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  • Dragon Keeper

  • The Rain Wild Chronicles, Book 1
  • By: Robin Hobb
  • Narrated by: Saskia Butler
  • Length: 17 hrs and 2 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (339 ratings)

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Dragon Keeper

By: Robin Hobb
Narrated by: Saskia Butler
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Publisher's Summary

Return to the world of the Liveships Traders and journey along the Rain Wild River in this standalone adventure from the author of the internationally acclaimed Farseer trilogy.

Guided by the great blue dragon Tintaglia, they came from the sea: a Tangle of serpents fighting their way up the Rain Wilds River, the first to make the perilous journey to the cocooning grounds in generations. Many have died along the way. With its acid waters and impenetrable forest, it is a hard place for any to survive.

People are changed by the Rain Wilds, subtly or otherwise. One such is Thymara. Born with black claws and other aberrations, she should have been exposed at birth. But her father saved her and her mother has never forgiven him. Like everyone else, Thymara is fascinated by the return of dragons: it is as if they symbolise the return of hope to their war-torn world. Leftrin, captain of the liveship Tarman, also has an interest in the hatching; as does Bingtown newlywed, Alise Finbok, who has made it her life's work to study all there is to know of dragons.

But the creatures which emerge from the cocoons are a travesty of the powerful, shining dragons of old. Stunted and deformed, they cannot fly; some seem witless and bestial. Soon, they become a danger and a burden to the Rain Wilders: something must be done. The dragons claim an ancestral memory of a fabled Elderling city far upriver: perhaps there the dragons will find their true home. But Kelsingra appears on no maps and they cannot get there on their own: a band of dragon keepers, hunters and chroniclers must attend them.

To be a dragon keeper is a dangerous job: their charges are vicious and unpredictable, and there are many unknown perils on the journey to a city which may not even exist…

©2009 HarperCollins Publishers (P)2009 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Dragon Keeper

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
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beautiful! Loved it

Loved the powerful feminine characters. Not at all disappointed after The Tawny Man Trilogy. Loved it!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

This series swaps narrators!

Each of the THREE separate narrators in this four part series has her own strengths. The change is jarring though.

I loved this series when I was younger, and it isn't a bad series for those who like a teenage romance. Robin Hobb has a wonderfully descriptive tone, and the world she has created is beautiful. This series is paced very differently from the other books in The Realms of the Elderlings.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent!

The character and plot development was great! I loved all the characters and found the story itself very believable. On to the next book!
Narration was good- it did its job on keeping me focused on the story and able to distinguish different characters- I only wish there was more pause between switching of characters as it take me some time to realise there had been a switch and it's confusing. But all in all: LOVED IT!

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

baby talk narration

I love the author, but listening to this is like nails down a chalkboard. A little girly baby voice is totally cringe worthy. A deeper, powerful and varied voice with different dialects would have been nice. There is no change of voice in the narration. Therefore, it is difficult to differentiate characters.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Lack of Voice Variety

Unlike other posters, I don't mind the narrator's voice at all, but as I have come to expect quite a wide range of variety in voices for different characters, I was disappointed by the similarity in most of them.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Love the book, dislike the narrator

I’ve been working my way through all the Robin Hobb books and was really looking forward to this series.
The world and story are great but the narrator is so hard to listen too, she has a very high pitched voice and all the characters sound the same the even conversations between the male and female characters are hard to follow and for example a big burly make barge captain sounding like a young girl is just weird :(

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Another enjoyable read

Another enjoyable read and story. I have really enjoyed this whole series so far and look forward to the rest of the story.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The story continues

This is such an absorbing world to be in. The story just flows on. Well read. Good characters.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Annoying narrator

The voice of the narrator was shrill and was difficult to listen to most often. I will think twice about listening to book 2 after that one. The story itself was wonderful

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Weakest of the RotE Thus Far

A whole new set of characters to focus on in the Rain Wild and… well, none of them are soaring to great heights yet.

The novel was also split in two, and it feels that way with a strange ending point.

Yet, average Hobb is still pretty good.

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.