“An enthralling conclusion to this superb trilogy, displaying an exceptional combination of originality, magic, adventure, character, and drama.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)King Shrewd is dead at the hands of his son Regal. As is Fitz—or so his enemies and friends believe. But with the help of his allies and his beast magic, he emerges from the grave, deeply scarred in body and soul. The … in body and soul. The kingdom also teeters toward ruin: Regal has plundered and abandoned the capital, while the rightful heir, Prince Verity, is lost to his mad quest—perhaps to death. Only Verity’s return—or the heir his princess carries—can save the Six Duchies.
But Fitz will not wait. Driven by loss and bitter memories, he undertakes a quest: to kill Regal. The journey casts him into deep waters, as he discovers wild currents of magic within him—currents that will either drown him or make him something more than he was.
Praise for Robin Hobb and Assassin’s Quest
“Fantasy as it ought to be written . . . Robin Hobb’s books are diamonds in a sea of zircons.”—George R. R. Martin
“Superbly written, wholly satisfying, unforgettable: better than any fantasy trilogy in print—including mine!”—Melanie Rawn
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Robin Hobb’s Assassin’s Quest marks the end of what has become one of my favorite fantasy trilogies.
The story picks up where the second book, Royal Assassin, left off. The king is dead, slain by treachery. Fitz is thought to be dead too, and he’s broken again, this time in mind as much as body. (Hobb is rather fond of battering her protagonist.) After a long convalescence, Fitz sets out to avenge the king and find his true heir.
But the pacing remains slow, with a clear goal and some of the strongest fantasy elements (dragons and prophecies) only coming in now, in the third book. And the ending is less climactic than I expected: the final confrontations with the marauding Red Ship raiders and the king’s killer are both resolved in a few pages. Most of the story—more than usual—is about the journey to the solution rather than its application. There’s no glory for Fitz either. He’s not actually much of an assassin, but he still prefers working in the shadows, acting as an unrecognized catalyst. I also could have done with one fewer instance of Fitz being captured by and then escaping from his enemies.
Worse, the balance between showing versus telling occasionally feels off. Hobb is brilliant at demonstrating how Fitz experiences the Wit (telepathy with animals) and the Skill (telepathy with humans). But each chapter begins with a note written after the fact by Fitz, mini-information dumps that either expand on a key mechanic or summarize events happening elsewhere at the time of the narrative. Often this works as an efficient way to convey necessary-but-tedious details. But occasionally the format feels repetitive and forced, as if Hobb wrote one of these mini-essays simply because she’d locked herself into doing so. And in the least-satisfying instances, some of the series’ great mysteries are resolved in this brisk manner.
So why do I like the books so much? Because, despite everything I mentioned above, the story sings for me. The writing is beautiful, and Fitz and his wolf Nighteyes headline a cast of memorable characters. Thank goodness Hobb wrote other novels in this world. I’ll be back to read them, flaws and all.
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Rating: ½
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Finally, I completed the first Robin Hobb trilogy. My relationship with the three books I have read for the author is mixed with admiration and frustration. It is like and hate relationship I’m having with this trilogy. Sometimes I feel like I’m almost liking it. Many other times I feel I am not enjoying what I am reading and that it is a waste of time.
In the first book, Fitz is a child and his actions cannot be much criticized. When he becomes young the reader still can tolerate and ignore some of his idiocy. But now he is a man and he is still as dumb as a 10-year-old kid. In fact, even a 10-year-old kid can be smarter than him. Why? Why would an author dumb down the main character in such a way? For convenience? To make the story easier to write? Only Robin Hobb can answer this.
What is really upsetting here is that this fantasy was written by a female author and yet none of her female characters were strong enough to admire or love. Yes, I know both Patience and Kettricken had their moments. But as I’m terming them here, they were just moments. The new female characters introduced in this third book had no major purpose other than being love interests. There are many fantasies out there written by male authors who give their female characters such important roles. I don’t see anybody criticizing Robin Hobb about it.
This book is 838 pages long yet it goes on and on about things that are not important. The repetition in it is so frustrating. Hardly anything of importance happens besides the main character feeling sorry for himself or for others. And what annoys me the most is that NOTHING good ever happens to the main character. Absolutely nothing. Whenever there is a hope that things will turn around to the bright side something awful happens and the character goes into the same whining mood again! I don’t like this method of manipulation that the author is using. She wants to win the reader by manipulating his emotions to feel sorry for the main character. Yes, books do manipulate your emotions but when it is overdone it becomes irritating. Hobb has obviously succeeded in her approach with a wide group of readers who worship her writing and storytelling style. I feel now when her fans say that the series “will get better” they might mean the manipulation degree will be even more! Which means more misery to the main characters! This is not the kind of entertainment I am seeking. So I’m not going to believe this hype.
For a book this size, you’d think it will have at least a strong finale. But no, the ending is AWFUL. It felt like an editor decided to cut a big portion of the ending. It is like you are still in the middle of the book and suddenly you are given “And they lived happily ever after”. But of course, there is no “happy” word in this trilogy. It has to be miserable and sad to win your emotions. That was the author’s intention right from page one of book one. I feel this is her main weapon to win readers. In short, what I want to say about the dumb ending is that the author has wasted pages and pages repeating the character’s whining and feeling miserable and sorry for himself but when she reached the end she did not even bother to make a decent ending to this tale! I don’t want to mention any spoilers here but if you read the book you will get what I mean.
Like the previous book, the only saving grace of it is the relationship between the wolf and Fitz. I feel that was the main highlight for me in this story. Am I upset that I have read this trilogy? Nope. I’m still glad that I tried it. Yes, it was not a pleasant experience but at least now I know that Robin Hobb is not my kind of author when it comes to epic fantasy. She taught me how much I hate first-person narration when used in epic fantasy because this means there will hardly be any world-building as you look at that world through the narrow eyes of one character only.
PS. This book should have been named “Come to Me”. I kept rolling my eyes every time that line came up. And believe me, it comes up a lot!
I’ve read many of the books by Hobb that bring back favorite characters. It’s of the sort that you don’t want the characters to go as you close the book. Good story, great characters and setting. I’ll read these again, no doubt.
I loved it!
I only read the last three books of this series, but loved the characters, story and wish there would be more about little Bee’s life