I will rant about this book, there's no doubt in my mind. I'm simply trying to gather my thoughts. Let's try with the first book, "Assassin's Apprentice," shall we?I liked Book I. It was a beginning story, a training story. Young FitzChivalry is the bastard son of King-in-Waiting Chivalry and has to come to terms with a world that doesn't want him. King Shrewd, however, decides to train him as an assassin from an early age, and so begins young Fitz' journey into adulthood and the intrigues of the royal court. Book I works because Fitz is too young to understand half of what he's doing or to give any serious thought to it. He's learning to play a dangerous chess game against opponents who have far more experience, though usually less sense, than him. Therefore, we expect his failures to be on par with his victories, probably to surpass them even.Book II suffers from trying to pull the same stunt twice to an older and more experienced Fitz. We tell ourselves Fitz would have learned from the ordeals in Book I, that he would try to forge his own identity, make his own decisions, be his own man for once. He doesn't. At no time did I feel him grow as a character, rather he was always complaining about how unfair life was to him, about what he wanted to do, never sparing a thought for others except occasionally and briefly. Fitz is always putting his urges, his desires, first, always at the expense of putting other people in danger. An assassin should know better.So, yes, this turns Fitz into a selfish, little brat, but there's still worse to come. I've said it before and I'll say it again: heroes (and their entourage) needn't be stupid for villains to be smart. But this is what happens in Book II. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is dumb beyond the point of credulity, wielding feeble arguments to argue passivity. Of course, this only makes Fitz' character even dumber for going along with it all. Treason is brewing in the royal court and everyone seems to believe inaction is the best remedy. Some even go so far as claiming it's their only choice, a ludicrous thought. Peasants, soldiers, lords, all are easily duped by a web of conspiracy that can be seen from light years away. Not one character makes a sensible choice throughout the length of Book II and the author has utterly failed to convince me about the reasons why.I suppose what angers me the most is how the author manipulates hope to lure the reader in. Hope that Fitz will become his own man, hope that things will turn out okay, hope that somebody will have the sense to kill Regal once and for all and thus put an end to his far-fetched charade. With every turn of page, every chapter that gets consumed by the reader, things take a turn for the worse; each successive title forebodes another dark, depressing chapter, and the reader's hopes slowly, but surely, ebb away. It's an incredibly depressing book, not so much for the plot itself, but because of how unbelievably the characters act. The author seems intent on convincing you that two plus two equals five when you know it to be four.I tried to convince myself Book III would be better. I checked the one-star reviews to prepare for the worst and was not disappointed. Everything I've read points to a long and pointless read that turns productive towards its bittersweet ending that seems more bitter than sweet. There's apparently another trilogy about Fitz' exploits that tries to tie some, if not all, of the plot holes of the Farseer Trilogy, but I presently feel too deceived by this trilogy to entertain the notion of beginning another one, with the same dumb protagonist and written by the same author.Originally, I gave this a two-star rating out of pity, more than anything else, but then "Rule of Two" came to mind. I gave that one a one-star rating on the basis of its incredible -in the true sense of the word- plot, but I think "Royal Assassin" is the first book I've read that not only has a plot that doesn't hold water, of any kind, but it is also way too depressing going about it. At this point in time, I wish I could erase this book from memory, commit it to some deep, dark corner of my mind and leave it there for all eternity.Some time in the distant future I may gather the will to read the end of this trilogy. Or perhaps not. But if there's something Robin Hobb has helped me discover is what kind of fantasy I enjoy and what kind I don't. I've discovered I don't enjoy the kind of fantasy that puts its main character through a constant stream of endless suffering that furthers no plot or character development. Suffering for the sake of suffering itself is pointless. Worse, it's bad writing or, in any event, it makes for bad reading.To close this rather long rant I leave you with this: In my world of reading/writing I praise subtlety over brutality, cunning over stupidity, strong characters that react to circumstance rather than being manipulated by the author's desires. Every writer sets him or herself with an endgame. Some, in trying to organise their way through to it, lose perspective of their characters, wondering more about getting character X to do action Y and less about why character X should do action Y in the first place. I won't say whether this is right or wrong, but I've always valued the latter over the former. So, my advice, for whatever is worth, is this: build strong characters, set your pieces, and only then play the game. Who knows, maybe the game will take you in unforeseeable directions...
Rating- 4.5 I had to think about this rating for awhile. All through this book, I was sure I was going to give it a five. What happened? The ending. Major plot lines were left unresolved. I expect there to be some unanswered questions and unsolved problems at the end. This is the middle book of a trilogy. I'm sure all will be resolved in the third book. However, my quibble is with the importance of the plot lines that were left unresolved. I believe for the most part books should stand on their own with a few minor plots carrying over into the sequel. After reading 675 pages(as in this book), I especially feel this way. It's a good thing it was a very good book, and I already have the final book of the trilogy on my nightstand. I don't have to wait until 2025. Wheww!Review- This book continued the coming-of -age story of Fitz, the bastard grandchild of the King of the Six Duchies and nephew to the King-In-Waiting. The setting is pseudo-medieval. While in book one, Assassin's Apprentice, we watched as Fitz grew from a five year-old boy into a young man, in this book we watch Fitz navigate all that is being a young man; including first love, making more important decisions on his own, the testing of his loyalties, and learning more about how to use his two magics. The one he struggles with, Skilling, is the one revered and passed to him through his royal blood. His other magic, the Wit, comes easily to him , but is thought to be evil, and people are killed in terrible ways if they are discovered having it.Hobb gives us very strong female characters. She gives us Kettricken, a Queen who considers herself "Sacrifice" for her people. She gives us women soldiers who fight right alongside the men. She gives us two additional strong females in Molly and my personal favorite Patience.Hobb gives us great humor through two funny and very original characters. The fool never talks straight, but you can always figure out what he is saying if you pay a little extra attention because he/she (we don't know the gender) uses fun things like homonyms, lists, synonyms, rhymes, repetition, riddles, poems, and songs. If you love playing with words, like I do, you will love the fool.Nighteyeys is a wolf who is able to communicate with Fitz inside his head because they are bonded through the magic of Fitz's Wit. Nighteyes is hilarious because he just pops up with a comment in Fitz's head when Fitz is least expecting him, and because he is a wolf he sees the world very differently than Fitz. Nighteyes is the only one that Fitz feels he can really trust. This royal family has trained him to be an assassin, they use him as their tool and put him in very dangerous situations. Some of these situations we know that he wouldn't have survived without Nighteyes. I can't imagine anyone not loving Nighteyes.Another very important part of Fitz's growth in this book is that he realizes he loves the people of the Kingdom as his own. "These are my people." He will do whatever, use whatever skills he has , to save his people. Because when they hurt, he hurts. Now he has become more than a boy who is fighting for the food, clothing, and shelter he is given.Finally, besides having great characterization, Hobb is just a much better writer in book two. In book one, parts of the plot moved slowly, and that didn't happen in this book. I did not like the amount of review of book one that she did, but maybe I would have appreciated it if I had read the books further apart.I strongly recommend this series, The Farseer trilogy, to all fantasy lovers. Because the characterization is strong and the magic system does not get complicated but is still interesting, I think this is a great book for people who haven't read a lot of fantasy (not excluding those that have). I also enjoy that it's a break from fantasies on an epic scale where kingdoms are conquered, and that this series focuses on a boy and eventually his wolf. And it's great.
What do You think about Royal Assassin (1997)?
I GIVE NOT 1, NOT 2, BUT INFINITY NUMBER OF STARS.Oh, the plot is clever, cleverer and cleverest!I will happily pretend that I inhaled some of that Smoke from King Shrewd's room and forget all about that one Molly and 'wit' disturbing moment (those that have read the book know what I'm talking about yes?). Let's just say that I did not close my book and take a break from what had just surpassed between them. Let's be honest, because ROBIN HOBB YOU PUT ME IN A TRANCE WITH THIS PERFECTION OF A NOVEL.
—Narmeen Hyder
This trilogy probably constitutes one of the better bildungsroman examples in fantasy. The saga of FitzChivalry Farseer is a remarkable one, no doubt. Sitting down to write this review, I find myself at a loss for words. If I were to list all the reasons why I enjoy these novels, I would be revealing any number of spoilers. I will say this: despite its veneer of simplicity, this novel is actually quite complex. Great care is taken with the characters, and while the plot is certainly exciting at times it isn’t exactly action packed or fast paced. If you don’t like intrigue in any form, you should probably steer clear of this, since most of the story is taken up by conspiracy, treachery and deception. There are some welcome breaks, which comprise a few excellently written action sequences. The writing is very good and suits the story quite well. If there was anything I wanted to complain about it would be with the time it took me to finish this. It could, perhaps, have been a tad shorter. Oh, and the leading characters seem to suffer from incredible lack of foresight. Anybody who has read this will know what I mean. This chafed at me a bit, but the climax of the novel more than made up for any shortcomings.Yes, it is a bit of a cliff-hanger. And, yes, if you read this you will be compelled to read the final instalment in this trilogy. But, after all, why not?WE ARE PACK!
—Dirk Grobbelaar
[3.5 Stars] I am so conflicted about this book. I loved the beginning and the end of this book, but the middle was really flat for me. I think when you sit down and look at the details of this book like the writing, the character development, the subtle things Robin Hobb does in each chapter to really bring this story to life it is really phenomenal. When you step back and look at this book as a whole, however, I think it is overall too long, repetitive, anti-climatic, and almost like a filler book. I found that I was getting really frustrated at the characters in this book and certain things that happened or wouldn't happen were almost like plot devices. The entire problem this story is trying to tackle could have been easily avoided if one character had done one thing, but this character didn't and it really frustrates me that this kind of plot device propelled the entire 650 page book. Overall, I still adore Robin Hobb's writing and her intricate character development, but I didn't like it as much as I enjoyed the Assassin's Apprentice. I would recommend this trilogy to those of you who want to read a slower, intricate, heavily character focused fantasy book.
—Sanaa
