553 pages
English language
Published March 3, 2010 by HarperCollins.
Too much time has passed since the powerful dragon Tintaglia helped the people of the Trader cities stave off an invasion of their enemies. The Traders have forgotten their promises, weary of the labor and expense of tending earthbound dragons who were hatched weak and deformed by a river turned toxic. If neglected, the creatures will rampage--or die--so it is decreed that they must move farther upriver toward Kelsingra, the mythical homeland whose location is locked deep within the dragons' uncertain ancestral memories.
Thymara, an unschooled forest girl, and Alise, wife of an unloving and wealthy Trader, are among the disparate group entrusted with escorting the dragons to their new home. And on an extraordinary odyssey with no promise of return, many lessons will be learned--as dragons and tenders alike experience hardships, betrayals . . . and joys beyond their wildest imaginings.
Easy short read. Liked all the new characters, and the change of location. I'm reading the whole series (Rain Wild Chronicles, 4 books) as one large book, so I didn't mind the abrupt ending.
Not my favourite book set in this world. I have a sneaking suspicion I already read this when it was first released. But I recalled very little of it, so maybe I didn't finish it then. I have the next 3 lined up to read now, so will go straight to them. Maybe the characters will grow on me!
While stuffed full with things I like (dragons! strong and well developed female characters! discussion of disability and class!) it felt a little repetitive. Like, the same feelings and world building and plot points would get explained multiple times even from the point of view of the same character, as if Hobb expected us to have forgotten.
