Each Sunday, Caryn Rupert shares a book from a series. You can read along with her, or add the books to your own reading list. This week, she read “City of Dragons,” the third book in The Rain Wilds Chronicles by Robin Hobb.
The pace of Robin Hobb’s story picks up in the third book of the “Rain Wilds Chronicles” as dragons and keepers arrive at Kelsingra, a fabled yet deserted city. The keepers and dragons try to make something out of their new freedom and empty city, but struggle with the rules of their village that they left behind and the memories of the Elderlings that were left in Kelsingra.
The story also takes on a couple new parts. Hobb tells the tale of Chalced, an enemy territory. The decrepit man who rules the faraway city wants to live forever and needs the body parts of a dragon to return him to youthfulness. In “Dragon Haven,” he was mentioned, but in “City of Dragons,” a handful of scenes depict his callousness. The Duke is pure evil, locking away one of his daughters because she’s next in line to inherit the throne from him. The Duke has spies in Trehaug, Cassarick and Bingtown, where the other characters come from.
One spy finds Hest and tortures him to convince him to hunt for dragons on Sedric’s behalf. While Sedric was evil for a while, becoming a keeper changed him. Sedric finds new happiness with Carson, one of the other keepers, and forgets about Hest. Continue reading →
