The Robin Hobb Collection discussion

Rob wrote: "Whose the narrator?"

This is the UK version Rob. Lee Maxwell Simpson and Avita Jay as Bee. She's not bad but he sounds like he's reading a shopping list. Boo!

I did the American Audio for book 1. That was Elliot Hill. It looks like I didnt like them much at the start, but they grew on me.

I DON'T have the book yet! It's 15 pounds for the KINDLE VERSION, on amazon. I have never seen a kindle download that expensive. So i'm going to have to hold off for a week or so, until the price drops...and therefore avoid all of the comments in these threads about it. SOB! So disappointing after waiting for so long.

I also don't have it... but good news! Having shelled out for first class delivery (1-2 days), I was really frustrated to find Amazon were anticipating it taking 6 days to deliver (dispatch time, plus weekend, plus delivery time).

Now, however, they claim it's been dispatched already, so it should arrive tomorrow, or Saturday at the latest.


...now the only problem is that I'm very busy all weekend, so may not actually be able to find time to read it until next week anyway. Why couldn't she have published it one week earlier? I wasn't doing anything at all last weekend!

I pre-ordered the book for 1st class delivery as well and was annoyed to get a message saying it had been dispatched a few days ago but wouldn't arrive until next Monday? really not happy as I'm back to work then!

Mine arrived today :) So glad I shelled out for the hardback, they are beautiful books...I bought FA too because the covers are gorgeous!

I got the American audio last week. Started it on Friday I think. My hardcover came a day early. I'm almost done with it already.

I like this book far more than the last one.

Got the paper back edition on the 13th. It was almost embarrassing how fast I ran to the bookshop. :) Almost.

And I've finished it. What am I supposed to do with my life now? XD

Does anyone know of anywhere to discuss this book that is NOT spoiler-free? It's totally useless to read 50 comments of "Yeah, read it now. Great book. Can't wait until the next one."

I have a group where I can set up discussion threads, but that would require everyone to join a new group.

Alternatively, we could just put the threads in the section for the last book.

Unfortunately, the only one who can create a new section, hasn't been around for awhile.

Rob wrote: "I have a group where I can set up discussion threads, but that would require everyone to join a new group.

Alternatively, we could just put the threads in the section for the last book.

Unfortuna..."

Oh, thanks. I'll keep checking just in case. I would just really love to talk what people think about specific things in the book, characters, events, interpretations of things that happen.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

It let me create this thread for chatting!

Thank you so much. I just finished the book last night and would love to hear others' impressions--with details/spoilers galore!

No problem, I'll join you all next week!

If I may recommend: in the past, i've enjoyed having the threads for a bunch of chapters at a time, rather than a total not-read-anything/finished-already split.

then again, maybe we're all reading too quickly for that to be useful. I know there have been half a dozen little things I've wanted to post to GR as I've read through it today (I'm still only halfway through), but I've not been able to tear myself away long enough to do it...

At this point, I'd be unable to post much in the middle threads. I generally prefer them as well, but I need to post in each as I'm reading.

Just saw these on Amazon. Hmm.. Not sure how I feel about this look.



And this. Not sure what language though.



Finally, does everyone still think this is Bee? (previously we talked about this cover before Fool's Quest came out)

That middle one is Fool's Errand in Polish.

Uggh, he looks like he is in his 50's...and not androgenous at all. No..Me no likey.

The second one, i know he's supposed to be a little tanned, but, that is too much- the figure and face are *a little* better.

I do like last cover...with the only problem being that Bee looks too old.

Art/illustrations/fanart are often problematic--I find that my perfect face rarely shows up in any of those. We each have such a clear picture in our own head of what the characters look like.

That said, I agree with you on Bee in that pic.

So we have in this group fluency in Polish, I think in Turkish too, seem to recall German or French also. Definitely American and English. How international!

Agree the covers can't please everyone. But we can fantasize. Certain cultures seem to prefer the characters illustrated in a certain ways (just speaking generally here). The first cover is one of several by Alejandro Colucci for the American audience. Both Fool and Fitz are portrayed as rugged, masculine, macho-y, tanned types, always with some animal or weapons in the background. The English wisely not portray faces but medieval designs and elegant scripts. The most hilarious ones (to me) are the Chinese or Japanese or was it Korean covers... with Fitz or Fool way over the top effeminate, slender and fragile!

I refuse to accept that as Bee!

Alfred wrote: "Just saw these on Amazon. Hmm.. Not sure how I feel about this look."

Oh gods I'm hung over, and these covers are killing me. the first one, with the Fool, is awful. He looks middle aged, very male, and kind of homely. Ew. The Polish one...idk. More feminine, and the coloring is right. Not how I pictured the Fool, but closer. The "daughter of the assassin" is so, so wrong, complete with the pretty outfit with the roses, and the carefully done hair, and the crystal ball??? argh.

The Japanese? one at the end is my favorite. Again the Fool doesn't look the way I pictured him, but s/he does look truly androgynous, and most important, s/he looks truly dead, complete with rigor mortis. Fitz, again, not how I imagined him, but he looks like Fitz.

Edit: But it's a spoiler cover.

Edit further: Oddly, I like this cover


It's Japanese, and imo gets the flamboyant, androgynous nature of LG. The hat is perfect, the clothing is extreme, the posture, the hair fit (imo). Of course I've no idea what the Fool is holding, and the chest exposure is just not the Fool, at all.

I love the japanese covers. The spoiler cover, fitz and fool look how i imagined. What a heartbreaking cover. That whole scene and the stone plaza had me in sheds. Fitz's expression in that image just makes me cry.

Scarletine wrote: "I love the japanese covers. The spoiler cover, fitz and fool look how i imagined."

Actually, that's a really nice cover. The ending of FF is so horrific in so many ways that I can barely reread the last two hundred pages.

Alfred wrote: "Do the Japanese really see Fool this way with the chest baring..."

ita the chest baring is wrong. I like it, though, because it's the opposite of the other one, with the reserved, older LG in the hyper-sensible 18th century suit. Grey suits were not that common in the 18th century, and except for the sword he looks ready for a job interview.

Alfred wrote: "Talk about Hobb hating fanfic, she should be hating these covers!"

THAT made me laugh--my nightmare is to finally get a book published and hate the cover.

Oshun wrote: "Alfred wrote: "Talk about Hobb hating fanfic, she should be hating these covers!"

THAT made me laugh--my nightmare is to finally get a book published and hate the cover."

I self pub and design my own covers, It helps that i'm a professional artist-but i would really hate to have no creative control over the covers. It just beggars belief that some of the Hobb covers were selected for print.

Scarletine wrote: "It just beggars belief that some of the Hobb covers were selected for print."

Some of them I love, though, like this Brazilian one. It really looks like the artist read the book.

Ash09 wrote: "Scarletine wrote: "It just beggars belief that some of the Hobb covers were selected for print."

Some of them I love, though, like this Brazilian one. It really looks like the artist read the book..."

YES! That is the difference- you can tell when the artist has read the book. I cannot believe some of the cover artists haven't and were just working from a brief. This is possibly the worst cover i have seen- Whomever that guy is - he is not the fool- he is probably a 1970's porn actor, turned mail order catalog model!!

Scarletine wrote: "...probably a 1970's porn actor, turned mail order catalog model!"

That one activated my gag reflex.

Junie wrote: ".... michael bolton with slightly more hair.....!"

That comment activated MY gag reflex. Lol

Alfred wrote: "The beauty of Fool in my eyes is his ambiguity. He is whatever we imagine him to be within a certain framework (androgynous, blonde, slender). Previous covers have a softer focus or Fool depicted far away or drawn more like art. "

I think North American culture feels uncomfortable with femininity in men, which means that in a non-stylized cover featuring the Fool, the artist will erase the character's androgyny, introduce a rugged face, masculine costume, whether it's faithful to the novel or not.

I like the cover on the bottom: The face is hyper stylized, soft, almost invisible, lost in this golden cloud, but the costume is prickly and dangerous with the pointy shoes, the sword. This creature is beautiful, dream-like, yet has an edge, which is how I see the Fool.

Ash09 wrote: " I like the cover on the bottom: The face is hyper stylized, soft, almost invisible, lost in this golden cloud so"

You nailed it on the head! Thanks for posting my favorite cover Haha This was what I was thinking about when I posted earlier...Generally, John Howe's illustrations have been my fav.

You are probably right about NA culture on the stereotypical images of leading men (or women) on any entertainment media . It's a very polarizing topic. I am sure some readers peeking in or ventured a couple posts here have been frightened off/ turned off/ disenfranchised/ bewildered/ landed on alien planet - by some of the stuff discussed here. Don't worry nobody bites here!

Alfred wrote: "Fool's Quest has been nominated for Goodreads best fantasy 2015..."

Thank you for the reminder; voted!

Re the covers: I doubt that Hobb is into manga, but she ended up creating the perfect "bishounen" with Lord Golden.

Junie wrote: "Just voted! What's "bishounen"?"

bishounen is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes a young man whose beauty (and sexual appeal) transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation.

So very Fool/Beloved/Lord Golden

Scarletine wrote: "bishounen is a Japanese term literally meaning "beautiful youth (boy)" and describes a young man whose beauty (and sexual appeal) transcends the boun..."

That is SO the Fool that I'm now starting to wonder if Hobb got into Japanese things around the time she started to write the Tawny Man. OK it's ridiculous, but LG, especially, is so Japanese that it's bizarre.

Anyhow, that's one reason why I prefer Japanese covers for the Fool (with the exception of Howe). They get him. They've been drawing him for years.

I think the French editions might have been cut up into more books because I checked and that one is coming out in January.

Junie wrote: "Internet surfing on Facebook and saw this on Hobb's FB page.... Someone translate this please!!! Is this Fitz or is this Chade???? Please let this not be Fitz... too old!!

"

It translates as 'Seeking Revenge :The fool and the assassin 3'. But again, i think it's FQ cut into 3 parts. Hobb hasn't finished writing Book 3.
I have no idea who the hell that is supposed to be on the cover. Once again i ask:
DID THE ARTIST EVEN READ THE BOOK????
I wish they would even be consistent with the costume, it looks way too old for the fashions that Hobb describes in the book . It cannot be Fitz. For one he has black hair- he isn't grey...and this guy does not look 35. I would not be surprised if the artist got a brief and it had his age as sixties. (Facepalm)

Junie wrote: "hi just want to mention that David Bowie passed away... so sad. I recall Ms Hobb mentioned in an interview once long time ago that a young David Bowie was how she imagined Fool would look.... is th..."

I am so devastated with Bowie's passing. Such a beautiful soul.
This fitz/fool fan art- from when fitz was injured with the arrow in the back says it all.

Junie wrote: "hi just want to mention that David Bowie passed away... so sad. I recall Ms Hobb mentioned in an interview once long time ago that a young David Bowie was how she imagined Fool would look.... is this how you would imagine Fool?"

Yes! What an honor that our timelines met his for a while.

Alfred wrote: "Gone too soon. Only 69 years old.

Scarletine: are these your art?"

No i found them on Tumblr....i would love them to be mine. They are so gorgeous.

Oh, I love that artirst's art. I actually have a print of hers with F/F and Nighteyes.

luisi wrote: "Oh, I love that artirst's art. I actually have a print of hers with F/F and Nighteyes."

do you know her name/website. i would love to see more.