Assassin’s Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy #1)

I read on the average of about 125-150 books a year. Most of them in the fantasy genre. I’m a 48 – year-old woman, so I’ve put away tons of books in my time. This fantasy series is in my top 3 most enjoyable and engaging epic fantasy reads of all time. The characters of Fitzchivalry and The Fool are easily some of the most memorable characters of the fantasy genre, ever. As a woman, you may find yourself in love with both – maybe not romantically – but they get in your head and won’t leave. Extremely well-written, well-plotted, suspenseful-yet-pleasant, not all doom-and-gloom but plenty of crises that get resolved in satisfying, creatively written fashion. You’ll find yourself wanting to be a part of this unique, and masterfully developed world. Robin Hobb is a wordsmith extraordinaire, in my humble opinion. Prepare yourself, because once you’ve dug into this first book, you will read the rest voraciously and find yourself feeling bereft when you’ve run out of books to read that are set in this particular fantasy world. They’re all FANTASTIC.

Boy, if I had known that I would lose sleep, call in sick from work, cancel plans with friends and family, and miss appointments all from this book being so good, I think I wouldn’t have bought it.

Who am I kidding, of course I would have.

An exemplary book, filled with memorable, three dimensional characters with an incredible story set in a well imagined world, similar to our own in many ways and yet so different. The main character is very much stuck in his own head, but that’s not a bad thing for the reader. It’s a pleasure reading his thoughts and feelings about being trapped in a place he’ll never truly belong, wielding two powers he doesn’t understand. One power others understand and refuse to teach to the public, one power no one understands and people are burned to death for using it.

Really, really incredible book and not at all what you might expect from the title or the cover. You owe it to yourself to read this book.

Assassins Apprentice is a fantasy book by Robin Hobb, published in 1995. It is the first book in the Farseer Trilogy.

Im on the fence about whether to categorize this book as adult or young adult. The protagonist, Fitz, is a 6-year-old when we first meet him. By storys end, he is in his mid teens. So, by the standard of how old is the main character? it would be young adult, but its vocabulary targets an older audience, so in that sense it reads like an adult book.

When we first meet Fitz, he has very little memory of who he is. In fact, he doesnt even have a name that he can recall. Nothing beyond Boy. An old man presumed to be his grandfather is surrendering him to the care of the royal family. Fitz, you see, is the bastard of the crown prince.

Fitz falls in the care of the stable master, Burrich, after the crown prince abdicates his claim to the throne and abandons them both. We soon discover Fitz has a mental ability to bond with animalsan ability called Witwhich Burrich despises and is afraid of.

As we follow Fitzs life, he leaves Burrichs care and relocates to the palace at the behest of his grandfather, the King. The King has decided the best way to deal with Fitz is to prevent him from becoming a threat to the throne by using him as a royal assassin.

Divulging more of the plot would be bordering on spoiler territory, so I wont. Suffice it to say, that this is a somewhat lengthy (464 pages in this version) introduction to a fantasy world.

For people who like action-packed fantasy, this isnt going to fit the bill. Hobb takes her time developing young Fitzhis sense of isolation and abandonment, his search for belonging, his desire to prove himself worthy of being more than an illegitimate childand I can see where this slow pace might turn off some readers. Its a very character-driven story, and one that will most appeal to readers who have shared Fitzs feelings of not quite fitting in anywhere.

For me, it was very relatable, and I found Fitzs coming of age to be compelling. Hobb proved her writing chops to me whenknowing this was the first in a series and that Fitz was most likely to continue as protagonistI still felt a sense of dread and worry that he wouldnt survive a crucial point of the book.

I was thinking this was going to be a solid 4-star read all the way until the end of the final chapter, which left me teary-eyed, and caused me to elevate the writing to 5 stars, and Robin Hobb to the ranks of my favorite authors.

5 out of 5 stars.

This book started a mild obsession for me. Since reading it, I have devoured the remainder of the series, plus three other series by Ms. Hobb. I am an avid reader of many types of novel, but these have quickly risen to some of my favorites. The character development is not incredibly speedy, but has massive depth. It is not often that a book brings me to genuine tears, or makes me laugh out loud – but these novels do. Some reviewers have said they found the stories slow or tedious – I disagree. The character development is so masterfully done, and the world so vividly brought to life that it sometimes takes my breath away.

Do not read this book! Well do not read it unless you are prepared to forgo housework, cooking, talking to your husband…etc You will be engrossed, swept away, led on and on through treason, intrigue, power and the devotion capable of man and beast. Yes this is Fantasy Fiction, but don’t dismiss it as a lesser form of literature. The use of language, descriptions, powerfully portrayed emotions and detailed characterisations makes this imaginary world come to vivid life…it will also make you download books 2 and 3 of the trilogy almost before you finish book 1. One thing I will say is beware the final chapters…they are in fact the opening chapter of Book 2 and an excerpt from Book 3. I was so swept along that at first I did not realise this and got a bit confused. Enjoy…..you have been warned!

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