Fool’s Assassin (Fitz and the Fool #1)

I waited until #3 was released to buy and read the series. I’ve loved the Fitz books, and reread the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies just prior to reading this one. For those who are wondering, yes you should also read the Liveship Traders and Rainwild Chronicles, if only for the full understanding of the main characters. I read the Kindle version of Fool’s Assassin.

FitzChivalry Farseer, bastard grandchild to King Shrewd, is dead (supposedly) and Fitz is doing a good job keeping it that way. Living now as Tom Badgerlock, wife to Molly, and step-father to his biological daughter Nettle, Tom is a country gentleman living out his days in his father’s estate, Withywoods. Years have passed since we last saw Fitz, and this book does a good job of catching us up on who he is today.

Taking place almost completely at Withywoods, it doesn’t have the adventure of most of the other books, but I still found it exciting and compelling to read. My Kindle says I read it in 9 days.

If you are a fan of the prior Farseer books, this is a must read, and I expect the next two to be the same. If you haven’t read the prior Farseer books, go back to Assassin’s Apprentice. You have 12 books to read before this one. You won’t be disappointed, this is Epic Fantasy at its finest.

A few years ago, I discovered Robin Hobb’s books and read every single book I could get my hands on. The Farseer Trilogy and The Tawny Man Trilogy were by far and away my favorite of her books. Fitz and The Fool were an amazing pair – bonded as something more than friends, it was difficult to let them go once the last book had been written. Plus, there was always the question – was the Fool a man or a woman? Obviously, since he wasn’t exactly human, he was neither. So, the better question might be – “Was the Fool the equivalent of what is known as a human male or human woman” as it related to his own race?”

The series ended and Ms. Hobb apparently never saw fit to answer the question. Then, lo and behold, Robin Hobb surprises her fans by bringing back Fitz and the Fool in this latest series – “Fitz and the Fool Trilogy.” So much time had gone by that I didn’t rush to buy the first book. I had moved on to historical romance novels and was not as interested in Fitz and the Fool as I had been at one time in my life. Then, I finally decided to buy this book and read it. Why in the world I didn’t read it when it first came out boggles my mind. I loved it. I was riveted. At the end of the day, I was glad I had waited because now I can immediately jump into Book #2 in this series. Thank you Ms. Hobb for giving your fans more of these two fabulous characters. Plus, we have a new character – a little girl named Bee.

I’ve been reading fantasy and sci-fi for 65 years now, lots of it. I love the creativity and imagination that goes into writing the genre. I read the Tawny Man series a while ago and loved it, loved the characters, loved the mystery, loved the love-hate thing that goes on. But it took me a while to get around to reading the Assassin’s series. I am so glad I did. For me, Fitz is intriguing and almost overwhelmingly frustrating, he makes decisions out of thinking he’s doing what is best for the most but is only seen as selfishness. He does try so hard. Raised to be obedient too so he’s got that Pavlov’s dog response too often. Yet he’s a seasoned and experienced man when he grows up, which made me wonder why he doesn’t do more thinking for himself. Of course, it could just be bad luck which some people have more of than others. I read all the series and all the branches too. The books don’t rely totally on magic either, which I like. I like some magic as a spice but not as the main event. It’s now been a few years since I finished this series and it still comes back to sit in my brain, to make me think about some of the stuff Hobb put forth. I do think, as a woman, it is a particularly good portrayal of so many men–trying to do good but mucking things up by their need to protect those they care about inevitably to make the wrong decision or to stay silent when they should have said something, not finding the guts to articulately express themselves and then running away when things get too harsh at home. I loved this story, this series. Loved the characters. I wish Hobb wrote more books because I’ve read all the ones out, and I wish the stories she wrote under other names would be converted to electronic format so I could read them on my Kindle since my hands are getting arthritic so holding books has become tedious and painful. I’ve read this series 3 times already and want to read it again just to “be there” again but think I need to wait a while longer–like a good wine, sometimes you have to step back and let it breathe for a while before you take a taste.

Fitz feels like an interloper. Molly’s best years are behind her, given to her true love,the father of her half dozen children, Burrich. Fitz lives in Burrich’s shadow as a father, husband, holder. Molly waits years to accept Fitz back into her life fully, after almost immediately welcoming Burrich and producing child after child with him. . The constantly failing, guilt ridden, Fitz, left he scraps of Burrich’s life felt icky to me.

Fitz’s angst, guilt and failure is the one constant of this series and while it was compelling at first, if felt empathy for him, it’s now become tiring.

These books feel more like a tribute to the past, and past characters than a story of the here and now. Please move on with the story!

I bought the first two books in the original Farseer trilogy 5 years ago and I suppose I should have been alerted by the fact that I didn’t read the third one, but I’d forgotten I’d even read them, unfortunately.
Reading as keenly as I do, I have a policy now of abandoning books which fail to capture my attention through action, wit, interesting and empathetic characters, engaging plot/storyline, etc, – etc in other words all the good things that keep us reading and wanting more.
This particular volume holds my personal record for abandonment at 85 pages – I couldn’t face any more after that. Why ?
Well, while Hobb doesn’t assume a lot knowledge on the part of the reader, what she does is make constant, tedious references to the events of earlier stories which for me soon started to have the effect of simply not shifting the story along.
The story itself, by the point I gave up hadn’t really been revealed what with the references I mentioned, the pedantic and rather self-obsessed central character, described by another 1 * reviewer quite accurately as a right old woman (he’s supposed to be an assassin for pity’s sake !), the lengthy conversations about very little held by characters using the ‘Skill’ and the red herrings ( or apparent ones anyway ).
If she’d have simply come up with a new character life would’ve been a lot simpler for everyone instead of picking up on the rather staid and domestic existence Fitz now finds himself living in this drudgery decades after the original work. OMG – the details of the domestic arrangements would drive you to distraction having to wade through them in the vain hope of some action or plot development or unexpected event.
It’s actually incredible to think that an author managed to insert such a variety of boredom into a mere eighty odd pages.
Seriously folks, always read the reviews – I usually find that if 15% + are one or two stars, it’s likely a turkey – this one is !

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