Snowlock Books’ first curated Librarian Selection features one of epic fantasy’s most beloved Worlds: Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings. Published between 1995 and 2017, the Realm of the Elderlings spans sixteen novels across five interwoven series.
Fans of the series will be pleased to hear that more entries in the World are planned. In a 2023 Facebook post Robin Hobb revealed that she’s working on a new book set in the Realm of the Elderlings that features Bee . As of publication I couldn’t find any further updates on this new book.
Let’s dive into a spoiler-free overview of the Realm of the Elderlings and a detailed analysis of where you should best begin your journey into the Hobb’s expansive World.
Curation Corner
- Flavor: Epic Fantasy
- Is the story complete? Yes
- Length: Long
- Pacing: Slow and deliberate
- Emotional Resonance: High. Hobb is unparalleled at making you empathize with her characters and bringing you along for their highs and lows.
- Themes: change, loyalty, otherness, prejudice, sacrifice, political upheaval
- Readers love Hobb’s: character development, character relationships, prose, worldbuilding
- Readers dislike Hobb’s: deliberate pacing, penchant for tragedy
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Cool Factors
- Liveships: Sentient ships carved from wizardwood. Liveships can speak through their figureheads and, once awakened, perform like no other ship
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Two Types of Magic
- Skill: users can communicate telepathically
- Wit: a connection to all living things. Users can communicate and bond with animals
- Familiars: Witted characters can choose to bond with animals
- Mythical Creatures: Dragons and Elderlings
Search for Robin Hobb online and you’ll find no shortage of folks that’ve been put through the emotional wringer by her stories. Sometimes its leveled as a legitimate complaint. Other times its used as a loving jibe by her adoring readers, acknowledging the sorrow they’ve felt alongside Hobb’s characters.
I think this point of discourse is a bit overblown and has nearly entered meme territory. The mention of Realm of the Elderlings in forums elicits an instant response of something along the lines of "book bad" and "book makes me sad".
Rather than in articulately argue my view let's turn again to the author herself. Here’s a bit of what Hobb has to say when asked about emotional highs and lows in storytelling.
I think if you look at my books, or if you look at life in general, you’ll see there are peaks and valleys… One of the things that I try to do with fantasy is, if I want you to believe in dragons and magic, then everything else that is mundane and ordinary has to match our reality, and that means there are times when the hero spills his cup of hot coffee, or they miss an airplane, or any of those little mishaps that we all endure in life. I don’t smooth it out and say that everything is always going to be pony rides in the sunshine. It is the normal ups and downs of life. If they don’t appear in a book, it becomes very hard for ordinary people like us to identify with those characters.
When I read a book where someone finds out that they are the unacknowledged son of the powerful king and that they have incredible magic and within the space of 24 hours they learn to become the best swordsman in the kingdom, I’m going, “That’s not how my life is.” If I excel in one area, it’s because I’ve sacrificed in other areas. You can’t become the best at math and still be a cheerleader and soloing in an airplane on your 16th birthday. You have to sacrifice in some places to excel in others. I try to adhere to that in my stories.
On the Origin of the Realm of the Elderlings
In an interview with Locus in 1998 Hobb explained how the idea for the Farseer trilogy came to her.
''It came from a question written on a scrap of paper that I kept in my top desk drawer: 'What if magic were addictive? And what if the addiction was destructive or degenerative?' From there, almost everything developed. A very common concept in fantasy is that power or magic has to be paid for in some way. So the idea that it would possibly be physically degenerative or an addiction where, very much like The Lord of the Rings, you start out wanting to use this ring to do good things for people, and gradually it takes you over, is a very old idea. For me, that was the germ that gradually grew into this whole thing. That and the temptation I think every fantasy writer has, to see if you can take every single one of the genre's clichés – dragons and elves and wizards and bastard princes and hereditary magic – and free them up and make them work again. And I think I worked a fair number in there!''
Reading Order
The Realm of the Elderlings is comprised of the following five series:
Farseer (1995-1997)
Liveship Traders (1998-2000)
Tawny Man (2001-2003)
Rain Wild Chronicles (2009-2013)
Fitz & the Fool (2014-2017)
The Realm of the Elderlings has two effective starting points: in short, either the Farseer or The Liveship Traders trilogies. The long answer may sound like equivocating but ‘it depends’.
Why should you begin with the Farseer trilogy? We recommend that the vast majority of readers begin the Realm of the Elderlings with Assassin’s Apprentice, the first novel in the Farseer trilogy. Not only was it the World’s first published novel (1995) but it launches the story of Fitzchivalry Farseer, the Fool, and the Farseer family. From this series flows the stories and characters that shape the Realm. If you care about spoilers or want to follow a story from the beginning all the way through to the end begin here.
Jacket copy for Assassin's Apprentice:
“Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father's gruff stableman. He is treated as an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz's blood runs the magic Skill--and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family.
As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.”
Why should you begin with the Liveship Traders? You’ve been recommended the works of Realm of the Elderlings time and again. Yet, when you read the jacket copy or reviews of Assassin’s Apprentice you’re nonplussed. Maybe you even gave it a fair shake but just didn’t like it. Perhaps the first person POV threw you off or the familiar fantasy setting of Buckkeep didn’t beckon to you. Whatever your reason, you’re at odds with the people and online spaces you trust. It gnaws at you. What is everyone seeing in these stories that you don’t?
Ship of Magic, the first novel in the Liveship Traders trilogy, may be just what you need. You can trade the castles, royal court intrigue, and assassins for pirates, sentient ships that can speak, and sea serpents. If after finishing Ship of Magic, Hobb has reeled you in with her character work and you’d like to continue reading in the World, you’ll want to jump back to Farseer and then begin reading in publication order with Rain Wild Chronicles.
Jacket copy for Ship of Magic:
“Bingtown is a hub of exotic trade and home to a merchant nobility famed for its liveships--rare vessels carved from wizardwood, which ripens magically into sentient awareness. Now the fortunes of one of Bingtown's oldest families rest on the newly awakened liveship Vivacia.
For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy. For Althea's young nephew, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard the Vivacia, the ship is a life sentence. But the fate of the ship--and the Vestrits--may ultimately lie in the hands of an outsider: the ruthless buccaneer captain Kennit, who plans to seize power over the Pirate Isles by capturing a liveship and bending it to his will.”
But steering the majority of readers to begin with Assassin's Apprentice is just one librarian’s opinion on how to experience the Realm of the Elderlings. Let’s hear from the author herself.
On her preferred reading order:
“As a writer, of course, I would love it if everybody read all of the books in the chronological order in which I wrote them, because there are little surprises and bits built into the story, where the astute reader will note, “Oh my goodness, that’s what that was all about!” And for the reader who has read all the books and paid attention to the between-the-lines, they get the little prizes, and I love when I get an email saying, “Wait a minute, I think… when this happens in this, is that because that happened four books ago?” and I go, “Yes! You are the person I’m writing for.”
-WorldCon75: Interview with Robin Hobb
On how the series of the Realm of the Elderlings fit together:
“I’ve written [the Realm of the Elderlings] very chronologically—it’s with the passing of time—so if you want to read the stories in chronological order and get all of the references to one another, you would start with the Farseer trilogy. Then you would move on to the Liveship Traders trilogy, because although there’s no obvious continuation of characters from Farseer to Liveship Traders, the events that happen in Farseer directly affect what’s happening down in Bingtown. And, of course, after you’ve read the Liveship Traders trilogy and you return to the Fitz and Fool stories in the Tawny Man trilogy, you will find that what has been happening in Bingtown definitely affects what happens up in the Six Duchies, which is very true of our world as well.
April 2012 Lightspeed Magazine. Interview: Robin Hobb
On the other hand, Hobb has deliberately designed her characters and novels so that readers who stumble upon a later series can begin without being overwhelmingly confused.
“Every trilogy ends where the next part of the chronology begins, and sometimes something finishes in Buck and chronologically the story picks up in Jamaillia and Bingtown. But when you meet the characters in each trilogy, you’re meeting them at a certain stage in their lives, so the Malta that you would meet in the Liveship Traders is fundamentally and diametrically different from the Malta you come to know in The Rain Wild Chronicles, or indeed, the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. So when you meet them, yes, readers will recognize certain traits and they may speak of a past that they’ve shared with other characters, but really, it’s the beginning of that story, so as a writer I want to make it very easy for readers to step into that world and not feel like, oh, I missed this, I can’t read this trilogy.
-WorldCon75: Interview with Robin Hobb
Which path suits you? As a fan of traditional tropes and settings in fantasy, I had no reservations about jumping into Assassin’s Apprentice. I devoured and followed it promptly with the remainder of the series. I waited a long time to continue with Hobb’s work. I was so invested in Fitz’s story that I was tempted to bypass Liveship Traders and head straight for Tawny Man. I didn’t want to get sidetracked with new characters in Liveship Traders and delay my reunion with Fitz and the Fool.
Eventually, after reading copious opinions online I decided to give Ship of Magic a shot. I’m so glad I listened to the prevailing opinion. Ship of Magic intrigued me with the bizarre prologue and hooked me as soon as Kennit set foot on Other’s Island.
Farseer showed me a new direction for characters in epic fantasy, Liveship Traders left me in awe, and Tawny Man solidified Hobb as one of the finest writers I’ve encountered. Especially impressive is the fact that she knocked published these three series one book a year for nine consecutive years. To write such large books that quickly is a feat. For each to be a masterpiece is genius.
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