I read the series out of order... Have some questions! *SPOILERS*

[shadow-rat]

Hi all,

I first picked up Assassin's Aprentice in the library on a random offchance, and was immediately entranced... I sped through the Farseer trilogy and absolutely adored it. Then I looked online for the reading order of the rest of Robin Hobb's works, and saw that the Liveship Traders came next. Hoping for some excellent reading, I actually bought Ship of Magic. I tried twice to get into it, and just couldn't at all! The start of the book, with Wintrow in his monastery and Kennit and Gankis on Others' Isle was just not doing it for me at all. So I gave up feebly and moved on to Tawny Man. As any Hobb fan will know, in Tawny Man, Fitz discovers the Fool's alternative identity as Amber. Of course, at the time, I was as confused as Fitz!!! Anyway, I loved Tawny Man almost as much as I had loved Farseer, and was so sad when I finished it. I felt that I had nothing left to read!!!

Then I tried a third time with Liveship.... And OH MY GOD. I am SO glad that I did!!!! It's amazing, as good if not possibly better than farseer...



MY QUESTION (Finally she gets to it!!!):

Of those of you who read the series in order, how far into Liveship did you have to get before you knew that Amber was the Fool? Or did any of you not know at all until it was specifically revealed in Tawny Man???

[Talysia]

I read the Liveship Traders first, so it was some time until I discovered that the Fool was actually Amber. It did make a lot of sense when I re-read the series, though.

Welcome to the Chronicles!

[shadow-rat]

Thanks!!

[shadow-rat]

So then, you must've read the Farseer books with Amber already set in your mind as another character.... As you got to know the Fool, did you see any connection there at all? Or did it not even occur to you until Tawny Man?

[Talysia]

No, I always thought that there might be a connection of some sort, so it was good to have some confirmation when I picked up The Tawny Man series. I must say that The Fool is certainly one of the most enigmatic characters I've ever read about.

[manephelien]

I must admit that I didn't pick up on that at all. Only realized it when it was revealed, although then I had a "d'oh moment." In hindsight it's pretty obvious.

[Laydee_S]

I didn't realise it until I started reading the Tawny Man Trilogy!!!

[the_faery_queen]

i did what you did, read tawny man first because i couldn't get into liveships
and i still hate that series. i only read it to fill in the gaps really

[Wiggum]

When Amber carves the likeness of Fitz on the prow of the liveship

[sassy1]

i read the tawny man trilogy first, then the farseer trilogy, then the liveship traders... so i kinda knew who the fool AND amber were before i started it sucked... but i still enjoyed the books and when i read the tawny man trilogy again it was even better than the first time teehee

i must admit i couldnt get into the liveship traders trilogy at first, but when i reread it i thought to myself 'hey this is actually really good'

[ScottSF]

I was reading the first Tawny man book right up until the fool showed up and from one conversation between the Fool and Fitz I realized that I was missing stuff so before I read another word of Tawny Man I read all three liveship books. So, I was suspicious of Amber from the start but I thought she might be the "other one" the fool was talking about, the one that Fitz had an encounter with durring a sea battle (it's all fading now). So for a while I thought Amber was the one who turned out to be the White Prophet woman. As I read on I became more convinced that Amber was one of Beloved's personas. I kept waiting for the scene on the boat where Fitz stepped in via the dream world to help out. In Tawny man I was so annoyed with "Lord Golden" that I wished she would go back to being Amber. I enjoy all of Hobbs work but nothing comes close to live ships for me. I hope one day she will write something again with the same depth and intensity as liveships.

[loreth]

i read the series in order so i didnt know before hand about amber being the fool but the character of amber just seemed so familiar to me that i eventually formed a sneaking suspicion in the back of my mind. there was a part in one of the books (before she recarves paragon) where amber mentions that she has been called a prophet and a fool where i quite literally went aha i thought you seemed familiar now i know why!

[Wyvern]

I went through the whole suspicion thing too. I kind of got confirmation when Rache tells Ronica about how Amber said 'I'm a prophet. I've been sent to change the world'. The earring and hearing Amer talk about dragons were big clues for me too. I'd guessed by the middle of the second back; and then recarving Paragon set the lid on the idea.

[Aien]

I read them in probably the most retarded way imaginable, FE, AA, RA, TGF, AQ, SOM, TMS, SOD, FF. So I was extremly flexible in character development, which kinda sucked, but I was able to follow the storyline well enough, so yeah...

[tawnylyra]

I had a very hard time getting into the Liveship books as well, but the Tawny books were not out already so I pushed through Liveship because that's all there was, and I figured it out when Amber carved the ship to look like Fitz. That was a pretty dead give away for me. I also had weird feelings about Amber through the book(s) before that, but I didn't figure out why until Amber carved the ship. Then I was pretty surprised, I will admit.