Rain Wild Chronicles

Rain Wild Chronicles
UK edition
AuthorRobin Hobb
Cover artistJackie Morris
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
GenreFantasy
PublisherVoyager (UK)
Published2009–13
Preceded byTawny Man trilogy
Followed byFitz and the Fool trilogy

The Rain Wild Chronicles is a quartet of fantasy novels by American author Robin Hobb, published from 2009 to 2013. It chronicles the re-emergence of dragons in the Rain Wilds, a setting in Hobb's fictional Realm of the Elderlings. It is her fourth series set in that world, following after the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies, and features an entirely new cast of characters. The quartet features ecocentric themes, as it examines the reaction of humans to a new predator in the world.

Reviewers welcomed Hobb's return to the setting of the Liveship Traders, and writer Lisa Goldstein called the Rain Wilds a "strange and fascinating place".[1] Hobb's characterization of dragons received praise. Her human characters in the first book drew mixed reactions, but the sequels fared better; the second book in particular was described by Elizabeth Bear as "highly successful".[2] Scholar Lenise Prater noted the series' depiction of gay relationships and wrote that Hobb promoted queer themes, but felt that her writing was conservative due to its negative portrayal of promiscuity.[3] The first book's pacing was criticized by several reviewers, but the plot of the sequels and the conclusion of the series were well received.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference strange-horizons-2010a was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference tor-2010b was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Prater 2016, p. 31–32.