The Farseer Trilogy
Assassin's Apprentice
The third book in the Farseer trilogy picks up right where we last left FitzChivalry and boy is he in for a rough go of it in this novel. Fitz is on a journey to find King Verity who is currently being usurped by his brother Regal who has taken on the mantle of kind. Verity had left to find help from an ancient race called the Elderlings because Verity's kingdom is being attacked by Red Raiders and the Elderlings will supposedly be a big help in stopping them. However, since Verity has been gone, everything has really turned out badly for the Six Duchies and so Fitz needs to go get Verity, brink him back, and everything will end happily ever after.
What I liked:
1) The development of Fitz's wolf sidekick, Nighteyes. Nighteyes saves Fitz's rear on a number of occasions and is, all things considered, the all-star of the novel. As a matter of fact, the only quote I marked from the book is a quotes from the wolf. Fitz is explaining to Nighteyes that he HAS to go on a mission and that he just can't leave it alone. Nighteyes responds: I am the same about porcupines.
That might be the only bit of levity in the book.
2) Fitz never learns: I think some people think of Fitz as a character who never grows because he makes the same mistakes over and over again. I think this is actually a product of Hobb writing realistic characters AND that Fitz is an unwilling hero in all of this and his reluctance to fight/assassinate/battle is a results of that unwillingness. I think this is actually one of the most clever things Hobb does, even if she does get some criticism for it.
3) The reveal of the Elderlings at the end of the book is absolutely wonderful. I don't want to give spoilers, but it was something I actually gasped out loud at.
4) Hobb's prose is beautiful. She has built a complex world and now it's her playground. She writes it and you see it and it's not overwrought and it's not written for second graders. It's exactly right.
What I didn't like:
1) The first book in the trilogy was 150,510 words and came in at 448 pages. The second book came in at 254,765 words and 688 pages. This book 326,830 words and 757 pages*. There were so many bits of plot that I thought could have been abbreviate or cut out, especially since a lot of the middle of the book was exactly the same thing (Fitz gets caught and injured, Nighteyes saves him, someone else nurses Fitz back to health). It didn't need to be that long.
2) Hobb is an interesting writer because she writes some female characters really well and just sort of relies on stereotypes for others. Because Fitz cuts ties with his old life in this book, there are lots of new characters and, to be honest, none of the new characters are worth learning about.
But, overall this was a worthy ending to an excellent series. I'm going to go ahead and dive in to the rest of Hobb's work in this extended world. I've already read The Liveship Trilogy and I might do a reread at some point, but I'm going to move on next to the Tawny Man trilogy. I'm super excited about where this goes.
*Data obtained from Reading Length.
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