I feel like all I’ve done is complain about the RWC books so far, but I just keep finding more & more to be annoyed or disappointed about. Even small things like the Sarap suddenly being old & near death. In TLS he was as young as Malta & Reyn & while I know they’re Elderlings now, the rest of the characters haven’t aged as significantly, for example his mom Jani. How is the Duke of Challaced suddenly super old but not enough years have passed for that to be so? If he were only dying of illness it’d not be a big deal, but he’s being presented as being elderly in addition to having an illness & that he’s elderly is why he’s so much weaker & close to death etc. I know it’s not a huge plot point or anything but it just feels so off compared to the earlier books. Hobb has been so detailed & I don’t recall ever noticing a single little detail slip in the earlier books, it’s just such a bummer. I am enjoying the time with Malta & how those storylines are at least now merging. I’m still not overly invested in anyone else though & really think she did us so dirty with the new characters in this series. They’re just not as appealing, I’m so sick of the Keepers drama. I had high hopes for Thymara, Tats, Rapskal but this whole crap of them being in this stupid love triangle, it’s not even a love triangle but all about who she’s going to sleep with?!! It’s so left field seeing as how we barely got any romance with Fitz & the little there was was restrained & so emotionally compelling this just feels like I’m reading snippets of some lame reality tv drama & I’m insulted! I feel like the rando story of the bird keepers could’ve been such a fun aspect, even though it doesn’t add anything at all to anything but even that is just weird filler with no purpose. It makes me irritated reading it thinking all this does is drag the books out longer when the reality is all 4 of these books should have been only 1 single book & it would have made it so much better without the unnecessary fluff!

I’m really feeling a bit disappointed in the RWC so far. At almost 50% & have not felt as emotionally invested in any of the characters as I usually am with the earlier books.

It also has felt like book 1 & this have been slower, book 1 really dragged for me & overall so far both of them do not have as much happening overall as the earlier books.

I’ve been really frustrated with the constant repetitive parts. Like we’ve been told at least 20X how babies born with too much of the wilds features are supposed to be left out & the ones who weren’t aren’t allowed to mate etc.

I don’t know if it’s a poor editor issue, or something else but I had the same issue with the 1st book about a couple random topics that kept repeating.

If this was a different author & I was just reading this book as a standalone or book 2 of a 4 part series, I’d prob not be so critical however, upto now the ROE series has been so amazing, action packed, extremely dynamic characters, multi plots & subplots all happening along with all the references to the entire series, etc & I’m really feeling like RWC is lacking in all of those things.

I’m curious if anyone else is having the same experience with these & also does the rest of the entire series go on like this? If so, it’s going to be the biggest let down in my 46yrs of being an avid reader😭I’m crossing my fingers it’s just a fluke & not that Hobb got burnt out, or was trying to finish the whole series under time constraints or something!

I’m having a harder time getting into this book. I tried to take a break & read a rando quick read after I finished The Tawny Man & started this but I found myself not enjoying it & feeling like I’d much rather be in Hobb’s world enjoying her amazing writing. It just seems like this book is slower, I’m coming up on 20% and it’s all just been jumping around to have tiny snapshots of mainly characters that aren’t familiar. I’m wondering if that’s the problem, I’m wanting to find out what’s going on with all the characters from Live Ships & Fitz & The Fool🤷‍♀️🤣?? Or is it also seeming just a bit slower to others? I noticed that the ratings are a bit lower on this book than the others I’ve read upto this…..🤞it picks up quickly & we get to see some of the past favs super soon!!