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Even though I’m writing this as a full blog post, the online book community I’ll always associate myself with most closely is Bookstagram. And for just about as long as I’ve been active in that community, I’ve been planning to read Robin Hobb. Some friends of mine on that platform used to have a little collective called The Hobb Squad! I don’t believe they are terribly active with it anymore, but their enthusiasm for Robin Hobb has always stuck with me. And so I built up a pretty decent-sized collection of Hobb books, mainly sourced at used bookstores & library sales. And kept telling myself I’d get started on them.

Someday.

Hopefully soon.

Probably this year, I don’t know. We’ll see.

There’s always so much to read, and the thought of starting such a large (sixteen books!), interconnected fantasy series (I gather the different trilogies and the one quartet can be read in any order, but I’m also savvy enough to know this is NOT the preferred/Hobb Squad method, so I’m doing things the right way, rest assured!) is incredibly daunting.

I think the thing that finally pushed me into starting ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE (the first book in THE FARSEER TRILOGY, and the beginning of the much larger REALM OF THE ELDERLINGS world) was recently finishing THE WISDOM OF CROWDS, the last (for now) book set in Joe Abercrombie’s FIRST LAW world.

I guess I just wanted to start a new adventure, and well…here we are. Thanks for having me, Hobb fans/anyone who has been telling me to read these books for years on end!

This is the story of Fitz, the royal bastard of the king-in-waiting, Chivalry. We meet Fitz at a very young age when he’s unceremoniously dumped at a Farseer’s military base by his maternal grandfather. Fitz is taken in under the protection of King Shrewd, but primarily left in the care of a man named Burrich.

A lot transpires early in this novel (I mean, there is a TON of story here, and I’m only trying to unpack the essentials), including the abdication of Chivalry, who is now no longer in line for the throne (that falls to his two other brothers, Prince Verity and Prince Regal).

But before he peaced out, Burrich was Chivalry’s right-hand-man, and that’s a really important aspect to the story. Because when I finished this book, it was the profoundly complex relationship between Burrich & Fitz that had meant the most to me.

Burrich has been kind of relegated to the role of stableman, taking care of horses & dogs (a role in which he takes a tremendous amount of pride & care). While assisting Burrich (who is undeniably gruff, grumpy, and occasionally way too hard on Fitz), Fitz discovers his ability to form intense bonds with animals. This is something called the Wit, and it’s a source of massive tension between Fitz & Burrich, as Burrich finds the use of the Wit to be unnatural…abominable. Oof…hard to describe the emotional turmoil that flares up from this conflict between Fitz & Burrich.

Fitz is lonely, and it’s his attachment to dogs that sees him through some incredibly difficult times. Fitz’s adoration of the dogs he cares for made him an instant favorite character for me, because DOGS! This might be the most dog-centric fantasy novel I’ve ever read, and I’m extremely here for it.

(I do want to give fair warning here, there are some upsetting scenes with animals dying.)

But the title of this book has the word assassin in it, so I need to of course mentioned Chade. Chade just appears like smoke in Fitz’s life one night, and begins a very long, unorthodox process of training Fitz to be the king’s assassin. It’s much less stabby-stabby-kill-kill-kill & more cerebral/poisiony, and it’s all very morally complex. Chade is a deeply interesting & mysterious character, someone I had a hard time nailing down, as far as his motivations.

Additionally, Fitz is sent to a class to learn the Skill (a form of subtle mind control/manipulation), taught by perhaps the most awful person in this whole book, Galen. Ughhhh fuck this dude. He has it out for Fitz in a big way, and there are some really hard-to-read moments between these two characters.

So…I feel like I’ve spent way more time on plot than I wanted to (something I’m actively working on not doing so much), while managing to say a whole lot of nothing?

This is not a breakneck speed, action-packed fantasy novel. I knew that going in, so there was no surprise in that regard. But I’m not sure I knew just how richly drawn these characters would be. How vibrant & tactile this world would feel…Robin Hobb is an amazing writer & she fully transports you to this world with her words.

Everything here feels so huge & expansive…maybe that’s just the effect of knowing there’s another fifteen novels set in this world, but I think there’s a lot more to it than that! Starting this series has also really got me thinking about the way I approach a series in general, and asking myself a lot of questions about just how long I’d like to spend reading these books. I spread the ten FIRST LAW books over approximately seven years, so maybe I’ll try tackling the entirety of REALM OF THE ELDERLINGS a lot faster! It’s an idea, anyway.

Yeah, ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE was a wonderfully immersive, beautiful & emotional read. I really couldn’t be happier to have started these books!