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The Dragon Keeper
By Robin Hobb
Harper Voyager, 553pp, $33
ROBIN Hobb is the modern queen of the fantasy trilogy. She burst on to the scene in 1995 with Assassin's Apprentice, the first book of the Farseer trilogy. Since then she has written three more trilogies, two of which, like her first, are set in the same universe as The Dragon Keeper.
It is easy to see why Hobb is one of the world's most successful fantasy writers.
With the exception of her disappointing Soldier Son trilogy, her books are well plotted and populated with interesting, complex characters that interact in a believable, intriguing universe. She immerses her readers in exactly the type of escapism they are hoping for. Hobb eschews the fantasy cliche that combines a coming of age with epic achievements that save the world from an overpowering evil force. Herworks are more character driven and tend tofocus on a few, imperfect individuals who livein a world where much is left unexplained. Hobb's books are marked by the way her characters are exhausted and used up in the pursuit of a goal that may not even be their own. Their victories are often achieved reluctantly and at a...