The Farseer Trilogy
The Liveship Traders Trilogy
The Tawny Many Trilogy
The Rain Wilds Chronicles
Fool's Assassin is the first book in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy, which is the last of the Realm of the Elderlings (ROTE) saga. We last left Fitz as he took on the Tom Badgerlock persona and he moved to Withywoods Manor as Lady Molly's husband and he helped her raise her children. But just as they become empty nesters, there's a baby! But then a messenger comes to Withywoods and mysteriously disappears leaving nothing but blood behind. Molly dies, Fitz is left to (badly) parent Bee, a strange baby and even stranger child. Suddenly Fitz is embroiled in a world he never meant to return to.
I adored older Fitz. He's nostalgic for Nighteyes, Molly, and the Fool, missing them all the time. He's strong and heals quickly, but he gets sore and traveling rough is not for him anymore. More importantly, he has a true understanding of the things that are important and his behavior is reflective of that understanding. It's also interesting to read about his own reflections on his own behaviors from his reckless youth.
But I didn't love all the new characters. Of course there are new characters. We're not at Buckkeep Castle anymore. But so many of them are inexplicably poorly done. Robb is a master of character, but there are three (Shun, FitzVigilant, and Bee) who are just stereotypes of already established character types in the saga. This book also suffers from a serious lack of plot. Not all ROTE books are jam packed with action (Golden Fool, I'm talking about you), but this one seemed to meander and meander as Fitz checked on sheep, repaired the manor, and bought clothes and then *BAM* in the last one hundred pages everything happened all at once. In some ways, that's how life is, right? When it rains, it pours? It seems fitting that Fitz is just living his country manor life, far removed from politics and intrigue, when all of a sudden it falls into his lap. But it doesn't make for the most exciting of reads until you get to all the excitement all at once.
Regardless of any of my nitpicks, the worst of Hobb's books is the best of fantasy. I am so looking forward to reading the next book in the series that I actually requested it from the library before I finished this one. Robin Hobb is a literary genius.
Lines of note:
It was like watching a kitten attack a bull. (page 69)
As you know, I like a good animal analogy.
"Why aren't you with the kind? Where are your guards."
She gave me a look. "I told Dutiful I'd be with you and needed no other guard. He and Chade both agreed."
"Why?"
She stared at me. "Well, among them, you do have a certain reputation as a very competent assassin." (page 126)
Fitz's self-deprecation gets me every time. And Nettle's dry humor here also amuses me.
There are endings. There are beginnings. Sometimes they coincide, with the ending of one thing marking the beginning of another. But sometimes there is simply a long space after an ending, a time when it seems everything has ending and nothing else can ever begin. (page 251)
Is 2020 an ending of how things used to be? Or is it the beginning of a newer, better world?
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