Fool’s Errand (The Tawny Man #1)

Fool\’s Errand is good story with excellent characters. The author handles the first person narrative deftly. This is my first Robin Hobb book, so the many references to other characters and stories upon which this series was based were unfamiliar to me, but none of them were crucial to enjoying the story. The author has a nice balance between character study, plot, action and humor. Most of the funniest lines come from the wolf, and I thought the narrator did a great job voicing Night Eyes. Despite being the first book in a series, the book had a good finish which won\’t leave you feeling the book just stops so you need to buy the next one. It felt a bit slow at the beginning, but I feel like that was important to the main character\’s arc. This is a well written book which held my interest, and I will definitely be listening to more Robin Hobb in the future.

In this first book of the second trilogy of the Farseer saga, we walk into the self-imposed exiled life of FitzChilvary who is now known as Tom Badgerlock. He dreams of his Molly who is now happily married to another. He wonders where his beloved Fool is. And he has all but cut ties with the throne of Six Duchies and his mentor Chade. His wit bond wolf, Night Eyes, is still with him as is his adopted son, Hap. But he is never completely free of being needed by the monarchy and after fifteen years of a solitary life, his former life begins to encroach and he once again becomes the Catalyst. Hobb carries us back into some details of the first trilogy and develops Fitz more. She also brings with it a new character – Prince Dutiful. She continues to carry us deeper into the magic of the Six Duchies and we are drawn back in much as Fitz is. As we are carried away into the newest plot to bring down the Farseer reign we once again become engrossed into the Six Duchies and its magic. Hobb is an excellent story teller and we cannot help but love her characters. There are some exceptionally touching scenes and much emotion is stirred up within us because she develops the characters to the point where we become them. Toward the end of this book I was in an airport and I texted my husband and wrote, \”There are few things so embarrassing as to be in tears in an airport.\” The end of this book will bring you to these levels of emotion and the next thing you want to do is move right into the next book to see what happens next. James Langton is an excellent narrator, but you do you have to get used to the Irish accent of Chade and the mispronunciation of some of the names of the characters. But these are small concessions to an otherwise good performance and excellent book.

When I discovered that the Tawny Man Trilogy was finally coming (back) to audio form, I was ecstatic and purchased Fool\’s Errand as soon as it was released here on Audible. If you enjoyed the Farseer Trilogy, this one is not to be missed. The reader is different from that of the Farseer trilogy, but still pulls off a magnificent performance. He does pronounce a few names differently from Paul Boehmer (most notably Burrich and Kettricken) and he gives Nighteyes a gruffy, wolfy sort of voice that is very unlike Paul\’s reading of him, but I found that I got used to these changes without much trouble.

Just flows perfectly!!! Hard to stop listening!! One part made me bawl like a baby, knew it had to come, but love and hated at the same time!!!! Can\’t wait for book 2!!!

1. Like slow paced stories with lyrical language. 2. Be a fan of the series. I picked this up as part of a 2 for 1 sale. It was my first Robin Hobb book. I plowed through to the end but felt like I was missing a large part of the story. While Hobb does provide plenty of background, it was clear to me early on that I really needed to have read the other books in the series to fully enjoy this one. One last note if you like your action hot and fast, go to another book. This story has some action, but it\’s strength is the language itself. If you have a love of words start at the beginning of the series and enjoy.

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