If I can stir you to laughter, I can laugh myself. I desperately wished I had never started this discussion. When Burrich sent me word he had found your body, I thought my heart would break. The words we had when last we parted … but here you are, alive if not well. No matter how much he seems to love Fitz, as long as it would serve his purpose and his king, he would still sacrifice my boy in the blink of an eye!
Where is his conscience? How can he do such a thing to a person he loves? In fact I understand him way too well! You can have my death, if that is what it takes. More than that, you can have my life, Chade. And I could not do it. Nothing held me back, no man lifted a hand or sword to me and bid me turn aside. Only the small insistent voice in my mind, battering at me. Come to me, come to me, come to me. And I could not do otherwise.
As much as I love Verity I was still slightly angry at him for forcing Fitz to come to him. I mean, that boy endured enough and now he even had to go on a quest because Verity told him to. Sure, he saved the Six Dutchies but he would have deserved better than to end up as a stone dragon. Plus that unfeeling Verity had nothing to do with the Verity I came to love.
Poor Kettricken, to go all that way only to discover that her husband has no feelings for her anymore because he put everything he is into a dragon. Take better care of it than I did, Fitz. His eyes met mine as I took it. Never doubt I loved you. I can do this!!! Oh wait, is that an actual dragon in the background? How come I missed this?! View all 8 comments.
Un freaking popular opinion! And no, I don't care. I must admit, I fell asleep a few times. Does this mean I will never read another Robin Hobb book? No Does this mean Robin Hobb doesn't write great books? There is nothing like loving a Un freaking popular opinion! View all 23 comments. Robin Hobb certainly knows how to deliver a spectacular conclusion. The villain, Prince Regal, remains a bit of a frustrating mystery and the final resolution, though good, was a little glossed over. This is th Robin Hobb certainly knows how to deliver a spectacular conclusion.
The Lone Wolf Fitz has narrowly escaped death a few times now, and his most recent escape has, quite literally, changed him forever. His bond with his wolf has intensified tenfold. Fitz now thinks like a wolf, and acts like a wolf. He seeks solitude and the great outdoors; he wishes for seclusion and to be completely left alone; thus, he must overcome another great personal obstacle if he is going to exact his revenge.
He must return to himself and think like a human once more. This is no easy task because his only companion is his wolf Nighteyes. I thought we'd done something worse than let you die. I was kind to the old man. I did not tell him they had. The world thinks he is dead, so to go to her would put her in serious danger.
Fitz has enemies, many enemies. They would gladly murder anyone associated with him to draw him out. So, Fitz learns to live with his personal sacrifice and move on; he knows Molly is safe with Burrich: But, this is something he must overcome; he cannot save the Six Duchies by himself. He needs his Fool; he needs his friend: This really drove the story forward, as Fitz began to overcome his sorrow.
The antagonist makes no sense The ending was exciting and fast, so very fast. It was a good ending but it needed more substance; it needed to be seen through the eyes of the characters, and not mentioned in a brief summary. In addition, I though the revelation of what drove Prince Regal was incredibly flat. I expected there to be some great, and hidden, evil that guided his corruptness; I thought there would be a reason for his usurpation and self-serving selfishness that almost destroyed what was, at the time, his own realm.
If he wanted to be King, then surely he would want a large kingdom and not one surrounded by enemies. His actions made little sense and were just plain stupid to the point of ridiculous. Indeed, Regal appears to be a spoilt boy who has no sense of any intellect. His actions were self-destructive and random. If there was a true reason behind his motives it was never revealed. But, it is far outweighed by the positives of her storytelling. This series, overall, is really good.
Regal is only one aspect of the plot. The protagonist is still excellent and well thought out regardless of the sloppy bad guy. Fitz has come so far through this story and has developed into a true hero, as signified by his final actions towards his biggest foe and how he helps his king. And, as ever, his friendship with the Fool defines this series; it makes it what it is. Only together could they find King Verity.
The Farseer Trilogy 1. Assassin's Apprentice - An overwhelming five stars 2. Royal Assassin - A character defining five stars 3. Assassin's Quest - A solid 3. View all 4 comments. Buddy read with Alexa! I really wanted to like this series. After finishing both the first and the second book I was torn between two different ratings, and on both occasions decided to give the book the highest one. All in hope of drastic improvements that could make the series as interes Buddy read with Alexa! All in hope of drastic improvements that could make the series as interesting as I hoped it would be from the beginning.
But in the end, I was disappointed, and I simply have no patience left. My irritation with Fitz grew by the page, and at this point he is very near to becoming my least favourite protagonist ever. He goes around whining about everything and everyone, and refuses to do anything about it. When I started reading this series, I expected an intriguing tale of an assassin and his exploits.
If Fitz even deserves to be called an assassin, he must be the most useless one in the fantasy genre. He only attempted one actual assassination throughout the entire book, which did not even come close to succeeding. The other characters are not much better. One of them did not appear in this book at all, the other was absent for large parts of it.
The rest of the characters did nothing but frustrate me one way or another. I need to talk about one more character though. Regal Farseer is doubtlessly among the worst villains I have ever read about in fantasy. While there are many antagonists motivated solely by a lust for power, Regal stands out among them. So he turns into a madman for no apparent reason, and becomes a paranoid idiot who believes that everyone just wants to take from him what he rightfully deserves.
Then there is the matter of the constant failures of the protagonists. Like I wrote in one of my status updates, the entire book and trilogy is about failure after failure after failure. You can see each one coming long before it happens, rendering the book amazingly predictable, and every time Fitz managed a miraculous escape, mostly through sheer luck.
Furthermore, the ending was not satisfying at all. First, it felt rushed. The entire trilogy was concluded and in the space of two short chapters at the very end of the book. Too much was squeezed into that small space, which is almost ironic considering that there were long parts in the middle of the book in which nothing happened at all. To summarise all that in one short sentence, I was not happy with this book at all.
There was so very little that caught my interest that it became a very difficult book to get through. To be fair, there are a couple of interesting parts introduced in the last third of the book, but the problem was that at that point I was so disillusioned I did not care about any of it. Because of the infamous bad apples again, I am willing to give the works of Robin Hobb another chance. View all 80 comments. Unfortunately, I won't be able to explain myself further without spoilers.
So the book begins with the resurrection of Fitz's human form from Nighteyes. The sequence ends in an emotionally charged battle of words that scatters our heroes onto their own separate paths. The conflict is written incredibly well, with each character having a justifiable perspective. Events proceed as such from this point on: Fitz's situation looks completely inescapable.
However it was more than worth slogging through it for the rest of the book which I really enjoyed. You can say what you want but I adore those two!! Because he is precious and pure and he loved Verity!!!! I have an assignment. An immortal cast out of paradise, Kane is doomed to wander from misadventure to misadventure.
Fitz escapes usually with help from Nighteyes. Fitz meets a young woman who tempts him to sleep with her. But when Fitz is captured twice more, the excitement of the moment is quite dampened by the fact that I'm certain he will find a way out of his situation. All the while, Fitz manages to meet three separate women none of which are Molly who all want to fuck him.
Look, I know Fitz is supposed to be dashing or whatever, but this is overkill. If this weren't enough to make me roll my eyes, all of these women turn out to be insufferable. The second, whose name isn't even important enough for me to remember, is part of a travelling caravan that Fitz briefly joins. He is momentarily tempted by her offer, but eventually declines out of loyalty to Molly. When thwarted, this girl threatens to go to the caravan leader with her suspicions that Fitz is the Farseer Bastard King Regal is searching for.
So to put it plainly, she's a piece of shit. Lastly, we meet Starling, a minstrel who Fitz also encounters in the traveling caravan. My opinion of Starling quickly goes downhill when she first reprimands Fitz over how he treats Molly, then immediately tries to sleep with him. Fitz refuses, and from this point on Starling is nothing but a headache for Fitz.
I mean what the actual fuck??? Am I supposed to like this character? Am I supposed to sympathize with her? At one point, Fitz is in a situation where he can ambush a group of people who absolutely will torture him if they catch him. Starling is horrified by the prospect, suggesting the heroic thing to do would be to issue a challenge to his enemies instead of taking them down unawares. Bitch what do you think this is? By this point, I am so done with this character that I couldn't even feel bad for her.
Needless to say I'd probably strangle her if I were Fitz so kudos to my boy for maintaining his composure in the face of all that nonsense. But please don't think Fitz is an angel here because he isn't. Once, perhaps I could understand. But he literally checks in on them like 10 times, each time being cautioned by Verity that doing so is incredibly dangerous. One of the last things that really bothered me about this last installment is that I still have no idea why the magic systems function the way they do.
I understand how the Wit works. I understand how the Skill works.
But I don't know know why. This is perhaps due to the First Person nature of the story, as Fitz isn't an expert on his abilities either. This lack of understanding becomes super apparent as the finale of the book plays out. Otherwise, Hobb maintains her excellent writing all the way through to the very end of this trilogy. I found the endgame of the two falling in love a bit Upon reading this conclusion, I'm definitely torn.
I'm glad to have finished this trilogy, as it is surely a story worth reading. But after falling in love with Royal Assassin , I was hoping for something a bit more satisfying from Assassin's Quest. As a whole, a good trilogy with a killer middle book. I'm quite excited to move on to the Liveship Traders Trilogy!
View all 18 comments. After the spine-tingling cliff-hanger at the close of the book two, I was fully expecting a cathartic close in this the third and final book in the Farseer trilogy. However, I found myself getting bored with the tiresome -- and seemingly endless -- quest that took far too much of the last half of this some-page finale. Perhaps it was the monotony of the long-haul slough that our hero and his allies endured for plus pages , or even the deus ex machina by way of dragons.
How convenient an After the spine-tingling cliff-hanger at the close of the book two, I was fully expecting a cathartic close in this the third and final book in the Farseer trilogy. How convenient and stereotypical of the genre! Or maybe it was just the deliciously unresolved endings at the close of books one and two that whet my appetite for more. In any event, I have to say that I was a bit disappointed with the close of "Assassin's Quest".
Of course, there are just enough plot-lines left loosely tied -- or is left unraveled -- that I admit that my curiosity is piqued for the second trilogy about the later years of an older FitzChivalry. But I'm more than content to leave that for a future rainy day. View all 7 comments. Sep 01, Samir rated it liked it. It is always a great feeling to start the last book of the trilogy, especially if you loved the previous books. Excitement, curiosity, eagerness, all mixed up in a huge ball of emotions. Not because I was struggling to channe It is always a great feeling to start the last book of the trilogy, especially if you loved the previous books.
If I did, this review would have been a few sentences long and filled with spoilers. Unfortunately, this only means that not many things of importance happened and that was my biggest problem with this book and it affected my rating. I already mentioned the ending of the previous book. That feeling I mentioned in the beginning of this review was depleted as I kept on reading. This felt like I was reading a travel log of a tea enthusiast.
Fitz would travel, gather some herbs in the process, there was a vast description of his surroundings, he would meet some people here and there and then he would make some tea. And almost every woman he met wanted to sleep with him.
This was so boring and it kept me putting this book down a lot and starting something else. The only thing that kept me going was the hope that the pace will pick up and soar even, leaving me catching for my breath as the adrenaline rushed through my body because of the immense action and sadly, it never did. When Fitz finally found Verity nothing groundbreaking happened and I was a bit disappointed.
Before I convey my final thoughts, I have to mention the side characters. Other than the wolf Nighteyes, with whom I fell in love with from the first moment I met him and who will remain as one my favorite fantasy characters ever, I was left with the impression that they are a bunch of assholes.
No matter what Fitz did and no matter how big the sacrifices he had to make to achieve the goals of others, it was never enough for them and they always demanded more of him and made him feel like crap. The grand finale was underwhelming. After enduring the prolonged build up, the ending sequence felt a bit rushed and everything was so anticlimatic and left me apathetic. View all 25 comments. I very rarely give only one star; it feels melodramatic, especially since I gave Royal Assassin five.
But after the quality of the first two books in this trilogy, I was shocked and appalled by this one--and, what's worse, I was bored. In this book, Fitz leaves Buckkeep and all of the other characters we've come to know and love over the first two books. He spends most of the page book hiking across the continent, much of it alone, much of the rest with random throwaway characters who appear I very rarely give only one star; it feels melodramatic, especially since I gave Royal Assassin five. He spends most of the page book hiking across the continent, much of it alone, much of the rest with random throwaway characters who appear for the first time in this book many of whom disappear after a couple chapters and proceed to have no more impact on the plot.
It all feels like filler. When he finally meets up with other major characters, there's more walking, more filler It's hard to put my finger on what went wrong here. It feels as if the author just stopped caring. Even the writing became repetitive. Then there's the end. Hobb leaves all the antagonists that have been wreaking havoc throughout the trilogy to be dealt with in the last 30 pages or so; inevitably, it's rushed.
Not only that, it happens off-screen, in narrative summary. You thought after all this pain you'd actually get to see a final battle with the Red Ships, or Fitz assassinating Regal? The ending itself is decidedly bittersweet, but after this slog I no longer cared about the characters I'd been so emotionally attached to for the first two books, so it didn't really bother me. I've tried to find some redeeming quality here, but honestly thought the book was hideous, and it definitely brings down my opinion of the trilogy.
It's a shame because the first two books were so good View all 10 comments. This was dramatically longer than both previous books yet Horribly written female characters why does Hobb keep doing this!? A messy review for a messy book. Buddy read with Markus I have a lot of friends who love Hobb's series, so I'm going to assume the problem here is one of compatibility: I tend to like plot driven books, well developed villains, and I don't want a Gary Stu protagonist, but I do want my hero to be heroic.
To win from time to time. It's the main character and I'm following his story, of course I'm going to root for him! Sadly this book followed a pattern I didn't like: Fitz would do som Buddy read with Markus I have a lot of friends who love Hobb's series, so I'm going to assume the problem here is one of compatibility: Fitz would do something wrong, often because he didn't know better. Someone more knowledgeable would scold Fitz for being ignorant, but would not explain stuff.
Since Fitz still doesn't know anything, he'd do something wrong again. This happened at least 5 times during the book, twice Fitz was betrayed, a few times Fitz was just an idiot and did something when he knew better, and some times things simply went wrong. And that was the plot of the book. By the end I was completely tired of everything going wrong again, and again, and again. And Regal, our villain.
I was so confused by him. I kept feeling like I had two very different villains. Sometimes he'd be portrayed as nothing more than a spoiled child turned into a terrible prince; yet sometimes he'd have enough cunning to place spies, foul Fitz's plots and devise strategies. Who's the real Regal then? The cunning evil one? Or the spoiled brat who drinks too much and smokes too much and should by all accounts be too drugged to hatch up any kind of plan? There was a complete mix up in the characterization here that made my head hurt more than once.
And then we get a completely disappointing ending. We don't even get to see the battle, it's narrated in an almost offhanded way. Like the threat from the Red Ships was nothing more than a red herring. A plot device conveniently set to get the plot moving, but of no consequence after all. Sadly, I can't say I liked this book and I don't think I'll be reading anything else in the series. View all 12 comments. Frodo, Harry Potter etc. The final volume of The Farseer Trilogy — hurrah! I love reading final volumes of trilogies, it is an accomplishment of sorts that no one but you cares about and it also gives you a sense of closure.
Of course, the series continue with new trilogies, but there is no cliffhanger to spoil your day. Assassin's Quest of course, moves right along from the ending of Royal Assassin where our hero Fitz was apparently beaten and tortured to death by the dastardly Prince Regal. Of course having much more protagonistic work to do he did not die but stuffed his soul into Nighteyes the wolf to be downloaded and restored into his body when the bad guys are not around.
The plot sounds silly when I recount it but it actually is a damn fine story with oodles of plots, intrigue, excitement, characters and emo bits. This helps to boost the believability of the series' universe for me. I am not a big fan of spells and incantations in epic fantasy, they just seem too Cinderella for my taste. Having said that things become much much more magical toward the end of the book but by then I was already so deep into the book I did not really care.
There is an elegance to Ms. However, she is also adept at depicting some very badass fight scenes. The characters are skillfully developed and quite vivid. The Fool continues to be the most unique and interesting characters in the series, though he is much less enigmatic here than he was in previous volumes. Nighteyes the wolf is much improved from his appearances in the first two books when he was basically just an annoying pup.
In Assassin's Quest he is clever, resourceful, loyal and generally very lovable. My only gripe with the characterization is the central character FitzChivalry. For practically the entire book he makes the same mistakes over and over and complains incessantly. Still, Assassin's Quest is a damn good read, mostly well paced and has a rousing climax. If you are looking for a fantasy series to read do pick up the first volume Assassin's Apprentice which Amazon has kindly made available at a very low price to entrap you into Hobb addiction, it kinda works.
I am not sure I am on board for the subsequent trilogies of this series, they require a lot of time commitment and I feel the first trilogy is nice and complete by itself. Fitz should just acquire a comfy chair, kick back, smoke a pipe and start a stamp collection or something. The Stone Dragon scene by John Howe click to embiggen. View all 15 comments. He shall thirst for the blood of his own kin, and his thirst shall go unslaked.
The Catalyst shall hunger for a hearth and children in vain, for his children shall be another's and another's child his own. For such a massive book there didn't seem to be a lot happening. We follow Fitz as he attempts to find himself after dying and being reborn after living as a wolf. It begins very interesting, but soon began to drag He shall thirst for the blood of his own kin, and his thirst shall go unslaked. It begins very interesting, but soon began to drag as each day becomes seemingly mundane details of Fitz' travels, including the smells he encounters and the animals he hunts.
I found myself engrossed, unable to put it down. And books that capture my attention that completely are usually 5 stars. However I can't forgive that slow beginning and middle, so we shall settle for a 4. The only dream I had after that was of a lone wolf, running, endlessly running. He was as alone as I was. Fitz is still Fitz. While he is not my favorite character in this series mainly due to his whiny and dramatic nature, I really enjoy how well established every character is, despite my feelings towards them.
Take the villain, Regal. I can see why he is the way he is. My favorite characters seem to change from book to book, as I learn more about each one. There was also a number of twists that I did not see coming, but the main thing that kept me riveted was learning about the history of the Six Duchies, the Elderlings and the various forms of magic including Skilling and the Wit. There is an amazing world created in these books and I just love to explore it. For the most part. Cross posted at Kaora's Corner.
What annoyed me most about this book is that it has so much potential to have been good, if only the author have made it half its size and ended it well. World building and Writing In the previous books I really enjoyed this parts of the book but here Miss Hobb ruined that, the world building is still okay but the unneccessary explicit descriptions of things that are not important made it boring and annoying, not to mention the internal monologue, it was so frustrating, the dialogues were still great but was very few. Characters My favourite is still FitzChilvary, his life is just filled with sacrifice, misery and trauma.
He was almost never happy, Nighteyes and The Fool tried but he is so depressesd, its a wonder he is not even suicidal, okay he is a bit, His family are the worst ever, it still surprises how he still moves on with his life, well he is stronger than a lot of people and he also has a big heart. Verity disappointed me here, he asked too mich of Fitz, I know he loves him and all but it still doesn't change the fact, I know he'll do the same himself, but he has a choice and Fitz doesn't, I hate when he doesn't give Fitz a chance to choose.
Same goes for Kettricken, Chade and Burrick, how could they do that to him. Molly don't deserve Fitz, I know he kept secrets and all but when he told her in the previous book, she believed he was lying, she even still thinks he lied to her despite all that has happened and the secret she kept from him, she choose for him just like the others. Starling tried but just like the Fool said she did it for a song and position, I like that they became friends but the foundation was rocky. Only the Fool and Nighteyes were there for him, and never asked too much of him, they instead sacrificed for him which is the true meaning of friendship.
Plot The book started just where Royal Assassin ended, with Fitz trying to adjust to his life after the ordeal, those first few pages were amazing then everything went downhill, it was like Miss Hobb wanted to torture us, all that happened for the next or so pages was Fitz travelling with Nighteyes and for the most part alone and brooding and trying not to get himself killed, all the females he met suddenly want to have sex with him, I kid you not. I know Fitz is handsome and all but he admitted that after that ordeal in the previous book and him been just on a meat diet he looled like crap, sometimes people thought he was a begger, so how is it that they still want to have sex with him?
After that annoying section of the book with just Fitz and his thoughts, he finally had company, The Fool changed things for the better and other fun characters too, but that again was ruined by Miss Hobb with that horrendous ending, I refuse to accept that as the ending to this series, things worked out for everyone except Fitz, would it have killed her to make him a tiny bit happy? To make matters worse, everyone was happy at his expense, his sacrifice made it worthwhile and it hurts that none of them even thought of him, Am sure none will do that for him, they just kept taking from him without thinking of what he was loosing.
This book has to drop one star because, although as beautifully written as ever, so much time is spent on the looooooooooong search for Verity. Even I was starting to get exasperated with the lack of action and I am a devoted Hobb fan. This trilogy was a re read and I was far more impressed this time than when I first read it. Having read the tawny man, liveship and rain wild series already, it amazes me that Hobb had such a full and detailed picture of the world she was building. She lays the fo This book has to drop one star because, although as beautifully written as ever, so much time is spent on the looooooooooong search for Verity.
She lays the foundations for all the future books in this first trilogy. Fitz is my main squeeze when it comes to heroes of epic fantasy. Nobody does the first person POV like Hobb. View all 11 comments. Time progresses and once Fitz realises that death has released him from his bond to the late King Shrewd, Fitz decides that for once he is going to do something that he has longed to do — something that I have myself longed for him to do — and that is to play the part of the Royal Assassin and dial up regicide and reap bloody vengeance on the self proclaimed, King Regal.
Fitz finds that no matter what he wants to do he is compelled to seek out Verity, wherever he may be Verity gave him the command, but not the location — and yes, sounds mad but he does have his reasons for being vague. And boy does he travel. He also manages to make it into Jhaampe where he is then reunited with his Queen, Kettricken, and the irrepressibly lovable Fool. Fitz even comes across his very own yellow brick road the road that Skill built and Sculptures by the Sea the forest of the Elderlings.
There are just so many great characters here on display whether it be the Fool or Fitz or Chade or Molly or Burrich or Nighteyes… you get the picture. There are two characters I would like to say a few words about — one that seems to be much maligned, the other much loved. Molly absolutely loved Fitz and wanted a life together with him. Their relationship was definitely a victim of circumstance. I also absolutely felt for Fitz when he found out that he had a daughter and that the only way he could ever see her was through his wayward dreaming via the Skill.
Whatever the actual gender of our albino-turned-amber prophet, the Fool in this novel gets a lot more screen time with more background details released on life before meeting up with our beloved Fitzy-Fitz. The Fool is one character that has it all — wit, pathos, a wicked sense of honour and a kind and benevolent soul. Definitely a remarkable and memorable character. The ending seems to also have divided popular opinion as well with the book practically being wound up in the very last chapter. Circles and circles, as the Fool once told me. The Outislanders raided our shore, so King Wisdom brought the Elderlings to drive them back.
Intrigue, secrecy, espionage, mystery, shadows, corruption—dark ideas and themes permeate the Assassin Fantasy sub-genre. The world these stories take place in are not happy ones. Indeed, the grey morality of an assassin is incredibly useful in these worlds. Assassins have a unique ability to blend into the shadows and yet, they shape nations. While assassins have been around for centuries, it is only recently that this sub-genre of fiction has become popular—books, video games, movies, comics and more.
Magic may be a part of the world, or not. The assassin may be a magic user, or may hunt down magic users. Some stories focus more on character and therefore skip over wider social commentary. Others will expend much effort in discussions of morality and politics. Assassin Fantasy stories are character driven, so a well developed protagonist is key. Assassins are captivating characters who are not perfect, they have flaws. There are some common types of assassins, which can be typecasting and lead to simple characters, but also has a lot of potential for development.
Expect the stories to be intense with plenty of action. Twists and reveals that complicate the plot are also common to the plots of Assassin stories. When the profession of a story's protagonist is killing people, violence is going to be a big component of the narrative. Urban and Assassin Fantasy share a gritty atmosphere and are natural complements. Both sub-genres share several common features: Violence-check, excitement-check, romance-check, character driven-check.
Assassins are often key players in Epic Fantasy, so while these sweeping stories may not focus on singular characters, assassins still play pivotal roles. If you don't like stories that center on people who kill other people, no matter the reason. This is a straightforward sub-genre, if you won't like it you probably know so already..