The Tawny Man trilogy may be Robin Hobb at her best

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-28

[00:00:04]Hey nerds, what's up? It's time to finally talk about the Tawny Man trilogy, which I finished just this week. So, that is the third trilogy in The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb. And I ended up loving this trilogy. I ended up giving the first two book five stars and the last book 4.5 stars. I wanted to start quickly by giving a non-spoiler review. Most of this video will be spoilers, but I think a lot of people might have the same reservations going into Tony Man that I did. And so I want to speak quickly on my experience there. I first read the Far Seir trilogy about 10 years ago. And although I really remember enjoying the first two, I didn't love Assassin's Quest. I know that is not an uncommon opinion. I didn't love the ending of Assassin's Quest. Kind of was a huge letdown. So I just never pursued the rest of the realm of Elderlings after that. Then once I was finally convinced to read Life Ships last year and loved it, I also then felt wary of going on, not because I was worried about Ha, but now I was worried that I didn't remember enough. And I was like, am I going to have to reread the Far Seir trilogy to enjoy Tony Man, and that was a huge worry of mine. Um, I was assured by a bunch of people that it'd be fine. And here's the thing, they're right. It reminds you of anything you need to know. like it was saying stuff and it was all coming back to me and they really reinforce what happened. So if you even have like a general sense of character names and that's it, you will know what's going on. Um I think they do that so technically you could start at this trilogy. I do not think it would be as meaningful to be clear. I wouldn't recommend it but there's plenty to get you caught up. Additionally, Fitz wasn't like my favorite person ever. And um I was 10 it was 10 years ago. I was a very different person back then. So, I don't know if it's because I've changed or because Tony man's different, but I do like feel like Fitz was a super fascinating character to read from in a way that I do not remember him being before. So, if you were also like wasn't a fan of Fitz, I do feel like he is very different in this trilogy. Again, I know I'm a different person, but he is much older. The time gap is what, like 15 or 16 years or something. And so, you know, it's adult fits now, not teen fits. And I do think his character reflects that.

[00:02:13]Anyway, the point being, I loved this trilogy very clearly. So, if you loved Live Ships and Her Nerfs Going Back, I recommend it. I recommend it. Uh, from here on out, we're doing spoilers. I just wanted to talk about the whole trilogy together. And it's going to be a whole trilogy spoilers. I am sorry.

[00:02:29]That's how it's going to be. So, I've given you enough time to leave. Great.

[00:02:32]Um, I have several sections today that I really want to talk about. And the first thing I want to talk about is Fitz as a character. For me, this is the most character-driven of the three trilogies I've read so far, by far, in my opinion.

[00:02:44]Obviously, for Hob, everything is very character motivated. Like, that's why I'm drawn to her works. She's very good at it. But I think in particular, this series has more of that introspection than any other. Even though there is plot, especially like in that first book, you know, the first like 250 pages is really just fits alone dealing with what's going on in his cabin and it's some of the best stuff I've ever read.

[00:03:11]Uh she just really honed in on some really amazing character work. And I think what I realized is I kind of didn't even think about that because it had been so long since I read Farsier. I didn't think about how Life Ships was a multi-POV. And going back to this single POV really reinforced to me how good she is at a slow and sustained and realistic character arc. You obviously see that in Life Ship Traders, but I feel like it's really on display here because we were only in Fitz's head. I do think we gain a lot from only being in Fitz's head because we do not get to actually see how others view him. we only get to see how Fitz interprets others viewing him.

[00:03:55]And Fitz has so much self-loathing. And what's really interesting is no matter where you are, I think a lot of his self-loathing is very relatable, even if you maybe don't have it as intensely as he does, like there's obviously a range.

[00:04:08]And so I found myself getting really caught up that Fitz's narrative was the correct narrative. And it was so interesting how you have to step back and realize, no, these characters see Fitz very differently than he sees himself, but we never get a break from how Fitz sees himself. And I always love when there's a dichotomy of is what our main POV, the only POV we get to see, is he really seeing reality or do we need to interpret that there's a different actual reality happening? I wouldn't go as far as say unreliable narrator, right? I I wouldn't call Fitz unreliable, but in these certain aspects with his low kind of self-worth, he does see things differently. And I think she navigates that in such an interesting way. And I think it can really teach you a lot about yourself as well. And the reality of not always understanding like unless I think you have a very self healthy healthy healthy self sense of selfworth that the way we think others view us and the way we are actually viewed doesn't always align. And I think my own struggles with that in my life may have also stopped me from seeing how Fitz was wrong a lot through the trilogy. And I really liked how that made me reflect on that aspect. Another thing about Fitz that I feel like also highlights Hobb's incredible character work and just ability to write real people is how she is able to make someone make incorrect decisions, make bad decisions, but you 100% understand why they're making that decision. This happens a lot with Fitz. like he makes decisions in his life that clearly make his life harder. But every time he makes that decision, I am totally in a like not necessarily agreement, but totally understand exactly why he made that decision. I had a hard time wondering if I would make a different decision. A perfect example of this to me is how he deals with Swift and the wit. You know, if he had just made the decision to tell Burick he was alive, then if when Swift ran away, he could have just talked to Burick or or maybe Swift wouldn't have run away because Burick and Fitz would have maybe talked about the wit, right?

[00:06:12]It could have solved that. And if he didn't want to tell Burick he was alive once Swift got there, if he was just honest with Swift about having the wit, then Swift and him wouldn't have this fracturous relationship. So Fit's decision to keep all of these things still secret. I can't tell all of my friends that I'm actually alive. I can't let anyone know I have the wit. They might connect me to being fits. Those decisions clearly make his life harder.

[00:06:35]It makes his relationship with Swift harder. It makes his relationship with Burke and Molly in the future harder. It makes everything more difficult for himself. And yet, I can't blame him. I can't blame him for feeling like he cannot go back to this old life and his feeling that he has to have control over the situation. and the only thing he really has control over is protecting his identity. I love that. I love that I so understood and almost agreed with Fitz's decision, but at the same time understood that it was wrong because it was making his life harder.

[00:07:08]And I just relate really hard to just wanting control over your life and taking control of the situation, even if it's harming you in the long run. As control freaks, we know that feeling.

[00:07:17]And I related to that quite a bit.

[00:07:19]Another example of this is with Nettle.

[00:07:21]Everyone's like, "Nettle needs to come and learn how to skill and Fitz doesn't want her to." And I so understood every second of why Fitz didn't want her to because all he can see is how much pain being a farseer and learning the skill did to his life and he wants to protect his daughter from that. And I I cannot find fault with that. I really can't. I can't find fault. And I actually think people are so freaking mean to him over that opinion. And it makes no sense. I mean, it makes sense for their characters, but I I'm totally on Fitz's side. However, it was really interesting as you keep reading the novel and realizing that Fitz making that decision for Nettle also robbed her of a lot of stuff. It robbed her of a relationship with her cousin. It robbed her of some safety nets for not knowing what she could do. Um it it robbed her of her own personal history. And was that actually the right choice to make? Was it the safest choice to make? You know what?

[00:08:13]Maybe not. Maybe in the end he was making choices for others that weren't really his to make. However, once again, cannot fault why he went through that uh that decision-making process. And I just think Hob does a really good job of showing us a little bit of those messy interpersonal relationships where nobody in the situation necessarily is capital R right and capital W wrong. It's just the complications of decisions and and how they work. And I think that can give you a lot of almost empathy maybe for people in your life or yourself who have been in those really tough decisions and kind of the question of where do those decisions lie with when it affects so many people. I just one of the most fascinating parts of the book for me were those kind of interpersonal relationships. Fitz's entire story is really one that is dealing with grief.

[00:09:09]And the book ends of this trilogy being him starting out isolated and alone to him being surrounded and loved by so many people is just a really beautiful journey that also feels so earned in the context of what happens in the novels.

[00:09:26]But actually, let's move on to the next section because I actually wanted to talk about grief as a theme in its own little space because I think that is actually one of the primary themes of the trilogy. It's actually such a bummer because I did that video about grief not that long ago and then I started this trilogy almost right after and then it was like, "Oh, look at this, a trilogy that perfectly exemplifies what I was saying because it literally just all deals with grief." Feel like we cover so many different elements of grief. We cover grief from loss. We cover grief from loss of autonomy, grief from loss of time, grief of unrequited love, grief of your past self. Just every kind of aspect of grief is studied. So if we think of grief of loss, obviously in the first novel, Fool's errand, we have losing Night Eyes, which was foreshadowed in every possible way. You knew Night Eyes wasn't leaving that first novel. I mean, I liked to delude myself. I liked to pretend he was going to because I didn't want to lose him, but it was obvious. Absolutely devastating. The scene when he dies and also beautiful, so beautifully written, that loss is so heavy. with Fitz and the reader. Um, probably one of the hardest losses in my opinion. Um, and then the story about what life is after loss and the end of that story being the people we lose never truly leave us and they're always with us in some capacity. And a lot of media explores that because it is such a universal feeling. You loss is universal. And I just think the way that we get to use Night Eyes to explore that was wonderful. And we see it with Burick too. Um, another heart-wrenching loss.

[00:11:08]and the grief that comes from that and that kind of overlaps the grief of loss of time. How our decisions and how do we deal with the fact if we made decisions that lost us time with the people that we love. We have that loss of the past, your past self and loss of time with also the fool and beautiful and nettle.

[00:11:28]All these people he hasn't seen for so long because he made the decision he thought was right in the time. And then you know at the end once he comes back with them realizing that patience isn't getting any younger.

[00:11:40]You missed some important parts of these children's lives and the grief of that.

[00:11:47]But also I think Hobb shows us that you can start at any moment to repair that and we can have grief over our past self but we eventually have to leave the grieving if we want to move on which is clearly Fitz's story which again is so wonderful. Then we have the grief of unrequited love which obviously is the biggest within the fool. Um, we're we have a whole section on that, so I'm not going to go deeply into it right now.

[00:12:15]But obviously dealing with the burden of love not being returned is very much present in that story, but we also have Fitz and how he's never truly felt loved. He feels I think a lot of the times that love is conditional and we see that internal conflict a lot and how he treats Chade and Nettle and beautiful and how his own grief over never really feeling like he got that love he needed affects those relationships. But Hob tells us in the story that hey relationships can grow and evolve and love can change and still be present.

[00:12:50]There's also a lot of grief over loss of autonomy, which again is going to be in a section I cover later. But I find it interesting how Fitz often grieves coming back to Buckkeep because his life is no longer his. Even though I think he obviously comes to recognize that there is a lot of beauty in having your life not fully be yours. But there's a lot of grief there over serving the Farseers over his own needs. And I think in the end, Hobb maybe is saying that being a part of a community and being a part of something requires sacrifice. And I think it's maybe up to the reader to decide how much of that sacrifice was worth it or not. And overall on Grief, I think Han makes a really big statement when Fitz gains back all of the memories that he gave up to Girl on a Dragon. we realize how much Fitz was actually living in a state of arrest development because pain can't be worked through and healed unless it is acknowledged. And I think we see that lack of an that lack of acknowledgement haunt him the higher entire trilogy until the end. And then seeing him finally in the final book really face and deal with that old pain and how that allowed him to heal is just a beautiful commentary on grief. Okay, I didn't know what to call this next section, so I titled it Generational Trauma. I think that's a good section.

[00:14:11]It's fine. Actually, this trilogy reminded me a little bit of something that Dandelion Dynasty by Ken Leu does really well, which is showing how generations shift and how ideologies shift among generations. And I was specifically thinking about generational trauma and how it dealt with the wit.

[00:14:28]Specifically when we look at burick to fits to swift and beautiful and kind of this idea of how we are taught affects us and how do we let that carry on because Burick obviously taught Fitz that he should never use his wit and Burick has spent his whole life repressing it. But we have Fitz who just could never quite feel that way but he is affected by the way Burke taught him.

[00:14:56]So even though Fitz practices the wit and he understands that Swift and Beautiful will practice the wit, he feels like he needs to keep it secret because we understand why Burke feels the way he does. And in fact, we even get that story again like it really affected his family and so it's impossible for Burke with that generational trauma like actually from before um to not feel that way about his wit. So some of that is passed on to Fitz but not quite all of it. And then Fitz still thinks it needs to be a secret for safety for himself. And so he's trying to pass that on to Swift and Beautiful who are both like why? I don't want to. It's so relatable. I feel like there are so many realw world applications to the Wit, like metaphorically. Um how people feel about the Wit, how people internalize how they feel about the Wit, and how generationally people feel about The Wit. I feel like there are so many real life parallels there, and I think Hob did a really great job of exploring them. and particularly in ways because I do feel like sometimes authors just want everything to be kumbaya at the end and they're all agree and that's not what happens. That's not what happens. Burick and and Fitz still don't see eye to eye on how that happens. And Fitz and Swift and Beautiful don't either. Like there is that generational thing and I think it leaves you more with the hope that things will change and things will get brighter and have to be less of a secret. We also see some of that generational trauma with Chade and Fitz.

[00:16:21]Um, their relationship is so heartbreaking. There's so many times in the novels where you realize Chade loves Fitz so much. Like the scene when you think Fitz is dead right before they heal him and Chade calls him my boy and it's just so emotional and you know he loves him so much. And at the same time, Chad sometimes is just like so mean to Fitz and he just doesn't get it. And that comes from Chad's jealousy that Fitz got what he wanted, which was to be more acknowledged and taught in the skill, but Fitz views the skill as the skill that has only given him heartache.

[00:16:56]And so how they can't come together on that, but I just thought it was a really interesting theme and I like how it was explored. So, the next thing I wanted to talk about was duty versus individuality because Fitz, oh my gosh, he does so much to help and protect the Far Seers.

[00:17:12]And sometimes I wanted to just be like, why are people so freaking mean to Fitz?

[00:17:16]Like, give him a break. Like, they care so much. Like, don't forget your Farsier loyalty. It's all about the Farsier loyalty. And at one point, you want to be like, okay, well, what about like personal happiness? and just the automatic assumption like I'm thinking particularly of the stuff with sick in book three where it's just so tough and they're basically like with Fitz tries to be sad or complain about it all they're just basically like it's your job you're a far senior do what we asked you to do you're like can you calm down um on the other side though it's a very interesting question about selflessness versus selfishness I I'm bringing this up because it really made me just think of my own life because I think as you get older there's a very push and pull with that um I I think when I was younger, I felt like it was my duty to be as selfless as possible. I mean, I know when you're like a teen and early adult, you kind of have a natural selfishness built in, but in a lot of ways, I just felt like the good thing to do is to always give and to always volunteer and to always be the person to do it because you should always give your time up. And I think a lot of people my age, you get to a certain age and you're like, hm, boundaries. Should I think about having boundaries so I don't burn myself out? And I saw that a lot with Fitz. So, like sometimes I wanted to be like, "Fitz, baby, walk away, man. Walk away." Like, have a boundary. Um, but all this to say, I thought it was a very interesting exploration of that because it really did bring up stuff in my own life about where the line might be for different people. And I think Fitz did really try to hold boundaries a lot. Like, especially with Nettle, he tried to hold that boundary. And it frustrated me sometimes how some characters, particularly Chade, wouldn't allow him to hold that boundary. At the same time, I had just talked about how maybe it wasn't also the best decision. So, I thought it was very interesting to explore boundaries and selflessness in that way. I thought it was just a very nuanced thing. I think, like I said earlier, in the end, there's a lot of sacrifice makes community. Um, but I still think there maybe is something to be said about boundaries. I think Fitz could have slightly more. Uh, but I think that leads in really well to Kraken as well being known as sacrifice as a leader and she is definitely upheld as a very wonderful leader throughout the series.

[00:19:29]Uh, so I think it's very interesting how much sacrifice is in the novels. Um, and as a natural kind of fall of that is also sacrificing things we didn't need to sacrifice because that's also what a lot of characters are telling Fitz that he is giving up things he doesn't need to give up. he's giving up relationships he didn't need to give up. He is isolating himself when he doesn't need to. And how some sacrifice is just worthless sacrifice. It doesn't really mean anything. Um, and we're just doing it honestly to punish ourselves. So yeah, I I just thought that was a very interesting theme and I would love to know actually if you felt like I did sometimes where just felt like maybe Fitz could have pushed back a little more, but I don't know if we'll ever have consensus.

[00:20:09]Again, I think why Hob's books are so interesting is she's not giving us a solution. I think it is an interesting exploration. Okay, we're finally on to one of my favorite conversations, which we're going to talk about the relationship between the Fitz and the Fool. Um I did I say the Fitz? That was kind of weird. That's okay. So, the first thing I want to say is when I opened Fool's errands and I'm reading actually not when I opened cuz it was like 250 pages before the fool showed up. But once the fool shows up, the fool's errand first book, I was like, "Wow, there is a ton of romantic undertone here." And I do not remember that being in the first trilogy. I remember the Fitz and Fool being very, very close friends, but it always read as platonic to me. So, I messaged Kyle actually and I was like, "Am I not remembering this?" And I don't know this is why he was like, "No." A lot of people feel like it wasn't romantic in the first trilogy. He feels like it's a little bit of a revisionist history. I personally feel like it's a little bit of a revisionist history. I'm interested on your guys' opinion on that. However, I do not care because I love the storyline. So, I am happy to pretend that it was always there. Uh, even if I didn't notice it. Uh, but it's obviously immediately noticeable in Fool's errand.

[00:21:14]Obviously, it culminates to the fight that happens in Golden Fool, which I think is probably one of the most devastating fights I've ever read. And also, beautiful is not the right word.

[00:21:23]Beautifully written is the right word.

[00:21:25]It's just like so cutting in every single way. In fact, I marked I marked one of the lines because it's just so cutting. We could have gone our whole lives and never had this conversation.

[00:21:36]Now you have doomed us both to recall it forever.

[00:21:41]Just devastating. Um, what I think is so interesting about this fight is as always Hob is able to do it in a way where I do not think a person fits or the fool were either all right or all wrong. I both think they had elements of correctness and wrongness. On the one hand, Fitz baby, take a take a breather for a second, consider how hurtful you're going to be before you confront your oldest friend. Do you know what I mean? Someone who's always supported you. Um, I did actually really relate to that scene a ton because Fitz gets so upset over all this stuff that he's hearing and he's so in turmoil about it and he feels like he's just going to die if he doesn't deal with it immediately.

[00:22:22]And I have totally had that feeling.

[00:22:24]Like I'm not um super prone to being swept off into a lot of emotion. So if there is something that really gets to me and really upsets me, I will feel like I just have to take care of it that second or I will die. So I really empath empath empathized with Fitz in that moment. Even though I know now that like the worst thing you can do is act in that moment. You have to stop. you have to make yourself wait like 24 hours before you react or else you might regret it. Um, but of course Fitz doesn't because Hob wants to hurt us.

[00:22:58]So, um, you know, so he's totally in the wrong how he presents it. I think it was so rude. He was so in the wrong. On the other hand, I do have to defend him a little bit because I think the fool was being really careless and maybe not necessarily really thinking about Fit's feelings in the way that he was going around and I guess advertising the relationship isn't the right word, but how he was cavalerely doing their relationship. And the hard thing about this relationship is you have a whole other thing that we need to set on top of it, which is homophobia, which is just really as a modern reader very difficult to read, right? It's not pleasant for us to read it because you want to be like, could everyone stop reacting this way? It's very gross and rude. But that's the time we're in. So, you have that on. However, although that makes it worse and there's this extra layer for Fitz clearly of homophobia. I understand that.

[00:23:50]I think people are blinded by that and think that Fitz is totally wrong here.

[00:23:55]Whereas I think if I was if I had a really really good friend that was male, I'm straight. So he's male, I'm a woman. Um I'm straight.

[00:24:05]And I had a really good friend and I thought we were just friends. And he was going around and like all of a sudden all these people were coming to me being like, "Oh, you guys are in love. Oh, you guys are like dating. You're you're sharing a bed." And was saying all this stuff that wasn't happening. It would have upset me. That would upset me if like if I found out like it would upset me. So I think even removing that part of it, I think it's natural that Fitz is upset that he is the fool is talking about the relationship in a different way that he is viewing their relationship. I think that's unfair of the fool. And I actually feel like the fool should have been more apologetic about it quite frankly in the novel. I feel like he never really acknowledges his part in that fight. Uh and so that's what I think makes it so heartbreaking.

[00:24:52]I actually am just like a full-on it the whole thing's heartbreaking cuz I also feel heartbreaking for the full. I love the fool as a character. I love him. Um and I was so invested in this relationship and so yeah that was that was heartbreaking. I think it was done really well. The one thing I will say is I was super worried about how this was going to end because of the homophobia on top of it cuz I was like it's kind of icky if they don't have a good relationship anymore because of that. But at the same time, I don't really know how Fitz and the fool would ever be in a romantic relationship because it's very clear, I mean, at least from the story that Fitz is not interested in that kind of relationship. So, I was kind of worried about how that was going to be resolved.

[00:25:32]I think it ends up being resolved very well in the third book. So, I was grateful that they were able to come around and kind of get over that relationship hump and Fitz was able to get over himself a little bit. And I also think the fool was able to pull back a little bit and kind of redo their relationship to having love that was kind of outside those bounds. Which obviously brings back to our grief conversation and to our conversation about um how love evolves. And so I just guys I'm going to be honest. I was so invested in their friendship, so invested in that relationship. One of the core emotionals ties of the story for me in this trilogy. And I think their ending is really beautiful and really amazing. I know we'll bring this up later. I know that this was originally intended, I guess, is that the right word, to be the end of Fitz's story. Now, I know that there is another trilogy, but at the time, this was could have been the ending. And I think it was beautiful and sad. Melancholy. It was melancholy because I do think they were in such a good spot, but it was sad that they went separate ways. The only quibble I'd have if this was really the ending, like we never got more fit stories after this, I don't love that the fool thinks Fitz is dead. like the last the fool heard he tried to find Fitz and he was gone. I don't love that.

[00:26:44]I wish the Fitz would have known he was also alive. I didn't need that kind of element. That was my only criticism. But yeah, what a great story. I am I'm so invested in Fitz and Fool. So, I'm very excited that um I know that their trilogy is called The Fitz and Fool. So, I'm going to get more of that. And I that's delicious for me. Um here's my shortest section before I get to the end about why I gave a 4.5 to the last the last book. Um, I just needed a quick called the section is called Kreken appreciation. Kchken has never done anything wrong in her life and I am so glad she's in the story because she was the only character that ever made me breathe for a second. The way she treated Fitz was so nice. Finally, the only person who's just like nice to Fitz. And also, I love how she really supported his independence. She supported his choices. And I feel like she was the one who just lightly pushed back.

[00:27:37]um if she felt like something could go a different direction, but ultimately listen to him. And I just had to bring that up because it was amazing. Okay, so why did I give the last book a 4.5?

[00:27:49]Um in in Golden Fool, no, wait, is that what it's called? Yeah. Okay. In Golden Fool, I started getting whiffs of a plot point that might happen. and I messaged someone and said, "Hey, if this if XYZ happens, I will be taking a half star off in protest." And then that thing did indeed happen in the third book. And so I took a half star off in protest. I'm about to explain to you the huge hater rate that I have for Molly and Fitz getting back together. I need to try to explain this rationally because my hatred of this is so large. I think it is blinding me. I have had a couple days to think about it so that I can maybe explain it more rationally, but when I started seeing signs of this, I immediately was so angry. There's a few reasons. I'll I'll tell you my hater reasons first. One, Molly and Fitz were never good together. I have specific memories of reading the Farer trilogy and being like, they're the worst, but they're teens, so that's fine. Um, and I remember distinctly being so happy they didn't end up together. I was like, "Wow, Hob is so brave to realize that maybe your teenage relationship isn't the one that's going to work out for you." And when she gets together with Burick, I thought, "What a beautiful end. They're going to be great together." And I apparently hallucinated this because I remember thinking at the end of the Farcia trilogy, you guys tell me if I'm right or wrong, people who have read it earlier, I remember thinking that Fitz let it go. I remember thinking that Fitz was like sad but knew that that was the best course. Um, so I remember I was so relieved. So when I started seeing little pits of people being like, "Molly probably hasn't forgotten about you guys. It has been 16 years." Look, I am fine with the idea that Fitz is still stuck on Molly because Fitz has had a very hard life and he's a stage of rested development like we talked about. And it's been 16 years of him being alone with only Starling, who is, by the way, just the worst. Starling's the worst. She's the most selfish character. Anyway, you only have Starling. Yeah, you might be being like, "Molly looks really good. I miss Molly." But Molly has been married for 16 years, seemingly very happily with a billion children. The idea that this whole time she has been pining for Fitz is insane to me. I understand Fitz disappeared under very traumatic circumstances. I want understand that he died while they were dating and she was pregnant. I understand that is very traumatic. I am saying that after 16 years, I do not think the automatic thing that makes sense is to get back with your former lover after your husband dies. I will die on that hill.

[00:30:20]That it does not make sense to me. Now, those are my haterade reasons.

[00:30:24]Let's go to some rational reasons about why in the story I don't really love it.

[00:30:27]First, it cheapens Berg's death for me.

[00:30:30]When Berg died, I was like, well, this is clearly so Molly and Fitz can get back together. And I hate that that cheapens that death. It also, in my opinion, happens way too quick after Berg's death. I know you guys are saying like, "Well, it took a few months. It took a few minutes." That's nothing. And also, like, she was came right after his death and was so weird about it. And clearly, everyone was like, "She still has feelings for you." I I don't buy it.

[00:30:52]I literally don't buy it. And on top of it, um I'm trying for I'm trying to be rational. My voice is too angry. Let me calm down. On top of it, we don't see a development of their relationship at all. It has not changed at all. When they get together, they bicker and bicker and bicker basically.

[00:31:09]And she's bas like, I don't want this.

[00:31:10]And it's supposed to be Red is like, "Oh, holy, why do they like each other?"

[00:31:14]They argued all the time back in the first trilogy. I have I have no understanding of why they're attracted to each other, why they're good for each other, why they should be together. And the most biggest problem I have with that is that in this trilogy, you have one of the most beautiful explorations of a relationship between the fool and the fits. Their friendship feels so deep, so authentic, so understandable, you understand everything about it. So then you get to the actual romance of the series and it's like the difference between a Wagu steak dinner and a hot dog in your microwave. Okay, it's like oh this beautiful exploration that's deep and friendship core and oh let's throw that in at the end but they love each other. I don't need to show you why. I'll just tell you they love each other. This is actually honestly just like a huge problem I have with romance in general because this happens all the time. I'm A lot of the reason I have problems with a lot of romances is that they never convince me that those people actually like each other for any other reason than sexual chemistry and that is just not enough for me. It's not enough for me. I want intellectual and emotional connection and I don't see it at all with Fitz other than you having to tell me it. Sorry, Fitz and Molly without you having to tell me it. So, a couple of things that would change this for me. I'm not telling Robin Hoba how to write. Are you kidding me? But a couple things that would have changed this for me. So, I have to admit that Burick's scene when he comes running onto the island. It's like there was the heart of the pack. Gosh, that is such a freaking moving scene. Oh my gosh. So, I realized this fix I'm about to recommend doesn't allow us to have that scene, which is actually devastating, but I'm going to suggest anyway. One thing that would have helped me with Molly and Fitz is that if Fitz have told Burke and Molly that he was alive long before Burke died so that he starts developing a non-romantic relationship with Molly for a while before that happens. Now, I realize there might be some awkwardness there, but I think it would be a lot more believable for me if both of them weren't caught on that old romance like, "Well, it's 16 years ago. It's water under the bridge. You're with Burick.

[00:33:25]I'm I'm dealing with my own stuff." and um they developed a friendship outside of it and he was maybe becoming a part of their family and then later when Burke dies and then maybe because there's a there's a flash forward anyway you flash forward and you understand that their actual developed friendship turned into romance again later and there could be something really sweet about that. I think that would have given me time to feel like they actually had a connection. Um, I think with the way the story went, that's not probably wouldn't have worked. Like there a lot of things would have needed to be changed by the story, so I understand that, but it would have helped me. The thing I was originally going to suggest is I just don't even think it should be with Molly at all. I think he should just find someone new.

[00:34:05]Like, does it always have to be someone connected? Just have a new romance. That said, I really thought that literally I was having such hater about it. I thought, why can't you just love someone new? I will say it was the last two pages that convinced me otherwise. the epilogue. I think there is a lovely idea of him living with patience and patience already has a history with Molly.

[00:34:25]Someone who has a knows what Fitz went through. I can understand in terms of the story feeling very satisfying. Um the people who love him still are the people who have really been with him through everything.

[00:34:37]So, because of that, because the epilog made me see it, it doesn't make me hate Molly and Fitz any less, but it makes me feel like my idea of a new romance maybe isn't as good as I thought. And the problem with it is like Molly is so much of the ending of this book. So, every time I was talking about something that wasn't Molly, I was like, "This is the most beautiful book I've ever read." And then it's like Molly and my life sucks.

[00:34:56]Um, so that's I literally like ruined parts of the end of the book for me. And that's why it's a whole five lower. But anyway, um, I you cannot convince me that they're good together and I will never like it. I was not born with romance in my heart and I guess it's a flaw. Maybe life ship or tonny man.

[00:35:11]Really, really, really, really freaking tough for me. If the Molly stuff wasn't in fool's fate, I probably would have given all three books five stars. You know, I did not give all three Live Ship Traders five stars. However, I am so deeply connected to Life Ship Trader characters. I love them so much.

[00:35:26]The further I've gotten from Live Ship Traders, though, the more the ending of it bothers me. That specific Althea stuff. I thought maybe the further I got from it, the better I'd feel about it.

[00:35:34]It's actually the opposite, the worse I feel about it. I feel like I was robbed a good ending. Um, so because of that reason, it's like I can't really choose between them. I think in some ways Tony Man was technically better for me, but I'm so connected to those characters. So I think it's tied. I'm saying it's tied for different reasons. It's tied.

[00:35:50]They're both amazing. Um, I wasn't expecting this to be that long of an analysis video. I'm sorry. I hope you liked it. Please drop all of your Tony Man thoughts in the comment box below. I already feel like people are going to hate how much I hate Molly and Fitz. I'd love to hear your opinions on that.

[00:36:07]Probably won't start Rain Wilds for a little bit because I've heard a lot of mixed reviews. So, I'd be interested to hear how you feel about Rain Wilds. And as always, if you like these kind of videos, please like and subscribe.

[00:36:14]That's the best way to support me. If you want to see what I'm currently reading as well as other nerdy rants, you can check me out on Instagram at bookborn.reviews. I'll see you next time. Bye.