Nisi Shawl agreed, writing that Hobb's world was "delightfully complex", and commented that readers would be drawn in by its "marvelous interplay of power, magic and beauty".
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Writer Lisa Goldstein found the Rain Wilds a "strange and fascinating place", highlighting its treetop dwellings set above the deadly Rain Wild River, and said that the setting differentiated the series from the typical fantasy novel. Hobb's return to the setting of the Liveship Traders was welcomed by reviewer George Williams, who referred to her as "the modern queen of the fantasy trilogy" and felt that the Liveship Traders was her best work. She argues that the thematic role of dragons in the Elderlings world is to "give competition to the human drive to dominate", and thus the series challenges anthropocentrism, or the supremacy of man's place in the world. Mariah Larsson writes further that the series is ecocentric in nature, as while the dragons help enable the utopian civilization of the Elderlings, they also deplete natural resources, have an adverse, mutative effect on the humans around them, and are a stronger and more intelligent predator than humans. The series explores ecological themes, as the return of the dragons is seen as important to maintain the natural balance.
Memory is a recurring motif in the magic system of Hobb's world: the dragons, in particular, retain memories of all their ancestors.
A group of dragon keepers is tasked with transporting the eggs to a mythical, long-lost city: Kelsingra, the ancient home of dragons and their servants, the Elderlings. As the series begins, a set of dragon eggs given to the people hatch, but the dragons turn out to be stunted, with ill-formed wings, and are unable to fly.
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Below the trees runs the Rain Wild river, whose acidic waters make the region inhospitable disfigurement and scaly skin are commonly experienced by the residents of the region. The series is set in the Rain Wilds, a forested region where people live in houses built in the branches of trees. The series is variously titled as the Rain Wild Chronicles and the Rain Wilds Chronicles. All four books were published by HarperCollins Voyager in the UK, with covers illustrated by Jackie Morris. Hobb then planned to write one more title in the same setting, but a similar issue occurred with its length, resulting in the release of two further entries, City of Dragons (2012) and Blood of Dragons (2013). Hobb said that in writing about dragons, she was motivated by a "what-if" scenario: "What if the human race had to contend with another set of intelligent beings, ones that would compete with them for territory What if they didn't respect our claims to own things any more than we respected the claims of elephants or wolves or – dare I say it? – indigenous, so-called primitive people?" She originally conceived the story as a single, standalone book, but due to its length, it was published as two volumes: Dragon Keeper (2009) and Dragon Haven (2010). 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. 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. 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". Hobb's characterization of dragons received praise. 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". The quartet features ecocentric themes, as it examines the reaction of humans to a new predator in the world. 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. It chronicles the re-emergence of dragons in the Rain Wilds, a setting in Hobb's fictional Realm of the Elderlings.
The Rain Wild Chronicles is a quartet of fantasy novels by American author Robin Hobb, published from 2009 to 2013.
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