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The Inheritance Paperback – 30 April 2012
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A collection of novellas and stories from one of the most critically acclaimed authors in the fantasy genre, Robin Hobb. Including work written under her pseudonym, Megan Lindholm.
Bingtown heiresses rub shoulders in this wonderful collection with vampires and alien musicians, tramps and feral cats.
In The Homecoming, Lady Carillion Carrock and a number of other Jamaillian nobles are sailing to the Cursed Shores. Their journey is not by choice: for plotting against the Satrap, their wealth has been confiscated and they have been exiled. Until now, Carillion has done nothing but lead a life of privilege. She believes they are bound for wondrous cities, cities where ancient kings and queens dusted their skin with gold and wore jewels above their eyes. But when she is marooned by the ship’s unscrupulous captain, she will soon discover the grim reality of what survival in the Rain Wilds entails.
The Silver Lady is a would-be writer, eking out a dull existence by working in a Sears store. The one day a man comes in: forty-ish, pleasant-looking. Nothing out of the ordinary. Except he says his name is Merlin, and he’s about to change her life.
Rosemary got involved with the wrong man. Pell is lazy, good for nothing, a bully. Her best friend Hilia knew it and so did her tom cat, Marmalade. But love is blind: Rosemary had Pell’s baby, renovated the cottage his grandfather left in his will, turned its land to good use; and then he left her for another woman. Now he’s back, and something must be done…
- Print length416 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherHarperVoyager
- Publication date30 April 2012
- Dimensions12.9 x 2.5 x 19.8 cm
- ISBN-100007446349
- ISBN-13978-0007446346
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Review
'Hobb is superb, spinning wonderful characters and plots from pure imagination.'
Conn Iggulden
'Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers… what makes her novels as addictive as morphine is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics.'
The Times
'Hobb is a remarkable storyteller.'
Guardian
'Robin Hobb writes achingly well'
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About the Author
Robin Hobb is one of the world’s finest writers of epic fiction.She was born in California in 1952 but raised in Alaska, where she learned how to raise a wolf cub, to skin a moose and to survive in the wilderness. When she married a fisherman who fished herring and the Kodiak salmon-run for half the year, these skills would stand her in good stead. She raised her family, ran a smallholding, delivered post to her remote community, all at the same time as writing stories and novels. She succeeded on all fronts, raising four children and becoming an internationally best-selling writer. She lives in Tacoma, Washington State.
Product details
- Publisher : HarperVoyager
- Publication date : 30 April 2012
- Language : English
- Print length : 416 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0007446349
- ISBN-13 : 978-0007446346
- Item weight : 290 g
- Dimensions : 12.9 x 2.5 x 19.8 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 3,294,336 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 222 in Fantasy Anthologies (Books)
- 611 in Gaslamp Fantasy
- 1,586 in Dragons & Mythical Creatures Fantasy
- Customer reviews:
About the author

Robin Hobb is a New York Times best-selling fantasy author. She is published in English in the US, UK and Australia, and her works have been widely translated. Her short stories have been finalists for both the Hugo and the Nebula awards, as well as winning the Asimov's Readers Award. Her best known series is The Farseer Trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, and Assassin's Quest.)
Robin Hobb was born in Oakland California, but grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska. She has spent her life mostly in the Pacific Nortwest region of the US, and currently resides in Tacoma, Washington State, with her husband Fred. They have four grown offspring, and six grandchildren.
Robin Hobb is a pen name for Margaret Ogden. She has also written under the name Megan Lindholm.
She published her first short story for children when she was 18,and for some years wrote as a journalist and children's writer. Her stories for children were published in magazines such as Humpty Dumpty's Magazine for Little Children, Jack & Jill and Highlights for Children. She also created educational reading material for children for a programmed reading series by SRA (Science Research Associates.) She received a grant award from the Alaska State Council on the arts for her short story "The Poaching", published in Finding Our Boundaries in 1980.
Fantasy and Science Fiction had always been her two favorite genres, and in the late 70's she began to write in them. Her initial works were published in small press 'fanzines' such as Space and Time (editor Gordon Linzner). Her first professionally published story was "Bones for Dulath" that appeared in the Ace anthology AMAZONS!, edited by Jessica Amanda Salmonson in 1979. A short time later, a second Ki and Vandien story entitled The Small One was published in FANTASTIC in 1980.
During that time period, she and her family had moved from Alaska to Hawaii, and subsequently to Washington State, where they settled. She had various money making occupations (waitress, salesperson, etc.) while striving with her writing. Her husband Fred continued to fish Alaskan waters and was home only about 3 months out of every year. The family lived on a small farm in rural Roy where they raised lots of vegetables, chickens, ducks, geese and other small livestock.
In 1983, her first novel, Harpy's Flight, was published by Ace under the pen name Megan Lindholm. Her later titles under that name included Wizard of the Pigeons, Alien Earth, Luck of the Wheels, and Cloven Hooves.
In 1995, she launched her best selling series of books set in the Realm of the Elderlings. At that time, she began writing as Robin Hobb. Her first trilogy of books were about her popular characters, FitzChivalry Farseer and the Fool. The Farseer Trilogy is comprised of Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin and Assassin's Quest. These books were followed by The Liveship Traders trilogy, set in the same world. The Tawny Man trilogy returned to the tale of Fitz and the Fool. Most recently, the four volumes of the Rain Wilds Chronicles were published: Dragon Keeper, Dragon Haven, City of Dragons and Blood of Dragons.
In 2013, it was announced that she would return to her best-loved characters with a new trilogy, The Fitz and the Fool trilogy. The first volume, Fool's Assassin, will be published in August of 2014.
Other works as Robin Hobb include The Soldier Son trilogy and short stories published in various anthologies. A collection of her shorter works as both Lindholm and Hobb is available in The Inheritance.
She continues to reside in Tacoma, Washington, with frequent visits to the pocket farm in Roy.
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Customers enjoy this collection of short stories, with one noting it's a perfect change from long novels. They appreciate Robin Hobb's writing style, and one customer mentions it provides an intimate insight into her work.
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Customers enjoy the short stories in the book, finding them delightful, with one customer noting it's a perfect change from long novels.
"...series so this appealed to me as it appeared to be comprised of multiple shorter stories...." Read more
"...One of the best short story collections I've come across." Read more
"...others that I'd read by Robin Hobb simply because it was a selection of short stories...." Read more
"...broken only by the infuriating need to sleep and eat, delighting in every single story...." Read more
Customers find the book enjoyable, with one mentioning it kept them entertained and another noting how it leads to further pleasures.
"...Megan Lindholm books as I am of the Robin Hobb works, but this was a good read none-the-less" Read more
"Signed copy. Enormously pleased." Read more
"...is quirky and original and I especially liked 'Strays' - moving and memorable, one of those that keeps coming back at you...." Read more
"...It was intriguing, lots of interesting subjects, leading you on to further pleasures. The one I had the most enjoyment from was 'The Homecoming'...." Read more
Customers love Robin Hobb's writing style, with one customer particularly appreciating the intimate insight into her craft.
"...collection has given me new places to look for this wonderfully inventive writer's work." Read more
"Megan Lindholm is Robin Hobbs. Her writing is always beautiful, but her Hobbs 'persona' has captivated me... this collection of stories does offer..." Read more
"I love Robin Hobb's writing style...." Read more
"...although not so keen on the sci fi type stories, but as always verywell written and nice to have short stories occasionally so I am not tempted to..." Read more
Reviews with images

A Delightful read for Robin Hobb fans, introducing them to Megan Lindholme and vice versa
Top reviews from United Kingdom
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- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 April 2016Didn't quite know what to expect when I purchased this. I had just finished both of Robin Hobb's "Farseer Trilogy" and the "Liveship Trilogy" when I bought The Inheritance.
I thoroughly enjoyed both of these series' so decided to purchase another Robin Hobb book, but wasn't ready to invest my time into another lengthy series so this appealed to me as it appeared to be comprised of multiple shorter stories.
Now I didn't read other reviews beforehand and was hoping for another serene magical adventure so was at first disappointed to see it was more of a book revolving around the author and her personas as Megan Lindholm VS Robin Hobb (same author 2X different writing styles). This book entails true insight into her creative process and connections to her actual life which inspired her to write these stories before each one. This said however they're only short snippets and last a few pages at most. I was initially hesitant about this new more personal connection to the author but by the third story found it gave a new perspective for reading her works in the way she wanted the reader to view them.
This first half or so of the book consists of a multitude Lindholm stories varying in length while the latter half is original Hobb with 2X stories from the Cursed Shores (one linked to Bingtown and the other the Rain Wilds)
The Hobbs stories aren't of major significance in her world however the Rain Wilds story gives insight into the lives of the first settlers generations before the events of the Liveship traders series.
All in all a good mixture of short stories from Robin Hobb's masterpiece universe aswell as a variety of stories in the diction of Lindholm.
Lindholm stories vary slightly from our real world with touches of magic and science fiction in comparison to her overhaul of the world like Hobb does.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 March 2013I enjoyed every one of these stories, but I must admit to enjoying the Robin Hobb ones just that bit more, probably because I'm a big fan of the Hobb books and was delighted to revisit the Rainwilds and Bingtown! Every single Lindholm story is quirky and original and I especially liked 'Strays' - moving and memorable, one of those that keeps coming back at you. One of the best short story collections I've come across.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 November 2011I've read a lot of Robin's books and I've never been disappointed. 'The Inheritance' was different from others that I'd read by Robin Hobb simply because it was a selection of short stories. It was intriguing, lots of interesting subjects, leading you on to further pleasures. The one I had the most enjoyment from was 'The Homecoming'. I'd read the Rain Wilds books and found that I wanted more. So I was very pleased to read the beginning of the Rain Wilds, once again, I was begging for more!!! I don't know if there is a book featuring the time between 'The Homecoming' and 'The Liveship Traders', but I would be interested in reading it. I love books to do with dragons and magic, and Robin Hobb always comes up trumps. I reccommend ALL her books and look forward to reading a lot more in the future.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 6 January 2020So pleased to find this anthology! I have long admired Robin Hobb above all the fantasy fiction writers I have read. Her characters live and breathe, in all their pain and joy, from every page in a way no other writer quite manages. Admittedly Tolkien is supreme but his works are finite and scholarly, whereas Hobb opens vistas of possibility in all her worlds and under every pseudonym, at every turn of every page. I read this in a single sitting, broken only by the infuriating need to sleep and eat, delighting in every single story. The Six Duchies and Bingtown stories cemented her reputation with me and this collection has given me new places to look for this wonderfully inventive writer's work.
- Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 10 June 2011This book was recommended to me by Amazon ahead of time as a Robin Hobb book and had the tag line - "a collection of short stories from the Rain Wilds and beyond." I imagined that 'and beyond' meant Bingtown or perhaps some Farseer aspects and eagerly pre-ordered it. A second author wasn't mentioned. In fact even now, the hardback author is still shown only as RH - and it is only in the paperback version that it identifies that some of the stories were written as Megan Lindholm. It wasn't until I actually received the book that I realised that. I feel that this was very misleading on Amazon's part.
Perhaps it's because of this that I was so disappointed with this book, but I really didn't like the style of her Megan Lindholm writing - a very different style from her RH approach. A previous reviewer has very thoroughly outlined all of the 10 stories - so any future purchaser should be warned that you are half way through the book before any Rain Wild stories actually appear.
So - I enjoyed the second half of the RH stories, but the other half did not entice me to explore any of the Megan Lindholm books. However, all power to the author that she's able to change her style so much between genres.
Top reviews from other countries
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aymericReviewed in France on 8 April 2013
5.0 out of 5 stars tout simplement génial
Je connaissais Robin Hobb (aussi connue en tant que Megan Lindholm) par ses grandes épopée d'heroic fantasy (L'assassin royal, Les aventuriers de la mer, Ki et Vandian...) que j'ai adoré.
Dans ce recueil de nouvelles on retrouve le talent de conteuse de l'auteure et des mondes imaginaires toujours très cohérents.
Difficile de refermer le livre avant d'avoir lu toutes les histoires.
- Jenna JohnsonReviewed in the United States on 13 March 2025
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the very best reads, five stars!!!
The fifth squashed cat, made me cry! So so good. Every one of these short stories was excellent. A book I'll def be recommending to read.
- Elena V.Reviewed in Italy on 29 December 2012
5.0 out of 5 stars A beatiful collection of stories.
An occasion to know better the word of Robin Hobb..I would suggest this book to all Robin Hobb's fans but also to other fantasy readers.
- krautartReviewed in Germany on 29 September 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars a great author, no matter which name she uses
This is a collection of short (and longet) stories written as Robin Hobb and as Megan Lindholm.
Though I am an absolute fan of Hobb's Rainwild Chronicles and Fool's stories I also wasreally impressed by the depth and interesting topics of her writing as Megan Lindholm. Anyway there are also (the longet ones) stories from Bingtown and the Rainwilds, which give kind of an athmosperic and historical insight to the beginings og the Rainwild Traders and day to day life in Bingtown and the Buck duchy.
Somthing unusal, which I liked very much in this collection is the introduction to each story in which Hobb/Lindholm tells a bit about the 'story behind the story'.
All in all this collection makes a very satisfying read while looking forward to Hobb's next book.
- Diane GloverReviewed in Australia on 19 July 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars The Inheritance
I hadn't realised how differently she wrote as both authors. I enjoy both ways of writing.