Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb VS. Red Claw by Philip Palmer

Rules:

Each match-up will have its own dedicated thread. Voting is simple. All you have to do is:

1) name your pick
2) tell us why
3) defend your choice to the death if need be. (Poke them with the soft cushions if you have to, just make sure that all the stuffing is in the point.)

You only get one vote but we encourage you to continue to post on the thread to debate your selection or convince someone to change their mind.

If you want to change your mind please feel free, just make sure your post makes it clear that you are doing so.

Please keep in mind the point system. The rules as stated above consist of two parts; naming and why. If you simply name your choice it will be worth 1 point; if you give the why then it will be worth an additional point. This additional point will be granted at the discretion of the BSC tournament coordinators. For a more detailed explanation, see this post.

Voting for this match will begin the morning of 3/18 and end around 8:00 PM EST on 3/19. The winner will then move on to the next round starting the morning of 3/20.

My vote is for Robin Hobb's DRAGON KEEPER.

I haven't read Red Claw, so I can't make any arguments as to why Dragon Keeper is better, so let's stick to undeniable facts:

1. Just two months after its release in the US it already has 62 reviews with an average rating of 4 stars. Red Claw has been out for five months and only has 6 ratings with an average rating of 3.5 stars.
2. Robin has a fan club! Search her name and you'll find not only a prolific number of books, but also theplenty.net, a fan club full of people devoted to discussing her previous books and the most recent book, Dragon Haven. Only an amazing author would draw such a following.
3. Further attesting to Hobb's popularity and skill as a writer is a graph showing the search volume overtime in Robin Hobb's name verses Philip Palmer. Check it on Google Insights.
4. As of 2003 she had sold over 1 million copies of her first nine novels. Boom!

On a more personal note, Robin Hobb's Dragon Keeper is an accumulation of years of world building and character development. Dragon Keeper is not simply a book, it is the climax of dragon lore that has been built up over thousands of pages in her previous books. The reason she has so many fans is because one can not read one of her books without establishing a strong personal attachment to her characters. She does not write stories. She creates legends.

Dragon Keeper.

I must simply echo many of the reasons listed by ChrisX. I haven't read Red Claw, and although I think I would like the writing style, it doesn't seem like a story I want to get lost in. The world created by Hobbs, on the other hand, I willingly get lost in often.

Elaine
Norman, OK

1. I vote for Robin Hobb's DRAGON KEEPER.
2. Robin Hobb is an experienced tried and true writer. Her stories are complex and full of strong character development, world building, and intrigue that keeps you turning the pages.
While I have not read Philip Palmer's Red Claw, I checked in on some of the reviews for it online and found them to be less than flattering. The portions of story revealed in these reviews suggested it to be clichéd and lacking in depth.
3. Robin Hobb has also written even more books using the name Megan Lindholm, adding yet more excellent novels to her already impressive repertoire.

I strongly recommend anyone who has not read any of her novels to give them a try! The best place to start would be with Assassin's Apprentice from her first trilogy.

- Michie3

My vote's for Palmer's Red Claw--I reviewed it a while ago, and my condensed version read "just about everything I love about SF crammed into a fast-paced, gripping, and at times hilariously nasty adventure." Palmer's catalog of beasties alone is enough to earn my vote in this round.

As an side, I dunno if having a fan club is necessarily an indication of one author being superior to another, nor am I sold on the notion that the reviews books garner translate to one book being objectively better than another--it is all personal taste, after all. That said, I'm an author myself so it's in my interest to have those kind of opinions;)

Red Claw

New ideas, excellently executed and unputdownable.

1) Dragon Keeper
2) This is a story that continues to draw in the readers and make them linger over every word to the point of prolonging the completion.
3) Of many fantasy worlds created, this one continues to flourish where others become stagnant and leaves one longing for the end.
Robin Hobb has mastered the teaching of tolerance and empathy by making her heroes flawed, complicated, and genuine.
All of Hobb's writings share an emotional flair that makes them candidates for the read again lists.

Well said, Krissi!

Again, I find myself voting for a book I haven't read (waiting for it to come out i paperback so I can afford it), but rather based on my opinion of the author's body of work in general.

I have read all of Hobb's stuff, apart from the newest releases (because hardbacks are so expensive) and I have always been particulary enchanted with the Rain Wilds setting, which appeared in the Liveships trilogy and in a very good novella in one of the Legends anthologies. So my vote goes to Dragonkeeper, which I am eagerly awaiting to read when an affordable edition comes out.

The Dragon Keeper

This book is another wonderful example of how Hobb takes a fantasy cliché and turns it upside down. Her protagonists would be supporting characters in most other authors' stories, but she makes them real and interesting because they are flawed and engaging and easy to identify with - yes, even the dragons.

Exactly! I really loved Hobb's dragons and one of the reasons why I like the Liveship trilogy so much is the way in which she develops a narrative that slowly turns the sea serpents, from which the dragons evolve, from these incredibly terrifying creatures to sentient beings that deserves a place in the world however terrifying and dangerous they are to humans.

Dragon Keeper because the characters rang truer to me. Each book has its' pros and cons but the Hobb comes out on top because of sustained character development through the whole series.

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb sweeps into the second round with a solid majority.