I reread again, now 41, after starting in 2000 and finishing 2018. I can put up with it. I realised I moved on from my Molly, and married Kettricken instead. Thank God I'm the only Fool in my life.

Saving this to watch once I finish the series!

I never knew people hated the rain wilds so much. I absolutely loved it haha, it started tying many things together lorewise which I always greatly appreciate

Preach my brother from another mother

This was such an interesting discussion! I'm going to preface everything I say here with the fact that I read these books so long ago my memory of specific plot points isn't great. Just checked to see when I read them and star ratings and looks like I read the first 13 in 2015 and then I paused until all of the final trilogy was out and read them in 2017. I've been constantly meaning to reread them but you know how it is 🤣 so I didn't enjoy rain wilds at all and I think gave them all 2 or 3 stars. I gave Fool's Assassin and Fool's Quest 4 stars and then Assassin's Fate 3 stars. I remember being super conflicted for a few reasons: (spoilers ahead) - I agree that Fool's Fate was a great ending and it felt pretty wrapped up so then watching Bee be introduced just felt a bit unnecessary. - I couldn't believe how poorly edited all three books were. It's like Robin Hobb's editor had done nothing and just been like "You're Robin Hobb. You can do what the hell you want." The amount of times we went over the same thought process in Fitz's head was maddening. I literally couldn't believe how much Robin Hobb wasn't trusting us to understand Fitz by this point. - I hated the ending with a passion. I'm not saying we need a happy ending but did we need to do Fitz so dirty? I felt like it tarnished all of the books. I actually threw thd book across the room when I finished it 🤣 the scene where they all go to see Fitz off felt pretty weird and creepy to me. I don't remember why at this point but I remember feeling uncomfortable with it. So basically I agree with you but yet gave them 3 and 4 stars. I think I felt like I loved Fitz so much and he felt so alive outside of the books to me that I still ultimately enjoy spending time with him. But I expect on a reread I may be less generous. Overall I agree that stopping after the first 9 books is probably the best option but I know I'd have ignored you if I'd just finished book 9 🤣 plus I did give Assassin's Quest 2 stars so there's that. I plan to reread them all next year so we'll see if I'll feel any differently 🤓

Chade’s death felt so rushed.. I hated that. Fitz’s death was also… oof. Hobb did him so dirty. But it made sense. All of the child abuse, the destruction of Clerres, all of it felt very necessary to the plot. And man. It’s an amazing, mature plot. I really love Bee. She’s so competent and such a strong little girl. She was written very well, I think, with her inherent oddness, loneliness, she reminded me so much of Fitz. Moments where she shone as just a traumatized little girl made her real to me. Also, the traveling via boat was necessary for me. These books are not designed to be rushed through. If they went by dragon, that’s how it would feel. This is the last book in the series and seeing the children of the liveship characters is necessary as well. It’s what makes Hobb’s book so good. The story keeps going, even offscreen.

How does the stalling plot tactics in the last several novels of ROTE compare with the Wheel of Time series?

Hi 👋 happy weekend reading to you!! 🦋🎥🎬

I'm really sad it took away the stakes of earlier books :(

Ahh man… I hate to hear it was such a disappointment for you. Glad to have the heads up about it though. What big series is next for ya?

I finished the series yesterday and absolutely loved it! Im not going to debate all of your points or anything but I definitely disagree when you say the writing of the last 7 books is a step down. They might not have gone in the direction you wanted or expected, but they were still brilliant. And just like with every fantasy series there are plot holes and some aspects that might not “make sense” depending on how you read and interpret other parts of the series. I don’t get why for Rain Wild every one gets fixated on the characters being young and who Thymara wants to sleep with story line and seem to think that was the entire series. I think the Rain Wild Chronicles are better than WoT. It doesn’t seem rational how some of these things about ROTE bother you this much but the myriad of issues throughout WoT don’t seem to.

ok, I've watched. I'm gathering up the pieces of my soul, and will say more later in discord...

The thing that stuck out to me, among many things: Was how after the rescue and making it back to the ship, Paragon decides he doesn't want to leave, and gets surrounded and set on fire. It is the direct cause of a handful of deaths, including Kennitson, who was under explored but apparently extremely important to Paragon. And nobody makes any mention of it. I'm never reading any of the Realm books again, Fitz is too stupid for me.

I'm not sure I enjoyed the last trilogy, but it was so effective at making me feel bleak sadness that it's hard for me to say they are bad.

The final fitz and the fool book was my least favorite of all the fitz books. I didnt read liveship traders, or rain wilds so I thought this was a major piece of why I didnt connect with it. Also I have many of the same criticisms. But book 1 I loved, and 2 book two was good to me. After reading all fitz books, when the books go more into the dragons, they tend to fall off. In the Farseer trilogoy, last book dragged on and I wasnt a fan of the ending. Tawny man had the best dragon inclusion in my opinion and a solid ending. But man, I was not a fan of the fitz and the fool final book. And I agree that many events in fitz and the fool were "how much pain can we cause?". If there were no dragons, and more of chade and fitz getting there kids back I would have loved it :) . I figured if I read all the other books, I would like it more. Now I am not sure. I will still read liveship traders.

Just started Farseen after having read Liveship so will see what happens. Ship just didn't jive with me. At least Malazan had some happy endings for some characters.

Wow the series peaks at the end for most people, it sucks you didn't enjoy it because it was on your top 10 list iirc.

Such a shame. Great wrap-up though! My experience with ROTE so far: Farseer: Book 1 good, Book 2 fine but about 30% too long, Book 3 just a long mess. Liveship: Books 1 and 2 pretty good, Book 3 going well until about last 20% which used a plot device I detest and imo completely destroyed the core of what Books 1 and 2 had indicated. All 3 books are way too long. Good writing, but no reason to be 850+ pages each. Tawny Man: Still on TBR in distant future Rainwild: Nope Fitz and the Fool: Was a most probably no. After listening to this video (I don't mind spoilers), nope.

Lmao 🤣 I’m not gonna yell at you

The first trilogy the royal assassin was written a minute ago and you have to understand it was a different time a different world . Also if you didn't like this trilogy fine not all of our favorite Authors are gonna hit it out the park all the time . Second let's not pretend this whole video was a hate rant not a review but you are entitled to your opinion . Third I loved the first set of books but I will say that the fools trilogy was hard to follow . Fourth the rain wild series was even more convoluted than the fools and I never finished it . The Magic ship's books were alright but not great . I haven't read the latest in the fool trilogy so I can't comment on it .