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    Shaman’s Crossing
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    Shaman’s Crossing
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    Shaman’s Crossing
    Audiobook21 hours

    Shaman’s Crossing

    Written by Robin Hobb

    Narrated by Jonathan Barlow

    3.5/5

    ()

    Unavailable in your country

    Unavailable in your country

    About this audiobook

    The first book in the Soldier Son trilogy, from the author of the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies.

    Young Nevare Burvelle is the second son of a second son. Traditionally in Gernia, the firstborn son is heir to the family fortunes, the second son bears a sword and the third son is consecrated to the priesthood. Nevare will follow his father – newly made a lord by the King – into the cavalry; to the frontier and thence to an advantageous marriage, to carry on the Burvelle name. It is a golden future, and Nevare looks forward to it with relish.

    For twenty years King Troven's cavalry have pushed the frontiers of Gernia out across the grasslands, subduing the fierce tribes of the plain on its way. Now they have driven the frontier as far as the Barrier Mountains, home to the enigmatic Speck people. The Specks – a dapple-skinned, forest-dwelling folk – retain the last vestiges of magic in a world which is becoming progressive and technologised. The 'civilised' peoples base their beliefs on a rational philosophy founded on scientific principle and a belief in the good god, who displaced the older deities of their world. To them, the Specks are primeval savages, little better than beasts. Superstitions abound; it is said that they harbour strange diseases and worship trees. Sexual congress with them is regarded as both filthy and foolhardy: the Speck plague which has ravaged the frontier has decimated entire regiments.

    All these beliefs will touch Nevare's training at the Academy; but his progress there is not as simple as he would wish. He will experience prejudice from the old aristocracy: as the son of a 'new noble' he is segregated into a patrol comprising other new nobles' sons, all of whom will encounter injustice, discrimination and foul play in that hostile and deeply competitive environment. In addition, his world view will be challenged by his unconventional girl-cousin Epiny; and by the bizarre dreams which visit him at night. And then, on Dark Evening, the circus comes to Old Thares, bringing with it the first Specks Nevare has ever seen…

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 25, 2012
    ISBN9780007508358
    Unavailable
    Shaman’s Crossing
    Author

    Robin Hobb

    Robin Hobb was born in California but grew up in Alaska. It was there that she learned to love the forest and the wilderness. She has lived most of her life in the Pacific Northwest and currently resides in Tacoma, Washington. She is the author of five critically acclaimed fantasy series: The Rain Wilds Chronicles (Dragon Keeper, Dragon Haven, City of Dragons, Blood of Dragons), The Soldier Son Trilogy, The Tawny Man Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Farseer Trilogy. Under the name Megan Lindholm she is the author of The Wizard of the Pigeons, Windsingers, and Cloven Hooves. The Inheritance, a collection of stories, was published under both names. Her short fiction has won the Asimov's Readers' Award and she has been a finalist for both the Nebula and Hugo awards.

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    Reviews for Shaman’s Crossing

    3.5/5

    836 ratings37 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Brilliant great book superb narrative can't wait for the next one
    • 5/5
      Easy listening and fast paced. Probably more of a teen novel than full fantasy.
    • 4/5
      If I'd read this more slowly, it might have got three stars, but I read it all in a day, and got quite caught up in it. I don't think it has the flair of Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy. Nevare seems to me a less fully-formed main character than Fitz. I'm hoping he'll build up more in the later books. A good thing about Hobb's writing is that she isn't afraid to make her characters pay. Just like Fitz, Nevare has to work for things.

      It's an interesting new world, too. Hobb's world building is always very good, and she has a pretty firm grasp on how societies change and break down, and rebuild. I'll be interested to see where all that goes, just on its own. I'm hoping for lots more of it, building up throughout the trilogy, as happened with the Realm of the Elderlings books.

      I'm also very intrigued by the magic Nevare becomes a part of. We'll see, later in the trilogy, whether it's as good a concept as the Wit and the Skill, but I suspect it'll be interesting.

      The trouble is with "infodumps", I think. There are quite long sections of pure background information. I think that happened in Farseers and the Tawny Man, but was most noticeable in Liveships and here. The conversational tone of the books due to the first person narration helps, but it still sticks out at me.

      I think this trilogy is shaping up to be quite solid, interesting fantasy. There was a real sense of excitement later in the book, though the early chapters dragged rather. I guess the next two books will cement whether this trilogy is going to be brilliant, like Farseers, or just good.
    • 4/5
      I enjoyed this book (not being burdened by expectations of the author), although I found aspects of the shamanistic magical element quite baffling (perhaps things will become clearer later in the trilogy). Much of the book focuses on father-son relationships and on a coming-of-age thread centring on a dysfunctional military academy, with complicated personal, political, and class-based tensions between characters. In this it reads less like a fantasy book (though I did catch strong overtones of David Gemell) and more like a 19th-century novel by someone like Tolstoy or Turgenev. However, Hobb's small but pointed introductions of feminist thought would be out of place there. My only slight quibble was the manner in which Nevare, having been through an intense and potentially character-building ordeal in the first part of the book, seems to succeed in repressing the whole thing and writing it off as some kind of aberration, until it forcibly re-asserts itself later on: the level of scepticism he shows at times seems almost implausible in the light of his own experiences. But overall it was a definite page-turner and I am keen to move on to the next volume. MB 14-vi-2022
    • 3/5
      I liked this book, but I had a hard time with her repeating every chapter the same information again and again. I know that he is the second son of a second son. I know that he is meant to be a soldier. I don't need to be reminded of this every chapter. It almost made me stop reading the book. The story flowed well without the repeating of stuff. I plan to read the other 2 books now.
    • 2/5
      I came to this after having read, and adored, Hobb's Farseer books. Unfortunately, perhaps because I loved those so much and associated Hobb so strongly with those characters, I found it very difficult to get into this new world that she has created. Nor did I find the characters particularly engaging. Perhaps I simply need to give it another go.
    • 2/5
      I got up through disc 7 on this one (out of 21) before I gave up. There were definitely some interesting parts and the writing was nice, but it was just soooooo slow. 80% of it just seemed like "day in the life of a young boy growing up in a society that he respects now but will totally hate when he finally grows up". It almost seemed like an experiment where the author was thinking what if I just wrote the main character's entire childhood down so that the reader would become really invested in him and then story would be even better. It being in 1st person would get the reader even closer. If I was 11 I would be totally into this, but as an adult with a life full of responsibilities (including my own 11-year-old) I just don't have time for something this slow.
    • 3/5
      Lots of description of essentially mundane military academy life interspersed with a growing spiritual/magical journey for the first-person protagonist. This is my first book by Hobb, and I understand from other reviews it is not considered her best. I judge it to certainly well-written and interesting but very slow to develop its plot (if it even has one!). On the other hand, by seeping the reader so slowly in this alternate world it is possible to get quite involved.
    • 3/5
      Reviewing the whole Soldier Son trilogy in one review, since it's one ongoing story.
      (Shaman's Crossing, Forest Mage, and Renegade's Magic)
      I consider myself to be a fan of Robin Hobb. I've read everything published under her name, with the exception of the two most recent 'Dragon' novels. I've given every single one of those books 4 or 5 stars. I've also read about half of what she's published as Megan Lindholm, and loved most of that as well.
      Unfortunately, I feel that the Soldier Son trilogy is her least successful work to date.
      It's not terrible, but it didn't hold up to my high expectations.

      I think that part of this is that while her previous epics have shown the reader a rich tapestry of a world, with multiple important characters and settings, this story follows one person, Navare (the Soldier Son) for over 2000 pages. And, to be honest, he's rather a tiresome person. I don't demand that characters be likable, but I just didn't find him interesting. He's a bit of an annoying prig. I wished that some of the more minor characters in the book had been fleshed out more, and that we had a chance to see things from their point of view. (Epiny! And her magic! It just gets dropped...) The third book is largely concerned with the conflicts of Navare's suddenly-split-personality. It's him arguing with himself for hundreds of pages. (Tiresome vs. annoying!) I feel like it's partly because other characters weren't developed enough.

      The story also moves very slowly. I felt like Navare's journey could have been condensed into one book, one-third of the length, and it would have been improved. I love long books, but this story seemed to have two main themes: the problems of cultural imperialism, and the importance of not judging people based on their physical appearance. Now, these are two very valid and important themes, but part of the reason that I do really like long books is that they have room in them for lots and lots of different ideas and themes. Not just two, repeated frequently. I also felt that these two themes weren't dealt with very satisfactorily: OK, it's bad and wrong to disrespect another culture, regard them as primitive when they aren't, and to destroy their native lands. I'm with that. It's also inevitable that, due to economic and other factors, peoples move, expand, and come into conflict with each other, bringing about cultural change. I also agree that is true. So the solution? Cause an economic distraction somewhere else causing everyone to run off elsewhere. Eh, well, maybe. Not terrible, but not really a full analysis of the problem, either.
      However, I had a bigger problem with the other issue. After a million or so pages of Navare being prejudiced against because of his magically-induced obesity, and having it pointed out ad infinitum that what one culture may consider reprehensible and disgusting, another culture may respect, etc, the story ends up with Navare (again magically) being restored to his former thin, handsome appearance. It really undercuts the whole message of the book.

      However, like I said before, it wasn't terrible. Hobb is still an excellent writer, and I did like that each of the cultures in the book was portrayed as having both positive and negative qualities. It was interesting and thoughtful enough to get me through all three very long volumes. It just wasn't as good as I'd expected.
    • 4/5
      3.5 stars & I may round down to 3 after the next 2 books. The magic system was wonderful & Hobb does take proper care of horses. She even has the hero taking care of his tack, a major plus. Excellent world with an a defeated society that is expanding over new territory. Very realistic & well done.

      I listened to it as an audio book with a good reader, but Hobb repeats herself enough that I wondered if the book was originally published as a serial. I don't think it was & she repeated herself even within sections until it drove me mad at times.

      My biggest complaint with the writing was the heavy handed foreshadowing coupled with the idiot hero, though. Yes, he's sheltered & in his late teens, but his denseness was just too much & led to a lot of the problems I had with the writing. I often knew a lot of the story before it happened. Luckily, Hobb throws in enough twists that there was fresh material.

      I've heard this was the best of the trilogy. I hope not. I'm going to try the second book & have my fingers crossed. If the repetition is less due to the world & it's problems being setup, it should be enjoyable. There's a lot of story left to be told.
    • 2/5
      Not what I expected from Hobb at all. An ambitious story that departs from fantasy traditions in so many ways. Instead of a quasi-feudal backdrop, we are set in a world that intertwines aspects from Victorian Europe with those of the opening of the American west and the fading traditions of nobility gone sour among knights errant. This all underpins a story that weaves together such political powder kegs as native rights, women's suffrage and the clash of old vs new money. While there are quiet references to magic, there is little actually evident in the world. The only events of note that rely on it happen in a mystical dream realm that neither we nor the characters themselves are entirely sure is real.

      But I think that in her ambition to invent such a new and fertile world she forgot to include something crucial: a story. Things happen and conflict abounds but none of it engaged me particularly. I empathized with the hero well enough, but Hobb appears to have spent all her energy on aspects of his situation that didn't interest me and then glossed over the parts that I found potentially gripping.

      Maybe it was the dreamworld stuff. I'm not a big fan of dreamscape magic. Or maybe it was the sometimes subtly discordant notes of male culture, duty, honor and, well, "guy culture" stuff that just didn't quite ring completely true to me. Writing about groups of young men training for the military and forced to cooperate while actually competing with each other is pretty ambitious psychological territory for a woman writer to tackle, no different than if I was to try to write about the she-politics at a debutante ball, and ballsy enough to do so from the perspective of a female character in the thick of the maneuvering.

      Whatever the reason, this had more promise than was actually delivered.
    • 3/5
      Inside this trilogy is a really good book trying to get out. The father son relationship, the training of soldiers, the conflicting ways of life, the fairness of her writing, it was good but it could have been great.I don't think one of her ideas could work at all, first sons take their fathers job/role and second sons are always soldiers, given a society with big families I think that there would be to many soldiers, not sure.
    • 3/5
      This is my first Robin Hobb book. I can't say I loved it, but I can't say that I hated it, either. I stayed up late to finish it, though I can't really put my finger on why. Obviously, something was keeping me engaged. It's unusual for me not to have strong opinions about a book! I liked Nevare, as I thought he was both complex and naive at the same time, which is hard for a writer to pull off, but at the same time, I didn't feel fully invested in his adventures or success. I've picked up Forest Mage (Book 2 in the trilogy), though.
    • 1/5
      There are some highlights in the book that suggest the world could be so much more interesting. The magic system of the plainsmen has a weakness against Iron but we don't really know what the source of the magic is (beyond a frog that can cause hallucinations). The Specks to the far west also show some interesting promise as does the magic of the mysterious "tree lady" that Nevare encounters in a frog induced hallucination. However, none of that is ever really developed during Shaman's Crossing. Instead Hobb keeps hinting at them with frustratingly similar passages over and over again.
    • 4/5
      This is my first Robin Hobb book; I didn't read any of her Farseer or related novels. With an open mind and no prejudices, no previous experiences to compare with, I set out into her world. I've finished the whole trilogy five months ago, but never got around to writing a review. This is the review of the first book only.The first thing that strikes you all through the book is how much she put into worldbuilding. It's one of the most vividly realized worlds in fantasy, in my opinion. You have Gernia, the protagonist's homeland, with an ambitious King and his plans of driving expansion eastward through the land of Specks. You have Landsing, who defeated Gernia many years ago and took many of their strategic towns. The conflict between the old and the new nobility. The Plainspeople and their constant warring with both the Specks and the Gernians. The mysterious Specks with their unknown magics. I could write a book on the world alone, suffice to say it's terrific to immerse yourself into.Then there's Nevare. Upright, honorable, and about as rigid as a pillar of stone. Much of the whole trilogy goes on within him, his thoughts and fears and self-doubting introspection. He strives to do the right thing so hard that sometimes he can be difficult to sympathize with, for some readers. I wasn't one of them. For myself, I found the introspection to be as much "the story" as the external events. His gradual discovery of the person he is, his devotion to his country and family, and his limitless perseverance to set things right were all wonderful elements of his character.Other characters were all memorable, his cousin, his friends, his family. I won't comment on each of them, but you will know them as real characters as you've ever met. Top notch characterization from Robin Hobb. Dialogue was beautiful too.The story is sometimes slow, I'll own that. But while not much was going on from page to page in some places, I was still flying through them given the superior fluidity of the writing. I wasn't bothered by the pace, I was glad I was in that world and with those characters.The plot I'll keep a surprise, I hate spoilers more than anything. I'll only tell you it's engaging and more large-scaled than you can guess from the first book. I've read the whole trilogy, remember?I'm supposed to mention the drawbacks, aren't I? I won't say there are none. As I see it, most reader complaints were based on three points:1. The Farseer protagonist was WAY cooler.2. Slow paced story.3. Repetition of info.From my point of view, the only issue I had with the book was the relatively limited action. Events were sparse along the first book, giving much more space to description and linear progress of Nevare's life. It wasn't a huge problem, but every now and then you'd wish to see some more action, some better view of the fantastic world all around. Part of the reason for that is how NEW the author tried to go for everything. New plot type, new character frame, new world setting, an almost experimental trilogy. She had to go slow, structured, and with gradual exposition to lay it all in a way the reader can be acquainted with. The other part was the plot itself, it had to go that way. It's so much Nevare's story that the trilogy could have been named just that, "Nevare's Story". You have to follow his steps and skip nothing from cover to cover throughout the three books to reach the ultimate ending.All in all, a terrific new sort of story in one the most beautiful fantasy worlds I've ever seen. Highly recommended with the condition you buy all three books to get the greater story. As for Nevare, you either love him or hate him.
    • 4/5
      Engrossing but tedious in places if you've actually done the basic training thing. Plot kept me guessing. Nevare (main character) too dumb to breath in some places. I didn't see the ending coming, so I call that a winner.
    • 4/5
      This book was [retty good. I really enjoyed the coming of age story. The world building was well done but I didnt much care for the magic system.
    • 4/5
      Yet again another great start to a Hobb trilogy. It follows the story of Nevare, his induction into the school for Cavalla (horseback soldier) officers and his links with the magic of the plainspeople. I could see how this book may not be that exciting for those who don't like fantasy, or don't worship Hobb as I do.
    • 1/5
      Got a hundred pages in and gave it up for better things. The set-up this story with the conflict between the Plainspeople and the civilizing invaders and the precisely-how-human-are-they? Specks reminds me strongly of the set-up of conflicts in Robin McKinley's Damar books, albeit all in shades of gray, but I frankly loved the Damar books far more.One hundred pages in, and the single thing I enjoyed was the dedication: To Caffeine and Sugar my companions through many a long night of writing
    • 3/5
      An interesting world, I was enjoying the youth maturing and making friends aspect, interesting enough to keep reading. The political conflict between the old and news lords looked interesting.
    • 3/5
      a relatively pedestrian fantasy book which I enjoyed reading while noting several nearly fatal flaws. I will not continue reading the series. I don't care that much for any of the characters.
    • 3/5
      After so many negative reviews, I was trepidatious about reading this one, but I really enjoyed it. Sure, the boarding school meme is pretty much played out and the characters of Navare's friends are mostly predictable, but there's some intriguing stuff here. I give props to anyone messing around with the idea of a fantasy "hero." Nevare is not orphaned, courageous, good-hearted or a rebel. He is dragged kicking and screaming into a magical world and never warms up to it. For this experiment alone, it was worth reading. Apparently lots of readers need a Luke Skywalker type to root for to enjoy a book, but to me the novelty of Nevare's character was the best thing in it. Minus points for the scar thingy. You're already in Harry Potter teritory with boarding school, the scar that connects you to your magical enemy was a bit much.
    • 2/5
      I couldn't find my way to the end of this book. I felt the urge to toss the CDs I listened to out the window of my car as I drove, but I feared that I might cut someone's tire on the unfinished script. This entire book felt like it was someone's backstory that filled in for the actual novel to be written when the deadline arrived. The characters didn't draw me in, the prose felt choppy at times, and this didn't feel like the editor did more than look at the written copy, check it as existing, then send it on. No, not a good book in the least.
    • 3/5
      One of Robin Hobb's weakest books. None of the characters are particularly sympathetic. I never felt drawn into the story. I couldn't quite tell who I was supposed to be cheering for, which makes it hard to care who wins. The ending was unsatisfying, and left me with no desire to read the rest of this series.Disappointing, after how fantastic her other books have been.
    • 4/5
      Shaman's Crossing, and the Soldier Son trilogy, definitely leans toward the more brooding and introverted end of the fantasy spectrum. As such, the story needs an introverted, brooding, slightly stick-in-the-mud narrator: a role which Nevare fills rather nicely.Set in an expanding, imperialist Gernia, Nevare exhibits all the traits of a Good Gernian: loyalty, faith, a willingness to follow the path set for him by his birth-order, and an internalized obligation to 'westernize' the conquered savages. It is through his growth and encounters with others throughout the series that the Good Gernian will be criticized.I find the amount of "Nevare is far too different from Fitz" criticism from some Farseer fans frankly surprising. I don't think it's an entirely fair comparison; the stories and worlds are drastically different, and therefore require different characters. Transplanting Fitz's brain and personality into a Gernian body and slapping on a vanity name-tag would have been a cheap ploy. Not to mention a disservice to readers,
    • 4/5
      First off, Robin Hobb is a very good writer. With that said, while I did finish the book, it left me with a sense that I did not really enjoy the book. I think the problem was that I could just not connect with the protagonist. The poor guy seemed to have no control over his life as was just pulled along throughout the book. That may have been Hobb's point but it just was not enjoyable for me.I cannot recommend except to die hard Hobb fans.
    • 2/5
      Could not get into this at all. I wonder if Hobb is too characer-driven for my tastes now? Action isn't high on her list of priorities. Its a shame as I enjoyed the Farseer books so much. I wonder if the novelty of being into a fantasy novel for the first time kept me motivtaed throughout that trilogy...?
    • 4/5
      I've had a difficult time gathering my thoughts on this book. I enjoyed it quite a lot but it left me unsatisfied and I've had some trouble figuring out why.Hobb's world building is as good as always. This new place was a delight to discover. It's part Victorian England, part antebellum American South and part wild west, and Hobb pulls it off beautifully. I quickly became absorbed in the world, and was eager to learn more about it. I wanted to know how the place had developed and what would become of it given the recent political upheavals that drive much of the novel. I wasn't at all disappointed in that area... though I must admit that I'm always a little leery of firearms in fantasy novels, and of the whole idea of magic necessarily fading from the world to make room for "progress." The ethnocentrism bugged the hell out of me, too. I found the setting fascinating, but not entirely comfortable.The characterization, on the other hand, just didn't click for me. I had trouble engaging with Nevare. He's so committed to his own worldview, and is completely unwilling to accept anything unusual or strange. He's incredibly ethnocentric, as are most of those who surround him. I felt for him, and even teared up a few times, but I had trouble investing much in him. I felt awkward rooting for his soldier self because of the ethnocentrism and the limited worldview, but I couldn't really root for the magical part of him because of the things it did. Hobb is among my favourite authors because she (usually) excels at creating characters who change and grow in believable ways. Nevare doesn't really grow as the book progresses. And I'll tell you, I'm gonna be hella disappointed if he doesn't start making some progress in the next book.I also found that there was a lot of unnecessary repetition. Hobb tells us the same things over and over again. Perhaps I'd have found this helpful if I were a slower reader, or if I had trouble remembering details. As a fast reader with an excellent memory for details, I found it tiresome. There were also a fair number of typographical errors in my edition, (the UK trade paperback), including missed words and places where similar words were exchanged for one another. There were enough of them that they lifted me out of the story on a fairly regular basis.I sound like I didn't enjoy the book. I really, really did... but it didn't entirely work for me. And, to be honest, I'm not sure whether to recommend it or not. Hobb fans seem evenly divided over whether or not they enjoy ed it. I myself am divided over whether or not I ought to have enjoyed it. I'd say, borrow it from the library or from a friend before you rush out and buy it.
    • 2/5
      I *loved* the Assassin's Apprentice and Fool series, but this was a total disappointment to me. I'm not even going to bother with the second book. The main character was SO frustrating, and I have trouble reading books like that.
    • 4/5
      This book was a disappointment. Mostly because having read the Assassin's Apprentice series by Robin Hobb and loving them so much I practically read each 700+ page novel in one sitting, I expected so much more from this author. Reading this book was frustrating. The story itself was interesting, or at least it felt like it could be interesting, but it was bogged down somehow. I felt like I had gone to a nursing home and was politely listening to a story being told by a very old man who definitely had a very interesting youth but now can't get the story out of his brain in a timely manner. It's all cloudy and slow and by the time you get to the end you and he both have forgotten what the point of the story was in the first place. Was there a point to this or was this just the ramblings of an old man? The characters were interesting (all except maybe the main one who I wanted to kick and tell him to get over himself), the social structure of the world was interesting, and the story itself had a lot of potential, but darn if I wasn't bored silly most of the time. It took me forever to get through this. Oddly enough, though, as soon as I finished this I wanted to pick up the second book in the series and find out what happens next.