So a little context before I get to the review. I have been aware of Robin Hobb for years and when I mean for years, I mean almost 10 years. I personally felt that I would not like Robin Hobb and I believe for a fact that 18 year old me would not like this series what so ever. 10 years ago I was obsessed with romance books and buying books from the Young Adult section and that any book from Adult fiction would really turn me off. But I have grown and I have found a love of Fantasy books and it has become the main genre I read.
In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.
Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.
So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.
(blurb from Assassin’s Apprentice)
Published: 1995 – 1997
Published Editions: March 2014
Publishers: Harper Voyager
Pages: 1,878
Genre: Fantasy, Fiction,
I was a bit skeptical going into this book knowing very little of the story. You follow a journey of a young boy who was discovered to be the bastard child of Prince Chilvary, with that, this young boy feels and knows that he is not cared for by many people expecially from the Royal family. Years pass and he becomes an apprentice to become the King’s Assassin but through his training he learns a new skill involving a connection he has with animals.
I grew to care for Fitz and felt very connected with his pain over many things he struggles throughout the book but one of the things which kept me intriged was the Skill and the Wit. Both are abilities that Fitz is able to develop throughout the first book and I enjoyed how it wasn’t polished, like there is so much more improvement to see in Royal Assassin. There wasn’t many characters apart from Fitz that I took a liking, it gave a vibe of how cautious the scribe was telling to the reader. I have a hunch over who the Fool is, it was something about him that made me feel that he is integral to what is set to happen.
(7th September 2021)
I honestly didn’t think I can read this book in two days. I am amazed at how quickly I went through it.
This book was soo much better than Assassin’s Apprentice, it felt like we are seeing more of the politcal aspects of the Six Duchies. It felt like Fitz has grown more mature in some aspects but is still acting like a little boy, especially towards Molly and his ambition to marry her. While in the first book I really liked the friendship and while I am a fan of friendship romance but I like how Molly can think for herself but when Fitz is in the room, it makes Fitz a dopey teenager (which technically he is). But I found myself not liking Molly because she is filled with other peoples opinions and doesn’t think to ask Fitz about any of them and bottles it up for herself.
It was quite evident that King Shrewd was dying but I liked how he knew the reality of it in the Skill with Fitz. Speaking of Skill, I love how skillful Fitz is with it but being able to use his Wit and Skill at the same time talking to Nighteyes and Verity was really enjoyable to read.
I already know some spoilers so I am ready.
(11th september 2021)
I honestly didn’t want this book to end, I was enjoying it so much.
This was such a journey to finish the book, at times I didn’t want it to end. Fitz has changed a lot since the end of Royal Assassin, the naieve young boy has evolved and struggles to accept what has happened to him. He wants to be with Molly and move on from the pain that he has experienced being the bastard and assassin to the King, but he knows that his Uncle Regal is targeting him. Fitz then recieves a message through his Skill and it is Verity asking Fitz to find him, throughout the book it shows the determination of Fitz’s loyalty to Verity and seeks to find him.
Fitz feels lost but also suffering with so much internal pain, when Fitz and company finally reach to Verity, and also the dragon he is carving, to see that part of Fitz handing over his emotions to one of the dragons and having it bring it to life was something unexpected. I know that in the future trilogies like The Tawny Man and even The Fitz and the Fool, I know that this would resurface and he would have no other choice but to retrieve his emotions back.
With the final part against Regal was very poor and honestly really dissapointing, I personally wanted these two men to have a confrontation physicaly and not mentally. To see the outcome of Regal become from mean angry man to handing over the right to be kill and dies in the next paragraph was very off hand, very dissapointing.
As a review of the trilogy as a whole, it felt so odd to have the trilogy be all in the perspective of Fitz. It wasn’t a major issue throughout reading but while you are reading in the perspective of Fitz you are missing out on conversations from other characters and also a certain nightly entertainment that could lead to something more to discover in The Tawny Man (I already know).
I have been very intimidated to pick up any of Robin Hobb’s book and I can guarantee that this trilogy it worth reading. I do have set plans to start The LiveShip Traders Trilogy but currently I have started another trilogy that is more important right now, it involves a ring.
Happy Reading xx
DreamingAndReading 