The start of a new series, this is quite good â but itâs not nearly as good as Robin Hobb can write. The book is mostly character setup for the rest of the series, which results in some odd pacing choices. Following a group of teens is ⌠alright, but not exactly inspiring, and the arrogance of dragons gets old before long. The best part of the story are Alise and the people surrounding her, but even this is exhausting with little payoff. Itâs also notable how it feels like Hest Finbrok and Kyle Haven (from the Bingtown Traders) series are exactly the same villain.
Plot summary
Beware: full spoilers! Also probably incomplete and possibly incomprehensible.
Connection to previous book: The serpents start their nesting.
Dramatis personĂŚ (new):
- Captain Leftrin, who has upgraded his Rain Wild River barge, the Tarman (one of the oldest barges still around), with illicit found wizardwood, so that it now has legs.
- Thymara, a young woman with heavy scaling who according to Rain Wild tradition should have been exposed after birth, which gets her shunned. Her mother tried to kill her at least once, her father dotes on her, and sheâs very 16-independent-stupid.
- Sintara, one of the new dragons. Very proud and prickly.
- Mercor, leader of the newborn dragons
- Alise, from a trader family from Bingtown, hugely into dragons and historical research.
- Hest Finbok, a trader from a very prominent family.
- Sedric Meldar, also from a trader family, and Hestâs secretary.
- Tats, a friend of Thymaraâs, born into slavery (hence the name, on account of the face tattoos)
- Rapskal, a Rain Wild teen, unreasonably happy/hyper/optimistic, often thought dim
- Sylve, young Rain Wild girl, kind and shy
- Greft, Rain Wild man, oldest of the keeper group, mature but manipulative
- Kase and Boxter, Rain Wild teens, cousins
- Jerd, Rain Wild teen, good huntress
- Carson, a hunter
Alise is unwed and turning into a spinster when suddenly the very eligible Hest Finbok starts courting her. Turns out (through innuendo, but plain enough), he does this on advice of their shared friend Sedric, who he has been fucking for years. She is wisely suspicious until he explains that his father has made him being the heir to the trader family contingent on a marriage. Now knowing that she is being bought, Alise agrees to the charming Hestâs proposal. Despite or because of this, she falls for him and is in for a rude awakening when, after marrying him, sex is infrequent and humiliating, and Hest turns more cruel with every passing year. Alise finds cues that Hest has an affair. She accuses him and he turns it around against her, making her feel even worse (this is after some marital rape).
The serpents hatch and turn out to be disfigured â many die, in the end, only about 12 are left, and they are weak, need to be fed, and none can fly. Tintaglia leaves to be with her dragon mate and canât bear looking at those misshapen dragons. Leftrin is blackmailed (via his extra-wizardwood barge) to take a Chalcedean up the Rain Wild River, because the dying Duke of Chalced is looking for dragon parts in order to be healed. The dragons decide that they donât want to stay as nearly-pets to the humans (who donât want them anyway, on account of their hunger and weirdness), and they want to search out the lost city of Kelsingra (some of them know that there was something very important there, but they donât exactly know what). The local Council decides to kill two birds with one stone and send all the useless outcasts along, one for each dragon, as keepers. Thymara and Tats decide to join up.
Alise demands her promised trip to the Rain Wilds, and when Sedric for once grows a bit of a backbone and defends her, Hest decides to pack them off there together. They take the Paragon up the river, meeting Althea and Bracken and Clef. Althea and Brackenâs son is super close to Paragon. We hear from Malta and Reyn and Selden, who are regarded as Elderling royalty, having grown and changed quite a bit after getting so close to Tintaglia. Alise flip-flops a bit on if her journey was a good idea or not. Coming to the river, they switch to the Tarman, and Alise and Captain Leftrin start their slow-burn romance, which involves him falling for her very hard, very immediately. Leftrin hears of her mission and offers to take her up the river with the dragon expedition â being on the only barge that can and will make the journey, he can set the terms. Malta endorses having Alise (who proves her worth as a scholar) along out of concern for the dragons and the dishonesty of the Trehaug Council.
The expedition starts. Greft and Tats are clearly both vying for control of the group (Greft pushing, Tats just mostly resisting his behaviour), and also for Thymara. Thymara is completely unprepared for this and maintains strongly the social norms she grew up with, which involve people as marked as her being prohibited from having sex or children.
Alise enjoys Leftrinâs attention, being completely unused to positive interactions. Selden hates being on the journey, being a pampered pretty boy. The keepers meanwhile pair up with dragons, and of course, the two prickly girls end up together. Rapskal teams up with a similarly dim dragon and starts teaching her to fly, which everybody regards as infinitely stupid. Greft and the loudest, most brutal dragon end up together, and Sylve and the inofficial leader, Mercor. Tats and Sylve and Thymara agree to also care for two additional dragons who donât have keepers of their own.
Most keepers end up getting on with their dragons, whereas Sintara and Thymara are always at odds. Dragons continue to be arrogant and condescending, no news here. Sedric canât hear them, so he thinks of them as dumb beasts. He plots to retrieve some scales and blood in order to become independently wealthy. He also fights with Alise more and more. And he may even start to realise that
Taking care of the dragons in swampy conditions proves tough work. The keepers also have to navigate social tensions, including Jerd fucking the guys, which leads to distance between Tats and Thymara, who gets stuck with Rapskal. Sheâs also clashing with Greft on and off. Greft wants to be with her, justifying it with the group dynamic threatening to break apart when all the boys start fighting over her. She refuses, and not just because of her crush on Tats.
Mercor pushes Sintara into revealing her name to Thymara. Sedric extracts a dragonâs blood and accidentally drinks a drop of it.
