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Originally Posted by Fahim  Not sure I understand you correctly here. The viewpoint is that of Nevare and obviously, he doesn't believe that the plains people or the Specks are anything but savages because that's what he's been brought up to think. I don't believe you can blame Robin Hobb for that since the whole story is in Nevare's perspective. Of course, you might be saying something different and I might be missing the point here 
But there are indeed hints and in the story (at least in Forest Mage, haven't gotten to Renegade's Magic yet) where she manages to convey the fact that while the Gernians might think them savages, the Specks might have a culture of their own which is nothing like that of the Gernians. She also conveys the image that neither of the cultures are inferior to the other - just different. The place where that came out strongest for me was when Nevare visits the Speck village with Olikea and sees not a village of huts but a people who live completely one with nature ... |
Hmm. You may have a point there - maybe I am indeed overreacting. I just felt that the description of their culture didn't quite negate the bad impressions that people had. It felt like Nevare was observing the specks culture from the eyes of an outsiders, I didn't get the feel that he was describing the specks culture as a speck. Perhaps that was actually what she was trying to do....