Has anyone else read the book?

[brigdh]

Oh, god, I hated this book so much.

The main character is so stupid that I don't know how he remembers to breathe. And I get it, I get the usefulness of it, that he has to have things explained to him and there's a plot out of him figuring out his mistakes and overcoming his illusions and blah blah blah; it's not my favorite trope, but I see why someone would use it. But this was unbelievable. Nevare would have all the necessary information to solve the problem, and yet would take hundreds of pages to put it together. Over and over and over again, until I wanted to smack him.

And Robin Hobb: what is your problem with fat people? See a therapist. Being overweight, even if you were massively obese (which I doubt Nevare was, since he was still physically fit enough to be chopping wood and digging trenches and whatever else), is not so disgusting that people would stop to stare at you on the street. Also, I don't know if you have issues with sex, or if you were trying to show that Nevare has issues with sex, or what, but it is really not appealing to have every single sex scene be either so passionless that I'm not sure why the participants even bothered, or described as "decadent lust".

On that note: Nevare's issues with women. WOW. WOW. Seriously, how on earth is he supposed to be sympathetic if he considers a mother who has occasionally traded sex for money to keep her children from starving to death a worthless human being? And in case you think I'm exaggerating:

I could not begin to sort the emotions running through me. I felt stupid and used; Amzil was only a whore, and even though I'd paid her fee in food, day after day, she'd never allowed me to so much as touch her hand. That wasn't a fair judgment and I knew it. She'd as much as told me that she'd sold herself for food when she'd had to. Doing what she must to feed her children; did that make her a whore? I didn't know. I only knew that hearing another man talk of it so bluntly made me intensely unhappy. I'd known what she was, I admitted. But until Buel Hitch had come here, I hadn't had to face that a lot of other men knew it, too, and far more intimately than I did. I had pretended she was something else, and pretended all sorts of other things about her as well. That she had a heart I could win. That she would be worth winning. That my protecting her and hunting food for her might make her something other than she really was.

*screams in rage at that next-to-last sentence*

And this is also a perfect example of what I mean about Nevare being an idiot. He's known about this for a month; that he suddenly now decides it matter to him is beyond stupid.

Oh, Robin Hobb. And I used to like your work so very much. What the hell happened?

Comments

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

I skimmed it. It was AWFUL. So padded! So slow! So repetitive!

So painfully piling on the agony! It almost prompted me to post (but was too lazy) on the difference between torturing your characters in a way that's pleasurable to the reader, and torturing them in a way that is also torturing the reader.

The fat thing: yes, I GET that anti-fat prejudice is bad and the society is anti-fat, but must EVERY SINGLE PERSON Navarre meets go, "YECCCCH, you are FAT, you must be a terrible greedy pig and worthy of a slow painful death."

And also, it's not just Navarre who's a moron; NONE of the characters seem capable of thinking about anything, ever.

Hated it, hated it, HATED it.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, god, yes. Like, people would be coming out of their houses to stare at him when he rode through their town! I can't believe that anyone wouldn't have better things to do.

Terrible book.

[kessie.livejournal.com]

I used to wish that she'd return to the Six Duchies, but now I'm not so sure. To be honest, I think she spent so long in that world that she had real difficulty trying to come up with a new one. The whole situation is starting to become very LJK-like in nature - anytime a fan on her boards says that they didn't like the new books, they get attacked by her older fans. Hobb, in fairness to her, has kept a diginified silence on the subject, but I'm sort of waiting for it to crack as the criticism grows. Very few people seemed to have liked the new book.

I've always thought Hobb was showing a bit of the crazy since her attacks on fanfic, and her last two books seem to have confirmed. She seems really annoyed at the success her Six Duchies books have received and why fans want more from that world. I really wish so many of my favourite authors weren't sucking right now. :(

[kessie.livejournal.com]

Ack. LJK = LKH.

Also, while I wish I could say that the last two books have made me want to wait for the third to be released in paperback, I know better. The minute I see the next book show up on the shelves, I'll buy it... and hope a miracle has happened. *sigh*

[seraphim-12.livejournal.com]

you know I never thought about that. Hobb has spent quite a bit of time in the Six Duchies hasn't she? That's a really good point, and I kinda agree with you about it, XD!

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I kept hoping for the Fool to show up, like Amber in the Liveship Traders, because I was hoping he might redeem it. But if he has, I didn't notice.

The situation reminds me more of Anne Rice, who as she got more popular started to ignore her editors and then finally not use one at all. I have no idea about Hobb's situation, but that's the only thing I could think of for how quickly her talent went downhill.

But yeah. It's so disappointing. I miss how she used to write. For the benefits of waiting for the paperback though, I like the picture on the cover of the paperback 'Shaman's Crossing' more than the hardcover.

[ashoka.livejournal.com]

Have you read Feintuch's The Still series?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

The first one, but not any of the sequels. I liked it a lot; I did have a few issues with the main character's "I'm not gay, I'm just magically not allowed to have sex with girls!", but not enough to ruin the rest of the book for me. It was really good. I didn't know it had sequels!

[ashoka.livejournal.com]

It does; the second one is titled The King (if you liked the first book, the second book is better because Rodrigo isn't such an ass in it). I was just wondering if Hobb was pulling the same trick Feintuch did with making the main character so unlikeable that a transformation later on in the series makes the reader salivate with gratitude.

But on reflection, I'm guessing probably no? Fitz was retarded, bless his heart, and he never really changed throughout the series. Apparently she has a strange fixation with Neanderthalian men. What's with her?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Ooo. If he reforms, that makes the books even more appealing. I'll have to check out the new one.

Yeah, Fitz was really stupid, but he was less of an asshole. It's so weird! There weren't any really Neanderthal guys in 'Liveships'; I mean, Althea's brother-in-law, I guess, but he was bad guy, and so doesn't really count.

[ashoka.livejournal.com]

Fitz had a lot of endearing qualities, so it sucks if this character has none. She's usually so good at characterization - maybe she wanted to move as far away from the Farseer series as she could. Is this a one-shot novel or is she starting a new series?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

It's the second in a trilogy. He was the same way in the first book, but I had higher hopes that he was going to reform. Plus, the women and sex and fat issues weren't around as much, so I wasn't as annoyed with the whole book.

[ashoka.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I thought Fitz had issues with sex until I read the excerpt you quoted. Gross.

[seraphim-12.livejournal.com]

I've stayed away from Hobb's other books. I just LOVE the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies and everytime I read something it would remind me of Fitz and then I'd go off wondering what the Fool and Fitz were up to.

Fitz was an idiot no doubt about it, but . . . . he was just so sweet of an idiot, XD. Plus the Fool could make an idiot of anyone really. I have to say I really do not like most of her characterizations of women. Kettricken, Patience and Kettle I loved, but Molly I will forever despise (same for Starling . . . how right you were Nighteyes!)

After hearing how everyone feels about her new books i'm glad I haven't read any.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee, yeah. I liked the Liveship Traders trilogy a lot, but this new one has been terrible. Don't bother reading it.

Dude, I didn't mind Molly so much until the end of the Tawny Man. I thought it was totally WTF that Fitz ended up with her.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

She's crazy.

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

*laughs* So it really seems.

[mistressrenet.livejournal.com]

It's really the only explanation. She just keeps getting crazier.