Miriam W. reviewed on 5/29/2011 + 3 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 4

This was the book that made me fall back into fantasy fiction. The series (and related series) are among the best I've read--well-developed characters and fictional worlds. Don't let the type-names fool you--the book knows what it's doing and while the Farseer line names do tell you something, this is well beyond say the type-names of Pilgrim's Progress or even Dickens.

There IS quite a lot of really disturbing violence in Hobbs's work--there were times I had to put the book down (see other reviews--cruelty and physical threat to humans and animals is prevelant)--but there's a real reason for it. Hobbs's other work (see the Soldier's Son trilogy) shows a strong environmental consciousness, though it may not be readily apparent to the casual reader of this series. Definitely adult themes--not really a teens's series--though aside from the violence I can't think of a real reason that age group couldn't handle it, but in general her work is more sophisticated about affection, betrayal, political dynamics, cultural encounter, etc. than most young readers will be ready to recognize.

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