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This was okay. As you all probably know by now, I like things to have happy endings, and while the heroine of this one ends up being content, she does not end up happy--she ends up isolated and mostly alone, with no one left from her family to be with her by the end of her life. It was an ending similar to that of The Red Tent, a book which still kind of haunts me.
Maybe I just like things to come full circle. I know real people's lives aren't always like that, but it just makes me sad when characters end up in a place so far from where they began. In half the good fantasy novels I read, by the end of the book the hero saves the day, using the conveniently placed sword that hung on the wall in chapter two and winning the undying affection of the appropriate love interest. I love historical fiction but it doesn't always do that, can't always do that. Both this book and The Red Tent end with the heroine far, far away from where she wanted her life to be when we first met her, and with the heroine not unhappy, having fought her way to achieve a rather gritty and nostalgic contentment. Both of them were highly influenced by events beyond their control into paths they wouldn'tve chosen. Books do this sometimes, I know. I just like things to be a little more hopeful.
My parents gave me as an Easter present the new Fool trilogy by Robin Hobb. This trilogy is sort of a sequel to her first trilogy (the Assassin trilogy), which left me sobbing and sick after having read most of it in one long sitting without eating or using the bathroom because I couldn't put it down. The main character ended up in a rather hopeless place, the same kind of gritty solitude that I was describing before, where the events of his life were such that he couldn't ever actually be happy afterwards. I even wrote an email to the author after reading this trilogy because it upset me so much, because I thought this character deserved better, deserved a chance at real happiness, deserved not to be abandoned by his best friends. I am glad that Hobb didn't leave him in that isolation, but I'm worried for myself to read this new trilogy. It's been out long enough that all three books are now in paperback, and I hadn't yet run out to the bookstore to get them because I wasn't sure I wanted to go through reading another Robin Hobb trilogy. Well, now I've got them, so I have to read them. I might wait until summer, though, just in case. I haven't had many reading experiences as intense as reading the Assassin trilogy, and you all have an idea of how deeply I get involved in books. I'm not sure I'm ready for that again. I think the next book on my list might be a Buffy book...
Maybe I just like things to come full circle. I know real people's lives aren't always like that, but it just makes me sad when characters end up in a place so far from where they began. In half the good fantasy novels I read, by the end of the book the hero saves the day, using the conveniently placed sword that hung on the wall in chapter two and winning the undying affection of the appropriate love interest. I love historical fiction but it doesn't always do that, can't always do that. Both this book and The Red Tent end with the heroine far, far away from where she wanted her life to be when we first met her, and with the heroine not unhappy, having fought her way to achieve a rather gritty and nostalgic contentment. Both of them were highly influenced by events beyond their control into paths they wouldn'tve chosen. Books do this sometimes, I know. I just like things to be a little more hopeful.
My parents gave me as an Easter present the new Fool trilogy by Robin Hobb. This trilogy is sort of a sequel to her first trilogy (the Assassin trilogy), which left me sobbing and sick after having read most of it in one long sitting without eating or using the bathroom because I couldn't put it down. The main character ended up in a rather hopeless place, the same kind of gritty solitude that I was describing before, where the events of his life were such that he couldn't ever actually be happy afterwards. I even wrote an email to the author after reading this trilogy because it upset me so much, because I thought this character deserved better, deserved a chance at real happiness, deserved not to be abandoned by his best friends. I am glad that Hobb didn't leave him in that isolation, but I'm worried for myself to read this new trilogy. It's been out long enough that all three books are now in paperback, and I hadn't yet run out to the bookstore to get them because I wasn't sure I wanted to go through reading another Robin Hobb trilogy. Well, now I've got them, so I have to read them. I might wait until summer, though, just in case. I haven't had many reading experiences as intense as reading the Assassin trilogy, and you all have an idea of how deeply I get involved in books. I'm not sure I'm ready for that again. I think the next book on my list might be a Buffy book...
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Date: 2005-03-28 02:05 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 02:39 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2005-03-28 04:31 pm (UTC)From:I'm reading the Assassin's Apprentice right now :)
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Date: 2005-03-29 02:42 pm (UTC)From:Assassin's Apprentice is pretty good. When you read the second one, though, make sure you've got time and the third book on hand when you start getting towards the end, because the ending of the second book is such that you'll need to pick up the third one immediately. At least, that's how I felt about it. :)