read all the books!

My brain decided the other day that we are going to read ALL of Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings books, y'all.

I have fourteen of them - I am missing two of the Rainwilds books. (My library service has the two I'm missing, but they are still - sensibly - shut, and they're not available as ebooks).

It's a shame my mum is not here because she'd love this turn of events. She'd been trying to get me to read these books twenty years ago (her main selling point was the Liveship trilogy and she was coming at me from the angle of "these ships are alive! Like Moya in Farscape!" and it piqued my interest a bit, but that was it). And also Robin Hobb was one of her favourite authors, which is why it kind of surprises me that I'm missing some of the books*. I can only assume she wasn't so keen on the Rainwilds quartet? Obviously I will never know for sure, since she isn't here to ask.

(I kind of like that this is a series, yet it can be split into chunks of different trilogies/one quartet).

I might not even get as far as the books I'm missing, but I want them for completeness' sake.

(I'm on book two of sixteen, why is my brain like this??? But that said, I actually think this is the sort of thing I want from a fantasy story, rather than what you'd expect from a typical one? *shrug emoji*)

I had a whole bunch of déjà vu while reading Assassin's Apprentice, which I can only think must've come from a time when mum was reading it, and I'd idly skim over a couple of pages to see what the fuss was. (I say this because I don't remember massive sections, or the plot, so I don't think I've read/tried to read it before, but I used to do this sometimes with stuff she was reading out of curiosity, because occasionally our tastes in reading material overlapped).

I keep feeling guilty about sitting down and just reading, which is weird. I used to read for hours and hours and not ever feel like this. I think it is, in part, because of looking after mum, so I feel I should be doing something "useful" instead. PPPPPBBBTTTTTT. (My weasel brain is gradually letting go of this, but it's taking its damned time about it).

ANYWAY. Have any of you read any of Robin Hobb's books? What did you think? NO SPOILERS, although I already know a couple, but I'm not going to say them because that's unfair.

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Unrelated, and sorry it's reddit, but the replies (the non-racist ones) to this post complaining about character names in fantasy stories are golden.

Especially this one: The American energy from this post is palpable. I'd love to read the LOTR OP would like: Fred, Sam, Gary, Lyle, Harry, Greg and Barry set off to destroy Saul's magical golden ring. Along the way they meet Steve-o-man the white wizard and get chased by the Nasty-gals Saul's evil henchmen.

And this comment re: Terry Prachett: I think Terry Pratchett does a great job of using obscure names or random words for character names. It makes them fantastical, but also easy to pronounce. Carrot, Angua, Mustrum, Rincewind, Moist, Adorabelle, Havelock, to name a few off the top of my head.

(But PTerry would've been aware of fantasy naming conventions because let's not forget, Discworld is parody in its roots, and I think he did go there a few times, but not often (it's been a while since I read any DW books). So I actually think his naming someone Carrot, for instance, is actually subversive on purpose).

And finally: Huitzilopochtli, Quetzalcoatl, Chalchiuhtlicue and Tlaltecuhtli all demand you re-think your idea of "realistic."

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Streams:

Luke plays AC:NH - Shark Fishing! Weddings!

Jane, Mike, and Andy play Totally Reliable Delivery Service for charity (raising money for NAACP, as was Luke)

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*That being said, it took a long time for her to get a copy of Forest Mage, and only then because I spotted it in a discount book shop - I remember talking to her on the phone about it and asking if she wanted it since I was there.