Dragon Haven and City of Dragons by Robin Hobb (once upon a time challenge)

Dragon Haven is the second in the Rain Wild Chronicles.  Only fifteen of the sea serpents that ventured up the Rain Wild river to make their cocoons have survived, and all of them are imperfect, deformed or misshapen, arrogant, and angry at their fate.  Thanks to Mercor, the dragons have managed to manipulate humans into sending them on their journey to the ancient Elderling city of Kelsingra.

Humans:  Captain Leftrin and Alise's relationship develops, Sedric struggles with his secret purposes for the journey; Thymara's physical changes are challenging and frightening.

Dragons:   Mercor's wisdom continues to aid the dragons through their hardships on the journey; Sintara is as egoistical and vain as ever; Relpa, originally without a keeper, bonds with Sedric and becomes much more interesting, not the brightest dragon in the bunch, she has a sweetness and innocence that helps Sedric become a better person.

In  City of Dragons, both dragons and keepers explore their new environment which is across the river from the fabled city of Kelsingra.  Unable to dock the live ship Tarman on the Kelsingra side of the river, visiting the city to awaken its magic is difficult.  Although there is more game for feeding the dragons, with one exception, the dragons are still unable to fly, so the keepers are still busy hunting to keep their dragons fed.

More story lines are being developed--hopefully, to be resolved in the next book.

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If I had not expected the same quality as previous trilogies by Hobb, I wouldn't be disappointed in this series.  I found the books enjoyable, just not as good as her previous works in this fantasy world.

Whew!  I've had the heading for this review for nearly two weeks; I'm glad to have it done.

Fiction.  Fantasy.   2010 -528 pages and 2o12-352 pages.