Hobb-A-Long Read-A-Long discussion

Not a great deal happens in this section before the flood occurs ( which I think is the best action sequence in the Rain Wild Chronicles and makes Dragon Haven my favorite of the four books). However, I think that a great opportunity was missed here not to use this depiction of a large natural disaster to kill off a lot of extraneous and nondescript characters that needlessly get in the way of the stories of the key major characters in the book. It's really a nuisance having to try to keep up with so many keepers and dragons and the variably distinguishing coloration and markings they have, when they have such dull, vanilla personalities that don't play into the plot in any integral way. Of course, if one were to try to use the flood plot device to get rid of several characters at once, you would certainly want to be careful not to eliminate anyone that could conceivably become a major character in future books (like Carson), or in the case of the main plotting for this series, try not to eliminate female dragons as they are only five of them, and the driving motivation of nearly all the characters is to get the dragons in a position to breed in the near future; so the more numerous male dragons are more dispensable.

So for instance, Alum and his dragon Arbuc have interesting physical characteristics( that you can find at the beginning of the book in the cast of characters pages) but are not really interesting in any way on their own account or in the main plotting of the series, so you could have them be casualties of the flood, and help eliminate some unnecessary characters that clutter the ability of the reader to keep pace with the more important characters and plot points.

Kase and Boxter are keepers that we really don't need to keep ( you see what I did there, LOL) as they don't play much into the overall plot ( other than act as gullible yes men to Greft); and their dragons Skrim and Dortean practically have nothing to do, and I have forgotten them completely in between times they are ever mentioned ( Of course, I'm not suggesting that one would get rid of all the unimportant or weak characters; a few are needed to provide background characters or go-betweens for some plot choices. But most could be safely eliminated without losing anything.

Harrikin, is a keeper that is practically featureless and would be worth removing if it weren't for the fact that he is the protector of the littlest keeper, Sylve; and his dragon, Ranculos is one of the three largest drakes ( of importance both in breeding and if the dragons( once they become flight worthy) need to undertake combative roles against well-armed enemies.); so he is one otherwise lame character one would likely want to keep.

Jerd is interesting in her own right because of her natural proclivity to engage practically all the male characters sexually ( as a contrast to the more prudent and cautious Thymara), and her queen dragon, Veras is the second largest female, so both should stay. Lecter ( who is Harrikin's cousin) has a romantic (but temporary) relationship during the course of events in the series, but is not especially otherwise interesting; he does cater to a large drake, Sestican (also pretty much a zero in terms of personality), so they are both pretty much marginal at best.

Nortel has an interesting conflict coming up with one of the major characters, but is otherwise nothing special; and neither is his dragon, Tinder. Rapskal is one of the more entertaining secondary characters in the book, and he takes care of one the little female dragons, Heeby; they are the most prominent characters missing in the flood aftermath so far, and one would hate to lose them. Sylve is the youngest keeper, and takes care of the most intelligent and sensible dragon of the bunch, Mercor, a large drake; so both worth keeping.

Tats is the best friend of Thymara, who is maybe the primary major character; plus he takes care of the female Fente, so he and his dragon should stay. Thymara, and her queen Sintara are both major characters, so of course they stay. Warken and his drake, Baliper are generally uninteresting ( but Baliper will incidentially perform an act in the next section that will be VERY interesting; but is otherwise bland). Alise and Leftrin are major characters, so they should normally be exempt from being considered for elimination. If Sedric gets his dark, spiraling path in life altered for the better, he stands to fully become a major protagonist in the book; and it might be because of his recent association with the queen Relpda. Carson is a minor character that eventually becomes one of the more important ones in the book; although his future dragon, Spit, an interestingly hostile powder keg of a character, is a smaller, less consequential drake, so probably, but not certainly a good character to keep.

Of the crew members of the Tarman ( as a liveship, necessary to the story on that account alone), Bellin will have an important role later in the series in regards to the interaction she provides in regards to her medical and provocative moral advice to the young females in the group; so for that alone, she should survive; her husband, Swarge, and the story of their failure to carry children to term, makes him essential. Big Eider has an important scene in the third book, but he's not uniquely suited to the task: someone else could do it as well. Davvie, Carson's nephew is another proto-gay character, but from a younger perspective, and eventually he will have responsibilities for the largest drake, Kalo; so they offer something. Hennesey isn't distinctly important, but he will eventually be given an interesting love interest that will make his presence worthwhile; Skelly is Leftrin's niece and while he's without offspring, his heir; but future events stand to make her superfluous; and she and the minor plotline that is introduced about her, don't really justify carrying her.

Maybe 14 or 15 characters could have been culled from the book with this flood, if the author had so chosen; and I think that might have streamlined the plotting without so many tangled relationships to keep up with, and probably tightened up the page count as well.