Robin Hobb - The Complete Soldier Son Trilogy

Harper Voyager An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Shaman’s Crossing © Robin Hobb 2005

Forest Mage © Robin Hobb 2006

Renegade’s Magic © Robin Hobb 2007

Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers 2019

Robin Hobb asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2013 ISBN: 9780007532148

Version: 2019–05–15

Cover

Title Page The Complete Soldier Son Trilogy Shaman’s Crossing Book One Forest Mage Book Two Renegade’s Magic Book Three Robin Hobb

Copyright Copyright Copyright Map Shaman’s Crossing Forest Mage Renegade’s Magic About the Author Also by the Author About the Publisher Harper Voyager An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk Shaman’s Crossing © Robin Hobb 2005 Forest Mage © Robin Hobb 2006 Renegade’s Magic © Robin Hobb 2007 Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers 2019 Robin Hobb asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2013 ISBN: 9780007532148 Version: 2019–05–15

Map Map

Shaman’s Crossing

Forest Mage

Renegade’s Magic

About the Author

Also by the Author

About the Publisher

Shaman’s Crossing Forest Mage Renegade’s Magic About the Author Also by the Author About the Publisher

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

Harper Voyager An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

Published by Voyager 2006

Copyright © Robin Hobb 2005

Cover design by Claire Ward © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2019 Cover illustraion © Jackie Morris, Shutterstock.com(background)

Map by Andrew Ashton

Robin Hobb asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollins Publishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780007196128

Ebook Edition © SEPTEMBER 2008 ISBN: 9780007236886

Version: 2018–07–31

To Caffeine and Sugar, my companions through many a long night of writing.

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

One: Magic and Iron

Two: Harbinger

Three: Dewara

Four: Crossing the Bridge

Five: The Return

Six: Sword and Pen

Seven: Journey

Eight: Old Thares

Nine: The Academy

Ten: Classmates

Eleven: Initiation

Twelve: Letters From Home

Thirteen: Bessom Gord

Fourteen: Cousin Epiny

Fifteen: Séance

Sixteen: A Ride in the Park

Seventeen: Tiber

Eighteen: Accusations

Nineteen: Intervention

Twenty: Crossing

Twenty-One: Carnival

Twenty-Two: Disgrace

Twenty-Three: Plague

Twenty-Four: Vindication

Acknowledgments

I remember well the first time I saw the magic of the plainspeople.

I was eight and my father had taken me with him on a trip to the outpost on Franner’s Bend. We had arisen before the dawn for the long ride; the sun was just short of standing at noon when we finally saw the flag waving over the walls of the outpost by the river. Once, Franner’s Bend had been a military fort on the contested border between the plainspeople and the expanding Kingdom of Gernia. Now it was well within the Gernian border, but some of its old martial glory persisted. Two great cannons guarded the gates, but the trade stalls set up against the mud-plastered stockade walls behind them dimmed their ferocity. The trail we had followed from Widevale now joined a road that picked its way among the remains of mud-brick foundations. Their roofs and walls were long gone, leaving the shells gaping at the sky like empty tooth sockets in a skull. I looked at them curiously as we passed, and dared a question. ‘Who used to live here?’