Dragon Keeper, Robin Hobb
Dragon Keeper, Robin Hobb
22 Rating(s)
List: $36.99
On Sale: $6.99

Dragon Keeper
Volume One of the Rain Wilds Chronicles

Author: Robin Hobb

Narrator: Anne Flosnik

Unabridged: 20 hr 30 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 01/07/2020


Synopsis

For years, the Trader cities valiantly battled their enemies, the Chalcedeans. But they could not have staved off invasion without the powerful dragon Tintaglia. In return, the Traders promised to help her serpents migrate up the Rain Wild River after a long exile at sea—to find a safe haven and, Tintaglia hopes, to restore her species. But too much time has passed, and the newly hatched dragons are damaged and weak, and many die. The few who survive cannot use their wings; earthbound, they are powerless to hunt and vulnerable to human predators willing to kill them for the fabled healing powers of dragon flesh. But Tintaglia has vanished and the Traders are weary of the labor and expense of tending useless dragons. The Trader leadership fears that if it stops providing for the young dragons, the hungry and neglected creatures will rampage—or die along the river’s acidic muddy banks. To avert catastrophe, the dragons decree a move even farther up the treacherous river to Kelsingra, their ancient, mythical homeland whose mysterious location is locked deep within the dragons’ uncertain ancestral memories. To ensure their safe passage, the Traders recruit a disparate group of young people to care for the damaged creatures and escort them to their new home. Among them is Thymara, an unschooled forest girl of sixteen, and Alise, a wealthy Trader’s wife trapped in a loveless marriage, who attaches herself to the expedition as a dragon expert. The two women share a deep kinship with the dragons: Thymara can instinctively communicate with them, and Alise, captivated by their beauty and majesty, has devoted her life to studying them. Embarking on an arduous journey that holds no promise of return, the band of humans and dragons must make its way along the toxic and inhospitable Rain Wild River—an extraordinary odyssey that will teach them lessons about themselves and one another as they experience hardships, betrayals, and joys beyond their wildest dreams.

About Robin Hobb

Robin Hobb was born in California but grew up in Alaska. It was there that she learned to love the forest and the wilderness. She has lived most of her life in the Pacific Northwest and currently resides in Tacoma, Washington. She is the author of five critically acclaimed fantasy series: The Rain Wilds Chronicles (Dragon Keeper, Dragon Haven, City of Dragons, Blood of Dragons), The Soldier Son Trilogy, The Tawny Man Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Farseer Trilogy. Under the name Megan Lindholm she is the author of The Wizard of the Pigeons, Windsingers, and Cloven Hooves. The Inheritance, a collection of stories, was published under both names. Her short fiction has won the Asimov's Readers' Award and she has been a finalist for both the Nebula and Hugo awards.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Petrik on March 15, 2018

3.5/5 stars A good foundational start to a quartet but it’s also the weakest start within any of Hobb's series so far. Dragon Keeper is the first book in the Rain Wild Chronicles quartet, which also marks the beginning of the fourth out of five subseries within Hobb’s The Realm of the Elderlings serie......more

Goodreads review by Sean Barrs on February 06, 2017

I feel somewhat sorry for the dragons in this. They spent the entirety of the Liveship Trader’s trilogy trying to find a place to evolve out of their basic serpent form, and when they do find it most of them die in the process. They’re too mutated and twisted to be able to develop into dragons. Only......more

Goodreads review by Becca on November 16, 2021

Content Warnings in spoilers at end A very nearly solid book from Hobb! This one absorbed me from the very first page, solidifying my preference of the Bingtown/Rain Wilds side of the world as opposed to Fitz/Six Duchies, as I find the Liveship Traders and Rain Wild chronicles have much more scope wh......more

Goodreads review by Anna [Bran. San. Stan] on October 23, 2023

A solid start to this tetralogy! To be fair, this reads like half a book – it mostly serves to set up the new characters and the ending is rather abrupt. Initially, I was a bit disappointed to meet entirely new protagonists instead of the familiar ones of the Rain Wilds (Liveship Traders trilogy), b......more

Goodreads review by Library of a Viking on February 02, 2024

This was not bad Everyone keeps telling me The Rainwild Chronicles is the worst series set in The Realm of the Elderlings. I still have 3 books to go but I quite enjoyed this one. Great characters, beautiful prose and interesting plot. I am a bit worried about the romance and can definitely imagine t......more