book: A beautiful end to an average trilogy

Second post ever and already i'm going to start ranting about fantasy books. Finally finished Robin Hobb's Soldier Son trilogy at 3:35am and the amount of satisfaction I felt before going to sleep was immense. So, a little about Robin Hobb and the Soldier Son trilogy. First published 2005, it is the fourth trilogy of Robin Hobb but the first to be set outside of the universe of Fitzchivalry and the Six Duchies. It is an epic of tragedy and the woes which befall Nevare Burvelle, the second son of a Noble and destined to be a soldier.

The trilogy was not fantastic in comparison to Hobb's earlier works such as the Assassin's trilogy but definitely readable and I still managed devour each of the books in under a week. Most of the trilogy was me feeling tense and annoyed at the failures of Nevare and all the crap that happens to be him and what befalls him is just too much. Although maybe not as well written as classic tragedies, plotwise, I don't think Nevare could have suffered any more abuse without killing himself. Amongst others: Losing his job, having his soul torn into two...literally, becoming a traitor without meaning to, despised by his family, rejected by his fiance, suffered the deaths of various family members (brothers, sisters and mother), disowned by his father, became a grave digger at the furthest town in the countryside, despised at the town as a pervert, saw his previous fiance with a new man, nearly killed and nearly caused the rape of his newfound love, had the other side of his soul take over his body, killed soldiers at the outpost without any ability to stop his other side of his soul. All because he became fat. Extremely fat. [Not sure how to spoiler tag so that will have to do...highlight to see how Nevare is such a sorry bastard]

However, there were a few triumphs for Nevare and I guess they were made all the sweeter because of his bad luck. Robin Hobb really does know how to lift up the reader by making her protaganist triumph...why can't she do that all the time?! They're the only parts I ever reread. And yes, I do reread fantasy books. Such as when Prince Dutiful finds out about Fitz's identity. I still feel giddy even thinking about it. It was so beautiful T_T.

Ok, so why I actually wanted to write this post: The ending. By God does Robin Hobb know how to write an ending. Everything goes well, loose ends are tied up, the hero gets his due and there is an indefinite future for our wonderful protaganist. Nothing makes me sleep better than a happy ending. However, just before I dozed off, I became disillusioned. Since this is all fiction anyway, of course it is possible for Robin Hobb to dash off a happy ending. But a happy ending just for the sake of a happy ending makes it feel...slightly cheap. It did feel rushed and it sucks not seeing his offered future develop. So my happiness was tinged with a bit of hollowness. However, Fitz's ending I could not criticise at all. It was the perfect happy ending. I think I might've cried at 6am when I finished that book after an all-nighter to finish the book in one day. Tears of Joy! or maybe I was just tired. But a whole chapter of what happens after the main stuff is done and THEN! an epilogue of what happens in the future. It was magnificent. Its worth reading all 9 books of the Six Duchies universe just to get to that perfect end.

[Image by John Howe (used with permission as per his terms of use.)]