I am a Rainwilds defender! Lol. It is not the best of the lot, but it's not garbage like everyone seems to think. If you don't read it, you miss out on a lot of world-building and dragon stuff. I can understand why a man in his 40's might not love it. I guess, as a woman in her 40s, I'm a little more tolerant of the teen angst stuff. Liveship makes up for all the negative aspects by itself.

I'm surprised there was no mention of Pierce Brown in the honorables.

Don Krieg isn't an important or memorable villain because of his own motives, but he's a cog in the Baratie machine. He (and by association, really Ghin) serves as a vehicle for Sanji to understand why he should follow Luffy and helps Sanji to realize that he should be chasing his dream instead of feeling chained to Zeff. As far as a likable villain, Don Krieg is on the bottom of the list. There are villains that we love in One Piece because they are compelling and deep, but there are also a few here and there that serve more as an idea than as a real person. Don Krieg is not a person, but he's the representation of what happens when you go to the Grand Line underprepared, and where is our fun little crew aiming to go? The Grand Line.

I just started Name of the Wind and I'm not feeling itnso far, love an unreliable narrator story but if there's nothing actually showing evidence to the contrary of his story then it just feels like someone giving their D&D character the coolest ever backstory

This is my favorite book of all time. Absolutely grabs you and keeps your attention throughout. I cant recommend this enough!!!

I don’t think it’s the same as Wheel of Time slog. That’s particularly bad and destroys the reading experience totally for a lot of people who are new to the series. Here? The slow pace or not, it’s very focused to the cast of characters, the main difference is: it’s about their life. So you won’t get MCU level big events all the time but: in Lifeship you get family struggles, in Farseer castle politics with Fitz amateur try outs in life. Something always happens just not that big. And it’s pretty good in being realistic. More like Blade Itself not slog in Wheel of Time where we started to get disappointed even when Robert Jordan wrote the last books and we read it right away. It seems the new readers at booktok enjoy it as well, so the younger readers love Fitz and Lifeship mostly as a starting point to epic fantasy. It’s much more a trigger warning that it’s pretty dark. Not in action but all the characters are suffering here. They are emotionally devastated, both Fitz and the family in Bingtown. It’s very depressing what happens to them and there are only a few things that are positive in the series. As Mike says the characters are very real but at the same time they have a very bad faith. It’s on the border of grim dark fantasy just not bloody.

The good: everything. The bad: nothing. 😂 My favorite series!

Totally ASOIF

You had me at Dragon Riders (and it’s not Fourth Wing)

Nice to see your thoughts on one of my favorite series!

Hellified bookmark, Mike. I mean like for real. That's down right kewl!

Great video 😄

The Drow have become woke. Forgotten Realms is dogshit now.

Robin Hobb has also written several books under the name "Megan Lindholm." So if you enjoy her writing, you may like those books, too. Her real name is Margaret Lindholm Ogden.

One of my favorite series, I still have the final trilogy left and plan to pick it up next

Its interesting that so many complain about the slog of mid WOT when thats the pace of all Hobb books😅 I do find them both worthvile

Sounds like it's not for me, but remarkable balance with this. You really got the sense of good points and bad, with nothing overwhelming it.

God Emperor of Dune was weird af

Great breakdown of the series, thanks! I have three volumes of Robin Hobb’s on my shelf that I found second hand…all three of them are the third book in its series 😬 Guess I’ll just have to find the others somewhere!

I’m new to this genre! Thank you for all the great recommendations!

I started this series a couple months ago on Audiobook and soft DNF'd it about halfway through book 1. I know I am going to go back to it, but as an audiobook I wasn't getting out of it what I think it deserves, and while the writing and characters have been amazing so far, I need to be in a certain headspace for that level of slow. When I am in it I will love it, so I put it off till then. It was nice to hear that is a common enough thing to warn people about here. Great vid as always!

Good timing! Just started Assassin's Apprentice yesterday!

Liveship Traders is my favorite

I like Robin Hobb. Her prose is beautiful

I love King's short fiction. Different Seasons withstands the test of time. The Breathing Method is a masterpiece.

When I was a teenager, I had a boyfriend buy me “Assassin’s Apprentice” and tell me to read it because he knew I’d love it. It’s the best thing anyone has ever gifted me, and honestly I still think of him fondly because of it. Lol I got to grow up right alongside Fitz. It’s been wonderful watching booktube embrace Robin Hobb these last few years. She deserves to be talked about in the same circles as Robert Jordan, George R.R. Martin and Patrick Rothfuss. Probably more deserving, considering Robin Hobb actually finishes her book series… 😬😅

Love that shirt. One of the best lookin band shirts

Yeah I'm DNFing Assassin's Apprentice. Literally nothing happens. Even The Way of Kings was more eventful and it's much longer.

Really good video, Mike. Enjoyed thoroughly. I really like your Good & Bad series & RotE is a worthy entrant. I am not as high on Live Ship after 1 book. But, I am willing to fit the next book in some time. Thank you for this.

I read the stand when I was a teenager in the 80s and it was huge but I read it in 5 days and it stuck with me ever since, one of Kings greatest works often overlooked but what a book, I have not read swan song but will give it a go.

you gotta do the Jack Whyte dream of eagles series!

Nice list! I read Ender's Game, the short story and the novel. For some reason, I enjoyed the short story more.

If 400 Pages passes, and nothing has happened, how would that not bother! I'm reading a book, not living my life😂. I need something to happen if I'm going to be reading. Life is boring enough without reading a boring book😂!

whelp, guess im reading them. you've never led me astray before

I just started the final trilogy. If you look at her publication order, she wrote the Soldier Son Trilogy between Live Ship and Rainwild Chronicles. I thought while reading the ending of Tawny Man that it would have been the perfect ending too. I think she just missed that world after writing Soldier Son Trilogy and then added on the last 7 books. I'm probably in the minority, but I really enjoyed Rainwild Chronicles. The romancey parts were meh, but I liked seeing the evolution of some of the core characters from previous books. (trying to state my opinion without spoilers) Feeling like i'm in the 9th inning now with only 2 1/2 books left to read.

What do you think of john gwynns current series, hunger of the gods?

Mike you responded to this rec once and said your wife DNFd it but I’m gonna try again for The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt because it’s literally so many of your favorite things in books all at once: brilliant coming of age, slice of life, and character work with great prose I actually think you’d love it and I’ve watched you now for about 3 years and we have very similar tastes for all the same reasons likes and dislikes

This is my favorite series ever. I just connected with Fitz on a very deep level. And liveships is a master work!!

I love Robin Hobb, but I never read the Rain Wild Chronicles and I don't think I missed anything in the last trilogy.

The Good: Character writing The Bad: Nearly everything about Fitz And The Fool trilogy. I felt conned as a reader to say the least.

I got every Robin Hobb book today for £20 from a charity shop 😊

I have been reading Hobb since Assassin's Apprentice came out back in 1995. Many of her books are among my favorite fantasy books of all time, and she is one of my favorite authors. And yet... The later books REALLY missed for me. I never finished either Rainwilds (despite being quite interested in the lore) or Fitz & the Fool. At this point, sadly, Hobb is no longer on my automatic-buy list. I feel like she & I just grew in divergent directions.

I liked the final trilogy, but it definitely wasn't my my favorite, maybe 4th out of the 5 (behind Rainwilds of course lol). The first 3 trilogies were absolutely incredible and could've (should've?) ended there. Liveship blew my mind and it was so unexpected haha overall this series is definitely firmly in my top 10 too, even though Rainwilds kinda sucked for me, especially the first 2 in that subseries

I started them in January and just have the last trilogy to go. Rain Wilds was tough going with the YA and I really hate the dragons/serpents.

About to wrap up Royal Assassin probably today. I love the series, but you’re right. If you’re looking for alot of action, you’ll be disappointed. But the characterization is amazing. The political intrigue is a great replacement for action for me.

Agree with your assessment of the series. Very sluggish and slow pacing. I still recommend it.

Slide Inn Road (i think) wasnt about "dont fk with grandpa" as much as it was about grandpa's offspring (the dad) being of a different generation who isnt emotionally equipped to handle that type of crisis, even when faced with the impending death of his family. Fight or flight.

The covers of the books really are nice.

Robin hobb is amazing …I wish she would do some prequels to live shop traders