The Rain Wild Chronicles

by Robin Hobb

Four novels set in the Rain Wilds following a group of misfit dragon keepers and their damaged charges on an expedition to find the lost Elderling city of Kelsingra. The Rain Wild Chronicles is the most adventure-driven strand of the Elderlings sequence and the most directly concerned with the dragons and the ancient Elderling civilisation that underlies the universe's mythology. Thymara and Alise Finbok are its central characters, and the series deepens the Liveship Traders' world considerably while standing relatively independently of the Fitz narratives.

Part of Realm of the Elderlings

The Realm of the Elderlings is the creation of Robin Hobb, a secondary world fantasy universe built across five trilogies and a standalone novel published between 1995 and 2017. Set primarily in the Six Duchies, the Bingtown Trader coast, and the Rain Wilds, it is a universe defined less by its world-building than by the depth and honesty of its character work - Hobb's sustained examination of what it costs to live an exceptional life in a world that does not reward exceptionalism cleanly. Magic in this universe takes several forms - the Skill, a telepathic ability used by the Farseer royal line; the Wit, a bond between humans and animals regarded with suspicion and fear; and the mysterious transformative power of the Rain Wilds that shapes both its human inhabitants and the living ships of the Bingtown Traders. Dragons, Elderlings, and the ancient civilisation that preceded the current world provide a mythological depth that reveals itself gradually across the full sequence.

See the Realm of the Elderlings reading order →

Publication Order

1
Dragon Keeper
2009
2
Dragon Haven
2010
3
City of Dragons
2012
4
Blood of Dragons
2013