Luck of the Wheels

Windsingers #4

by Megan Lindholm

Gypsy traders Ki and Vandien should have realised the money was too good to be true. Three georns and a full orn to be paid on arrival - and all they had to do was transport the cargo to Villena! The cargo, however, turned out to be human; a boy called Goat, and his family seemed just a little bit too anxious to be rid of him.

The arrangement smelled like trouble. And it was; especially when faced with a few other unexpected problems… like a lovesick stowaway, an army of rebels and road bandits and a magical detour with death itself…

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Ebooks, High Fantasy, Science Fiction Fantasy, Supernatural, Historical

408 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

The author also writes under the pseudonym Robin Hobb. Her real name is Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden.

Reviews

[Alina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not ready to leave this world, I want to know so much more about it :(

But I do have a complain about the series: even if there are four books written in this world, there was so much more left unsaid, and the very new and interesting races just skimmed upon and not detailed as much as they could have been..

[Claudia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the last in the Windsingers series and Ki and Vandien’s adventures come to an end.

Following the advice of Rebeke, the powerful Windsinger who played a part in Ki’s rescue from the previous volume, the couple fled their land and went to far south, in a desert and hot region. Although they do not carry people in their wagon, this time they accept a job to take a child to his uncle in a further town, to be his apprentice as a healer.

But the child is not what he appears to be and their journey becomes one full of action, dangers and powerful feelings, although not the best ones. Furthermore, they are drawn into a riot and Vandien becomes without his will an important pawn.

This last part is the most alert of all. It took me two days to finish it (with the ‘help’ of heavy rains in Greece). I would have liked to know more about the Windsingers and Ki’s link with them, but, who knows, maybe the author will come back to this world sometime in the future.

All in all, a lovey series, a one of a kind universe with unique races and characters and no heroes. They all have their flaws and that makes them even more authentic.

[Jersy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably the best in the series but the one that took me the longest to appreciate. Due to the subject matter and none of the characters beeing entirely likable, it was a compelling but unpleasant journey a lot of the time. I began to question if I ever really knew Ki and Vandien beyond book one and it seemed like the events of the last book didn't affect them. It took me a while to figure out how intentional all of this was and that there was a complexity to the characters and core conflict that I already knew from the author's later works. It still bothers me how unconnected this series feels, which makes the ending feel less satisfying than in could be, however at least the relationship between Ki and Vandien seems at the perfect point to leave it at.

[Snezhina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished the book last night, and with it - the whole quartet, therefore this rating is both for this book and for the series as a whole. It has been an incredible journey with Ki and Vandien and leaving this world after so long will be a challenge. At some places the structure of the narrative is a little strange but once you get used to it, it is not a problem anymore. This is a great story of loss and loneliness which turns into a story with a happy ending, after the characters find their peace and realise they are all the other has been searching for after all they have been through. Also, the fact that a lot of the series is travelling, one gets the feeling of freedom and adventure which goes with the activity. On the whole, a great conclusion to a great series which I definitely recommend.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

...I would like to say that Luck of the Wheels is a fitting conclusion for the series but that would probably not be correct. In some ways it still feels like an incomplete series. Lindholm wrote as self contained stories however. The ending of this novel is satisfying enough but I can’t help but wonder what else Lindholm had in mind for the two companions. This novel is probably the most well-written of the quartet. The pacing in particular has much improved since the first novel in the series. Overseeing the whole series I think The Limbreth Gate remains my favorite though. That being said, Luck of the Wheel, just like the previous novels in the series, is well worth reading. They may not be the epic, sprawling fantasy novels Lindholm has produced under her other pen name Robin Hobb but these leaner novels should still appeal to the fantasy fans. This reread has reinforced my opinion work published under the Lindholm pseudonym is a bit under appreciated.

Full Random Comments review

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spent most of the book actively loathing one of the main characters, regardless of the explanation behind his behavior, and that got real old, real fast. But generally, pretty good (Vandien! Fencing!) and better than the middle two if not as good as the first. Megan Lindholm was still working her way up to becoming Robin Hobb, but all the potential was there.

[Lemurkat · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worthy finale.

[Arnoud Visser · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the main characters of this series traveling through their fantasy world, but this time they get company of an awful youth which makes the trip both for them as the reader quite a burden. The only bright side is the final, where finally something is happening and Valadien burns down a town for Ki.

[Sverre · Rating 2 out of 5]

The worst book of the quartet. None of the characters were likable, not even Ki. At least half the pages seemed to revolve around bickering and arguing. A considerable amount of brutal maiming and disgusting behavior. The ending was stitched together from the scraps.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lindholm/Robb is one of my top authors, and this is a great early series of hers. This is the best of the quartet, and you can see her style really developing. I've really enjoyed this world.

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so sad to finish this book, knowing that there are no more Ki and Vandien books to read after this fourth book!

I loved this story, with Ki and Vandien once more on the road, although, this time, their wagon isn't as comfortable, or convenient, as their past ones have been.

They still had their, very patient, team of horses, the sometimes feisty Sigurd, and the placid Sigmund, and they have moved down far to the south, away from any Windsingers that might recognise them.

Unfortunately, it looks as if any work moving freight was becoming scarce, and this story starts with the two travellers accepting the job of escorting a fourteen year old boy, called Goat by everyone, to go live with his uncle, Dellin, who lives at a town called Villena, about a fortnight's travel from the town they had stopped at, to whom he was being apprenticed as a Jore healer.

Ki, and especially Vandien, aren't too keen on the boy, who seems to take it in turns to be rude, brash, and downright licentious at times - a much older attitude than his actual years - but they need the money, and so accept the job.

This is the start of an adventure involving a stowaway that loathes Goat, vicious Brurjan warriors, a Duke who is so loathed that an army of rebels are plotting his downfall, and a call so close to death, for Vandien, that it changes the lives of everyone he touches.

This story really shows us, the readers, all of the things that make Ki and Vandien the couple that they are - and teaches them both exactly what it is to really love someone enough to die for them.

Loved this, loved the ending - but I'm just sooo sad that it IS the end!

[Brenna Beltramo · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart broke when this was over. Not because the ending was particularly heartbreaking (..it's not. it's a great ending).
But because I'm running out of Megan Lindholm/Robin Hobb books to fall in love with.

Once again, Megan Lindholm has proven herself far superior to any author ever with her unique world building and magic and her insane ability to create the most complex and human characters.

Her magic building in this one was so, so good and definitely was a build up to her magic system in the Assassin's Apprentice series. I'm completely obsessed with Vandien and Ki. I can definitely see the relation between Vandien and Fitz in the Assassin's Apprentice series. I am disappointed that she didn't bring in Hollyika from the Limbreth Gate into this one as she had ample opportunity to..

But the new characters in this one definitely didn't disappoint.

A true testament to RobinHobb/MeganLindholm's power as an author is that one of the main characters in this book is named Goat and I'm not even upset about it. That's how good she is at making her characters come to life. She could name her characters Treebranch, Cheeserind, or Toebean and I would still be like, yeah, sounds like a real person, sure! Because she makes you believe them.

I have said it before and will say it again, RobinHobb is magical and I'm straight up obsessed with her and I may or may not have cried a little when this one was over because I'm going to miss Ki and Vandien in my life...

[Bron · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the great joys of life is when you discover that a series of books you've known and loved for a long time is actually a quartet! I was delighted to find this fourth episode in the story of Ki and Vandien. It feels quite a lot darker than the earlier books. Forced to leave their usual routes to avoid upsetting the Windsingers, they find themselves in a difficult country ruled by a cruel, despotic Duke. They are hired to transport a young teenage youth to his Uncle's town to be apprenticed - a task which turns out to be much more dangerous than it sounds because the boy has unusual abilities, and besides, is tangled up in a plot to kill the Duke. Somehow everything goes wrong on the journey and even though all Ki and Vandien want to do is get out of this hazardous place safely, they too find themselves caught up in the rebellion. If the previous stories have mostly been Ki's, this one is mostly Vandien's as you get to learn a lot about his character and motivations.

[Adina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I continue to fall deep into the worlds built by Robin Hobb (Megan Lindholm), get lost in them and entangle in them so thoroughly that, at the end of the pages, leaving them becomes physically difficult (seriously, I suffer from such a cruel book hangover from a few days that I can't read anything new - I keep wishing to get back to the world I just left and sometimes I find myself giving up the pretense and just re-reading the books all over again).

I keep reading comparisons between her works as Megan Lindholm and her books as Robin Hobb, but honestly, I loved Windsingers as much as the Liveship Traders or the Farseer series. So maybe one could argue that the worldbuilding is not that heavy, or the plot's line is not as complex as in the later books. But I loved the story just as much and I got attached to the characters just as easily.

[Bronze Gayle · Rating 4 out of 5]

While very well written, I felt this last book in the series was very anti-climactic. After the build of the first three books, this last one felt like falling action to me. With the revelations and arcing experienced by the characters Ki and Vandien in the last book, I would have expected a much better understanding between the two and an even closer bond, but I felt like they both had regressed. They do arc by the end, but there was something lacking in this last book, which I can't quite put my finger on. Still, this was a beautiful, intriguing series that I would definitely read again.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

This earlier book by my favorite author starts with the tritest of tabletop roleplaying situations. You are in a tavern looking for work. A local will pay you to escort his young son to another town to be apprenticed.
But even the opening is cleverly done, and then you are taken on a whirlwind and thoroughly engrossing ride, surprises around each corner.
I read the first 3 books in the series years ago. The third lagged somewhat. I am so glad to have found this one, now that the internet makes it so much easier to get--almost anything.

[Kate Millin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The final book in a four part series, and another new land and way of living that Ki and Vandien have to deal with. They are paid to take a young boy to his uncle, but the boy has strange ways of behaving that they struggle to live with, not helped by the arrival of the young woman Willow who joins them on the journey.
An interesting tale of how you react to people according to what you hear and see and whether the things that influence your responses. Additional information gradually won can give you a whole new perspective, and honour is a many and varied thing.

[Surille · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so sad that this is the last book. I delayed reading it. In this story, Ki and Vandien reminded me of overwhelmed parents/chaperones having to deal with very very troubled teens. Though I agree this book was more about Vandien. The ending seemed a little rushed for me. I wished there was an epilogue. There are some questions left unanswered about Ki. Anyway, if you can get a hold of the short story, "Bones for Dulath", then definitely read it. That short story takes place between Book 3 and 4.

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read in one day. Didn’t want to put it down. Yet another race of humanoids with the ability to read emotions. Ki and Vandien are transporting Goat to his uncle to be apprenticed to him but lots of unfortunate things keep happening. The addition of Willow to the mix and her involvement in the rebellion against the Duke increase the hayhem.

[Danielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good end to the series. I really liked the new young characters and magical elements added to the world. I felt like the end of the book was a little rushed though and would have liked some more closure between Ki and Van.

[Elaine Hargrave · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read. I feel there could be more books about Ki and Vandien. The travelling duo picking up passengers against better judgement and leading to trouble of the kind never expected. A town left in ruins and Vandien with a respect and reputation he never expected.

[Martin Dion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad at all, the only other books from Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm that I actually like... The Ship and Shaman series failed to drag me in but bot this one.

[Darceylaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe my favorite of the series. I’m just amazed that when you go this far into her back catalog, the books are still so skillful, thoughtful, and imaginative.

[mrnws · Rating 5 out of 5]

Toujours un bonheur de retrouver Ki et Vandien. Ils m'avaient manqué.
Beaucoup trop de péripéties et de peur au cours de ce tome. Mais je les aime toujours autant et ils vont me manquer.

[Selina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seldom made me a book that furious and frustrated with its characters.
The turn of events after the halfway point was good for the overall story and gave the book an intense ending.

[Simone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is really hard to rate. The beginning was so tedious and I almost dnfd.
Then, all of a sudden it changed and became so exciting.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent dernier tome. L’action et la tension viennent progressivement. J’ai eu très peur pour nos héros !

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel I should like this series more. I love Robin Hobb books and there’s nothing inherently wrong with the plot. However the books just seem to drag.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very satisfying ending to the poignant, thoughtful, funny and action-packed Windsingers series, though I hope it's not the end! Goat was a frustrating character, but so interesting how his qualities spurred Ki and Vandien to consider the qualities they admired and wanted to share with others.

[Wild Ones Homestead · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ONLY thing that keeps this book from being 5 stars is how much I disliked Goat for 99.9% of the book. I had to keep putting it down because that kid drove me nuts! Otherwise a good ending to the series.