Title: Dragon Keeper
Author: Robin Hobb
Year: 2010
Publisher: Eos - Harper Collins
Reviewer: Katherine Ray

What shall I say about Dragon Keeper?  Well, it's the first book of a
trilogy, and it takes place in the same world as the "Assassin's,"
"Ship," and "Fool" trilogies.  It takes place in the Bingtown region
of the world, which is not my favorite part, but Robin Hobb is one of
the authors where whatever book they write, I read.

It's a well written book in that it has characters who feel real.
That's one of the things I like about Hobb's writing.  On the other
hand it's a terribly written book in that nothing happens.  It's all
set-up.  We meet the narrator characters: a woman in an unhappy
marriage and her husband's best friend, a deformed dragon and a
deformed adolescent girl (if you've read her stuff about the Rain
Wilds you know what that means).  We meet the secondary characters,
who are as well developed as most of Hobb's characters.  We learn
about their motivations.  We establish how this trilogy attaches to
the other three trilogies I mentioned.  And they begin a trip.  That's
it.  It's like the first third of a book that got cruelly separated
from the rest of the story.  It does not stand alone.  Don't read it
until the second book comes out (May 2010) and you can read the two of
them together.

Can you read this book without having read the other three trilogies?
Yes.  You'll miss the references to the history of the other books,
but knowing what happened in the other books is not essential to the
story or the main characters.  On the other hand, while you're waiting
for her to finish this incomplete story, you may as well read the
"Assassin's," "Ship," and "Fool" trilogies.