The Farseer Trilogy
The Liveship Traders Trilogy
Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb is the first book in the Tawny Man trilogy and the seventh book in The Realm of the Elderlings epic world. You could skip the Liveship Traders trilogy, but if you didn't read The Farseer trilogy, this novel would be hard to follow.
This book picks up fifteen years after the ending of Assassin's Quest. Fitz has settled comfortably into a cottage on the banks of a stream with a foundling boy he has taken under his care, Hap. Starling the minstrel occasionally visits him. He and Nighteyes, the wolf he is bonded to, are growing older and are ready to live the rest of their lives peacefully feeding chickens, thatching the roof, and tending to the garden. Fitz goes by the name Tom Badgerlock and no one ever mistakes him for the bastard son of an estranged Farseer prince.
But, as it happens, Fitz's old mentor Chade comes to visit him and it sets off a series of unfortunate events. Fitz is forced to go on a mission to find the wayward Prince Dutiful who has either been kidnapped or run away from home. Fitz and Nighteyes are not in the prime conditions of their lives and we see as the journey slowly breaks them down.
This is not a book with a lot of levity. Much like Assassin's Quest, the only real levity comes from our wolf friend, Nighteyes.
Hap is speaking:
"It isn't that I don't like it here with you and Nighteyes. It's just that..." He floundered for a moment. "Have you ever felt as if you could actually feel time flowing away from you? As if life were passing you by and you were caught in a backwater with the dead fish and old sticks?"
You can be the dead fish. I'll be the old stick. [This is a thought Nighteyes has.] (pages 214-215)
I audibly chuckled.
This is really a story about a man and his wolf, though. Yes, of course we have to rescue Prince Dutiful and we have to bridge from Fitz living a crofter's life to being back at Buckkeep Castle, but at its heart, this novel is about how we treat our pets as they get older and how we deal with the emotional backlash. Fitz and Nighteyes have the type of relationship you would expect from a couple that had been together for a couple of decades and that relationship is heartwarming and, in the end, devastating.
Since I read this book in July 2020, I think it cut closer to home than I would have expected. I rely so much on Zelda the Cat and Hannah the Dog to get through my days. The excitement that Hannah shows by prancing and jumping around when we first come down and say good morning, the purrs and cuddles that Zelda shares with me when I sit on the couch for my hour of television watching in the evening, and the day-to-day joy of having pets when there's not much else in the way of joy is something I do not underestimate. May Hannah and Zelda live long lives.
I don't think Hobb's writing is for everyone. It took over 200 pages for us to leave Tom's cottage and another 100 before we figured out what our real mission was. That's not for everyone. But if you're content to sit back and watch the world and the characters develop, the plot will eventually come. It's definitely not a plot-driven series, but I like the world of the Six Duchies and I like Fitz, Nighteyes, Chade, and the Fool, although I think Prince Dutiful is a little snot. It's a comforting place to be. And I'll take all the comfort I can these days.
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