The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb

review by Maryom

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know I've been working my way (very slowly) through Robin Hobb's Farseer/Liveships/Rainwild series, and loving every page of the way. So, I was delighted to find this - The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince - in my Christmas stocking.


It's not actually part of the Farseer saga but a sort of prequel set long before the birth of Fitzchivalry Farseer.
It's often hinted in the story of Fitz that the Wit, the ability he has to communicate and even bond with animals, was once an accepted, even prized, skill but attitudes changed and it became something disreputable, despised, and evil; instead of having a gift, a Witted person was now seen as cursed.

Legend, as quoted in the Farseer books, blames this change of opinion on the actions and behaviour of Princess Caution, the Wilful Princess, and her son Prince Charger, the Piebald Prince. But in the two stories that make up this volume, Robin Hobb tells a different tale, through the words of Felicity, childhood friend and handmaiden to Princess Caution, then wet-nurse to her son, Charger. It's the story of a princess who contradicted her name at every possible chance, who gave up everything for love and her son, and that son, who, marked from birth, found his whole life a struggle - for acceptance, for power, and for love.

It reads as a folk tale - the sort you might know about King Arthur or his knights - but for me highlights one of the things I love about Hobb's work - the creation of a complete world with a complex history stretching back hundreds of years as a backdrop against which the adventures of Fitzchivalry and the Fool, or the Vestritt family take place. If you've read more fantasy you may know other examples but he only comparable world-building I can think of is Tolkein's Middle-earth.



There are a couple of things to note here - this is a short, novella length book (just over 150 pages) with a simpler plot than you may expect from Hobb's other full-length, 500+ page, and it probably doesn't work well as a stand-alone piece, so best seen as a 'curiosity' for Farseer fans. On the other hand, it's illustrated by Jackie Morris (who is responsible for many of Robin Hobb's covers) with horses and hounds along the margins, and the occasional half and full-page, giving the feel of an ancient manuscript reproduced for a modern reader.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Harper Collins (Harper Voyager)
Genre - Adult fantasy

Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb

 review by Maryom

My epic reading of Robin Hobb's fantasy continues, back to the world of Fitz and the Fool with Fool's Errand, the first of the Tawny Man trilogy.


15 years have passed since the ending of the Farseer trilogy, during which Fitz has grown from youth to adult, but his wolf,  Nighteyes, is now approaching old age - wit-bonding with Fitz has given him a longer life than that of a 'normal' wolf, but his years are definitely catching up with him. When the story opens, they're living a quiet existence in a cottage by the sea, content growing vegetables, keeping hens, and catching rabbits, letting events in the wider world pass them by. Things are about to change though, as the Farseer dynasty has problems  - the heir to the throne, Prince Dutiful,has disappeared just before he was due to be betrothed in a union of political necessity - and Fitz with his unique abilities is the only man to solve them.

I'm not going to say I didn't love the Liveship Trilogy but I DO love the Fitz and The Fool stories more; maybe because Fitz has grown from boy to man in the series; maybe because of his 'witted' bond with animals, particularly Nighteyes (I think most dog owners would love to have this bond and truly share the lives of their 'pets'); because of the odd and changing relationship he has with The Fool, particularly as Fitz seems to be not noticing something which is evident to the reader. Certainly, I didn't care about any individual from the Liveships stories as much as for Fitz, Nighteyes and the Fool.
I'm glad I took time out to read the Liveships stories though, for they add in extra background to the dragons, the wider world outside the Six Duchies, and (treading carefully here for fear of spoilers) some of the characters who appear in both series.
Again, although ostensibly a fantasy adventure story, Hobb touches on wider matters  - the superiority that the 'unwitted' feel they have, and the hatred and fear with which they regard the 'witted', echo the divisions of race and religion you can sadly find almost anywhere in our 'real' world. I think this is what lifts her stories beyond the mass of fantasy novels. "Fantasy as it ought to be written" says the cover quote from George R R Martin, and you can't really argue with him!



Previously reviewed - Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, Book1)
                                    The Liveships Trilogy



Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Harper Collins (Harper Voyager)
Genre - Adult fantasy

The Liveships Trilogy by Robin Hobb

review by Maryom


It's a little unusual (and maybe a little lazy) to review a trilogy at one go but this really is one long story (extremely long as even an individual book can be over 900 pages!)

I'm a late-comer to Robin Hobb's work, only really plunging into it last year with Assassin's Apprentice  I'd started out with the plan of reading all Robin Hobb's Farseer novels before publication of the last - Assassin's Fate - but that plan fell well behind. I'm still carrying on though as I'm become enthralled by her world-building and story-telling and sheer range of imagination. Something that also makes Hobb's stories stand apart is that, as in Ursula le Guin's work, among the twisting plot-lines and fantastic creatures you'll come across an idea - political, moral or ecological - that is just as applicable to our world as it is to the fantasy one.

At the heart of this trilogy are the Liveships themselves - made from special 'wizard' wood, after their owners have lived and, just as importantly, died on their decks, the ships become sentient and bond with their captain. When her father dies, Althea Vestrit is denied the chance to bond with her family's ship Vivacia, as her brother in law decides he will be the new captain, forcing his son to become the bond with the ship - but that's only a little part of the story. There are slave traders, pirates who are determined to disrupt that trade, mysterious masked people who live along the Rain Wild river and control the source of wizard wood, intelligent giant sea-serpents, and dragons.
The Liveships trilogy fits into the complete series as Books 4-6, though could easily be read as a stand-alone story, and after the first three, Assassin's trilogy, came as a complete change of pace and setting. To be honest I didn't settle in quite so quickly,  mainly because I'd expected to be back in Fitz's world, perhaps with him playing a minor role in the story, although obviously not a central character. As it is, at first the two story-lines don't seem related at all. It's only perhaps halfway through the second Liveships book that the connection becomes apparent, but by that point I was well and truly engrossed in this new, astounding world.

That's six of the series read, and I'll now be returning to Fitz and the Fool with the first book of  the Tawny Man trilogy - Fool's Errand.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Harper Collins (Harper Voyager)
Genre - Adult fantasy

Author event - Robin Hobb

 US fantasy author Robin Hobb (aka Megan Lindholm) is here in the UK at the moment promoting her latest book, and last in the long-running Fitz and the Fool series, Assassin's Fate, and last night she was at Nottingham Waterstones to talk to a packed room.

As you can see, we were right at the back, so please excuse the blurry photos!

I'm a relative new-comer to the world of Fitz and the Fool. Although I read the first Rain Wild chronicle a few years ago, I really got into the Farseer world when I read Assassin's Apprentice, last December. I'd hoped to read the whole series before publication date of Assassin's Fate came around, but that plan hasn't really worked - I'm only on the fifth book, The Mad Ship. I have, though, become a great fan, and my new resolve is to finish them all before paperback publication of Assassin's Fate (so, in a way, I'm hoping that's many months away)
Robin opened last night's event by reading from Assassin's Fate and, although I didn't really know the characters and their circumstances, I could glean enough to guess some of the plot developments between where I've reached and this final instalment. I was left with a dilemma - part of me wants to jump ahead, and see how everything ends, then go back and take things slowly through the series; the other part thinks I should read each book in turn with no jumping ahead and plot spoilers. I'll probably go for the traditional, sequential route but try to avoid that desire to 'know how it all ends', which can cause me to rush.

I don't usually bother about the actual physical appearance of a book - after all the story inside is the most important aspect, the cover just a way to keep the pages together - but this one, from a painting by Jackie Morris, is something really special. So gorgeous, in fact that I'd almost frame it and hang it on the wall!

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

review by Maryom

Fitz is the bastard son of king-in-waiting Prince Chivalry, brought up in the stables of his grandfather's keep, and for most of his childhood generally ignored by his royal family. But his mere existence has upset the line of succession, at a time when the kingdom of the Six Duchies is under threat from both inside (political machinations among King Shrewd's three sons) and outside (sea-raiders who leave their victims in  zombie-like state), and Fitz can't avoid getting embroiled in others' plotting and plans.

I picked this e-book up on a promotional offer a couple of years go, and have somehow never got round to reading it. Then last week I saw that the final tale in the whole Fitz and the Fool series will be published next year, and I decided it was time to take the plunge!
I loved the writing style, and Hobb had me interested in this poor child, unceremoniously dumped on his royal relatives, from page one. But ... fantasy series involving orphaned children have a tendency to follow a given path, however loosely and  at first, the story progresses much as I suppose you'd expect - Fitz is brought up by the kindly but stern stable-master, makes friends among the youngsters in the town, discovers he has a gift, the Wit, which enables him to bond with animals and share their thoughts, although the stable-master disapproves of such goings-on. Then, surprise surprise, the plot twists away from the familiar, moves things up a notch (or several) and turns into a story of royal power struggles, secret alliances and political machinations worthy of House of Cards' Frank Underwood, with all the twists and turns of a crime thriller.
 I've read a lot of fantasy novels, and many rely on weird and wonderful creatures or magical abilities to further the plot; to have one moved along by very human desires and deceits is refreshing. I loved it, and can't wait to read the rest of the series - I think there's maybe 14 more to catch up on before the finale next May, so I my be some while ...

Review of the Liveships Trilogy


Maryom's review - 5 stars
Publisher - Harper Collins (Harper Voyager)
Genre - Adult fantasy/political thriller
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Robin Hobb - author event

We've had rather a break from local Waterstones events, with holidays and family things clashing so it was lovely to be back there last night - especially as the author was fantasy writer Robin Hobb whose work includes the Farseer, Liveship Traders, Tawny Man, Rain Wild Chronicles and Soldier Son series. 

Robin is over here from Washington state, USA  on a book tour of the UK, an appearance at Brighton World Fantasy Convention and then on for a quick visit to Sweden. Last night she was mainly talking about her new novella, The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince, which comprises two short stories set in the Farseer world but long before the events of the novels. It is a story which she said she'd had in mind for ten years, and made a number of attempts at, trying to find the right narrator or 'voice'. As she prefers writing in the first person, like a teller of stories to people huddled round the campfire or blazing hearth, getting this 'voice' right is all important. Before reading the opening to one of the stories, Robin gave thanks to the illustrator Jackie Morris who has designed many covers for her in the past but this time provided art-work appearing throughout the Wilful Princess.. and advised us all to check out Jackie's website for more wonderful art.

After the reading, the audience were invited to ask questions - ranging from ones about daily writing routines, to the magic systems and ecology of the worlds she creates, her influences (Tolkein), what she's reading (if she has the time), are any of her books likely to appear on screen and if so who would she cast (a young David Bowie as the Fool) - but I'm not going to share all her answers. Two things that interested me were her comment that despite the wishes of her readers, she feels compelled to only allow the characters to behave in ways that seem, well, within character and her 'go-back' file; if the plot calls for a person to be, say, hiding in a garden but discovered by his sneezing at flowers, she makes a note to go back and insert a flower-allergy for him earlier in the book (I've often wondered how writers managed this sort of thing).

a rapidly emptying table of books for sale

The end of the evening was, as is usual, a book signing and while many new books were sold, the snake of readers that went round three walls of the room included many people hugging treasured copies of books that they brought with them for Robin to sign as well as many new copies.

Another excellent evening from Waterstones Nottingham - but check your local book shop for events near you.