Dragon Haven

May 15, 2010
A new generation of dragons promises new life and prosperity to the people who live along the Rain Wild River, but they emerge from their cocoons deformed and sickly. Driven away from human settlements and assigned a group of young misfits as their keepers, the dragons make their dangerous way upriver toward a legendary lost haven, the city of Kelsingra. This journey brings dragons, keepers, and other travelers into conflict with a hostile environment and, most dangerous of all, with one another. Hobb's sequel to "Dragon Keeper" continues the stories of the Wilding girl Thymara, the Bingtown gentlewoman-turned-naturalist Alyse, and the blue queen dragon Sintara. VERDICT A vividly depicted exotic fantasy background and compelling characters make this a strong, well-written fantasy with broad appeal, particularly to fans of Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels and lovers of dragon lore in general.

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2010
The second volume of the Rain Wilds Chronicles shows Hobb again working at the highest level of contemporary fantasy, to which her creativity with dragons adds additionaltheres no other word for itmajesty. Battered, bruised, and lamed sea serpents have returned to the Rain Wild River to lay eggs that will hatch into dragons. But the dragon hatchlings are feeble, misshapen, unable to fly. They cant even survive without the assistance of human Dragon Keepers. Keepers and dragons make a perilous foray up the river in search of the long lost Elderling city of Kelsingra, which possibly holds the key to the dragons survival. Tight bonds unite the humans to their ancient liveship Tarma, but as they voyage upriver they find the landscape hideously altered by earthquakes and storms. Starvation stalks them, and the bonds among humans, at least, fray even without any open treachery gnawing at them. The Rain Wilds is one of the most gripping settings in modern fantasy, highly to Hobbs credit, and an entire novel amid its lowering trees and rock formations would be impossible to put down even without Hobbs superior skills at characterization. Let us applaud, and shelve this with the rest of Hobbs magisterial fantasy fiction, though it wont stay on the shelf long.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)