Product Description

Nevare Burvelle was destined from birth to be a soldier. The second son of a newly anointed nobleman, he must endure the rigors of military training at the elite King's Cavella Academy—and survive the hatred, cruelty, and derision of his aristocratic classmates—before joining the King of Gernia's brutal campaign of territorial expansion. The life chosen for him will be fraught with hardship, for he must ultimately face a forest-dwelling folk who will not submit easily to a king's tyranny. And they possess an ancient magic their would-be conquerors have long discounted—a powerful sorcery that threatens to claim Nevare Burvelle's soul and devastate his world once the Dark Evening brings the carnival to Old Thares.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11470 in Books
• Published on: 2006-09-01
• Released on: 2006-08-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 624 pages

About the Author

Robin Hobb is the author of the Farseer, Liveship Traders, and Tawny Man trilogies. She has also written as Megan Lindholm. She currently resides in Tacoma, Washington.

Customer Reviews

A refreshing change to the fantasy story mold!
Before this book, I had not read any of Robin Hobb's other works. I picked this book up based on the interesting premise it showed and out of a hunch that this would be a "different" kind of fantasy story.

The 19th-century-America-like world that Hobb builds in this story is amazing. The combination of the slightly modern and fantasy was very well done. Hobb describes this world very well. You can easily imagine what it looks like, feels like, etc. I found Hobb's telling of the story in the first person of the main character a welcome change from other books I have read. She did this very effectively.

This first part of her trilogy was a very good setup for the main story to come. Hobb hints at all of the important aspects of the larger story, but in the context of the "coming of age" of our main character. I found the detailed story of Nevare's life at the Academy very interesting and entertaining reading.

Now, I am a fan of "high fantasy" (Erikson, Martin, etc.) and I won't put this story up with the works of those authors. BUT, as a book by itself, I think it merits 5 stars. If you want a different kind of fantasy tale, this book is for you! Thanks, Robin Hobb, for writing something very unique.

A striking start to another incredible trilogy
I discovered Robin Hobb a few years ago by picking up books at random in the Fantasy section of my local book store and reading the first page.

The first fifteen books I looked at left me unimpressed -- and perhaps a bit demoralized about the genre, which I hadn't read in a long time. But when I picked up Fool's Errand, I was intrigued by the voice -- it was so real, so intimate -- and was promptly sucked into the two Fool trilogies and the Liveship trilogy.

When I picked up Shaman's Crossing, I didn't know what to expect -- but found the complete departure from the familiar 'high fantasy' world refreshing and intriguing. I always admire authors who strike out in new directions and do it well, and Hobb takes lots of creative risks. Like setting a story in a time and place that much resemble the American frontier, for example, and giving her character a very 'un-hero-like' affliction. I loved it -- the twists and turns of the plot, the depth of the conflict, the realness of the characters, the incredibly well-crafted world so completely different from ours (and from her previous creative endeavors)... and on a deeper level, the way Hobb makes me look at my own world with new eyes. I found myself feeling every bit as conflicted as her hero -- and dying to know what would happen next.

I firmly believe that Robin Hobb is the best fantasy author currently in the game -- and that the Soldier Son Trilogy is yet another masterpiece.

Bravo!

Really disappointing
Don't know what happened to her all of a sudden. I've read her Live Ship books, her Fool books and the other trilogy connected with those two and enjoyed them all. So when I saw this new one, at an airport bookshop on the way home from a holiday, I bought it with joy expecting another meaty and enjoyable trilogy. In the event I found it so dull, so unengaging that I actually gave up before I was even half way through - and I wouldn't have got that far had she not been an author I normally really enjoy. I found the plot dull and I had no interest in the central character and therefore no desire to find out what happened to him. What a disappointment. I've written this before I read any other reviews on this site. I'll now read a few to see what others found in it.