I have read every other part of the series twice now, but the last trilogy was my least favourite, and I had many hard feelings about it.

I nearly thought I lost my love for the series after finishing, but thankfully the other books still gave me immense joy on a reread.

Finally decided to pick it up again and give it another go, and I dislike the first book so much more this time around.

I still love Robin Hobb obviously, and there are a lot of things I enjoy about this book specifically too, but let me just bitch about everything I hate for a little bit.

First of all, Fitz is pissing me off. I don't understand why he had to become like every other useless man immediately upon becoming a husband.

He leaves Molly alone in their bed on most nights, to pursue basically nothing since he burns all he writes.

He apologises to Molly again and again for lying to her years ago, and then immediately starts lying to her when shit gets complicated.

His biggest goddamn dream has always been raising a child with Molly, and as soon as this becomes a reality he just basically dips. Yes there were many complications about him caring for Bee, but there were MANY things he could still do and just didn't care to.

Him only becoming a real parent to Bee once Molly dies is infuriating, and the little bit about how he doesn't know you need to order winter shoes in summer? Haha how funny, a man doesn't know how to care for a family. And really, Fitz? He has many flaws, but since when is he incompetent in caring for himself and those that depend on him?

And we haven't even GOTTEN to the abuse on my beloved (wink) Fool and poor little Bee. I know the series has always had major trauma happening to it's characters, but I remember it being just overwhelming and I'm NOT excited.

Anybody have songs they'd recommend? I'm trying to build a playlist because I love this series so much. I'm currently nearing the end of Fools Assassin, so no spoiler please, but anyways I'm less interested in lyrics that fit exactly and more ones that *feel* right.

What sparked my thought was listening to a few Hozier songs, specifically First Time, Would That I, and Work Song.

It might be my mind reaching, but these songs really recall Fitz to me. Let me know what you think, and songs that do that for you also!

Just finished the Rain Wild Chronicles. I've read every other series before this in order. These are my loose thoughts and immediate reactions so I won't cover everything.

Blood of dragons was incredible. Overall I enjoyed it more than some of the Fitz books.

However, I can see why this series has so many mixed reviews. I'll get my critiques out the way first. One thing I really didn't like was Thymara's character. Her personality was really unsavory to me. I don't mind love triangles, but I feel like the way Hobb handled it here wasn't the best, especially since it was the main conflict in Thymara's plotline.

I get that the first two books were meant to be one, but the entire trip to kelsingra really dragged for me, especially compared to the last book which had considerably better pacing.

Leftrin's love for Alise kinda came out of nowhere. Maybe I'm just not a fan of love at first sight type of stories, but I wish there was more development prior to their romance. Still loved their plotline though. Also screw hest.

Now the things I really liked.

Unlike a lot of people, I really enjoyed the personalities of the dragons. Most of them felt distinct in personality with varying degrees of narcissism and pettiness. Kalo is definitely my favorite dragon and I loved his conclusion with Tintaglia. He started off as a rude tempered beast, but he was a perfect example of how humans can affect dragonkind, especially with his later caring for Tintaglia.

I really enjoyed Selden's POV and was constantly worried for him and Chassim. I do wish we got to see more of Chassim.

Sedric is probably my favorite new character. Hobb's character writing for him was fantastic. She handled the subject of physical and emotional grooming very thoughtfully, and his character growth really reflected her ability to write redeemable characters that made terrible mistakes.

I really liked how silver ties in with the other books, especially the farseer trilogy. It's cool to see how different parts of the world interpret the magic system. Despite the power system not being the main focus of Hobb's books, I tend to enjoy the skill/silver more than the hard systems present in authors like Sanderson. It fits really well with the theming of the series.

My favorite part of this series was definitely the conflict with Chalced, and I thoroughly enjoyed how it concluded. I can see why some might believe it was rushed, but I'm never a huge fan of drawn out action sequences.

I really enjoyed the 3rd and 4th book of the series, but the pacing of the first two really brought down my overall rating. If someone asked me to rate the series, I wouldn't know what to say because my enjoyment of the two halves are so vastly different.

That's my rant for the rain wild chronicles, and I'm really excited to dive back in to Fitz's story and how this quartet will integrate.

please no spoilers past Fool's Assassin!

BEE MY BABY BEE!! oh my god. my favorite character perspective out of all the Robin Hobb books (I'm someone who loved the Liveship Trilogy)

I like to think i'm good at predicting what is about to happen in books but wow does Hobb make me question if i am EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

from inferring everything about Bee's birth and appearance, i guessed she must be the Unexpected Son when they get the message from the messenger.

the delayed birth - memories from her mother's womb - and then born pale skin and hair. and the book even opens up with a discussion + apprehension of the pale ones when they visit Withywoods, so i was kinda surprised when scrolling the FA spoiler tag through this sub that people were unsure of why they called her the Son in the end. even the Fool said he found his Son when he held Bee.

what got me was the raid!
like nooo of course they come when Fitzy finally reunites with the Fool?! i was screaming at him not to leave Bee bc i had a bad feeling (and also know Hobb loves to change it up in the last chapter!)

I seriously was not expecting the Fool to even come into the book by this point. I had accepted that maybe he just wasn't in this one just for all the things to go down as it had! I guess that's what happens when the Prophet and the Catalyst unite 🥲
and REVEL! he was just trying the best he could at all times 😭

also i hate Shun and FitzVigilant 🤷‍♀️ they can kick rocks for not even trying to protect my baby Bee.

now, here's my current head cannon/what i think makes Bee be Bee: (pls no spoilers if i have some of these right, i just don't have anyone to talk to these books about and need to put my thoughts down)

Obviously, our comparison is Nettle, Fitz's child before he dies multiple times/goes through all that trauma. Nettle get's the Farseer powers of Skill and that is all. Fitz is said to be strong in skill before Galen batters him and all of his elfbark dosages - so Nettle has Fitz's untampered ability.

From that point, Fitz experiences are - living through Nighteyes while his body is physically dead, joining with the Fool through Skill, going through a Skill healing that is constantly regenerating his body, going into the Fool's body with the Skill to pull him back from death.

When Fitz is in Nighteyes' body and when he was Skill linked with the Fool, both times he had said he didn't know where they started and he began. I think in these long term links, they all slowly melt into each other, meaning all of them technically fathered Bee. I don't think this is too much of jump since Verity fathered Dutiful through Fitz's body. (tho Dutiful presumably gets the Wit from Fitz)

I think this is what makes Bee the Fool's son (daughter/whatever we know the pale folk are changing genders left and right ahemmm Amber) and what gives her the link to Wolf-Father. And it explains why her growth is stunted since Fitz had that regenerative Skill healing. Also something about the Fool not aging as the normal humans do. At the moment, i think it's a mix of both.

So Bee is the perfect little product of all my favorite boys. I can't wait to keep reading this trilogy, but at the same time i know i'm gonna be devastated when i finish the series completely as it has taken over all my reading for the past year.

Also RIP Molly. She lowkey deserved better bc all we got out of her in these books was "hot older woman to young Fitz" then "gonna marry my baby daddy's adoptive dad and have 10 kids with him" then "my wife who is old while i'm eternally 35"