City of Dragons and Blood of Dragons

Title: City of Dragons and Blood of Dragons
Author: Robin Hobb
Series: The Rain Wilds Chronicles, books 3 and 4
Genre: Fantasy
Published: 2012 and 2013
Rating: 8/10

Review: I've read the first half of this series a few years back and enjoyed it (except for the fact that it was split into two books while being one logical piece of fiction). So I've waited for both of these volumes to get published to make sure I didn't run into the same situation again. I saw them both on sale on Amazon recently and seized the chance to finish the series.

I have forgotten some of the details from the previous two volumes, so it took me a little while to get back into the story again. But once I did, I had no trouble staying with it. I find Robin Hobb is very good at making the reader care about the characters of the story and their lives just kept me captivated in the books.

The books continue telling the stories of the dragon keepers who have discovered the mythical city of Kelsingra and now need to make sure they survive the winter in the Rain Wilds to tell of it. Their dragon's survival is questionable too since the dragons are weak and cannot fly. Many hurdles have to be overcome before the characters can find their way.

Again, the two books were pretty closely plotted. I felt that reading them both one after another was the right way to go -- City of Dragons didn't have a particularly strong ending as a stand-alone book. But at the end of the series I was rewarded with one big wrap-up for all the major story lines. I especially enjoyed the Alise/Sedric/Hest resolution. So very satisfying -- I think the author must've enjoyed writing those scenes. I certainly enjoyed reading them.

This is probably the first epic fantasy I've enjoyed in quite some time. You can always count on Robin Hobb to deliver, so looking forward to her writing more stories in this world.