Merchant's son Arthur Clennan finds himself involved in the affairs of the Dorrits - a wellborn family fallen on hard times, their patriarch now imprisoned in debtor's gaol while his children dance, sew and steal for their suppers. In his attempts to help the Dorrits extricate themselves from their debts, Clennan runs smack-bang into an impenetrable wall of British government bureaucracy.
Dickens as usual is at his best when sketching a scene, skewering the absurd, or bringing his eccentric characters to life - Clennan's former fiancee and her run-on sentences are something else to read, believe you me. There are many passages that made me want to laugh out loud or shake my head or read it over again. He writes with such a clear eye, too, on the bonds of familial love, and the ways people imprison themselves - through religion, through social convention, through fear.
But at the same time, as though he doesn't even know what's best about his own writing, the central characters are so dull and self-righteous - our heroes Clennan and Little Amy Dorrit are so virtuous and gentle and good that I could barely stand it. Give me arrogant Fanny Dorrit over good Little Dorrit any day - or the coldly man-hating Miss Wade and her protege Tattycoram, or the charming Ferdinand and Bar Barnacle. Any of them, please. (And this is also why I love Great Expectations SO much more than David Copperfield.)
The first of a projected 4 books in The Rain Wild Chronicles, this is both more of the same and a welcome return to form for Hobb. More of the same because this is more or less a continuation of the epic fantasy world she created in The Liveship Traders - focusing on a trading town in a lush but harsh land where the rivers run acid, and the townspeople find themselves in alliance with a newly hatched generation of misshapen dragons. And a return to form because as far as I'm concerned she's been in a slump since those very same books, published over a decade ago (let's never talk of The Tawny Man and Soldier Son books, okay?).
If you're familiar with Hobb, then this book should feel like somewhat familiar ground. A ragtag assortment of outsiders are our protagonists - this time a lonely Trader woman seeking solace in dragon study, a captain with a secret to hide, and a Rainwilder girl who should have been exposed at birth due to her disfigurements - on a journey without a clear destination - this time, escorting those misshapen dragons to a perhaps apocyraphal ancient city. Hobb's prickly, emotionally conflicted characters fit in well with her history bastard princes and tomboy noblewomen - if you enjoyed those books you'll likely enjoy this - if you've yet to try, I'd probably suggest starting with the Farseer or Liveship books anyway.
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