Dragon Haven by Robin Hobb

The acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Dragon Keeper returns with a second enthralling tale of dragons and humans, adventure and discovery, love and freedom. Centuries had passed since dragons last roamed the war-torn world of the Rain Wild River. But as peace once again settled upon the land, a lost generation of sea serpents—ancient, half-starved, and weary—returned to cocoon, certain that they would be reborn as the beautiful and powerful dragons of legend. But their arduous journey exacted a heavy toll, and the proud serpents emerged as sickly, half-formed beasts, unable to fly or hunt . . . or thrive. For years now they have been trapped on a swampy riverbank between forest and river, hungry and barely alive, reliant on humans to provide for them. With their survival at stake, fifteen dragons—among them the wise golden Mercor, the haughty and dazzling silver-blue queen Sintara, and the delicate copper beauty Relpda—have set off on a dangerous trek into the unknown, up the Rain Wild River, in hopes of rediscovering the ancient Elderling city of Kelsingra, the lost haven for dragons and Elderlings alike. The dragons are accompanied by a disparate group of human keepers, rejects from Rain Wild society. They, too, yearn to find Kelsingra and create a home of their own, one in which they may make their own rules and decide their own fate. But is Kelsingra real or merely a fragment of a glorified past buried deep in the dragons' shared memories? No map exists to guide them, and the noble creatures find their ancient recollections of little use in a land changed by generations of flooding and seismic chaos. As the dragons, the humans—including the strong and defiant Rain Wild girl Thymara; the wealthy dragon scholar and Trader's wife, Alise; and her companion, the urbane Sedric—and their magical supply barge, captained by the gruff Leftrin, forge their way ever deeper into uncharted wilderness, human and beast alike discover they are changing in mysterious and dangerous ways. While the bonds between them solidify, starvation, flashfloods, and predators will imperil them all. But dragons and humans soon learn that the most savage threats come from within their own company . . . and not all of them may survive. Returning to the territory of her beloved Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies, New York Times bestselling author Robin Hobb creates a lush and ultimately triumphant tale set in an imaginative world of magic and wonder as compelling and emotionally resonant as our own.

(I will admit I finished book 3 before I remembered reviews. woopsie.)
This book was good but also sort of frustrating. Certain reveals took too long and felt like Tarman was moving at approximately the speed of molasses. I know the point of the book is the journey, but yeesh. It's possible the journey dragged more for me in this book because of the focus on people's sex lives. I'm not a prude necessarily, it just felt kinda weird. If I was trapped in a canoe and had to hunt to feed myself, whether or sex is forbidden would not be my top priority. Also, why all the focus on how the young people don't truly understand love yet? It's repeated multiple time. The thing that really confused me, is how Hobb forshadowed the gay like crazy ( I saw it coming way before the reveal, I'm not exactly the queen of analytical reading.) but the character took forever to actually admit on the page. But then it's implied it is basically an open secret in Bingtown. I'm just very confused about this aspect of the story now. I feel like I need a top down analysis of homophobia in Bingtown now. Is it just frowned upon? Are you shunned? I NEED answers.

3.75 out of 5 stars – see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

Many of Robin Hobb's books begin with a set of characters that are broken in some way (physically, emotionally, by circumstance, etc.). Throughout the course of each book or series these characters are made whole through their experiences. Dragon Keeper introduced us to several flailing entities (feeble dragons, outcast keepers, multiple characters in doomed relationships), but it is from these small beginnings that these characters come into their own in Dragon Haven.

This book is very much a continuation of Dragon Keeper — which is not surprising, since these first two books were split from one long manuscript. Where the first book provided the set-up, Dragon Haven delivered with the action, romance, and pacing of a much more enjoyable book. I've become more connected with these characters, and in classic Robin Hobb fashion, I'm sharing in their triumphs and hurting from their defeats. Although it's not quite at the level as the three preceding trilogies, this is a major improvement on the first book.

Executive Summary: An improvement over [b:The Dragon Keeper 4703450 The Dragon Keeper (Rain Wild Chronicles, #1) Robin Hobb https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1330079386s/4703450.jpg 4767778]. With everything set the story is just able to move forward at a brisker pace. This is really Dragon Keeper part 2 from what I understand and it feels like it. If you enjoyed the first one, you'll likely enjoy this at least as much if not more. If you found the first book a let down, you may find you gave up on the story too soon.Full ReviewAfter completing [b:The Dragon Keeper 4703450 The Dragon Keeper (Rain Wild Chronicles, #1) Robin Hobb https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1330079386s/4703450.jpg 4767778], I really wanted to jump right into this one. However with other obligations and coordinating reading schedules it had to wait a little bit.I enjoyed the first book, but this one was a step up for me. The characters and the main plot are set. The journey is on. Now we can just sit back and see what happens. Ms. Hobb has always had a slow plot development to me. For some reason it just works with me in a way other authors don't. This is really the second half of [b:The Dragon Keeper 4703450 The Dragon Keeper (Rain Wild Chronicles, #1) Robin Hobb https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1330079386s/4703450.jpg 4767778].The way Ms. Hobb writes animals has always impressed me. Nighteyes felt like a real wolf to me. Her cats were especially good too. She's done it again here with Dragons.Of course no one knows what a dragon would be like, but she still seems to paint a picture that just feels right to me. Intelligent and arrogant. Only these aren't full dragons. Their development was stunted. Their memories aren't complete. They can't fly and have to rely on humans to help care for them.There is a lot of development of both the dragons and their keepers in this book, as well as the supporting barge and crew. They face the first real adversity of their journey to find an ancient lost city of the Elderlings where the dragons may be able to thrive.At its heart, this is a story about relationships. Sure there are dragons, but as intelligent creatures that are able to communicate with their keepers, their relationships play as large of a role (if not a larger one) than the interpersonal relationships of the humans.Her characters are once again superb. I don't think I despise fictional characters quite so much as some of the ones Ms. Hobb has written. While none of these are quite as despicable as Regal or as frustrating as Malta, they are memorable.The way Ms. Hobb writes, I feel like I could just fall right into her books and stay there. Not that I'd really want to see the acid Rain Wild River. But I'm all for checking out ancient cities with magical wonders and remnants of dragons.I can't wait to jump into [b:City of Dragons 11801463 City of Dragons (Rain Wild Chronicles, #3) Robin Hobb https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1322613975s/11801463.jpg 16754534]!

2/10

Hobb doubled down on the romance drama in this one. This book is mostly about horny people trying to figure out who wants to have sex with whom. And when they manage to figure that out, the sex scenes are extremely cringe-worthy. The rest of the book deals with grooming and feeding animals and breeding pigeons. The actual plot could be condensed into 100 pages or so.