Suspense Is Constructed In Robin Hobb's The Liveship Traders

THE URGE TO KEEP TURNING THE PAGE:

A Narratological Analysis of how Suspense is Constructed in Robin Hobb’s The Liveship Traders Trilogy

Encouraging young people to read has been a constant struggle through the years and in recent years, when society has evolved to contain easy access to technology, meaning that anyone easily can switch between one momentary distraction and the next, the quest to make more young people read has become more difficult. All people, not only the young, are less willing to spend a long time on any one task, and at the same time, that is not the whole truth. Online, people complain about Netflix shaming them by asking if they are still watching when episode after episode has played without any interaction. TV-series are able to keep the audience hooked and watching hour after hour. So called cliff-hangers are part of the successful concept that keeps people engaged. Something exciting, something that remains unresolved happens at the end of an episode, and the urge to know what happens next has taken the audience in a firm grip. They are asked to wait to learn the answer to the query the story has posed, but the wait feels unbearable. This feeling of anxiety, anticipation, and excitement is what being in suspense means.

Novels can

However, other genres can claim the same power of enticing the readers and making them anticipatory of what comes next, keeping them reading. Genres can overlap and blend. Fantasy is one such genre. It lies close to the adventure stories, often following the same base story with a heroes’ journey from content to remain at home, to accepting the call of adventure, facing the obstacles and experiencing personal growth (“Campbell”). Fantasy can also have elements familiar from detective stories and