length: 12 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

Return to the world of the Liveships Traders and journey along the Rain Wild River in the third instalment of high adventure from the author of the internationally acclaimed Farseer trilogy.

Kelsingra awaits for those brave enough to enter…

The dragons and their keepers have discovered Kelsingra but so far only Heeby has succeeded in flying over the river to enter the fabled city. The other dragons, with their deformed wings and feeble muscles, are afraid to risk failure and humiliation.

But wondrous things await in Kelsingra, a city built for dragons and their Elderling keepers. Alise, overwhelmed by the treasures she finds there, records her finds for posterity. Once the rest of the world knows about the riches the city contains, nothing will ever be the same again.

Already, rumours of the city’s discovery have floated down the Rain Wild River and reached envious ears in Bingtown and beyond. Adventurers, pirates and fortune hunters are coming in droves to pillage what they can from the city. As is Hest Finbok, Alise’s husband…

Meanwhile, Selden Vestrit finds himself a prisoner of the ailing Duke of Chalced, who believes him to be some sort of dragon-man whose flesh and blood may work miracle cures.

Where is Tintaglia, the great sapphire-blue dragon, when all have such need of her? Has she really abandoned her beloved Selden and the fledgling dragons forever? Or will she too return to seek the wonders of Kelsingra?

©2012 Robin Hobb (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"In today’s crowded fantasy market Robin Hobb’s books are like diamonds in a sea of zircons." (George R. R. Martin)

"Hobb is superb, spinning wonderful characters and plots from pure imagination." (Conn Iggulden)

"Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers… what makes her novels as addictive as morphine is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics." (The Times)

Hate it to be left hanging....

If you could sum up City of Dragons in three words, what would they be?

Very fine read..

What other book might you compare City of Dragons to and why?

Can't think of anything to compary it to...

Have you listened to any of Saskia Butler’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes, I did. This one is of the same high standard..

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes, the fact that I am left hanging and yearning for the sequel quite annoyed me.. Luckily I just found the hard copy of the sequel, so my suffering will be minimal.. ;-), although I prefer the audio book format. It is however the reason I just rated the story with 4-stars..

Delicious

This is currently the last in this series but there is clearly more to come. Wonderful to listen to. A real joy. Don't miss it.

Half a book?

What did you love best about City of Dragons?

I'm an avid reader of Robin Hobb's work and a love the development of this story and the possibilities that lie ahead.

What other book might you compare City of Dragons to and why?

It fits in perfectly to the other books in the series

Which character ??? as performed by Saskia Butler ??? was your favorite?

Although typically teenaged and angsty, Thymara has the most to gain if only she finds it in herself to rise above her own poor expectations of herself.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Selden's plight and the sheer dehumanisation of him. It is not hard to see parallels from our own history.

Any additional comments?

I like the book, there was little chance of me not doing so, however, it felt too much like half a book. Almost everything seemed to be in progress without anything really substantial happening. A book between books perhaps?

More Setup than Story

There are two main differences between this book and the previous two books in the series - the first is that it's about half the size. The second is that the camera is panned around a bit - instead of the tight focus on Alys, Cedric, the Tarmon, the Dragons and their Keepers, we get a peek at what is happening in the wider world - Selden the Elderling, Tintaglia and her mate Icefire (who fits the expression "not unless he was the last man on Earth" nicely), Martya and Rayne, the situation in Chalced and what's happening with Alys' happily erstwhile husband in Bingtown.

The book also provided some interesting pieces of information about the world as it stands as well as its past

I will spare you the disappointment and tell you straight up that neither Fitz nor the Fool make any physical appearance in this story. However there are some signs of them - at times it's like they have passed by so recently you can still feel the stir of them in the air.

This book seems to me more of a set up for the finale than a story in itself. It was a bit of a disappointment, but it has definitely left me twitching with anticipation for the next book in the series, which is rumoured to be the final book of the Rainwild Chronicles.

Good story, even better performance

the story is good, but the one thing I don't like is that the next book is read by Flosnik. oh dear, going from Saskia to Flosnik is like going from the sound of a beautiful violin to the sound of a donkey in the early morning...well like before nothing to do but to speed up to 1.2 and enjoy the story

story was kind of slow

nothing happened. could've easily skipped this book. it kind of feels like a setup book and not well executed. performance by Saskia was still good