- Female author in the fantasy world. I know, I know. You should separate author from work, but Robin Hobb is such a lovely woman and hearing about her farm always puts a smile on my face.
- One trilogy has more female characters than male who all have such a range of character and even those who you would consider “traditional fantasy female” wouldn’t shy away from kicking your butt in her own personal way.
- Assassins (and, almost more importantly, the moral ramifications of training younger assassins).
- Talking ships!
Look at the gorgeousness of Jackie Morris’ art! Taken from my Instagram - Gender neutral secondary / arguably main character.
- Nuanced way of dealing with those who are different to the norm with gender, sexuality, and race.
- Most of the characters are people of colour and, in fact, paleness is commented on as unusual.
- Cat-like dragons!
Artwork by Jackie Morris - The fandom is an awesomely welcoming community to discuss anything and everything Hobb related.
- You feel homesick for the Six Duchies, and Bingtown, and the Rain Wilds when you’re not reading the books.
- When violence does happen, it is shown for the horror that it is for the victim and not from a perspective that tries to glamourize it.
- Major character development because you see one character from 6 years to over 60 over the course of several books.
- New perspectives and subtle hints in re-reads to the point that I’m tempted to read one trilogy for the third time.
- Complex relationships that cover platonic, sexual and romantic relationships.
- Pirates!
- It’s incredibly easy to forget that you’re reading as the descriptions are so vivid and the characters feel so real. I’ve definitely fallen asleep while reading had dreams about being in the Six Duchies and was very confused to wake up in the real world.
[With many thanks to the Robin Hobb fan group on facebook for helping me come up with some of these reasons that are more nuanced than “Dragons! Talking pirate ships! Proof that cats descended from dragons!”]
The Writer's Cuppa Brew 
As if dragons, pirates and talking ships were not enough, many of us love the relationship to animals and in particular a main character wolf. Great list! I am on my third reread of the entire series although it will only be my second reread of the final trilogy.
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