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 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.
This is probably going to be a weird review here (at least it feels weird to start it!), and potentially quite a short one.
Which is ironic, for the longest book in a trilogy. ASSASSIN’S QUEST has about 180 pages over ROYAL ASSASSIN, I think. It’s a massive fantasy novel. A chonker. A heckin’ lorge boi. It’s like 880 pages, or thereabouts. And I gotta be brutally honest here, I think this book could have been (at the bare minimum) 200 pages shorter.
Let me back up a bit though.
I’ve talked at length in my reviews for the first two books of the FARSEER TRILOGY about how many years I spent wanting to read Robin Hobb’s books. And I loved those first two books, hard. I also became a huge fan of the ongoing comic adaptation of ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE.
And none of that has changed, really. I have every intention of carrying on with the books in the REALM OF THE ELDERLINGS. I’m especially excited to start SHIP OF MAGIC, the first book in the LIVESHIP TRADERS trilogy.
And it’s worth mentioning (and if you keep up with my reviews, you’ll know this about me), I have no issues with a slower-paced fantasy novel. Some of my very favorites would fall into that category. But ASSASSIN’S QUEST really, really challenged me in this regard. I feel glib even saying this, but it almost felt like…nothing much really happened for about 400 pages of this book.
I hope it goes without saying, but for sure there is some great stuff buried in this book. There was actually a moment on the audiobook that brought me to tears (always fun when you’re driving!) And of course, I’ll always love these characters, and the different relationships in these books.
Fitz & Burrich especially will always be closest to my heart, and oof…their friendship is pushed to the limit in this one. And then there’s the unbelievable bond that Fitz has formed with the wolf, Nighteyes. I know Nighteyes is a fan favorite for a lot of people, and he gets so much to do in this one. If you’re a big Nighteyes fan, this is your book!
The beginning of the book was actually kind of amazing? The more I think on it. Like, after the way ROYAL ASSASSIN ended…Hobb really nails the opening of this one. And so then we find Fitz quite some distance away from Buckkeep, and from everyone and everything he’s come to know. It’s time to put things right, and Fitz holds tight to feeling vengeful & plotting against Regal.
But then we just…spin our wheels for so fucking long. Fitz meets some new characters, begins a plodding, haphazard journey back to Buckkeep, and either shaves or contemplates shaving his beard maybe 15-20 times. I don’t know, I blacked out a little maybe. It’s just such an incredibly slow pace, for such a long portion of the book.
And so while there are some massive reveals & payoffs that I can only imagine have a lingering impact on the rest of the entire ROTE series…the process of getting there just felt so taxing to me.
Also, the complete lack of Patience in this book, and a pretty diminished role for Kettricken hurt this one dramatically.
Obviously, my least favorite of the trilogy, and a disappointing way to end something that’s been really special to me. I can’t help but feel like the first-person POV ultimately contributed to the tedious feeling of this…like yes, Fitz can (and does) use the Skill to reach out to other & see what some other folks see. But the length of this trilogy (and especially this book) is pretty wild to only be stuck in one character’s head. Ugh.
A bummer overall, but still really looking forward to carrying on with Hobb’s work!
Grimdark Dad 