The Inheritance

Starred review from March 28, 2011
This compelling collection includes contributions from two pseudonyms of Margaret Lindholm: bestseller Robin Hobb (Dragon Haven) and lesser-known but critically acclaimed Megan Lindholm. An introduction that explains how both pseudonyms came to be gives a fascinating glimpse into the author's mind. The title story's theme of deciding what to do with one's inheritance echoes throughout this poignant compilation. Lindholm's SF tale, "A Touch of Lavender," is a masterful mix of delicately crafted prose and subtle emotional stakes. The deceptively quiet "Cut" examines the violent choice one mother makes to protect her granddaughter from herself. Hobb's "Homecoming" describes in protracted detail the trials of the first settlers to the Rain Wilds. Lindholm's tales sometimes mask deeper themes or play with one significant moment, while Hobb's narrators are often naïve and her prose extravagant. Under any name, Margaret Lindholm's assured prose has an unerring ability to tug on the reader's heartstrings.

Starred review from May 1, 2011

Author Margaret Lindholm Ogden, better known as Megan Lindholm and as Robin Hobb, contributes new and old work from both her pen names to a single anthology.

The stories by her earlier nom de plume, Lindholm, are all contemporary or near-future science fiction and fantasy, clearly set in our world or something a lot like it. The Hobb (Dragon Haven, 2010, etc.) stories are longer, set in the Realm of the Elderlings, the world where most of her bestselling fantasy epics take place. Lindholm/Hobb claims in her preface that while both pen names bear some core similarities, they explore different "issues." However, the stories then proceed to belie her assertion. All are beautifully written parables, expressing a clear message but managing not to be too offensively preachy about it. They speak of an intimate knowledge of living on the edge of poverty and desperation, confronting the threat of abuse, feeling pride in forging one's hard-won way in the world and making necessary sacrifices for both love and art. Of particular note are Lindholm's "A Touch of Lavender," about the relationship between a musical alien and a struggling family; "The Fifth Squashed Cat," which explores both the rewards and the painful costs of accepting a mundane over a magical existence; and Hobb's "Cat's Meat," in which a clever, ruthless cat (is there another kind?) helps a single mother defend her territory.

You don't have to be a fan of either of the author's identities to enjoy this collection—but you may become one.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 15, 2011

This collection of seven short pieces written under the award-winning author's two pseudonyms highlights her progress from newcomer to veteran writer. In Lindholm's "A Touch of Lavender," a young boy relates the poignant tale of his life in a Seattle neighborhood shared with alien Skoags, whose touch induces druglike euphoria. Of the other Lindholm contributions, several are new tales, and others are older stories brought back into print. Three long tales by Hobb offer a further look at the world of Hobb's "Liveship Traders" trilogy ("Homecoming"; "The Inheritance") and the strange world of felines ("Cat Meat"). Taken as a whole, the two voices represented here provide a richly textured body of work from one of the genre's most accomplished writers. VERDICT Fans of both Lindholm (Harpy's Flight; Alien Earth) and Hobb ("The Tawny Man Trilogy"; "The Rain Wilds Chronicles") will appreciate the diversity of this one-woman showcase.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from May 15, 2011
For those not familiar with the names Hobb and Lindholm, it helps to know that theyre pseudonyms of the same person. This collection gathers stories written under both monikers. As Hobb/Lindholm says in the introduction, theres a lot of common ground in the frameworks of stories by both sides of herself, but whats fascinating is how different the alter egos worlds are. Lindholm writes of internal landscapes haunted by the drudgery of being, in which the extraordinary happens to ordinary people but does not always bring them all theyd hoped for. Hobb, although she certainly doesnt neglect the internal landscape, sets off on much more epic journeys, even in the story of one small thing in one womans life. Lindholm is clearly grounded in our world, whereas Hobb isnt necessarily. Lindholms take on the disappointed character in The Fifth Squashed Cat, denied the extraordinary but left knowing the possibilities, jars because it seems so possible. In A Touch of Lavender, she tackles first contact and cultural misunderstanding in the memories of a childquite a challenge, which she rises to very well. In The Inheritance, appearing for the first time in this book, Hobb takes on the larger implications of a miserly family, who leave a woman with almost nothing when her stepmother dies. An engaging, entertaining introduction to both sides of the authors work.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)