Shaman's Crossing is the first part of a brand new fantasy series from the author Robin Hobb who previously brought us The Farseer, Liveship and Fools Fate trilogies and whom also writes under her own name of Megan Lindholm with more limited success. Once again, Hobb has managed to deliver the goods with this cracking introduction to a whole new world not that far removed from our own; where the last vestiges of old magic are being challenged and expunged by the onslaught of modern civilisation in the dawn of a new era and where nomadic tribesmen are slowly being "tamed" much as the Native American Indians were in our own recent ...  Read the complete review

Robin Hobb is an author of fantasy with a twist and has a captivating style that can encompasses believable and detailed worlds, characters and narratives that will have you riding through anxiety, indignation and elation. In Gernia the tradition is that the first son of a Noble will inherit his father's estate, the second will be a soldier, the third go to the priesthood and the fourth to the arts. Nevare is the second son of his father, who was promoted to nobility during the war, along with many others to form the so called New Nobility. He has been born to it and has no other wish than to grow into the soldier he is destined to be, becoming an officer and ...  Read the complete review

I am a huge fan of Robin Hobb. If you have read my other reviews on her works you will see how much I enjoy reading her books. So when I heard she was writing a new trilogy set in a whole new world, i was very excited to have a look. So Shamans Crossing is the first book in the Soldier Son trilogy by the fantasy writer Robin Hobb. This book came out back in july 2005. This being Hobbs forth trilogy she had already quite a large fan base. So this book was a big seller for the author. The story tells of a young man called Nevare Burvelle. He is the second son of a another second son. Which in the land he grows up in, Gernia, means he will go on ...  Read the complete review

I know that many fans of Robin Hobb's earlier books were very disappointed when she announced that the new series would have no link at all to the world and characters created in her previous novels. However, I felt that the old stories had been finished and I was really eager to see what she would produce next. I was not disappointed... Nevare Burvelle, the second son of a second son, has been brought up in a traditional society, secure in the knowledge that his future will be as soldier at the frontiers of Gernia, driving forward the boundaries and civilising the plainspeople that populate the land beyond. Sent away at eighteen to complete his training, ...  Read the complete review

Shaman's Crossing is the first book in Robin Hobb's "Soldier Son" trilogy. These books mark a departure from her wonderful world and characters seen in her other books (including the Farseer, Tawny Man and Liveship Traders trilogies) and tells the story of a boy, Nevare Burvelle, born as the second son in a new noble family and destined thus to be a soldier. His father tries to prepare him for life at the military Academy by training him at home with a variety of teachers, including one who was previously a deadly enemy of the family - Dewara, the Kidona (a tribe of people living a nomadic life on the plains). Dewara is harsh with Nevare, but just as Nevare .  Read the complete review