It would have gotten 4 stars if the story didn't just stop in the middle. Ms. Hobb has disappointed me a bit with that so if you haven't started, I would wait until the next book(s) have been published. I'm now irritated that I didn't wait until the Kindle book price drop because it was ridiculously expensive for 1/2 a story.

But as always the writing was excellent and the story-telling up to her usual superior standard. I look forward to the next book, but will have this review to remind me to wait until I know if there is another cliff-hanger ending.

( )

In volume 3 of the series, the dragons and their keepers, who are gradually being shaped into Elderlings, have reached Kelsingra, but initially are across the fast-flowing river from it. The dragons must learn to fly and only the red dragon Heeby can do that initially, but gradually the others make the perilous crossing with varying degrees of reluctance. Meanwhile, Heeby has been ferrying Alise across, and she has begun to try to document the city though hampered both by its sheer size and her dwindling supply of writing materials. Fearing that the treasure hunters will descend on the city once its discovery is known - inevitable since Captain Leftrin has departed in liveship barge Tarman back down river to collect the group's earnings and get much needed supplies - Alise dreads the loss of valuable historical artefacts and their displacement from the context needed to understand them, knowing how the other two buried cities have been plundered.

This book has a wider focus than the preceding volumes because at last we discover what has happened to the missing Selden, Malta's brother who was transformed, like herself and her husband Reyn, into an Elderling by Tintaglia, the original queen dragon. (Selden, Malta and Reyn were main characters in the earlier Live Ship Traders trilogy.) Tintaglia, with typical dragon highhandedness, sent him on a mission before the series began to seek out any information about other dragons that might have survived and promptly forgot about him. Selden has been betrayed and sold into slavery and his prospects seem dire, given the situation in Chaldea. The Duke is dying and nothing will save him except the consumption of dragon body parts and blood - and the Chaldeans believe that the scaled Elderlings are part-dragon.

The conspiracy to deal in dragon parts, encountered in the earlier volumes, has far-reaching effects and poses a direct peril to other characters who now move up to take a central stage, such as Malta, Reyn and their child. As the story moves on it becomes crucial that Tintaglia return from her wanderings with Icefyre, the male dragon rescued by Fitz and the Fool in yet another separate trilogy, but who now has serious problems of her own. Also towards the end, Hest, the callous and manipulative husband of Alise and ex-employer of Sedrick, is introduced as a viewpoint character as he is caught up in the conspiracy, as a result of Sedrick's former dealings with the Chaldeans.

The love triangle between Thymara, Tats and Rapskal continues to form a main thread also - sometimes irritatingly so - but the dangers of tapping into memory stone in Kelsingra and being fully immersed in the lived experience of someone long-dead begins to become clear. And for a while Alise feels herself an outcast when Rapskal tells her that the city belongs to the Elderlings and that they will bring it back to life, rather than its remaining a dead place for a scholar to document.

The book does try to give 'screen time' to most of the characters previously encountered in volumes 1 and 2 as well as dealing with Malta and her family, and also Hest, but inevitably some are off stage a lot of the time and have, such as in the case of Sedric or Alice, undergone the main part of their character arc. It is fairly successful however and an enjoyable read - I always enjoy books about dragons - but perhaps not as involving as the earlier part of the tale and so I have rated this at 3 stars. ( )

Really loved the alternative relationships portrayed in this particular novel. I think the narrative arcs are significantly advanced in comparison to the first two novels in the series. Hoping the last novel is equally progressive! ( )

This book felt more like a transport book, which is weird since all the last two books about were about was travelling. I still liked it though, but there was a whole range of new POVs introduced, and there was a lot of new things to get used to. Certain, ships, for example. Not liveships, you know what I'm talking about.

Also the Chalcedeans ... or whatever they're called, ugh, I do not like them. Especially not the duke. It's like, everyone else is pretty chill and can be found in your average fantasy book, and then the duke is straight out of the most disturbing parts of Game of Thrones. My hope, of course, is that in the next book Tintaglia will fall from the sky, crush the duke, and then his daughter will take over and it'll be just like this:



Well, I can dream, right?

What I'm mostly looking forward to in the next book is a confrontation between Sedric, Alise and Hest. I was just wanna see them fucking own his ass by how much better their lives are, though Hest will probably not see it that way. And Leftrin can be all protective and then Alise can totally deal with it on her own because she is a capable woman thankyouverymuch and then BAM, Sintara eats Hest because honestly the dude doesn't deserve better. I got a little bit carried away here, but my point is: I hope Hest makes it to Kelsingra, because wow do I want to see him see Alise at her most awesome.

Also liked how the dragons were turning out in this one. More more more. ( )

I'm pleased with what developed in this volume, if not with the time it took for things to develop. Having recently finished a trilogy of Hobb's that was incredibly slow-paced but still excellent, things taking time to unfold in this series is no surprise. And as always, the writing is top-notch. I had to knock off one star for the most frustrating aspect of the book. Keeping most of the dragons from reaching Kelsingra while it's right there in front of them for the full length of the book? Too long!
I'm eager to read the last book and see how it all plays out to get them to where they are in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. ( )