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A review by beaundarrows
The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince by Robin Hobb
4.0
Such a nice little taster to get me thinking about the Six Duchies again, to prepare myself for next April.
I really need to go back and read "The Tawny Man" trilogy again. I've read "The Assassin" trilogy about 4 times, and "The Liveship Traders" trilogy maybe 3 times, but I only read "The Tawny Man" once and it was a while ago, and I've forgotten a lot of it.
Anyway, there were parts in "The Willful Princess" that I really didn't feel at all sorry for Caution. But the heart wants what the heart wants, so they say. And sometimes I thought Felicity listened to her mother too much. She was obviously just a social climber, with no rungs on her ladder, so she had to use her own daughter to even get close to where she wanted to be. But I suppose life would be pretty difficult when literally the only "skill" you have is to have children and feed another's children.
However, I did feel nothing but sorrow and pity for Prince Charger. He deserved none of what he was put through. Nor did any of the Witted who supported him. Felicity says a few times that originally it was a good thing to have the Wit, that it wasn't a magic that needed to be hidden. However, there must have been a lot of underlying fear and suspicion and even jealousy in those who didn't have the magic for it to suddenly be accepted as a bad thing. If the Wit is a bad thing, so must be any magic, surely?
4.5 out of 5 for this one. I love everything that comes from Robin Hobb's beautiful mind.
I really need to go back and read "The Tawny Man" trilogy again. I've read "The Assassin" trilogy about 4 times, and "The Liveship Traders" trilogy maybe 3 times, but I only read "The Tawny Man" once and it was a while ago, and I've forgotten a lot of it.
Anyway, there were parts in "The Willful Princess" that I really didn't feel at all sorry for Caution. But the heart wants what the heart wants, so they say. And sometimes I thought Felicity listened to her mother too much. She was obviously just a social climber, with no rungs on her ladder, so she had to use her own daughter to even get close to where she wanted to be. But I suppose life would be pretty difficult when literally the only "skill" you have is to have children and feed another's children.
However, I did feel nothing but sorrow and pity for Prince Charger. He deserved none of what he was put through. Nor did any of the Witted who supported him. Felicity says a few times that originally it was a good thing to have the Wit, that it wasn't a magic that needed to be hidden. However, there must have been a lot of underlying fear and suspicion and even jealousy in those who didn't have the magic for it to suddenly be accepted as a bad thing. If the Wit is a bad thing, so must be any magic, surely?
4.5 out of 5 for this one. I love everything that comes from Robin Hobb's beautiful mind.