Book 2), Royal Assassin (The Farseer Trilogy

Overall the story is a page turner that will have you staying up all night to read. Characters have a good depth to them; with 5 or 6 with very realistic personalities that will stick with you throughout the story. The bad guy is a perfect example of a villain that will have you turning page after page to see his demise.

On the other hand this story introduces staggering amount of problems with no resolutions. The ending is one of the most wretched i have yet to encounter in a trilogy; basically the worse form of a "to be continued".

The characters have all these amazing powers that develop through the story (char development, key to all great fantasy books), also trained as a assassin. All of the "good" chars are supposely the to be fear types that are capable of great feats. Yet the "good" characters are completely impotent in using any of there abilities. The entire story is about them running around and avoiding confrontation for 400+ pages... Its like a story of complete wimps, the frustration you feel while reading is almost unbearable, many times i thought of putting down the book and picking another author...

I finally get to last chapters, and there is no END!!!! Just bigger issues are introduced and advertisement for buying the next book. If you do make the plunge and purchase this book, be sure to buy the third at the same time...

Then ending was so upsetting, i trudged out of my room, downstairs, booted up the ol' puter to write this review...

I'm no literary critic but I know what I like and I like Robin Hobb's writing style enough that I've read six books. Plots aren't necessarily a strong point but character development is wonderful. A writer that begs to be read.

This was a great book but the first one was better. I didn't feel as attached to fitz. There should have been more emotion showed by fitz. Overall this book was great and Leone from sleeping many nights.

As with the first book, everyone is stupid when the plot demands it; even more so, which I didn't think was possible. This book seems to follow the TV drama rule of: If a major misunderstanding could be cleared up with a single conversation, then for Pete's sake, keep your mouth shut!

Things drag and drag. Any sense of urgency is killed by the endless repetition of monotonous daily life, the repetition of things that happened in the last book, and the repetition of things that the reader already knows.

And look, I'm all for making the Protagonist suffer a bit, but ye gods!

In the end, when I realized I was barely halfway through and the slog had just become too much, I skimmed the end and just read spoilers for the third book.

Overall the story is a page turner that will have you staying up all night to read. Characters have a good depth to them; with 5 or 6 with very realistic personalities that will stick with you throughout the story. The bad guy is a perfect example of a villain that will have you turning page after page to see his demise.

On the other hand this story introduces staggering amount of problems with no resolutions. The ending is one of the most wretched i have yet to encounter in a trilogy; basically the worse form of a "to be continued".

The characters have all these amazing powers that develop through the story (char development, key to all great fantasy books), also trained as a assassin. All of the "good" chars are supposely the to be fear types that are capable of great feats. Yet the "good" characters are completely impotent in using any of there abilities. The entire story is about them running around and avoiding confrontation for 400+ pages... Its like a story of complete wimps, the frustration you feel while reading is almost unbearable, many times i thought of putting down the book and picking another author...

I finally get to last chapters, and there is no END!!!! Just bigger issues are introduced and advertisement for buying the next book. If you do make the plunge and purchase this book, be sure to buy the third at the same time...

Then ending was so upsetting, i trudged out of my room, downstairs, booted up the ol' puter to write this review...

I'm no literary critic but I know what I like and I like Robin Hobb's writing style enough that I've read six books. Plots aren't necessarily a strong point but character development is wonderful. A writer that begs to be read.

This was a great book but the first one was better. I didn't feel as attached to fitz. There should have been more emotion showed by fitz. Overall this book was great and Leone from sleeping many nights.

As with the first book, everyone is stupid when the plot demands it; even more so, which I didn't think was possible. This book seems to follow the TV drama rule of: If a major misunderstanding could be cleared up with a single conversation, then for Pete's sake, keep your mouth shut!

Things drag and drag. Any sense of urgency is killed by the endless repetition of monotonous daily life, the repetition of things that happened in the last book, and the repetition of things that the reader already knows.

And look, I'm all for making the Protagonist suffer a bit, but ye gods!

In the end, when I realized I was barely halfway through and the slog had just become too much, I skimmed the end and just read spoilers for the third book.

Not really much words for this book. It was ok I guess, a bit slow at times, didn't really like the characters, wasn't all that interested in the story. That's just me though. A disappointing sequel to a promising book... oh well.

This book flew by. I love everything about it. It leaves enough unanswered while still feeling like you've learned a lot in the book. Definitely didn't suffer from bring a middle book like some other trilogy series I have read. And yet I still want to know more of the elderlings, the white ships, the fool, and verity. And so I will read on!

At times during this book I felt it deserved 3 stars, while at other times I was sure it needed 5.

I will not lie to you; this is the most depressing book I have read yet. The ending of this book and the beginning of the next leave you with an absolutely distraught feeling as though all the life force has been sucked out of you - but do not let that distract you! The writing is amazing and the story is good (not as solid as the first book but still a good story). I felt there was a lot of superfluous information in this second series of the farseer saga, but overall I think it was a really good read. I was so sucked into the story I could scarce devote time to much else.

A disturbingly heart-shattering book expertly written and cleverly seductive. I say its definitely worth 4 stars!

Each book keeps getting better and better. Usually the 2nd book of Robin Hobb's trilogies is a setup for a dramatic conclusion. The same is with this book, but don't let that fool yeah. It keeps you interested throughout with twist after twist and a lot of intesity. It has one of the most dramatic endings I have ever read.

**MINOR AND INCONSEQUENTIAL SPOILERS**
So I'm trying to decide if I want to continue on to the third book or end the misery here.
While I like Hobb's writing style and wonderful world she's built for this trilogy I feel like I'm working my way through the plots of 5 different novels that Hobb forgot to separate during editing.

There's so many balls in the air; here’s an incomplete list: Verity's foundering and sabotaged expedition to the north, Regal's nearly unimpeded usurping of the throne, his complete looting of the capitol and sabotage of every defensive measure, everyone ignoring it because “Treason”, an unstoppable (and still completely uninvestigated) army of raiders and their foggy witch-ship or something, a plague of zombies that only seem to matter when the plot needs advancing, and literally everything is going (without deviation) as wrong as possible. And this doesn’t even cover Fitz’s “love” triangle with Molly and the arranged wedding with who’s-her-face from the Kingdom of Nobody Cares.
There comes a point where you've crossed a line from your heroes facing down "overwhelming odds" to them being plain incompetent and deserving to lose the kingdom. At this point I'm on Team Regal, he at least seems competent. Only my stubbornness to finish got me through the last 40% of the book.

And what could have been a novel about "Why are the raiders doing this?" "What's with the witch ship?" "How does forging work and how is it fought?" “What’s going on with Chade and what’s he been up to?” "Who were the Elderlings and how are they going to help?" "How did the Fool get access to Morgan Freeman's loom of fate from the movie ‘Wanted’?" “How does the Wit work? Are there rules or is it just a handy plot device that allows Fitz to sense life, Jedi force push, commune with animals, and have his dog maul people by channeling the power of love?” we're left instead with the ultimately satisfying "We’re going to let Regal win again because the plot demands it" each and every chapter.
I get that this is probably to build suspense for a triumphant underdog victory by our heroes or somesuch, but here's the thing...none of this is fun to read anymore. Literally each chapter began with me saying "Now what?" to myself. Each one of these problems is its own novel to solve and explore without what I assume is the god card of the up-until-now ignored Elderlings riding in to save the land with their magical powers at the end of the third novel. That or they’re going to spill over into the other books at which point I have no energy to finish this.
Here we have a series ostensibly about a court assassin, the entire first book is spent around his training, and he never DOES anything except accidentally bumble and survive his way through a web of court intrigues and occasionally poison some zombies by dropping bread crumbs while pouting about morality. And to top it off, it all happens off-stage so all you get is an occasional paragraph about "So I rode around the countryside poisoning zombies and escaping barely with my life...real exciting stuff, shame you couldn't have been there. Now back to us losing all the time." For all their need of a new court assassin to replace Chade, the only assassin works seems to be carried out by him, off screen of course.
In fact, the more I write about this, the more I realize Fitz might actually be the least interesting character in this story and his main redeeming quality is that he's been given the McGuffin title of "The One" and dog telepathy. Oh and OF COURSE he dies and comes back to life. How else can we have a messianic figure?

I picked up part 1 of this series at local bookstore to try it out and see if i liked it, turned out to be a very good read. I love the boy becomes hero books, yeah I know it cliche storyline but when it's done well and the characters keep you entertained I have no problem buying the same cliche story books.If you like reading stories where the underdog manages to achieve great things this series doesn't disappoint.

This has been a new experience for me. Normally I read other than fantasy, but this was an epic work. Totally engrossing in character development detail. I have read the other reviews telling that it was slow and boring, but I do not agree. Well thought out and true to human nature. Well worth the time it takes to truly invest yourself in the reading of it. I even cried at the ending. The next two books are equally well written.

Although a competetantly written, the story lacks tension and drive besides the gray tedium of portending doom. One can only be doomed for so long before one wants just to end it all, and I did, by closing the book.

I was actually supposed to read this during the #MakeMeRead read-a-thon, but this book is quite long so I didn’t make it. I read and reviewed the first book in this trilogy in the beginning of the year, which you can read here. I really liked the first book, but I have to admit I enjoyed this one more.

The Farseer trilogy follows FitzChivalry, a bastard of the King-in-Waiting Chivalry. In the first book, we follow his childhood mostly. In Royal Assassin however, Fitz is an adult trying to navigate court life.

I love this series because it is so character-driven. I feel like I truly get to know all of the characters in Fitz’s life, not just Fitz himself. I adore many of the characters, such as Verity and the Fool. I am in love with the Fool! He’s such an interesting character, and we received a lot more information and interaction with him in this book. I can’t wait to read the next ones and see more of him. I do feel a bit sad that Verity was absent in a lot of this book. He adds a great dynamic to the court life, and not seeing him every day made me truly feel his absence.

There are also certain characters I don’t really love, such as Molly. I like the fact that she wanted to earn money to start her own shop in candles, showing her independence in this way. But her relationship with Fitz is such a mess: constantly thinking badly of the other, lying, believing other people’s lies… I just didn’t root for them. I also think that the Queen changed too much. She was such a fierce and independent woman before her wedding. Now, as a married woman, she is always trying to look for her husband’s approval. She’s still smart and strong, but has lost so much of her personality (in my opinion).

I think Fitz became far more mature in this book. He’s had to grow up, and adjust to his circumstances. He’s had to learn to stop living because life has changed for you. He’s learned that just because you aren’t the same person, that doesn’t mean you can’t do anything anymore. I like his character a lot, although I have to admit that I became frustrated with him at times. I wanted him to act sooner. You know part of what’s going on, try and do something!

I genuinely loved this book. I read it on vacation by the pool, and it engrossed me for hours at a time. I love the characters, and the intricate schemes and plots woven into the story. I love that we get to know the side characters in depth as well. Some of them have become my absolute favorite -like the Fool. And that ending! What? What?

Winter has fallen, bringing a brief respite from the depredations of the Red Ship Raiders. Fitz, returning to Buckkeep from the Mountain Kingdom, finds Prince Verity working hard to build ships and watchtowers to defend the coast, but everywhere the conniving Prince Regal is working to undermine his brother and pave his own way to the throne. When Verity embarks on an ill-advised quest to help save his kingdom, it falls to Fitz to try to hold everything together in his absence.

The middle volume of The Farseer Trilogy is Robin Hobb's attempt to avoid "middle book syndrome", that annoying situation where a book has no real opening or ending. As such, Royal Assassin tries to work as its own self-contained story in the structure of both the larger trilogy and the much larger Realm of the Elderling sequence beyond that.

In this endeavour, the author is mostly successful. Royal Assassin continues the storyline of Assassin's Apprentice, with FitzChivalry Farseer trying to overcome his status as the illegitimate son of a dead prince and a secret assassin to become a respected member of the court. He hopes to woo his childhood love, but King Shrewd wants him to marry for political advantage instead. Regal hopes to undermine and destroy Fitz, but Fitz's willingness to lead from the front and throw himself into battle against the Red Ship Raiders stymies him, as do Fitz's growing magical powers (in both the animalistic Wit and the telepathic Skill) and his canny support of Verity's bride, the Queen-in-Waiting Kettricken. Events boil over at the book's ending, which features a powerfully emotional moment of catharsis (arguably still the highlight of the entire sixteen-volume Elderling series to date) and setting the scene for the final confrontation in Assassin's Quest.

Hobb's facility with prose is enviable, creating a rich and engrossing fantasy world. Things may not move too far from the medieval fantasy norm and some of the worldbuilding doesn't entirely ring true (such as the vast size of the Six Duchies but the tiny size of its settlements and its apparently extremely low population), but for the most part the world of the Six Duchies is vividly and memorably portrayed. Her facility for characterisation also remains intact, with Kettricken, Patience, Burrich, Molly and Nighteyes all being well-drawn and convincing characters as well as Fitz himself.

Fitz has always been a problem for some readers, especially since the trilogy is told in the first person from his perspective. In the first volume Fitz was a little too passive and reactive and that problem persists into this second volume. However, in the latter half of Royal Assassin he does become more proactive in opposing Regal's plans. He even engages in some very mild political intrigue. It's no A Game of Thrones, but it does up the stakes a little at a key moment of the story.

Some of Hobb's key weaknesses as a writer do re-emerge in this volume, however. Her ability to conjure up the unfairness of life and the mountain of problems Fitz must struggle to overcome is remarkable, but there is also chapter after chapter where Fitz stews in the alleged utter misery of his life - as a favoured servant and assassin with a cool telepathic wolf companion and a beautiful, strong-willed girlfriend who loves him absolutely - whilst not really doing anything. It's still not as much of a problem as in later novels, but there is an interminable middle section to the novel and it feels like a comfortable 200 pages could have been shaved off the page count (already approaching twice the length of Assassin's Apprentice) without too much trouble.

Royal Assassin (****) is a bigger novel than its forebear and one with more political intrigue and action, at land and at sea. However, it's also overlong and suffers the same issues as its forebear but stretched over a longer page count: a plot that kicks into gear only intermittently and a protagonist too reactive for his own good. But Hobb's skills with character and emotion, and evoking her world in rich detail, continue to prove remarkable.

I lose no time telling folks how much I love Robin Hobb's FitzChivalry stories, and this current review represents my second read through of Royal Assassin. Unfortunately, I'd let time slip between book 1 and 2, so I had to scramble a bit to pick up the threads – and this is most certainly a series that I recommend reading back to back. This is due to the huge cast of characters in addition to the multiple, nuanced plot threads.

We pick up with Fitz in the Mountain Kingdom, after he has foiled a plot instigated by his half-uncle Prince Regal, whom we've all come to love to hate by now. Months pass before he is well enough to travel back to Buckkeep, and in that time he suffers seizures. He really has lost much confidence.

He returns to a castle where King Shrewd is ill, and it's clear that Regal is machinating to take power (and ruin the kingdoms while he's at it). Prince Verity is tied up trying to protect the duchies from the Red Ship Raiders and, if that's not enough, the woman Fitz loves now works for Patience – his biological father's widow. Plainly put, it's a tangled mess, and Fitz's decisions don't always work out for the best.

We learn more of Fitz's Wit magic in his relationship with the wolf Nighteyes, whom he rescues from a trapper – and to me, this symbiotic relationship is one of the most beautiful friendships I've ever encountered in the written word. Hobb understands her subjects, be they people or animal.

Fitz suffers terribly, that is all I will say for fear of spoiling the story. By the end of the book, he really has gone through a crucible – especially since Prince Verity is no longer there to protect him, as he's gone haring off hunting for the fabled Elderlings to help against the raiders. Hobb offers potential twists that lulled me into expecting one outcome, only to have my expectations dashed as the story plunges ever more into yet another nadir. So far as the Fitz stories go, this one is perhaps the bleakest. And yet it is not without a glimmer of hope, and the ending is just perfect.

My thoughts on having reread are that I'd missed a lot of the nuance when I'd read this when I was younger. Hobb's staggering ability to perceive the hearts of her characters blows me out of the water. Even Regal's motivations are understandable. He's not a one-dimensional Disney-esque villain but one would almost wish that twisted creature that he is, it would be possible to redeem him.

Those who're fiending after fast-paced, action-packed adventures had best move on. As always, Hobb's writing rewards the patient reader who revels in a slowly unfolding epic masterpiece. Not a single bit of information or action is without some sort of impact later on in the story. There was no saggy middle-book syndrome with this installment.

I debated back and forth between 4 and 5 stars. I rated the first book 4 stars, but this one ended up engaging me more. Where the world and character building were heavily developed in the first book, this one pushed deeper toward the plot. The writing style is similar in that there is a heavy dose of narrative exposition mixed in with more active and gripping scenes. The modern reader might have some difficulty with this book; having developed an attention span corrupted by the entertainment industry. It’s not super fluid and fast paced. Sometimes it bogs down before picking back up. And yet, for those who are patient enough they can come away with a solidly built world and well defined characters. More importantly, they can come away with a deeper and richer experience. I wonder sometimes that, if The Lord of the Ring had been released today, would it be considered a flop? With heavy exposition and info dumping, would it survive the modern critic? And yet, for those who have the patience, they are richly rewarded. While Robin Hobb isn't J.R.R. Tolkien, she does grasp many of the skills that enrich more than simply entertain. For this, I gladly give Royal Assassin 5-stars, and eagerly await reading the third and last book in this trilogy.

Royal Assassin was an interesting add to the Farseer Series, although I did not quite enjoy it as much as the first one.

Don’t get me wrong. I really liked the book and the way Hobb keeps enriching the Six Duchies world. I find the characters to be incredibly well written and the story to be engaging and well thought.

I just think that the first book is overall more well structured and has less plot issues. One of the things that really nags at me is the way a character like Regal is left unchallenged and with an incredible freedom of action even though he is clearly a source of instability (better to say ‘the’ source of instability) that leads to a situation that gets worse and worse. Everybody acknowledges his danger, but nobodies take actions to counter him. It is like watching an avalanche and just wait until it hits you even though you have the option of moving aside and avoid it or just to stop it. This is something that puzzled me a bit, but nothing that really spoiled a story that kept me interested.

Overall Royal Assassin was an enjoyable read, and if you liked Assassin’s Apprentice you’re going to love this sequel.

This is a terrific continuation of an already great story. I really enjoyed seeing Fitz grow and learn in the first book. Here, you will see him decide whether or not he can and should put his skills to use. He runs into internal conflicts continuously and many times finds himself without a proper guide to tell him exactly what to do for the first time in his life. While the story dithers here and there much like the first one did, the writing is good enough to keep the reader entertained and the characters are all pretty intriguing which helps move things along as well. If I had to pick one gripe with this book, and kind of the series as a whole to this point, it would be that nothing BIG really happens. Sure there are important moments here or there, but there are few drastic moments where a monumentally unexpected event occurs that changes the playing field. But that’s alright, I still really enjoyed this book. It’s fun, really interesting, has a great cast, a likeable protagonist, and a pretty deep and delicate plot. If you enjoyed the first one at all, I’d say go ahead and dive into this entry into the series. I thought it was even better than the first because Fitz is no longer “in training” nearly as much. While he no doubt is still learning much about the world around him, he’s a force to be reckoned with on his own for much of the story.

NOTE: THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK IN A TRILOGY. I REVIEWED AND ENJOYED FIRST BOOK, AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT, GO READ IT, AS THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR IT.

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb is a typical second book in what is shaping up to be a very enjoyable first trilogy, and I quite enjoyed jumping into it straight after finishing the first book in the trilogy, Assassin’s Apprentice.

Royal Assassin brings us back to all of our favorite characters, at least, those who survived the first book. In particular, we follow Fitz’s viewpoint for the entire story again, watching as he starts to really be an adult and have some power over those around him. He continues to grow more relatable, even though his life is far from anything I’ve ever experienced. His struggles feel real, and at times, incredibly frustrating.

We also see more of Burrich, Chade, Royal and Verity, Shrewd, and Molly, all the characters we came to know in the first book. There are hardly any new additions, however, and this book is very much a “dig deeper” instead of “spread wider” type of book, something rather uncommon in the fantasy world these days. I liked this digging, as it helped to give the feel that Hobb has complete control over her plot and characters, instead of letting them run rampant and multiply as, say, GRRM has done.

The magic continues to be semi-standard telepathic type magic, and it’s not the main focal point of the novel, though it continues to play an important role. I found myself neither excited nor disappointed by its possibilities—nothing short of Hurley or Sanderson levels of magical coolness gets me excited anymore—but it was well thought out and served its purpose well.

I found that, because I continued to be more and more engaged by the same characters, that this book didn’t have quite the same dragging feeling that the first book had, though it also wasn’t an incredibly fast book. There is no breakneck plot, which is just fine. This is the kind of book that enjoys what it is, and it feels good.

The emotional hooks here are definitely deeper too, and Hobb continues to put her characters through the wringer. While the tension only very gradually rises, the amount of pain the characters are going through is at a constant high level, both emotionally and at times physically. This, perhaps, more than anything, is what makes the book so engaging, and overall gave it a more cohesive feel.

The plot is the most “second book” part of the book, for sure. It leaves all of its threads unresolved, and I didn’t feel like it really even ended the threads that it should have. It did have an intense ending, but I have to admit that I was expecting more to be tied up, and new problems expanded for the third and final book.

In summary, Royal Assassin was a satisfying second book that dug deeper into all of the characters that we came to know in the first book, and used this digging to intensify the emotional pain that Hobb could deal to them. I did not find the plot to be as satisfying as I had hoped, and while it does leave me wanting the third book, I wish it had resolved a few more threads with its conclusion. I definitely give it four of five stars, though, as I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to what I hope is a conclusive final volume in the trilogy.

Review originally from my blog, Mental Megalodon.

** SPOILERS **

There is so much stuff wrong with this book I don't know where to start. The first volume I enjoyed a lot because I had never read about the mind link between man and animal so well described.

The main character goes around aimlessly blundering, risking his life, having the prince risk his life over and over again on a boat when he has a unique set of skills that is irreplaceable. It makes no sense. The king has no guards, there seems to be no one in the castle on critical spots over and over again. There is someone poisoning the king from the beginning of the book to the end, everyone knows it and what do they do? Exactly, they complain. I may be still on a George Martin mindset, but this is just shallow writing and thinking and is unacceptable at several levels. And I was tired of Molly by a third of the story.

I will not be reading any more books from this series unless strongly advised otherwise.

Following on from the splendid Assassin’s Apprentice, this second instalment gets straight back in to the action with King-in-waiting Verity coordinating the defence of the Six Duchies against the marauding Red Raiders while his new Queen carves out a role for herself at court and Fitz, loyal to the failing King Shrewd, tries to counter the increasing animosity of the ghastly Regal and his cronies. The Forged Ones are still roaming the countryside and things are generally looking pretty bleak.

The first novel piled along at a cracking pace and, at 480 pages, was a compact novel dense with plot and action. This book, however, feels bloated (750 pages) and there are great tracts in the middle where pace and plot are pretty thin on the ground. I found myself skip reading any paragraphs with no dialogue as there are far too many long winded, descriptive passages where nothing happens (do I care what colour his clothes are? No, I don’t), especially in the Molly and Nighteyes narrative threads.

Notwithstanding the sluggish mid-section, the first and last thirds of the book are as page-turningly brilliant as the first novel. There is a lot happening, the plotting is intricate and the whole story bowls along very nicely. The end is a little predictable but it paves the way splendidly for the concluding novel of the trilogy. So much so, in fact, that Assassin’s Quest is already on my bedside table. Superb, old-school fantasy.

Recovering from the events that end the first book, Fitz returns to a country caught in the grip of raider attacks and budding civil unrest. The first book in this series surprised me for its eminent readability and leisurely, immersive pacing. This sequel felt like more of the same--still good, but unoriginal. But as it comes into itself, it shines. Royal Assassin is about relationships--weird, psychic, overly intimate relationships that make Fitz feel crowded and lonely at the same time; the effort of maintaining relationships; imperfect messy intimacies like fighting with your teeth while bonded to a wolf or lusting after a woman while bonded to her husband. It's at the level of Bradley's The Forbidden Circle, engaging intimacy and taboo with little grace but great effect; not subtle, not even skillful, but compelling.

The intrigues of the plot which surrounds these relationships aren't particularly robust, but they're sufficent; the characterization is rocky, and Fitz's adolescence feels, frankly, shallow. The series is by no means great: it's frequently predictable, trope-reliant, and indulgent. But it's good, consistently engaging, and the id-level upon which this book lingers is a personal delight.

Don't read this if you can't handle a whinny, silly hero. The first 2 books are not too bad but the third is absolutely rife with pitiful whining about silly mistakes, made one after another, by the "hero". He is constantly getting beat senseless or wounded because of obviously bad choices that only an idiot would make. The book also repeats information over and over again. It's almost like the story was originally intended to be published as short stories and, therefore, needed information repeated for anyone that started in the middle of the series. It's incredibly annoying. I would not have read this series if I had know how horribly the "hero" would be treated.

The second installment of The Farseer Trilogy sees Fitz truly become a Royal Assassin as the Six Duchies is torn apart from by both external and internal forces. The majority of the book centers on Fitz's home, Buckkeep, as he assists his uncle Verity both physically and magically to help protect the common people. However their efforts are hampered by Fitz's other uncle Regal who uses the Skill-trained nobles trained by his own half-brother to disrupt communications and slowly kill his father, King Shrewd. To add to these complications, Fitz must first deal with his health, his love for Molly, and his Wit-bonded wolf Nighteyes.

The various intrigues and duties Fitz must keep juggling is a realistic struggle that is the book's strongest part, however as the book continues it also burdens the narrative the closer to the end than helps. Given the style of the book, as an autobiography by an aged Fitz, the reader always has in the back of their mind that any dangerous situation that Fitz is in that he'll survive because if he dies he couldn't write the story. However Hobb uses this knowledge to have a nice twist at the end of the book help Fitz escape his predicament right after the death of his grandfather, Shrewd.

Royal Assassin is a wonderful continuation of Assassin's Apprentice as Fitz grows not only as a character through struggles both personal and "professional." At the end of the book, the reader yearns to know what happens next to Fitz and all the characters Hobb peopled the fortress of Buckkeep with as the Raiders continue their campaign while the government heads inland.

After I finished reading A song of Ice and Fire books, I asked a friend for similar books to recommend and was told that these fantasy books were recommended by George RR Martin himself. Wow, the difference between these two authors are huge. After reading book 1 "Game of Thrones", I re-read it again and then read the remaining books at work, at home, and in the subway within two weeks. With Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, I barely finished reading the first book and I gave up half way thru this book. It was extremely boring. I was hoping the action will pick up in the second book but the 2nd book is almost 700 pages with the same type of plot and dialogue and irrational decisions by the main characters. The mystery of the red ship raiders was nowhere to be solved and from what I hear was never completely resolved in subsequent books. I really can't understand the high ratings. By the way, I read George RR Martin other recommendation Maurice Druon "The accursed Kings" and it was excellent. With this one, do your self a favor and skip it.

I've been trying to diversify my reading list of late, reading 2-3 new science fiction/fantasy novels per month, and enjoyed Assassin's Apprentice enough to immediately start reading this. I have to say I was thoroughly disappointed. This was basically a 700 page diary entry that feels like something exciting might happen at any point, but then nothing happens the whole book. The ending was quite disappointing. I was hoping the entire time that something neat just might happen, and as I got closer to the end I got more and more excited for something to happen, and then it was over. Maybe had this been a 250-300pg novella there would have been enough going on to justify recommending it, but at 700 pages I would recommend finding the chapter summaries somewhere to continue your journey with Fitz

When last we saw young FitzChivalry, the King's designated assassin, he was prostrate in the Mountain Kingdom, having barely survived an attack by Prince Regal, the youngest of the three royal brothers, who also feels most entitled to run the kingdom himself. But the Redship Raiders are harrowing the coast yet again, so Fitz finally begins the trek back to Buckkeep -- only to find himself relegated to a much more minor role and surrounded by dynastic intrigues. He also ignores the best advice of his closest friends and mentors and advances his courtship of Molly to a dangerous level -- dangerous to him personally and dangerous to the girl, because Regal won't pass up any opportunity to serve him badly. Prince Verity, meanwhile, the King-in-Waiting who holds Fitz's unswerving personal loyalty, goes off on what seems an ill-advised quest to seek the Elderlings of ancient folktale as help against the raiders. And that leaves Regal more or less in charge, with their father, King Shrewd, gradually wasting away.

But an overarching theme this time is the bonding between Fitz and a young wolf he rescues, via the "Wit." If he's caught, the revelation of his close animal relationship will get him hanged, drawn, and quartered, but he can't help it. The Wit is part of his basic personality. But Nighteyes, the wolf, is also a much stronger personality than any mental contact Fitz has made in the past, and the two become so close as to constitute almost a single being.

Hobb has established a reputation for doing horrible things to her heroes and she continues that practice here. Fitz suffers, the King suffers, Prince Verity suffers. And Regal makes sure the entire kingdom suffers, to his own benefit. There's not much humor to lighten things along the way, either. What there is, is tight, complex plotting, bloody battles, beautifully rendered character portraits of people you will either loathe or come to care about deeply, and a richly painted background against which everything happens. This is very, very high-quality fantasy.

In this second installment, the journey of FitzChivalry in Buckkeep continues. Being an illegitimate child and despite of the royal blood flowing in his veins, he is deprived of happiness and being used by the kingdom like a pawn on a chessboard. I am so bereft with his situation. I have sobbed often, and my heart keeps breaking and bleeding as I go along with my reading. Robin Hobb is magnificent! I am so immersed in the fantasy world she has created. It's another priceless and fantastical sojourn of mine. Moving on to the final installment.

More pages don't necessarily equal greater quality. This middle book of the trilogy comes in 50% longer than the first book, a book I quite enjoyed (enough to get me to commit to the trilogy). Those extra pages weigh on the story, and at times reading felt like a chore. Fortunately, the final third (quarter?) of the book picks up, both in the pace of the narrative and in the fullness of the characterizations. Supporting players become multidimensional and complex, and the cookie-cutter aspects fall by the wayside.

Thus, I don't regret my decision to continue with the trilogy, though the final book (which I just started) is longer still than the middle book. If you've started the middle book and are feeling the same sort of "drag," my advice is to keep with it.

It is a sad time when a book series grabs you and then hits you with the stench of absurdity that you keep on reading just because you can't believe a writer could create a good setup only to induce mass stupidity and unrealistic behavior to all characters in the book.

Imagine if you were some superhero, but did not know how to use your powers or would not use them for the most stupidest of reasons. What would work for some settings would not work in others under practically the same conditions or worse yet, the other characters would discourage the logical or emotional actions from being completed.
**************************SPOILERS****************************

It is bad that you could tell from miles away that the youngest prince was a total douche and was one of the main bad guys, but jeez... Everyone knew all the secrets, everyone knew what the bad guy was doing, all the assassination attempts, and the plots, and still NOBODY would find the reason until after the fact to do some petty half-assed effort to try and counter the known future actions of the evil guy.

The worst part is that the series had such great plot and potential. I mean, a bastard trained to be an assassin, with 2 different types of magics at his disposal. Yet at every opportunity, the protagonist would 1- not use the training or magics properly for plot reasons most of the time, 2- use it like a champ yet allowing the character to be equally or in worse condition that before the effort, or 3- not use the tools at all just because it would not serve the plot. Overall, I would not bother with these books at all when there are so many other great books out there.

Rather than wasting your time with the Farseer trilogy, read the Mistborn trilogy, now there's a series that will blow your mind with an ending that give me the chills every time I remember it.

I hate this book with passion. Whether it's accidentally or on purpose, the main "good" characters are weak and impotent, doing nothing but whining and wishing themselves to be stronger ... and the villains are feeble and unconvincing. I make the point of finishing the books I started, so I had to get to the end ... wasted my time. All male characters are weak and confused, while all female characters are strong and daring, but no one is able to accomplish anything of value. Save your time and go re-read The Lord of The Rings or Harry Potter.

This book is just as good as the first in the series. It picks up where the first left off without too much exposition. The author did a great job once again with world building and including likeable characters and the story gets even better. I have already picked up the third in the series to continue the adventures of Fitz.

If you enjoyed the first book in the series, the second book is equally as enjoyable and definitely worth the price.

I debated back and forth between 4 and 5 stars. I rated the first book 4 stars, but this one ended up engaging me more. Where the world and character building were heavily developed in the first book, this one pushed deeper toward the plot. The writing style is similar in that there is a heavy dose of narrative exposition mixed in with more active and gripping scenes. The modern reader might have some difficulty with this book; having developed an attention span corrupted by the entertainment industry. It’s not super fluid and fast paced. Sometimes it bogs down before picking back up. And yet, for those who are patient enough they can come away with a solidly built world and well defined characters. More importantly, they can come away with a deeper and richer experience. I wonder sometimes that, if The Lord of the Ring had been released today, would it be considered a flop? With heavy exposition and info dumping, would it survive the modern critic? And yet, for those who have the patience, they are richly rewarded. While Robin Hobb isn't J.R.R. Tolkien, she does grasp many of the skills that enrich more than simply entertain. For this, I gladly give Royal Assassin 5-stars, and eagerly await reading the third and last book in this trilogy.

Royal Assassin was an interesting add to the Farseer Series, although I did not quite enjoy it as much as the first one.

Don’t get me wrong. I really liked the book and the way Hobb keeps enriching the Six Duchies world. I find the characters to be incredibly well written and the story to be engaging and well thought.

I just think that the first book is overall more well structured and has less plot issues. One of the things that really nags at me is the way a character like Regal is left unchallenged and with an incredible freedom of action even though he is clearly a source of instability (better to say ‘the’ source of instability) that leads to a situation that gets worse and worse. Everybody acknowledges his danger, but nobodies take actions to counter him. It is like watching an avalanche and just wait until it hits you even though you have the option of moving aside and avoid it or just to stop it. This is something that puzzled me a bit, but nothing that really spoiled a story that kept me interested.

Overall Royal Assassin was an enjoyable read, and if you liked Assassin’s Apprentice you’re going to love this sequel.

This is a terrific continuation of an already great story. I really enjoyed seeing Fitz grow and learn in the first book. Here, you will see him decide whether or not he can and should put his skills to use. He runs into internal conflicts continuously and many times finds himself without a proper guide to tell him exactly what to do for the first time in his life. While the story dithers here and there much like the first one did, the writing is good enough to keep the reader entertained and the characters are all pretty intriguing which helps move things along as well. If I had to pick one gripe with this book, and kind of the series as a whole to this point, it would be that nothing BIG really happens. Sure there are important moments here or there, but there are few drastic moments where a monumentally unexpected event occurs that changes the playing field. But that’s alright, I still really enjoyed this book. It’s fun, really interesting, has a great cast, a likeable protagonist, and a pretty deep and delicate plot. If you enjoyed the first one at all, I’d say go ahead and dive into this entry into the series. I thought it was even better than the first because Fitz is no longer “in training” nearly as much. While he no doubt is still learning much about the world around him, he’s a force to be reckoned with on his own for much of the story.

NOTE: THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK IN A TRILOGY. I REVIEWED AND ENJOYED FIRST BOOK, AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ IT, GO READ IT, AS THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR IT.

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb is a typical second book in what is shaping up to be a very enjoyable first trilogy, and I quite enjoyed jumping into it straight after finishing the first book in the trilogy, Assassin’s Apprentice.

Royal Assassin brings us back to all of our favorite characters, at least, those who survived the first book. In particular, we follow Fitz’s viewpoint for the entire story again, watching as he starts to really be an adult and have some power over those around him. He continues to grow more relatable, even though his life is far from anything I’ve ever experienced. His struggles feel real, and at times, incredibly frustrating.

We also see more of Burrich, Chade, Royal and Verity, Shrewd, and Molly, all the characters we came to know in the first book. There are hardly any new additions, however, and this book is very much a “dig deeper” instead of “spread wider” type of book, something rather uncommon in the fantasy world these days. I liked this digging, as it helped to give the feel that Hobb has complete control over her plot and characters, instead of letting them run rampant and multiply as, say, GRRM has done.

The magic continues to be semi-standard telepathic type magic, and it’s not the main focal point of the novel, though it continues to play an important role. I found myself neither excited nor disappointed by its possibilities—nothing short of Hurley or Sanderson levels of magical coolness gets me excited anymore—but it was well thought out and served its purpose well.

I found that, because I continued to be more and more engaged by the same characters, that this book didn’t have quite the same dragging feeling that the first book had, though it also wasn’t an incredibly fast book. There is no breakneck plot, which is just fine. This is the kind of book that enjoys what it is, and it feels good.

The emotional hooks here are definitely deeper too, and Hobb continues to put her characters through the wringer. While the tension only very gradually rises, the amount of pain the characters are going through is at a constant high level, both emotionally and at times physically. This, perhaps, more than anything, is what makes the book so engaging, and overall gave it a more cohesive feel.

The plot is the most “second book” part of the book, for sure. It leaves all of its threads unresolved, and I didn’t feel like it really even ended the threads that it should have. It did have an intense ending, but I have to admit that I was expecting more to be tied up, and new problems expanded for the third and final book.

In summary, Royal Assassin was a satisfying second book that dug deeper into all of the characters that we came to know in the first book, and used this digging to intensify the emotional pain that Hobb could deal to them. I did not find the plot to be as satisfying as I had hoped, and while it does leave me wanting the third book, I wish it had resolved a few more threads with its conclusion. I definitely give it four of five stars, though, as I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I’m looking forward to what I hope is a conclusive final volume in the trilogy.

Review originally from my blog, Mental Megalodon.

** SPOILERS **

There is so much stuff wrong with this book I don't know where to start. The first volume I enjoyed a lot because I had never read about the mind link between man and animal so well described.

The main character goes around aimlessly blundering, risking his life, having the prince risk his life over and over again on a boat when he has a unique set of skills that is irreplaceable. It makes no sense. The king has no guards, there seems to be no one in the castle on critical spots over and over again. There is someone poisoning the king from the beginning of the book to the end, everyone knows it and what do they do? Exactly, they complain. I may be still on a George Martin mindset, but this is just shallow writing and thinking and is unacceptable at several levels. And I was tired of Molly by a third of the story.

I will not be reading any more books from this series unless strongly advised otherwise.

Following on from the splendid Assassin’s Apprentice, this second instalment gets straight back in to the action with King-in-waiting Verity coordinating the defence of the Six Duchies against the marauding Red Raiders while his new Queen carves out a role for herself at court and Fitz, loyal to the failing King Shrewd, tries to counter the increasing animosity of the ghastly Regal and his cronies. The Forged Ones are still roaming the countryside and things are generally looking pretty bleak.

The first novel piled along at a cracking pace and, at 480 pages, was a compact novel dense with plot and action. This book, however, feels bloated (750 pages) and there are great tracts in the middle where pace and plot are pretty thin on the ground. I found myself skip reading any paragraphs with no dialogue as there are far too many long winded, descriptive passages where nothing happens (do I care what colour his clothes are? No, I don’t), especially in the Molly and Nighteyes narrative threads.

Notwithstanding the sluggish mid-section, the first and last thirds of the book are as page-turningly brilliant as the first novel. There is a lot happening, the plotting is intricate and the whole story bowls along very nicely. The end is a little predictable but it paves the way splendidly for the concluding novel of the trilogy. So much so, in fact, that Assassin’s Quest is already on my bedside table. Superb, old-school fantasy.

Recovering from the events that end the first book, Fitz returns to a country caught in the grip of raider attacks and budding civil unrest. The first book in this series surprised me for its eminent readability and leisurely, immersive pacing. This sequel felt like more of the same--still good, but unoriginal. But as it comes into itself, it shines. Royal Assassin is about relationships--weird, psychic, overly intimate relationships that make Fitz feel crowded and lonely at the same time; the effort of maintaining relationships; imperfect messy intimacies like fighting with your teeth while bonded to a wolf or lusting after a woman while bonded to her husband. It's at the level of Bradley's The Forbidden Circle, engaging intimacy and taboo with little grace but great effect; not subtle, not even skillful, but compelling.

The intrigues of the plot which surrounds these relationships aren't particularly robust, but they're sufficent; the characterization is rocky, and Fitz's adolescence feels, frankly, shallow. The series is by no means great: it's frequently predictable, trope-reliant, and indulgent. But it's good, consistently engaging, and the id-level upon which this book lingers is a personal delight.

Don't read this if you can't handle a whinny, silly hero. The first 2 books are not too bad but the third is absolutely rife with pitiful whining about silly mistakes, made one after another, by the "hero". He is constantly getting beat senseless or wounded because of obviously bad choices that only an idiot would make. The book also repeats information over and over again. It's almost like the story was originally intended to be published as short stories and, therefore, needed information repeated for anyone that started in the middle of the series. It's incredibly annoying. I would not have read this series if I had know how horribly the "hero" would be treated.

The second installment of The Farseer Trilogy sees Fitz truly become a Royal Assassin as the Six Duchies is torn apart from by both external and internal forces. The majority of the book centers on Fitz's home, Buckkeep, as he assists his uncle Verity both physically and magically to help protect the common people. However their efforts are hampered by Fitz's other uncle Regal who uses the Skill-trained nobles trained by his own half-brother to disrupt communications and slowly kill his father, King Shrewd. To add to these complications, Fitz must first deal with his health, his love for Molly, and his Wit-bonded wolf Nighteyes.

The various intrigues and duties Fitz must keep juggling is a realistic struggle that is the book's strongest part, however as the book continues it also burdens the narrative the closer to the end than helps. Given the style of the book, as an autobiography by an aged Fitz, the reader always has in the back of their mind that any dangerous situation that Fitz is in that he'll survive because if he dies he couldn't write the story. However Hobb uses this knowledge to have a nice twist at the end of the book help Fitz escape his predicament right after the death of his grandfather, Shrewd.

Royal Assassin is a wonderful continuation of Assassin's Apprentice as Fitz grows not only as a character through struggles both personal and "professional." At the end of the book, the reader yearns to know what happens next to Fitz and all the characters Hobb peopled the fortress of Buckkeep with as the Raiders continue their campaign while the government heads inland.

After I finished reading A song of Ice and Fire books, I asked a friend for similar books to recommend and was told that these fantasy books were recommended by George RR Martin himself. Wow, the difference between these two authors are huge. After reading book 1 "Game of Thrones", I re-read it again and then read the remaining books at work, at home, and in the subway within two weeks. With Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, I barely finished reading the first book and I gave up half way thru this book. It was extremely boring. I was hoping the action will pick up in the second book but the 2nd book is almost 700 pages with the same type of plot and dialogue and irrational decisions by the main characters. The mystery of the red ship raiders was nowhere to be solved and from what I hear was never completely resolved in subsequent books. I really can't understand the high ratings. By the way, I read George RR Martin other recommendation Maurice Druon "The accursed Kings" and it was excellent. With this one, do your self a favor and skip it.

I've been trying to diversify my reading list of late, reading 2-3 new science fiction/fantasy novels per month, and enjoyed Assassin's Apprentice enough to immediately start reading this. I have to say I was thoroughly disappointed. This was basically a 700 page diary entry that feels like something exciting might happen at any point, but then nothing happens the whole book. The ending was quite disappointing. I was hoping the entire time that something neat just might happen, and as I got closer to the end I got more and more excited for something to happen, and then it was over. Maybe had this been a 250-300pg novella there would have been enough going on to justify recommending it, but at 700 pages I would recommend finding the chapter summaries somewhere to continue your journey with Fitz

When last we saw young FitzChivalry, the King's designated assassin, he was prostrate in the Mountain Kingdom, having barely survived an attack by Prince Regal, the youngest of the three royal brothers, who also feels most entitled to run the kingdom himself. But the Redship Raiders are harrowing the coast yet again, so Fitz finally begins the trek back to Buckkeep -- only to find himself relegated to a much more minor role and surrounded by dynastic intrigues. He also ignores the best advice of his closest friends and mentors and advances his courtship of Molly to a dangerous level -- dangerous to him personally and dangerous to the girl, because Regal won't pass up any opportunity to serve him badly. Prince Verity, meanwhile, the King-in-Waiting who holds Fitz's unswerving personal loyalty, goes off on what seems an ill-advised quest to seek the Elderlings of ancient folktale as help against the raiders. And that leaves Regal more or less in charge, with their father, King Shrewd, gradually wasting away.

But an overarching theme this time is the bonding between Fitz and a young wolf he rescues, via the "Wit." If he's caught, the revelation of his close animal relationship will get him hanged, drawn, and quartered, but he can't help it. The Wit is part of his basic personality. But Nighteyes, the wolf, is also a much stronger personality than any mental contact Fitz has made in the past, and the two become so close as to constitute almost a single being.

Hobb has established a reputation for doing horrible things to her heroes and she continues that practice here. Fitz suffers, the King suffers, Prince Verity suffers. And Regal makes sure the entire kingdom suffers, to his own benefit. There's not much humor to lighten things along the way, either. What there is, is tight, complex plotting, bloody battles, beautifully rendered character portraits of people you will either loathe or come to care about deeply, and a richly painted background against which everything happens. This is very, very high-quality fantasy.

In this second installment, the journey of FitzChivalry in Buckkeep continues. Being an illegitimate child and despite of the royal blood flowing in his veins, he is deprived of happiness and being used by the kingdom like a pawn on a chessboard. I am so bereft with his situation. I have sobbed often, and my heart keeps breaking and bleeding as I go along with my reading. Robin Hobb is magnificent! I am so immersed in the fantasy world she has created. It's another priceless and fantastical sojourn of mine. Moving on to the final installment.

More pages don't necessarily equal greater quality. This middle book of the trilogy comes in 50% longer than the first book, a book I quite enjoyed (enough to get me to commit to the trilogy). Those extra pages weigh on the story, and at times reading felt like a chore. Fortunately, the final third (quarter?) of the book picks up, both in the pace of the narrative and in the fullness of the characterizations. Supporting players become multidimensional and complex, and the cookie-cutter aspects fall by the wayside.

Thus, I don't regret my decision to continue with the trilogy, though the final book (which I just started) is longer still than the middle book. If you've started the middle book and are feeling the same sort of "drag," my advice is to keep with it.

It is a sad time when a book series grabs you and then hits you with the stench of absurdity that you keep on reading just because you can't believe a writer could create a good setup only to induce mass stupidity and unrealistic behavior to all characters in the book.

Imagine if you were some superhero, but did not know how to use your powers or would not use them for the most stupidest of reasons. What would work for some settings would not work in others under practically the same conditions or worse yet, the other characters would discourage the logical or emotional actions from being completed.
**************************SPOILERS****************************

It is bad that you could tell from miles away that the youngest prince was a total douche and was one of the main bad guys, but jeez... Everyone knew all the secrets, everyone knew what the bad guy was doing, all the assassination attempts, and the plots, and still NOBODY would find the reason until after the fact to do some petty half-assed effort to try and counter the known future actions of the evil guy.

The worst part is that the series had such great plot and potential. I mean, a bastard trained to be an assassin, with 2 different types of magics at his disposal. Yet at every opportunity, the protagonist would 1- not use the training or magics properly for plot reasons most of the time, 2- use it like a champ yet allowing the character to be equally or in worse condition that before the effort, or 3- not use the tools at all just because it would not serve the plot. Overall, I would not bother with these books at all when there are so many other great books out there.

Rather than wasting your time with the Farseer trilogy, read the Mistborn trilogy, now there's a series that will blow your mind with an ending that give me the chills every time I remember it.

I hate this book with passion. Whether it's accidentally or on purpose, the main "good" characters are weak and impotent, doing nothing but whining and wishing themselves to be stronger ... and the villains are feeble and unconvincing. I make the point of finishing the books I started, so I had to get to the end ... wasted my time. All male characters are weak and confused, while all female characters are strong and daring, but no one is able to accomplish anything of value. Save your time and go re-read The Lord of The Rings or Harry Potter.

This book is just as good as the first in the series. It picks up where the first left off without too much exposition. The author did a great job once again with world building and including likeable characters and the story gets even better. I have already picked up the third in the series to continue the adventures of Fitz.

If you enjoyed the first book in the series, the second book is equally as enjoyable and definitely worth the price.

Two quick complaints. Robin Hobb's novels aren't that easy to find. She has thoroughly engaged me with her writing style and amazing, deft characterizations in her novels, but I can't find any of her works at the local bookstore. Grr. Barnes & Noble can go ride a zucchini, whatever that means. And secondly, Hobb has, possibly, the worst biographical blurb of any book I've ever read: "Robin Hobb is a writer, and lives in Washington state." Huh? Okay, I know Robin Hobb is a pseudonym, but really?

OK. Now on to real things. A the end of the previous novel of the Farseer Series, Assassin's Apprentice (my review here), FitzChivalry is caught up in court intrigue, and his jealous uncle, Regal, schemes to kill the young bastard prince. He, and his caretaker, Burrich, are brutalized and nearly killed, in the capital of the Mountain Kingdom. After several months of recuperation, Fitz decides that never again will he take up the cause of the Farseer throne.

Of course, you know how this sort of thing is bound to turn out. Within 150 pages, he's off and murdering a new threat, The zombie-like Forged Ones, whose souls have somehow been erased by the Out Island pirates. Can you kill a man, if he is no longer who he was? It's a question for a better ethicist than I am.

FitzChivalry discovers his strong rapport with the Wit (beast magic) and, nearly against his will, bonds himself to a wolf pup called Nighteyes. If someone discovers Fitz's Wit Magic, it may be punishable by death.

A second subtext running through the novel is Fitz's romance with his childhood friend, Molly. The information of him, as the king's Assassin, must be hidden from her. She knows him as an errand-boy, and he must pile secret upon secret, in order to protect her from the trouble his career would bring her. How many secrets must your bury yourself in, before you are no longer yourself? I would not be surprised if Fitz's morose questioning reminds readers of prince Hamlet. At several points, he considers suicide to escape his fate.

Once again, Hobb excels at crafting a world and characters that are real and engaging. Her story is engaging, and not at all pedestrian. Her characters do not shy away from real emotions, although occasionally, you want to grab young FitzChivalry and slap him upside the head.

Hobb manages something that I haven't experienced in a very long time. The characters in the novels became friends: I actually cared what happened to them. Although it's an excellent story, it's definitely a "middle" novel of a trilogy. The reader is left with the desire to scamper to the nearest bookstore and find the third book, and start it immediately. Of course, the novel, in all probability, won't be on the shelves and you'll have to Special Order the silly thing. I didn't find it at my three local bookstores in Virginia, but managed to locate the third book in a bookshop in California, a mere 3,500 miles away. Her books are the best I've read in years.

I'm reading the trilogy, and overall I find it fairly mediocre. Not good, not bad. I probably won't read it again.

The second book has a more tightly woven set of stories, and gives us a better view of Burrich the Unkillable, and King in Waiting Verity. We get a Queen in waiting, who I really liked--I think she's the first likeable heroine I've encountered since I read Eye of Night. She's a sensible, competent, believable woman. These are all improvements over the first book.

Sadly there are other problems. The biggest is just how derivative this story is. Every twist and turn reminds me of other works. Perhaps for that reason, there are no surprising developments.

Also Hobb writes characters who should be smarter than their actions indicate. Fitz always was a bit dim, but he outdoes himself here and descends into flaming idiocy. Most of what happens in this book could have been avoided if Shrewd had been shrewd, Chade had spent 60 seconds in thought, or even if Verity had taken any useful action at all.

The story was frustrating as the good guys suffer defeat after defeat without ever trying to figure out why, and the bad guys as a result get stronger and stronger. Like the first book, it ends on a very slight cliffhanger.

I'll read the next book, but I won't re-read the series.

I read the first book of the trilogy and it was not too bad but I could only get halfway through the second one before putting it in the paper recycling bin. The main characters all make such obviously wrong decisions and unlikely actions that it strained my credulity to the breaking point. Fitz is a huge whiner and a major downer! Its like Robin Hobbs had enough material for one good book but she decided to stretch it out to a trilogy so its all filled with ridiculous distractions and fluffernutter. The plot moves glacially and I was constantly in dread of the next painfully obvious insult to the readers intelligence. She can embroider the story very well but her structure leaves much to be desired. So much so that I finally had to toss it in disgust.

There's a line in this book where one of the good characters asks the narrator, when discussing a past injustice, 'Had you believed I had known of such a thing and take no action?' I was listening to it on tape, and I actually spoke aloud 'Yes! Of course!" That is what this entire book is about: inaction. The plot, the villain, and his villainy are apparent to the reader and the narrator from the very beginning. As a capable assassin, it is very much in his power to do something about it. But no direct action is taken and the villain is allowed to wreck havoc on everyone unchecked, out of some ill-argued loyalty to the king. It reminds me of that feeling when you wake up, but you're body is still asleep and you are paralyzed to act. I often found myself yelling at the voice actor, when he's complaining about his many woes, 'Then why don't you f#C&ing do something!?' It's frustrating, because otherwise, the nuanced characters and detail to the story are pretty amazing, and I can see the influence of this book in many other authors, but good god, it was hard to sit through.

Your average run of the mill fantasy novel that finds itself on the cusp of being good but falters.
I can stand the naming of royalty as it is in the book, but not the constant state of mediocrity our hero remains in.
I gave the author the benefit of the doubt as book one ended decently, but there is no growth, no learning by our first person POV hero as book two comes to an end. Constant whining and no real show of doing anything about it just left me uninterested in finding out what happens in the third book.
What really takes the cake is as book two ends, our hero makes a statement of believing in what his King in waiting's mission is and that he will find what he seeks. This, after not believing and giving up on research pertaining to these things all through the book. So uninspiring.
Not to mention the absence of any secondary characters of any worth.

Many people criticize this book, but I can't quite understand why. To me it's like Assassin's Apprentice, but better (and longer). I found the first 10-15 pages to be a bit rocky, but it improves as we follow Fitz's life at Buckkeep, dealing with the numerous problems resulting from the Red Ship raids, Regal's ambition, and his own struggles to grow up and develop relationships. I liked this one better because Fitz is older; he's no longer in training, he's a teenager as opposed to a young boy, and he's able to take more independent action.

And stuff happens. Fitz goes into battle. He gets a girlfriend. He becomes a player in the intrigues of Buckkeep, as opposed to the pawn he was before. No, this isn't nonstop action-based fantasy by any means, with its focus on character development and Fitz's daily life, but if you read and enjoyed Assassin's Apprentice, you probably like that. And much like the previous book, this one will draw you in, get you emotionally involved, and not let you go. The only downside is that the end is so depressing that you virtually have to move on to the third book to see how things turn out (and I thought the third book was awful).

At any rate, I found this to be a highly engrossing book, and I hope people won't be discouraged after reading Assassin's Apprentice by the criticism of this one.

Fitz has remained in Jhaampe in the Mountain Kingdom, recovering from the attempts on his life by his uncle, Prince Regal. In a dream of King Shrewd , he sees the suffering of the old king, as well as his beloved Molly about to be killed by the Red Ship Raiders. Fitz and Burrich return to Buckkeep, where Fitz find new challenges, new trials and new, albeit temporary, happiness.

Fitz and allies struggle to save the Six Duchies its enemies, as Regal plots to undermine Verity in a coup. Fitz becomes Prince Verity's agent in the field, being sent on missions to hold back the Red Ship Raiders. However, despite his best efforts, the Raiders grow stronger and bolder. Verity, who decides that the only hope for his kingdom is to go in search of the legendary Elderlings, mysterious semi-mythical sorcerers of the prehistory of the kingdom, sets out on a perilous quest to the far side of the Mountain kingdom. Fitz remains behind to secure the ailing throne, but quickly becomes embroiled in intrigues, one of which is to place him upon the throne.

This is the tale of FitzChivalry Farseer. The discovery that this illegitimate son exists is enough to topple Prince Chivalry's ambition for the throne. He abdicates, ceding the title of heir to the throne to his younger brother Verity and abandoning the child to the care of the stable master Burrich. The youngest prince, Regal, has ambitions of his own, and wishes to do away with the illegitimate FitzChivalry. But old King Shrewd sees the value of taking the lad and training him as an assassin. For an illegitimate royal can be sent into dangers where a trueborn son could not be risked, and may be given tasks that would soil an heir's hands.

And so FitzChivalry is trained in the secret arts of being a royal assassin. He shows a predilection for the Wit, a beast magic much despised in the Six Duchies. This secret vice in the young assassin is tolerated, for a partnership with an animal may be a useful trait in an assassin. When it is discovered that he may possess the hereditary magic of the Farseers, the Skill, he becomes both the King's weapon, and an obstacle to Prince Regal's ambitions for the throne. At a time when the rivalry for the throne is intense, and the Outislanders and their Red Ship raiders are bringing war to the Six Duchies, FitzChivalry discovers that the fate of the kingdom may very well rest on the actions of a young illegitimate heir and the King's Fool. Armed with little more than loyalty and his sporadic talent for the old magic, Fitz follows the fading trail of King Verity who has traveled beyond the Mountain Kingdom and into the realm of the legendary Elderlings in what may be a vain hope to renew an old alliance.

Robin Hobb's first series introduces us to the Farseer line of Kings, and a well detailed and scripted world of dragons and magic. In Hobb's world, magic is the power of the mind, and sorcerers come in two varieties: those with Skill magic, to influence the minds of men, and those of Wit magic, who do the same with beasts.

I made the mistake of accidentally reading the Tawny Man Trilogy first, but coming back to the Farseer trilogy, is like reading the origin story. What really impresses me is that each book is unique, and moves the story forward. All the items that come up in the Tawny Man trilogy have their origin and backstory in this series. I'm currently on the 3rd book of the Farseer trilogy, and can't put it down.

Book 2 of the Farseer Trilogy
This second entry in Robin Hobb's "Farseer" trilogy picks up where the first book let off. FitzChivalry was poisoned by Prince Regal when he was in the Mountain Kingdom to bring home Princess Kettricken. Kettricken is to wed Fitz's master, King-in-Waiting Verity. Fitz is battered, both emotionally and physically and it is a long time before he is able to return to Buckkeep and rejoin the royal court. When Fitz returns to Buckkeep he steps back into his old role as King Shrewd's Assassin, as well as into a new role as Verity's helper in fighting the Forged Ones. The Forged Ones are citizens of the Kingdom of the Six Duchies who have been captured by the Red Ship Raiders (who have been terrorizing the coast) and turned loose as near zombies who can't think or feel but know only to attack and feed like ghouls.
The King is sick. He is losing strength and Verity's younger brother is plotting both against the King as well as against Verity. Fitz is doing what he can to protect Verity, but there isn't much that he can do since Regal is a legitimate son and Fitz is only the illegitimate child of a dead Farseer. Any action Fitz may take can be construed as treason, and he must be careful as Regal already hates him. In the midst of the plotting and intrigue there is some romance. Fitz is still in love with a street girl he knew years earlier named Molly. Molly is now working at the castle as a maid for Princess Patience, and though Fitz knows that this relationship can be used against him by his enemies, he cannot stay away from Molly (once known as Molly Nosebleed).
This is a fairly long and deep fantasy novel, but the world that Robin Hobb has created feels real. Hobb's world is brutal and our favorite characters are spared no pain. Reading this, I never really knew which characters would live and which would die, even Fitz (you really don't believe he'll die, but Hobb did such a good job with this world that I felt the threat was real). There is not a lot of action, but when it happens it explodes with huge implications. In my view, this is some good fantasy. I'm already looking forward to book 3 "Assassin's Quest".

In "Royal Assassin," Robin Hobb continues the development of Fitz's character as he perseveres through more young man's emotional growth. Hobb's strengths, the tactile first-person narrative and the fluid realism in Fitz's mental connections with other characters, flourish as Fitz's mind becomes even more intertwined with Prince Verity and a new animal character. This parallels his emotional development through interactions with the youthful Molly, the exhausted Verity, and the wasting King Shrewd.
However, Hobb's consistent weakness, the glacially moving plot, struggles to carry this character development as Fitz languishes in Buckkeep for the first 500+ pages. The continuing Red-Ship raids provide external pressure on the leaders, but until Neatbay, the actual raids feel distant from the insulated narrative. Fitz's brief summer as an oarsman reads like a contrived plot detour to allow the narrative to witness a few battles, but the gritty counterattack at Neatbay provides a crucial visual face to the raiding and features key plot points for Fitz and Nighteyes, Burrich, and Kettricken.
Against the backdrop of the coastal-inland political tension, the vicious royal intrigue feels like a natural element in this book, unlike the abrupt shift at the end of "Assassin's Apprentice." Hobb boldly casts Fitz emotionally adrift, as his three closest mentors, Chade, Burrich, and Verity, all spend long periods of time away from Buck before the conspiracies rush to a climax and Fitz descends into frantic countermoves. The ending would have been cheesy deus ex machina in the hands of a lesser writer, but hints in the Epilogue and the first pages of "Assassin's Quest" show that to Hobb, it is merely another character choice that has benefits and consequences.
Hobb's intensely real depiction of Fitz's character and the growth she steers him through manage to carry "Royal Assassin" on the strength of that developing character alone, without any fast-paced ordinary fantasy plot.

"Royal Assassin", a book with a tremendous and growing reputation, defies attempts to summarize its greatness. People love it, critics laud it, but few can truly say why it's so great. The story starts with Fitz and Burrich in the mountain kingdom recovering from their injuries at the end of "Assassin's Apprentice". Fitz flirts with the idea of running off to forge a new life elsewhere, but a Skill dream draws convinces him not to forsake his promise to King Shrewd. This rapid shifting of Fitz's attitudes keeps up throughout the novel. And well it should. Those who are in their middle teens or accurately remember their middle teens know them as years of mental shifting. You feel desperate and depressed one minute, calm the next, then full of rage. I can barely name any novel that so captures teenage moodiness and its draining consequences as well as "Royal Assassin".

In any case, the world will not wait for Fitz to sort out his emotions. Forged ones converge on Buckkeep, Red Ship Raiders attack in renewed numbers, Prince Regal schemes to overthrow his brother, Molly returns beset with her own emotional storms, and a new wit-bonded wolf puppy demands his attention. In the midst of all this turmoil, Fitz will have to struggle with his feelings, his loyalties, his priorities, and his relationships.

"Royal Assassin" defies all expectations. Like a great jazz improvisation performance, it has its own rhythms, but then takes you on surprising turns that you don't see coming. Rather than going for the predictable pattern where every event getting neatly wrapped up before the next event begins, here one crisis piles up on top of the next one and the total hits an almost unbearable pitch. I can't explain it better, I'm afraid, but in the end "Royal Assassin" is what it is, a top notch epic fantasy about an entire nation convulsing between its own decay and external attack, told entirely through one single unforgettable character. It never condescends to the reader or grows hubrisitc. I'm making my second journey through the Farseer trilogy now, and I can say without hesitation that nobody alive does it better than Robin Hobb.

This is more good stuff from Robin Hobb. We continue the story of Fitz, the royal bastard training in the art of assassination. His position in this book goes from bad to worse, and then to even worse (no, he hasn't seen worst yet)!
In this volume we have a delightful new character, Queen Kettricken, as well as the always interesting Lady Patience. Queen Kettricken brings with her from her mountain kingdom the idea of Queen as Servant, which she attempts to live out in her new home. The people here don't understand her, which causes life to be difficult for her. Her dearest friend in her trials is Fitz.
Fitz has other problems to worry about, too. The Forged Ones are spreading across the land, and Prince Verity's war with the Outislanders is growing more desperate. People are losing confidence in him, and begin to speak favorably about Prince Regal, who wants Fitz dead.
The Royal Assassin, whose place was meant to be a shadowy one, serving the king in secret, has been exposed, and new dangers threaten him. Fitz will have to make difficult decisions about what is right and what is best, and he learns that those two things aren't always the same.
Fitz's character continues to grow and mature over the course of this book, yet he is still very capable of making impulsive decisions and acting rashly. The harrowing ending of this book will keep you on the edge of your seat and reading late into the night!

Robin Hobb is now my favorite fantasy author (Okay, I still love Robert Jordan and Patrick Rothfuss and Lois McMaster Bujold, etc.), but this book had me literally sobbing at the end. As I put the book down, I was like, holy s*#t, are you f#&$#g kidding me?!?? How can a book leave me shaking with wracking sobs? I discovered Robin Hobb first with Liveship Traders trilogy, which I totally loved. Assassin's Apprentice also was really good.

Normally, I listen to audiobooks during a long commute. I know when a writer has me hooked when I buy the Kindle or paper edition so that I can read it in between rides in the car. I mean seriously I couldn't wait to go to work just to listen to her stuff (that is abnormal) and then I would sit in the driveway to finish the chapter (some of which are really long, which I love of course, being an epic fantasy fan).

Anyway, Hobb is a master at dragging her characters through the depths of human emotion, and taking her readers along with them. I was totally inside the character's skin. This series is in first person from only one POV, aside from the beginning of each chapter which employs various forms of the omniscient: storytelling, myths, letters, reminiscing from the future, etc.

Okay, so she does set up some purely despicable villains, with pretty much no redeeming qualities, but her heroes are more multi-dimensional. Sometimes the heroes are a little infuriating in their choices, but it makes for good tension. Also, the hero of this story has the excuse of being an adolescent. In any case, I find her writing thoroughly immersive and enjoyable, and that's what it's all about for me. I can't wait to read the third book of the trilogy, then the Tawny Man trilogy.

Loved it. Nuff said.

"The Farseer: Royal Assassin" continues "The Farseer Trilogy" as FitzChivalry explains his activities using his developing skills as an assassin and in both the Skill and Wit from a first person point of view. Being educated and working alongside the master assassin uncovers more insight into Chade's past.

King Shrewd entrusts political assignments similar to the stereotypical mobster, in a subtle and (resembling his namesake) shrewd fashion asking for resolutions to specific dilemmas. Assassinations can be avoided also with the proper advice or suitable scheme. In the meantime FitzChivalry struggles with his emotions towards childhood friend Molly. Chade, Burrich, and the King's Fool remain refreshing support characters in addition to the unexpected King-in-Waiting Verity. Wide ranges of female characters interact but without the braid tugging or whining found in other series. A couple exciting events at sea and a powerful scene at a funeral pyre identify the amazing talent of the author.

The creative plot becomes darker when Red-Ship Raiders and resulting Forged ones generate difficulties by becoming more aggressive during periods of internal strife. Strangely FitzChivalry does not intuitively observe his surrounding and solve problems like in the previous novel. Nevertheless, the book has an intense and unanticipated end.

The storyline for the most part presents respectable affection between individuals and animals but maintains the cunning of politics to be acceptable for young readers. The many people can be confusing with the odd names. A more detailed map of the significant terrains and comprehensive appendix would have been useful.

I highly recommend this series to any fan of the fantasy genre.

Thank you.

Good character a, lots on tension. Not quite enough satisfying resolutions or victorious moments, even for a middle trilogy book. Also some non consistent behaviors here and there in the story that are slightly frustrating. Looking forward to book three

I summarized Book 1 with a 4 rating. Book 2 continues the "agony" of Fitz. The story is becoming redundant and messy with no sign of a good conclusion in Book 3 which I am now reading. The author meanders all over the place, never bringing anything to closure. If she is setting up for a grand finale in Book 3, apparently that's not going to happen either. She spends way too much time tediously repeating the same things and coming to the same conclusions. The King is being drained of his life. Regal is an evil Creep. Fitz and Burrick and Chade and the Fool are inept "assassins" and Verity is off chasing windmills. She does give her female characters great strength, but in that age, they have no real voice. I'm getting weary of the story and I'm only at Book 2. Though I bought Book 3. It's taken way too many pages to find out what happened to Fitz. Come on, where's the editing? I learned that there's a Book 4 but after finding out that Fitz is basically a recluse, why bother? This Trilogy is going the way of Eye of the World but it will not cause me to buy the next book - no more than it caused me to buy Eye of the World where characters come in and out of existence for no reason. I really wanted to love this series but I cannot.

In Assassin's Apprentice Robin Hobb created a child-adolescent character more convincing than most author's can do, particularly in the sff genre. ... are probably the only sff child characters I have read about recently which struck the same chord of realism, and even then her children were all prodigies, wise beyond their years. Fitz graduates to the ranks of adolescent-adult in this novel and though he is anything but wise most of the time he is superlatively human - his behaviour despicable at times and his motives suspect, still he remains in my mind one of the great sff characters of the 90s. I have a dislike for black and white/good vs evil literature and Robin Hobb's two recent series have well suited my tastes, where sympathy might be felt for an assassin or a pirate and distaste for a king of good character (e.g. Shrewd) or a beautiful dragon. Whilst reinventing traditional fantasy themes such as dragons (given their mystical nature i think dragons can be a theme as much as a character), Hobb also managed to include seemingly uber modern themes which I think give her an edge over most writers in this genre. The principal theme I'm thinking of here would have to be abuse, for I think that it was Hobb's treatment of the abuse that Fitz suffered that gave him life as a character. Whilst Assassin's Apprentice showed the mental and physical abuse that crippled Fitz's skill (and his character in many ways), and the excellent sequel to this series shows his abuse by fate, Royal Assassin is an often troubling account of Fitz's abuse of himself. drug/skill abuse & mental self-abasement addle Fitz's growth into adulthood and for anyone who has seen similarly young, bright minds descend into despair and irresponsibility it was just as amazing a piece of writing as more famous/mainstream tracts on drug abuse. Because Robin Hobb's novels are exceptionally great adventure stories and meet conventional expectations for fantasy trilogies, I think that her talent for writing complex human emotion is sometimes ... ....just hoping to remind everyone to think carefully about what they are reading and give this writer credit where due. It's writers like this who are raising the profile of sff.

And I've read a lot. From Anthony to Tolkein to Donaldson. This series stands out for its incredible characterization. These people, espescially the main character, act real. Fitz is not some invincible, golden-haired hero that fantasy is usually known for: This dude is REAL, with real fears, weaknesses, failures, hopes, and goals. The passages where he talks about his realtionship with Molly struck a really familiar note for me, something I could relate to when I was younger and in love. Robin Hobb knows young men better than most hack male authors out there. And the villan! Regal is the "best" villan I've read. cruel and evil, but human: not some supreme god of evil. This punk makes the reader hate him, and makes the reader want Fitz to win. The book is sad, but I firmly believe it to be a triumph of fantasy literature, and a great measure of what fantasy can be. If you can't get into this series, you're either dead, dumb, or too used to fake fantasy characters to care when a real, vulnerable hero comes along. Great job, Ms.Hobb

The past six weeks have been a heavy reading time for me, but everything I've read pales in comparison to this series. When I began Royal Assassin (book 2 in the Farseer Trilogy), it was so... comforting. Returning to Fitz's narrative and his world was like coming home. I was immediately swept up in the story.

I hate Regal. So much. I wanted to reach through the book and strangle him.

Throughout the book, it was clear that disaster was imminent. As the middle story in a trilogy (although this trilogy is actually the first of three trilogies in the series...), it's no surprise that it ended on a dour note. But that's okay. It didn't leave me upset. The transition from the first book to the second was seamless, and I expect the transition from the second to the third to be equally satisfying. It's funny; I thought the first book ended so neatly and I didn't expect the second book (this one) to pick up right where the first one left off, but I'm glad that it did.

Lately I've been motivated to finish books quickly. (So many books, so little time! Done with one, on to the next!) This book was long, but it didn't feel tedious or drawn out. I luxuriated in the reading of this book. It could have gone on forever; I wouldn't have cared. I'm so glad there are more books in the series. I am so incredibly fond of Fitz and his narrative.

Also, I must say that I loved Nighteyes. I was thrilled when Fitz started bonding with him (the animal bonding is such an endearing part of this series), but it was different than the bonds he formed with Nosy and Smithy, so it wasn't just a re-hash of the events and relationships of the first book. Nighteyes' comments also made me smile and laugh out loud more than once.

One last thing: The cover art for this series is awful and a horrible fit for the content of the books. I've been reading it on my Kindle so it hasn't bothered me, but today I decided to peek at the paperback books at Barnes and Noble... and holy crap. That's some seriously atrocious and ill-fitting cover art.

Okay, not done yet: The part of the book where the Fool publicly embarrasses Fitz was amazing. In a rush, Fitz goes from one overwhelming interaction to another and it was all SO PERFECT. I wanted to kiss my Kindle.

Other reviewers have covered every aspect of the book itself quite thoroughly so I'll just say that Robin Hobb is one of the finest *writers* working in the epic fantasy genre today. She ranks up there with the best of any genre. That's not something you can say about so much of the 'product' that seems to be flooding the shelves these days, especially the undercooked fantasy series that try so hard to be gritty and realistic but just end up capturing a kind of YA-Hollywood imitation of realism. Hobb is the real thing. She never panders, lets the story take its own course, doesn't hit you over the head with obvious exposition or author effects, just lets character and story develop naturally until the book becomes a real living breathing animal in your hands.

It's no coincidence that all her series tend to have some element of empathy with 'otherly' creatures - puppies, dragons, liveships - because empathy is what colors her work most effectively. She never goes for the big pompous grand spectacle though her scale is as epic as Martin's or Jordan's. Instead, she works from within a character, usually a single protagonist, even using the very-challenging First Person pov in this book to immerse you, Avatar-like, into the seat of consciousness of Fritz's mind as it goes from child to adult, orphan to assassin, powerless abandoned waif to Wit-and-Skill empowered hero.

Her style is graceful and felicitous to the point where I'm sure it must cost her the more popular readership of bigger selling authors but if those readers would try reading even a few dozen more pages they would see that her slow enduring grace always rewards you richly. In fact, she's one of those rare authors who not only delivers books in a series sharp on schedule to her readers - in this, I'm judging from the publication dates, of course - while expanding her themes, scope and action with each subsequent book.

I also love that she doesn't just write one long series but several interconnected ones set in the same world of the Six Duchies because it gives her (and us) the opportunity to view the stories and events through different protagonists. This attention to detail, rich pay-off in subsequent volumes (or even in the latter half of some volumes) and graceful prose are what make her so well worth rereading. That and the way she captures the magic of the human condition as effectively as most fantasy authors write about magical systems makes Robin Hobb one of the finest *writers* of fantasy.

I was thrown into this world in book one, and book two, Royal Assassin, just keeps me more entranced with the storyline and characters. Robin Hobb does an excellent job of writing books able to stand alone, and Royal Assassin does just that.

Fitz is trying to recover from his betrayal in Assassin's Apprentice. He hates everything about Regal, but has also sworn to protect the Farseer line, giving him conflicting loyalties. He also has both the Wit and the Skill, but is scared of those who use the Skill, especially those in the coterie.

Verity is trying to protect his people with his Skill and his fleet, but both are wearing him out. Finally, he can't do it any longer by himself and needs the help of the Elderlings, who saved the kingdom many years ago. Not knowing who or what they are, Verity leaves the kingdom in search of them, but also leaves the kingdom vulnerable to Regal and the Red Ship Raiders.

The conclusion to this book is one of the best I have ever read. I don't remember stopping for anything in the last 100 pages. Even with the ending, it had me thirsting for more with Robin Hobb's hints toward the next book. I highly recommend this book to fantasy and non-fantasy fans alike.

Could not put this book once I started the series. I was totally engrossed the lives, love, tragedies, and hard ship of the characters. They became people I cared about and was emotionally attached to the characters. When I finished the last book in the series. I was depressed not because the book was bad or anything but because of a feeling of separation. It was as if I would not ever see my close friends or family. The hours I spent reading this series was pure enjoy for me. I would go thru my week working long hours, basically putting up with the usual grind all while having in the back of my mind that feeling of this book and the characters I love are waiting for me at home. When I would sit down and begin reading it was as if my reality did not exist and I was completely transported into Robin Hobb's world with FitzChivalry, Verity, Kettricken, Burrich and the precious Fool. The width drawl that I felt when I finished this series still contiunes. It's been 4 weeks and I have not picked up another book yet. I miss my friends from the books deeply!

Plot Summary: As described in the countless other reviews, Fitz is a wounded character now due to Prince Regal's treachery in the Mountian Kingdom. He is also being attacked in various ways throughout this book, mentally and physically. All the people he loves and trusts are either dissappearing or being hurt due to their acquaintance with him. The King is dying, the Prince is gunning for the throne and Fitz is stuck between his duty and his desires. Such are the trials of one assassin to the king.

Opinion: I still like the series. In fact I like this book better than the series opener, Assassin's Apprentice. Fitz and his associates are all good characters to read about. I care for them. I hate who I am supposed to hate and suspect who I am supposed to suspect. I was surprised by a few of the twists in the novel, but others were fairly predictable. The story moves along pretty well starting with the return from the Mountain Kingdoms to, interestingly enough, well....I don't want to say how the book ends. The Six Duchies change as much as Fitz does in this book and some of the change (in the characters and in the Duchies) strains credulity but not too much. Overall things take a turn for the worse, one just has to accept the small personal victories as a counterbalance to some of that negativity.

Recommendation: Read it. 4.5 out of 5 stars. I look forward to reading the conclusion to the series

This book is the second installment of The Farseer trilogy, which begins with Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 1). This review does not contain (significant) spoilers for Royal Assassin, although the events of Assassin's Apprentice are discussed here.

The Good:

My reaction to Assassin's Apprentice was confusion. I wasn't quite sure what I read, because it was a fairly erratic. Perhaps intentionally, the tone of the book shifted around many times. This was perhaps because we were seeing the world through the eyes of a young character, and his perceptions change drastically as time passes.

Luckily, Royal Assassin is more stable in tone. Hobb also breaks off her tumultuous love affair with her thesaurus, much to the improvement of the book. While Assassin's Apprentice had a nonstop barrage of extremely obscure words used, apparently, just for the sake of having obscure words, Royal Assassin does not suffer from this problem.

Likewise, Assassin's Apprentice had issues finding its plot. Really, it served as a prologue for the series and little more. Royal Assassin focuses in more detail on what seems to be the true heart of the story: the Red-Ships and the power struggle between Prince Verity and Prince Regal. To be frank, more things happen in this book, and that is a good thing.

The strong points of Assassin's Apprentice are kept in this book. The magic system is still quite interesting, and in this book we hear more about the Wit and less about the Skill. The world is still compelling, and the heightened focus on the Red-Ship plot line makes it even more gripping. The characters are still well fleshed out and compelling.

The Neutral:

The first third to half of Royal Assassin seems like it is just a meditation on honor, sacrifice, and duty. Almost every single important character in the book gives something major up for the sake of a greater good. Literally the only main character who does not do this is the primary antagonist of the book.

Other reviews have talked about how the main character in this book is powerless, cowardly or indecisive. I disagree with that interpretation. Instead, I feel like that is an element of the theme of sacrifice in this book: Fitz sacrifices his autonomy in service to his king. He certainly could use his assassin training to go on a poisoning spree and stand up for himself, but to do so would be a betrayal of everything he swore in the first book. Instead, he simply accepts that he is honor-bound to live his life however he is commanded, regardless of how he feels about the commands.

If that sounds like a horrible protagonist to you, then you're going to have a bad time reading this book. However, once I realized what was happening, I appreciated the inherent conflict it presented.

The Bad:

There are conflicts between Royal Assassin and Assassin's Apprentice. I'm not sure if I would call them continuity errors, but there were several points in Royal Assassin that seemed to slightly retcon the previous book. Overall, I was left with the impression that the last chapter of Apprentice was added at the insistence of the editor or publisher to give it a more satisfying ending, and Royal just ignores everything that happens in that chapter.

The ending, which I will not spoil, is anti-climactic to say the least. I won't discuss this in detail because it would require spoiling things, but suffice to say that the end of this book would give Neal Stephenson's early work a run for its money in terms of stories that just randomly stop. It's the middle book in a trilogy, so that is to be expected to some extent. It just seems like in this book, the ONLY significant events that happen at the end are to set up the plot of the next book.

Finally, and this is a matter of personal preference, I did not find the romance subplot of this book enjoyable. Again, I don't want to spoil anything, just suffice it to say that I found it more annoying than anything.

Overall:

Royal Assassin is, to me, a vast improvement over the first book of the series. It has all of the charm that kept me reading the first book, and did away with many of the things I found annoying. It has flaws of its own, but it's still a solid step up.

Like the first book, it was compelling enough that I continually forced myself to make time for reading more of it. At the end of the day, that is more telling than any analysis I could perform about the merits of the writing or the story. I would recommend this to anyone who isn't completely put off by my caveats and complaints in this review. Hobb's work is definitely not for everyone, but I found it enjoyable.

If half stars were available I would award book 2 of the "Farseer Trilogy" 3 1/2 stars, rather than a full 4. While Hobb continues to improve upon the strengths of her first book - outstanding and mature characterization and attention to detail - other elements, such as her exploration of Skill and Wit remain, in my opinion, unfully realized. In addition, the plot decisions by certain characters in the tale hardly seem creditible to intelligent and worldly men and women aware of Regal's intent towards the throne. Finally, as good as Hobb's character development is, it is nonetheless limited by her choice of first person narrative, which confines the story's perspective to one level and prevents the reader from experiencing the richness in both character and storytelling available from multiple perspectives.
Nonetheless, this is a very well written and engaging tale which I shall continue into book 3. However, so far, it does not approach her work in "Ship of Magic," and is certainly not worthy of all the 5 star praise found herein.

This series will be the death of me. I cannot stop reading it. Everything else gets put on hold while I read it. This is obviously an old series and I picked up all three at once. I'm a fast reader, but I took my time reading this because it was so well written and I was afraid to miss the least thing mentioned. It took me a week to read the first and a week to read this one. I'm not picking up the third one until I get some personal things taken care of first. You truly fall into the lives of these characters. I can't tell you how often I shed tears for Fritz. What a tragic life he leads, and yet he goes on. He has loyal friends who love him, but it's like everyone's hands are tied. It's either sink or swim, and they are definately swimming with sharks.

Fritz does have a little bit of happiness in this novel. He gets to spend time with Molly, his love. But even that becomes heartache when he realizes Molly is receiving visits from Regal. I don't want to explain everything that is happening in this series, it is just too numerous to mention. I can promise that this series is a great adventure, one not to miss.

I was very suprised at how much I liked the first book, and was eagerly anticipating reading this one. I was not overwhelmed with its greatness, but neither was I let down at the direction the story took. As with the first one, the characters are very interesting, and the plot isnt "good guy always wins" style, wich I find boring. After 'Assasins Apprentice' I find it hard to believe anyone is doubting to buy this one, but if you are, than have no fear, it will not dissapoint.

The only thing different about this from the first book, is that while the first book was only 435 pages packed full of plot and written at a fast pace, this one is around 675 pages and slower paced. The story seems to drag toward the middle of the book. I would rather it had been full of plot and dialouge and been shorter, than have it longer and slower. As far as fantasy novels go in general 700 pages is still not long I suppose.

Either way, it is a good read, and an excellent series thus far. I highly recommend it.

This ruined the series for me. It started almost getting decent in the last 50 pages, but not enough to make me want to read the final book in the trilogy. Two stars because the last 50 pages are actually good.

After reading all of the glowing reviews on this site as well as a cover quote from George RR Martin, I expected this series to be wonderfully intricate and darkly surprising.

Unfortunately, while the series manages to create some interesting ideas, it is surprisingly slight for a book supposedly about an assassin. For an assassin, the main character Fitz, seems remarkably unburdened with any truly unethical duties. The "jobs" he performs are rarely morally ambiguous.

There are few surprises in Royal Assassin. The good guys are good from the start and can always be depended upon. The bad guys are bad from the start and act in predictable ways. Because of this, it's hard to reconcile some of the more foolish moves by the protagonists.

I am still giving this book 3 stars because it really is better than most dreck out there. The style is consistent and moving and the hero is likeable and easy to root for.

One last bit, the title of this book should really have been Royal Beastmaster ;)

Robin Hobb, Royal Assassin (Bantam, 1996)
There should be a law against ending books like this, especially when they're the second part of a trilogy. Imagine what it must have been like for the poor souls who read this on the day of release, and then had to wait another year to find out what happened next.
Royal Assassin continues the story of Fitz, son of an abdicated prince, assassin for the king, user of magic both human and bestial. It also continues the building of the world of the Six Duchies, and adds a new component; while most of the diplomacy (outside the small world of Fitz, that is) in the world of the first novel in this trilogy took place with what amounts to a sledgehammer, the second novel brings in political intrigue on a much more delicate level. The king's two younger sons, Verity and Regal, sit ready to leap at one another's throats, as the four coastal duchies (who support Verity) and the two inland duchies (who support Regal) sit poised on the brink of conflict. It doesn't help matters much that the Mountain kingdom, which sits on the other side of the inland duchies, just married its daughter and queen-to-be off to Verity. Things look pretty bad for the inlanders, right? Well, if they were, we wouldn't have a novel.
Royal Assassin continues on at the same pace as did Assassin's Apprentice; it may be a huge-looking effort (my trade paperback version is 580 pages, and almost as thick as the trade paperback edition of that doorstop known as Harlot's Ghost), but believe me, now that you've gotten yourself into the story, the slowness with which it begins (as did Assassin's Apprentice) is easily forgivable, and you'll be sitting and reading long after you'd promised yourself you'd stop.
I warn you now: stop before you get to page five hundred, and wait until you've secured a copy of Assassin's Quest before reading the end of this novel. The twists and turns will leave you growling in frustration if you have to wait to dive into the last book in the trilogy. It's almost as memorable, and frustrating, an ending as we got from George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords (and two years later we're still waiting for the fourth book in THAT series, a form of slow torture that is crueler and more unusual than anything the U. S. Justice System has ever come up with).
And with that, I'll go back to chewing my fingernails and waiting for the library to get the third volume back in (since I can't find it in any of the bookstores near me). ****

It was a well written book but some of the characterization was bland. The pure amount of wangst that Fitz pours out is staggering. I can't believe other characters carry around the idiot ball to the extent they do such that they cannot penetrate the barely translucent cloak over the villain's plan.

Fitz is in a weakened condition after someone made an attempt to kill him and now he must make choose between going back to Buckkeep to live under the same roof as the man who wants him dead or striking out on his own and abandoning the oath he made to his king. When duty prevails, arguably over good sense, Fitz makes the treacherous journey home. Rest was in short supply then as he needed to be ready for any possible danger that may befall him back in the castle while he grew into a man and more of a weapon for his king.

Royal Assassin is book 2 of Robin Hobb's The Farseer trilogy. What was maybe only hinted to be a complex story in the first book blossomed in the second. The first book only scratches the surface. The second book plunges readers into the story head first. Fitz continues his training to kill from the shadows as a secret assassin for the king, he learns to fight in hand-to-hand combat when Prince Verity sees what he can do on the battlefield, he sails with his people to confront the Red Ship Raiders learning to row a ship and fight on board, he receives permission to court a young woman, he makes new friends, and he maybe loses another. Love, hate, betrayal, loyalty, pain.

This book was wonderfully written and had elements of every genre I can name. The characters' emotions ran wild across the pages and I was the string wrapped around the author's finger, unable to put the book down until I knew what happened next. Can you recall the book that cemented the fact that you would read every book that Robin Hobb wrote? I can - Royal Assassin.

To be honest, I can't remember where this book started or stopped. The series is so good throughout the three books I basically read it from beginning to end as one story. It's not very often an author can keep readers totally engaged for that long.
Fitz matures but keeps learning lessons the hard way. We get to know his mentors better and see the story develope more. But you'd have to be crazy to stop all the way to the finish line. Hobb doesn't let up with gritty action sequences, surprises and the story's momentum.
Hobb is now my third favorite fantasy author behind Tolkein and George RR Martin. If you like the latter, I think you'll love this series - and you can finish while you wait for Martin's fourth book to get published!

Farseer as a total work has and will continue to inspire a large fan base. Royal Assassin is an accomplished sequel to Apprentice that fans will attach themselves to it with great fervor. Yet as world-building fantasies go, aside from setting a tremendous example in how first-person story-telling should be executed we don't see a great impact on the genre as a whole at least as a result of this book. While Hobb's concepts of the Skill and the Wit are interesting, they are not substantially different from many other tropes in the genre. While the "forging" of prisoners is sickening in its way and emotionally charged, the theme of a completely amoral people and their effect on a civilization is not well-explored. The political structure of the Six Duchies is a bit sketchy in places and seems to lack internal causes and volition among its various factions and doesn't break new ground. In our assessment of works in how they will change the course of the genre and the effect on future writers, Royal Assassin has not convinced us it is groundbreaking in any way. As a book for entertainment, and passing time, and growing to understand characters that Hobb has created, it is exceptional and far superior example of many other fantasy novels that are not so skillfully executed. But the élan of works that garner our highest ratings require a creative force that Farseer, for the moment, lacks.

WHO SHOULD READ

The problems we had with this book were ones that can easily be overlooked by the great majority of buyers. That Fitz is a bit too noble, that his romance seems a bit too ideal, that the antagonists headed by Regal are a bit too caricatured, are all items of small interest to those craving a good, straightforward, exceedingly well-written saga. To these readers, Hobb will be a great satisfaction and a joy. As we mentioned, this is a book that can readily stand on its own and doesn't require any prior knowledge of the Six Duchies nor any especial knowledge of the fantasy genre in general. It is an excellent book for lighter vacation reading, for the precocious adolescent looking for something a little more substantial than Harry Potter, and certainly will deeply satisfy those readers who pine for romantic entanglements in their heroes.

WHO SHOULD AVOID:

For readers of more sophisticated taste or those weary of the fantasy genre and looking for something unusual or less predictable, Hobb will be faintly disappointing. Where Apprentice teased with a mention of more complex themes--of sibling rivalry in politically powerful families, of deeply held convictions and a fear of new things, of loyalty, allegiance, and how they clash when duty seems at odds with personal beliefs--Hobb dared to grasp at them in Royal Assassin and disappointed a bit in the follow-through. There is some tremendous material here but the book has lapsed back a bit in to more conventional storylines and more conventional themes. In many readers looking for something more than a story well-told it will bring some interest but no dedication.

(...)

I read this book first, then read Assassin's Apprentice to see where it started, then finally Assassins Quest with bated breath. Glad I picked it up.
"Royal Assassin" is a lovely play on words, best understood once the story is over, as is the premise that "Chivalry ain't dead" which, while never uttered, provides the foundation for the protagonist's existence. That sense of irony is ever present throughout the series, and is beautifully complemented by Hobbs' use of adjective given names: Shrewd, Desire, Verity, Constance, Regal, etc. The measured development and revelation of each character's flaws and motivations is a beautiful example of how to write a book that startles you with plot twists, all of which ultimately make sense. The hardest character to reach is Regal, which is a shame, since he is a believable self-justified villain.
Hobb's system of magic is easy to grasp, and does not require too great a suspension of disbelief to incorporate, since so few people in the book actually practice the Skill or the Wit. Her ability to demonstrate the suspicions and superstitions of commoners is admirable. Most compelling, however, is her ability to get inside the "coming of age" problem with a stark realism that most cannot achieve. Hobb is also able to address intimate relationships, love, and marriage from a very human, and often humorous perspective, a skill that is rarely displayed in the fantasy genre. The setting is rich with vivid depictions of life in a medeival castle. You can smell the stew cooking in the kitchen, and taste the warm bread that Fitz wheedles from Cook when it is fresh out of the oven. You also appreciate the plain difficulty of getting things done, even for one endowed with the Skill. And you empathize with the archetypical ailing king, whose hold on life and his kingdom are both weakening, and who nonetheless battles to impose his will on the events shaping his kingdom.
Best of all, Fitz is an imperfect protagonist, who must rely on tenacity and his various friends to achieve his goals and survive in the deadly environment of court intrigue. The only problem with reading this book is that most contemporary fantasy pales in comparison. Robin Hobb has raised the bar.

Again, 4.5 Stars.
I couldn't wait to begin this book after having read Assassin's Apprentice. I wasn't disappointed.
This book is even better than the first, in terms of style, plot, character and overall grandeur. The plot becomes more complex and exciting, Fitz (the main character) takes on even more realism than in the first book, which is a feat in itself.
In Book 2, Hobb shows more of her world and, more importantly, her system of magic. Although not "overwhelmingly unique" in the Fantasy genre, her use of magic is both subtle yet powerful - she knows where to use it and where not to use it. The relationships between the characters are well-formed and become increasingly complex in this book, as well.
If you've enjoyed Assassin's Apprentice, you certainly won't be disapponted with Book 2 - it only builds on Book 1.

I loved the first book (Assassin's Apprentice), I guess I should have stopped there. This book provided some interesting perspectives on the power struggle and the lives in a keep. But it also really showed how frustratingly inept the protagonist is as an assassin. For a book with such title, I would expect there be more about assassination in stealth. My biggest complaint though is that this book is not self contained. So many issues were not resolved in the book's ending that you are almost forced to read the 3rd book.

"All too often I find I have wandered far from a history of the duchies into a history of FitzChivalry. Those recollections leave me face-to-face with who I once was, and who I have become."

Robin Hobb is, in many ways, a one trick pony. Wait, wait! Don't leave yet. I don't mean that in a particularly negative way. There's nothing wrong with the majority of her style; it's just utterly overshadowed by one aspect. She has less in common with a dog standing on its high legs and more in common with a dog learning to drive a racecar.

As anyone who's ever read Hobb can likely attest, her strength is not plot. Farseer's plot is, ultimately, fairly generic. There is an abandoned bastard son, brought to the castle to serve as an assassin. There are three brothers, two honorable and brave, one spiteful and cowardly. There are barbarian raiders from another land, and there are magics both old and very old. Have I intrigued you yet? No, I thought not.

Her strength is not setting. We're in the Six Duchies, a confederation of six former states, all ruled under one king. The coastal Duchies fish; the inner Duchies farm. There is conflict between the two; the coastal Duchies are reluctant to pay taxes to defend a coastline they do not share. It's thought out better than most of its ilk, I'll admit, but it's still not exactly the kind of thing that you view with your jaw on the floor.

Robin Hobb's strength is character. It's not an intellectual strength; I'm not talking about revolutionary backstories, or motivations, or anything like that. Her strength is visceral. These people feel real in every way possible. We see Verity trying to fill his older brother's shoes, trying to guard the kingdom. He does everything he can, and he is wasting away, and it is not enough. We see him, and we know that he cannot succeed, and he knows he cannot succeed, and yet he cannot - will not - stop.

Fitz is the main character, the aforementioned bastard son of Price Chivalry. He has a depth that can only be had when the reader experiences his growth alongside the author, alongside the character. When we first meet Fitz, he is a blank slate:

"My memories reach back to when I was six year old. Before that, there is nothing, only a blank gulf no exercise of my mind has ever been able to pierce. Prior to that day at Moonseye, there is nothing. But on that day they suddenly begin, with a brightness and detail that overwhelms me..."

It's said that our experiences shape us, and so it is here. We experience everything that Fitz does, and so is it that surprising that we are shaped in the same way the he is? In book one, we see Fitz develop loyalties in friendships. In book three, these loyalties are tested. The reader cannot look on with detachment, cannot wonder if he will stand fast or not. There is no intellectual contemplation, no thoughts that he should simply bite the bullet and move on. By that point, it is not Fitz that is being tested, at least not wholly. The reader is invested along with him. Every bond that Fitz forges is shown with meticulous detail, and the reader himself becomes friends with Prince Verity, Molly, and Burrich. These friends may not speak to us directly as we read, but there interactions with Fitz are, on every level that matters, interactions with us.

We become so deeply immersed with Fitz that his reasoning becomes our own. I would wager that everyone has had the unsettling experience of having someone tell us our own motivations and realizing that what we thought we were acting for was just blissful, comforting delusion. It is the same experience when Fitz's motivations are called into question. Acts that felt so pure at the time are suddenly given new light, and we feel almost sullied as we contemplate them afresh.

A large portion of your enjoyment of Farseer depends on how much you like to meander. Hobb is anything but direct. I've heard it said that her writing is eighty percent filler, and it's hard to really dispute that claim. All the same, I think that it's the so called filler that makes Hobb worth reading in the first place. The reader lives through Fitz's life, and I do not mean just the important moments. No, the books - and Hobb - shine through the monotony of day to day existence. If you are willing to simply cut yourself loose, to lose yourself in Fitz's existence, you'll find yourself living a life no less complete and complex as your own.

I suppose that that is, quite literally, escapism. All the same, I've never understood the term completely. It's defined as: "Habitual diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routine." I suppose I can't argue with that, but the term seems to far more often carry a negative connotation. I've often heard it said that it's taking refuge from the real world. Ignoring the tone of the novel in question, something has never struck me as accurate about this definition. Just because what we're doing does not directly tie into our own lives, why is it inherently meaningless? I'm not defining meaning as a simple recharging of the batteries here, either, though it can do that too. But books can do so much more. Who says that, just because the terms in question are not those of the real world, we are not learning, are not experiencing?

Besides which, if I was going to escape to somewhere else - a Hawaiian vacation for the soul, say - I'd make it somewhere les depressing. The titles and covers all seem quite carefree, but the actual text is anything but. This is, despite all appearances to the contrary, anything but standard fantasy. We are in Fitz's head for his triumphs, yes, but also for his tragedies, and we feel both with equal force. Just because Fitz tries something, and just because Fitz is one of the "good guys," does not mean that he will succeed. Be prepared for disappointment of the most bitter flavors while reading.

"'I always believed, perhaps childishly, that if you followed the rulers, you would be protected, that things like that would not happen to you. Afterward, I felt...tricked. Foolish. Gullible, that I had thought ideals could protect me. Honor and courtesy and justice...they are not real, Fitz. We all pretend to them, and hold them up like shields. Against those who have discarded them, they are no shields at all, but only additional weapons to use against their victims.'"

Of the individual books, the first is at once the one with the fewest flaws and the weakest. The second, by contrast, has glaring problems, and yet it's undoubtedly my favorite. The first book lays down the connections, and it is half the size of the others. It's not focused, no, but it never meanders too much, and we always have our ending goal in sight.

The second, on the other hand, is almost nothing but meander. It's an attempt to preserve the status quo as seen in book one, but for half the text exactly how we're doing so is quite hard to see. That being said, Hobb's writing gets better as it goes on, and every interaction between Fitz and another character only makes the overall story that much deeper.

The third novel is an odd mixture of the two. It should, by all rights, be the most driven. A goal is immediately established, and Fitz sets out to accomplish it. Perhaps because of this, it's the first time where the repetitive nature of the story began to become somewhat irksome. When there's no set destination, I'm fine with exploring every little town that I pass on a long drive. When I'm late for something, however, I'm far more tempted to ram the pedal to the ground and get somewhere. This is not an urge that Hobb shares, and the cycle of Capture-Escape goes on to the point of insanity. At which point we're finally given a break, and the book takes a hard right turn. Everything changes, and it's at once totally brilliant and anything but. The ending is powerful, yes, but also rushed. As it is, it's a decent closing to a brilliant series, but it's impossible to shake the feeling that it could've been an amazing ending.

If you're looking for something exciting, or something uplifting, Farseer is not for you. This isn't about a gripping plot or fascinating locales. This is about people living their lives, and, though it's fantasy through and through, Fitz and Hobb's other creations feel as real to me as anyone I know. If character driven is what you're after, I'm not sure it's possible to do better than this.

Ever since I first read Lord of the Rings, I was hooked on fantasy. Since that fateful day many years ago I have read many of the conventional fantasy series most notably the Wheel of Time series. This trilogy really breaks all bonds of convention and makes way for innovation, creativity, and a strong dose of realism. The characters in these stories feel so real it will take your breath away. Never have I ever been so emotionally involved in a character as I was with Fitz. I literally could not wait to pick up the book again after putting it down to find out what direction he would be thrust in next, and whether or not he would get out of it.

At first, I did not think I would enjoy reading the first-person narrative style of Hobb's writing, but now I actually find it quite enjoyable and adds a whole dimension to the story and further connection to the character. Her structure is fantastic. Even when things may seem a bit slow, it is done for a reason, usually because you begin to feel anxious and impatient just as the narrator is.

These books are definitely page turners that are well worth a read. One of my favorite fantasy series to date. I look forward to reading the rest of the adventures of Fitzchivalry Farseer.

Robin Hobb's Farseer & Tawny Man trilogies are among my coming-of-age fantasy favorites along with Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle and Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle. Ms. Hobb writes exceptionally well, frequently evoking deep emotions. Her strong first-person narrative, endearing characters, engaging story and exciting magic (the "Wit" & the "Skill" instead of sorcery) made my reading experience feel real. It isn't perfect as there is a bit of padding and repetition, (understandably) not much action, "assassin" in the titles may not necessarily match reader expectations, and the pace may feel somewhat slow.

The Farseer Trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin & Assassin's Quest): Presents a simple yet inspiring story of an abandoned boy, an illegitimate heir talented in both Wit (abhorred beast magic) and Skill (magic to send thoughts, usually found only in those of royal blood), loyal to his king in the time of the Red Ship War. It is at mid-series when Fitz bonds with an unlikely creature that the Wit magic begins to shine. Readers not continuing onto The Tawny Man may be left disappointed since the ending is closed in only a few pages appearing rushed (as it is structured with a sequel in mind) and depressed from Fitz's losses (better appreciated in the sequel).

The Tawny Man Trilogy (Fool's Errand, Golden Fool & Fool's Fate): Direct sequel to The Farseer Trilogy. Here lies the true ending to Fitz's tale, explains his connection to the Fool, retells post-war events, and expands beyond the Six Duchies kingdom. After fifteen years, Fitz returns as a lowly servant to rescue his lost prince and then slay a dragon. Very moving are his journey with his Wit companion, his reunion with his surrogate mother, and most especially his coded message for his guardian (the stablemaster) in a Skill dream.

I couldn't resist reading this series non-stop and I am fortunate to find it in a time when all six books have already been published. Overall, it's quite enjoyable, very rewarding and definitely worth reading.

Hobb's "Royal Assassin" is significantly better than the first book in the trilogy. Hobb spends much of "Assassin's Apprentice" setting the scene and developing the major characters. It moves much too slowly in my opinion, with very few plot developments. I wasn't planning on picking up the second Farseer book, but my library had little else to offer, so I took it up. I'm glad I did, because in "Royal Assassin," things move along at brisker pace. (Although Hobb's work can never be described as "action packed." Sword fights, battles, and yes, even assassinations, are just not her M.O.).

The strength of The Farseer Trilogy is its well-developed characters. Hobb is very good at getting the reader emotionally attached to the characters. You'll love the good guys and hate the bad guys with equal conviction. Although the characters are pretty much strictly good or evil, they are complex in other ways. The depth to which she develops the good guys creates and attachment to the characters which will keep you reading on the edge of your seat.

Other reviewers have called these books "gut wrenching." I can't think of a better term. You'll care so much for the fate of Fitz, Burrich, Kettricken, Molly, Verity, etc, that a knot will form in your gut when they're put through their many arduous trials. And let me tell you, without giving too much away, things seem pretty bleak for the good guys. As some other readers note, reading this book can be depressing and put you in a melancholy mood. I'm thinking (and desperately hoping) that Hobb is showing despair and sadness so that you can be more uplifted when the good guys get some breaks. Regardless of the conclusion, this makes for suspenseful reading and you won't want to put this book down.

This series will be the death of me. I cannot stop reading it. Everything else gets put on hold while I read it. This is obviously an old series and I picked up all three at once. I'm a fast reader, but I took my time reading this because it was so well written and I was afraid to miss the least thing mentioned. It took me a week to read the first and a week to read this one. I'm not picking up the third one until I get some personal things taken care of first. You truly fall into the lives of these characters. I can't tell you how often I shed tears for Fritz. What a tragic life he leads, and yet he goes on. He has loyal friends who love him, but it's like everyone's hands are tied. It's either sink or swim, and they are definately swimming with sharks.

Fritz does have a little bit of happiness in this novel. He gets to spend time with Molly, his love. But even that becomes heartache when he realizes Molly is receiving visits from Regal. I don't want to explain everything that is happening in this series, it is just too numerous to mention. I can promise that this series is a great adventure, one not to miss.

I was very suprised at how much I liked the first book, and was eagerly anticipating reading this one. I was not overwhelmed with its greatness, but neither was I let down at the direction the story took. As with the first one, the characters are very interesting, and the plot isnt "good guy always wins" style, wich I find boring. After 'Assasins Apprentice' I find it hard to believe anyone is doubting to buy this one, but if you are, than have no fear, it will not dissapoint.

The only thing different about this from the first book, is that while the first book was only 435 pages packed full of plot and written at a fast pace, this one is around 675 pages and slower paced. The story seems to drag toward the middle of the book. I would rather it had been full of plot and dialouge and been shorter, than have it longer and slower. As far as fantasy novels go in general 700 pages is still not long I suppose.

Either way, it is a good read, and an excellent series thus far. I highly recommend it.

This ruined the series for me. It started almost getting decent in the last 50 pages, but not enough to make me want to read the final book in the trilogy. Two stars because the last 50 pages are actually good.

After reading all of the glowing reviews on this site as well as a cover quote from George RR Martin, I expected this series to be wonderfully intricate and darkly surprising.

Unfortunately, while the series manages to create some interesting ideas, it is surprisingly slight for a book supposedly about an assassin. For an assassin, the main character Fitz, seems remarkably unburdened with any truly unethical duties. The "jobs" he performs are rarely morally ambiguous.

There are few surprises in Royal Assassin. The good guys are good from the start and can always be depended upon. The bad guys are bad from the start and act in predictable ways. Because of this, it's hard to reconcile some of the more foolish moves by the protagonists.

I am still giving this book 3 stars because it really is better than most dreck out there. The style is consistent and moving and the hero is likeable and easy to root for.

One last bit, the title of this book should really have been Royal Beastmaster ;)

Robin Hobb, Royal Assassin (Bantam, 1996)
There should be a law against ending books like this, especially when they're the second part of a trilogy. Imagine what it must have been like for the poor souls who read this on the day of release, and then had to wait another year to find out what happened next.
Royal Assassin continues the story of Fitz, son of an abdicated prince, assassin for the king, user of magic both human and bestial. It also continues the building of the world of the Six Duchies, and adds a new component; while most of the diplomacy (outside the small world of Fitz, that is) in the world of the first novel in this trilogy took place with what amounts to a sledgehammer, the second novel brings in political intrigue on a much more delicate level. The king's two younger sons, Verity and Regal, sit ready to leap at one another's throats, as the four coastal duchies (who support Verity) and the two inland duchies (who support Regal) sit poised on the brink of conflict. It doesn't help matters much that the Mountain kingdom, which sits on the other side of the inland duchies, just married its daughter and queen-to-be off to Verity. Things look pretty bad for the inlanders, right? Well, if they were, we wouldn't have a novel.
Royal Assassin continues on at the same pace as did Assassin's Apprentice; it may be a huge-looking effort (my trade paperback version is 580 pages, and almost as thick as the trade paperback edition of that doorstop known as Harlot's Ghost), but believe me, now that you've gotten yourself into the story, the slowness with which it begins (as did Assassin's Apprentice) is easily forgivable, and you'll be sitting and reading long after you'd promised yourself you'd stop.
I warn you now: stop before you get to page five hundred, and wait until you've secured a copy of Assassin's Quest before reading the end of this novel. The twists and turns will leave you growling in frustration if you have to wait to dive into the last book in the trilogy. It's almost as memorable, and frustrating, an ending as we got from George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords (and two years later we're still waiting for the fourth book in THAT series, a form of slow torture that is crueler and more unusual than anything the U. S. Justice System has ever come up with).
And with that, I'll go back to chewing my fingernails and waiting for the library to get the third volume back in (since I can't find it in any of the bookstores near me). ****

It was a well written book but some of the characterization was bland. The pure amount of wangst that Fitz pours out is staggering. I can't believe other characters carry around the idiot ball to the extent they do such that they cannot penetrate the barely translucent cloak over the villain's plan.

Fitz is in a weakened condition after someone made an attempt to kill him and now he must make choose between going back to Buckkeep to live under the same roof as the man who wants him dead or striking out on his own and abandoning the oath he made to his king. When duty prevails, arguably over good sense, Fitz makes the treacherous journey home. Rest was in short supply then as he needed to be ready for any possible danger that may befall him back in the castle while he grew into a man and more of a weapon for his king.

Royal Assassin is book 2 of Robin Hobb's The Farseer trilogy. What was maybe only hinted to be a complex story in the first book blossomed in the second. The first book only scratches the surface. The second book plunges readers into the story head first. Fitz continues his training to kill from the shadows as a secret assassin for the king, he learns to fight in hand-to-hand combat when Prince Verity sees what he can do on the battlefield, he sails with his people to confront the Red Ship Raiders learning to row a ship and fight on board, he receives permission to court a young woman, he makes new friends, and he maybe loses another. Love, hate, betrayal, loyalty, pain.

This book was wonderfully written and had elements of every genre I can name. The characters' emotions ran wild across the pages and I was the string wrapped around the author's finger, unable to put the book down until I knew what happened next. Can you recall the book that cemented the fact that you would read every book that Robin Hobb wrote? I can - Royal Assassin.

To be honest, I can't remember where this book started or stopped. The series is so good throughout the three books I basically read it from beginning to end as one story. It's not very often an author can keep readers totally engaged for that long.
Fitz matures but keeps learning lessons the hard way. We get to know his mentors better and see the story develope more. But you'd have to be crazy to stop all the way to the finish line. Hobb doesn't let up with gritty action sequences, surprises and the story's momentum.
Hobb is now my third favorite fantasy author behind Tolkein and George RR Martin. If you like the latter, I think you'll love this series - and you can finish while you wait for Martin's fourth book to get published!

Farseer as a total work has and will continue to inspire a large fan base. Royal Assassin is an accomplished sequel to Apprentice that fans will attach themselves to it with great fervor. Yet as world-building fantasies go, aside from setting a tremendous example in how first-person story-telling should be executed we don't see a great impact on the genre as a whole at least as a result of this book. While Hobb's concepts of the Skill and the Wit are interesting, they are not substantially different from many other tropes in the genre. While the "forging" of prisoners is sickening in its way and emotionally charged, the theme of a completely amoral people and their effect on a civilization is not well-explored. The political structure of the Six Duchies is a bit sketchy in places and seems to lack internal causes and volition among its various factions and doesn't break new ground. In our assessment of works in how they will change the course of the genre and the effect on future writers, Royal Assassin has not convinced us it is groundbreaking in any way. As a book for entertainment, and passing time, and growing to understand characters that Hobb has created, it is exceptional and far superior example of many other fantasy novels that are not so skillfully executed. But the élan of works that garner our highest ratings require a creative force that Farseer, for the moment, lacks.

WHO SHOULD READ

The problems we had with this book were ones that can easily be overlooked by the great majority of buyers. That Fitz is a bit too noble, that his romance seems a bit too ideal, that the antagonists headed by Regal are a bit too caricatured, are all items of small interest to those craving a good, straightforward, exceedingly well-written saga. To these readers, Hobb will be a great satisfaction and a joy. As we mentioned, this is a book that can readily stand on its own and doesn't require any prior knowledge of the Six Duchies nor any especial knowledge of the fantasy genre in general. It is an excellent book for lighter vacation reading, for the precocious adolescent looking for something a little more substantial than Harry Potter, and certainly will deeply satisfy those readers who pine for romantic entanglements in their heroes.

WHO SHOULD AVOID:

For readers of more sophisticated taste or those weary of the fantasy genre and looking for something unusual or less predictable, Hobb will be faintly disappointing. Where Apprentice teased with a mention of more complex themes--of sibling rivalry in politically powerful families, of deeply held convictions and a fear of new things, of loyalty, allegiance, and how they clash when duty seems at odds with personal beliefs--Hobb dared to grasp at them in Royal Assassin and disappointed a bit in the follow-through. There is some tremendous material here but the book has lapsed back a bit in to more conventional storylines and more conventional themes. In many readers looking for something more than a story well-told it will bring some interest but no dedication.

(...)

I read this book first, then read Assassin's Apprentice to see where it started, then finally Assassins Quest with bated breath. Glad I picked it up.
"Royal Assassin" is a lovely play on words, best understood once the story is over, as is the premise that "Chivalry ain't dead" which, while never uttered, provides the foundation for the protagonist's existence. That sense of irony is ever present throughout the series, and is beautifully complemented by Hobbs' use of adjective given names: Shrewd, Desire, Verity, Constance, Regal, etc. The measured development and revelation of each character's flaws and motivations is a beautiful example of how to write a book that startles you with plot twists, all of which ultimately make sense. The hardest character to reach is Regal, which is a shame, since he is a believable self-justified villain.
Hobb's system of magic is easy to grasp, and does not require too great a suspension of disbelief to incorporate, since so few people in the book actually practice the Skill or the Wit. Her ability to demonstrate the suspicions and superstitions of commoners is admirable. Most compelling, however, is her ability to get inside the "coming of age" problem with a stark realism that most cannot achieve. Hobb is also able to address intimate relationships, love, and marriage from a very human, and often humorous perspective, a skill that is rarely displayed in the fantasy genre. The setting is rich with vivid depictions of life in a medeival castle. You can smell the stew cooking in the kitchen, and taste the warm bread that Fitz wheedles from Cook when it is fresh out of the oven. You also appreciate the plain difficulty of getting things done, even for one endowed with the Skill. And you empathize with the archetypical ailing king, whose hold on life and his kingdom are both weakening, and who nonetheless battles to impose his will on the events shaping his kingdom.
Best of all, Fitz is an imperfect protagonist, who must rely on tenacity and his various friends to achieve his goals and survive in the deadly environment of court intrigue. The only problem with reading this book is that most contemporary fantasy pales in comparison. Robin Hobb has raised the bar.

Again, 4.5 Stars.
I couldn't wait to begin this book after having read Assassin's Apprentice. I wasn't disappointed.
This book is even better than the first, in terms of style, plot, character and overall grandeur. The plot becomes more complex and exciting, Fitz (the main character) takes on even more realism than in the first book, which is a feat in itself.
In Book 2, Hobb shows more of her world and, more importantly, her system of magic. Although not "overwhelmingly unique" in the Fantasy genre, her use of magic is both subtle yet powerful - she knows where to use it and where not to use it. The relationships between the characters are well-formed and become increasingly complex in this book, as well.
If you've enjoyed Assassin's Apprentice, you certainly won't be disapponted with Book 2 - it only builds on Book 1.

I loved the first book (Assassin's Apprentice), I guess I should have stopped there. This book provided some interesting perspectives on the power struggle and the lives in a keep. But it also really showed how frustratingly inept the protagonist is as an assassin. For a book with such title, I would expect there be more about assassination in stealth. My biggest complaint though is that this book is not self contained. So many issues were not resolved in the book's ending that you are almost forced to read the 3rd book.

"All too often I find I have wandered far from a history of the duchies into a history of FitzChivalry. Those recollections leave me face-to-face with who I once was, and who I have become."

Robin Hobb is, in many ways, a one trick pony. Wait, wait! Don't leave yet. I don't mean that in a particularly negative way. There's nothing wrong with the majority of her style; it's just utterly overshadowed by one aspect. She has less in common with a dog standing on its high legs and more in common with a dog learning to drive a racecar.

As anyone who's ever read Hobb can likely attest, her strength is not plot. Farseer's plot is, ultimately, fairly generic. There is an abandoned bastard son, brought to the castle to serve as an assassin. There are three brothers, two honorable and brave, one spiteful and cowardly. There are barbarian raiders from another land, and there are magics both old and very old. Have I intrigued you yet? No, I thought not.

Her strength is not setting. We're in the Six Duchies, a confederation of six former states, all ruled under one king. The coastal Duchies fish; the inner Duchies farm. There is conflict between the two; the coastal Duchies are reluctant to pay taxes to defend a coastline they do not share. It's thought out better than most of its ilk, I'll admit, but it's still not exactly the kind of thing that you view with your jaw on the floor.

Robin Hobb's strength is character. It's not an intellectual strength; I'm not talking about revolutionary backstories, or motivations, or anything like that. Her strength is visceral. These people feel real in every way possible. We see Verity trying to fill his older brother's shoes, trying to guard the kingdom. He does everything he can, and he is wasting away, and it is not enough. We see him, and we know that he cannot succeed, and he knows he cannot succeed, and yet he cannot - will not - stop.

Fitz is the main character, the aforementioned bastard son of Price Chivalry. He has a depth that can only be had when the reader experiences his growth alongside the author, alongside the character. When we first meet Fitz, he is a blank slate:

"My memories reach back to when I was six year old. Before that, there is nothing, only a blank gulf no exercise of my mind has ever been able to pierce. Prior to that day at Moonseye, there is nothing. But on that day they suddenly begin, with a brightness and detail that overwhelms me..."

It's said that our experiences shape us, and so it is here. We experience everything that Fitz does, and so is it that surprising that we are shaped in the same way the he is? In book one, we see Fitz develop loyalties in friendships. In book three, these loyalties are tested. The reader cannot look on with detachment, cannot wonder if he will stand fast or not. There is no intellectual contemplation, no thoughts that he should simply bite the bullet and move on. By that point, it is not Fitz that is being tested, at least not wholly. The reader is invested along with him. Every bond that Fitz forges is shown with meticulous detail, and the reader himself becomes friends with Prince Verity, Molly, and Burrich. These friends may not speak to us directly as we read, but there interactions with Fitz are, on every level that matters, interactions with us.

We become so deeply immersed with Fitz that his reasoning becomes our own. I would wager that everyone has had the unsettling experience of having someone tell us our own motivations and realizing that what we thought we were acting for was just blissful, comforting delusion. It is the same experience when Fitz's motivations are called into question. Acts that felt so pure at the time are suddenly given new light, and we feel almost sullied as we contemplate them afresh.

A large portion of your enjoyment of Farseer depends on how much you like to meander. Hobb is anything but direct. I've heard it said that her writing is eighty percent filler, and it's hard to really dispute that claim. All the same, I think that it's the so called filler that makes Hobb worth reading in the first place. The reader lives through Fitz's life, and I do not mean just the important moments. No, the books - and Hobb - shine through the monotony of day to day existence. If you are willing to simply cut yourself loose, to lose yourself in Fitz's existence, you'll find yourself living a life no less complete and complex as your own.

I suppose that that is, quite literally, escapism. All the same, I've never understood the term completely. It's defined as: "Habitual diversion of the mind to purely imaginative activity or entertainment as an escape from reality or routine." I suppose I can't argue with that, but the term seems to far more often carry a negative connotation. I've often heard it said that it's taking refuge from the real world. Ignoring the tone of the novel in question, something has never struck me as accurate about this definition. Just because what we're doing does not directly tie into our own lives, why is it inherently meaningless? I'm not defining meaning as a simple recharging of the batteries here, either, though it can do that too. But books can do so much more. Who says that, just because the terms in question are not those of the real world, we are not learning, are not experiencing?

Besides which, if I was going to escape to somewhere else - a Hawaiian vacation for the soul, say - I'd make it somewhere les depressing. The titles and covers all seem quite carefree, but the actual text is anything but. This is, despite all appearances to the contrary, anything but standard fantasy. We are in Fitz's head for his triumphs, yes, but also for his tragedies, and we feel both with equal force. Just because Fitz tries something, and just because Fitz is one of the "good guys," does not mean that he will succeed. Be prepared for disappointment of the most bitter flavors while reading.

"'I always believed, perhaps childishly, that if you followed the rulers, you would be protected, that things like that would not happen to you. Afterward, I felt...tricked. Foolish. Gullible, that I had thought ideals could protect me. Honor and courtesy and justice...they are not real, Fitz. We all pretend to them, and hold them up like shields. Against those who have discarded them, they are no shields at all, but only additional weapons to use against their victims.'"

Of the individual books, the first is at once the one with the fewest flaws and the weakest. The second, by contrast, has glaring problems, and yet it's undoubtedly my favorite. The first book lays down the connections, and it is half the size of the others. It's not focused, no, but it never meanders too much, and we always have our ending goal in sight.

The second, on the other hand, is almost nothing but meander. It's an attempt to preserve the status quo as seen in book one, but for half the text exactly how we're doing so is quite hard to see. That being said, Hobb's writing gets better as it goes on, and every interaction between Fitz and another character only makes the overall story that much deeper.

The third novel is an odd mixture of the two. It should, by all rights, be the most driven. A goal is immediately established, and Fitz sets out to accomplish it. Perhaps because of this, it's the first time where the repetitive nature of the story began to become somewhat irksome. When there's no set destination, I'm fine with exploring every little town that I pass on a long drive. When I'm late for something, however, I'm far more tempted to ram the pedal to the ground and get somewhere. This is not an urge that Hobb shares, and the cycle of Capture-Escape goes on to the point of insanity. At which point we're finally given a break, and the book takes a hard right turn. Everything changes, and it's at once totally brilliant and anything but. The ending is powerful, yes, but also rushed. As it is, it's a decent closing to a brilliant series, but it's impossible to shake the feeling that it could've been an amazing ending.

If you're looking for something exciting, or something uplifting, Farseer is not for you. This isn't about a gripping plot or fascinating locales. This is about people living their lives, and, though it's fantasy through and through, Fitz and Hobb's other creations feel as real to me as anyone I know. If character driven is what you're after, I'm not sure it's possible to do better than this.

Ever since I first read Lord of the Rings, I was hooked on fantasy. Since that fateful day many years ago I have read many of the conventional fantasy series most notably the Wheel of Time series. This trilogy really breaks all bonds of convention and makes way for innovation, creativity, and a strong dose of realism. The characters in these stories feel so real it will take your breath away. Never have I ever been so emotionally involved in a character as I was with Fitz. I literally could not wait to pick up the book again after putting it down to find out what direction he would be thrust in next, and whether or not he would get out of it.

At first, I did not think I would enjoy reading the first-person narrative style of Hobb's writing, but now I actually find it quite enjoyable and adds a whole dimension to the story and further connection to the character. Her structure is fantastic. Even when things may seem a bit slow, it is done for a reason, usually because you begin to feel anxious and impatient just as the narrator is.

These books are definitely page turners that are well worth a read. One of my favorite fantasy series to date. I look forward to reading the rest of the adventures of Fitzchivalry Farseer.

Robin Hobb's Farseer & Tawny Man trilogies are among my coming-of-age fantasy favorites along with Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle and Peter V. Brett's Demon Cycle. Ms. Hobb writes exceptionally well, frequently evoking deep emotions. Her strong first-person narrative, endearing characters, engaging story and exciting magic (the "Wit" & the "Skill" instead of sorcery) made my reading experience feel real. It isn't perfect as there is a bit of padding and repetition, (understandably) not much action, "assassin" in the titles may not necessarily match reader expectations, and the pace may feel somewhat slow.

The Farseer Trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin & Assassin's Quest): Presents a simple yet inspiring story of an abandoned boy, an illegitimate heir talented in both Wit (abhorred beast magic) and Skill (magic to send thoughts, usually found only in those of royal blood), loyal to his king in the time of the Red Ship War. It is at mid-series when Fitz bonds with an unlikely creature that the Wit magic begins to shine. Readers not continuing onto The Tawny Man may be left disappointed since the ending is closed in only a few pages appearing rushed (as it is structured with a sequel in mind) and depressed from Fitz's losses (better appreciated in the sequel).

The Tawny Man Trilogy (Fool's Errand, Golden Fool & Fool's Fate): Direct sequel to The Farseer Trilogy. Here lies the true ending to Fitz's tale, explains his connection to the Fool, retells post-war events, and expands beyond the Six Duchies kingdom. After fifteen years, Fitz returns as a lowly servant to rescue his lost prince and then slay a dragon. Very moving are his journey with his Wit companion, his reunion with his surrogate mother, and most especially his coded message for his guardian (the stablemaster) in a Skill dream.

I couldn't resist reading this series non-stop and I am fortunate to find it in a time when all six books have already been published. Overall, it's quite enjoyable, very rewarding and definitely worth reading.

Hobb's "Royal Assassin" is significantly better than the first book in the trilogy. Hobb spends much of "Assassin's Apprentice" setting the scene and developing the major characters. It moves much too slowly in my opinion, with very few plot developments. I wasn't planning on picking up the second Farseer book, but my library had little else to offer, so I took it up. I'm glad I did, because in "Royal Assassin," things move along at brisker pace. (Although Hobb's work can never be described as "action packed." Sword fights, battles, and yes, even assassinations, are just not her M.O.).

The strength of The Farseer Trilogy is its well-developed characters. Hobb is very good at getting the reader emotionally attached to the characters. You'll love the good guys and hate the bad guys with equal conviction. Although the characters are pretty much strictly good or evil, they are complex in other ways. The depth to which she develops the good guys creates and attachment to the characters which will keep you reading on the edge of your seat.

Other reviewers have called these books "gut wrenching." I can't think of a better term. You'll care so much for the fate of Fitz, Burrich, Kettricken, Molly, Verity, etc, that a knot will form in your gut when they're put through their many arduous trials. And let me tell you, without giving too much away, things seem pretty bleak for the good guys. As some other readers note, reading this book can be depressing and put you in a melancholy mood. I'm thinking (and desperately hoping) that Hobb is showing despair and sadness so that you can be more uplifted when the good guys get some breaks. Regardless of the conclusion, this makes for suspenseful reading and you won't want to put this book down.

I started the Farseer Trilogy after reading Robin Hobb's dragon books -- and I've become so hooked on the Farseer books that I haven't yet had a chance to go back and read the last of the dragon books. ANyway, this second in the Farseer trilogy is excellent. I stayed up until three in the morning reading it, and I can't wait to read the third in the series -- which is already on my Kindle.

Robin Hobb is quickly becoming one of my favorite fantasy authors!

I don't know why I loved reading this book so much: The characters are either good or evil and never deviate from this, the subplots resolve themselves in a predictable fashion, and the title is ludicrous assuming it is a reference to FitzChivalry (though if it were a clever reference to Will I would excuse the misnomer). But I simply could not put this book down.

There is no doubt that Hobb is one of the most skilled fantasy writers that I have ever had the good fortune to discover -- every time I planned on reading a chapter I would find myself reading 200 pages. But it is more than skillful word play. The characters she creates, though steadfast to their mold, are so captivating, so likeable, that you just want to remain in their lives for a little while longer. This must be why the book is so enthralling.

I have to recommend this book because it brought me an incredible amount of entertainment, but not without some reservations. This book, this trilogy, may not be for everyone.

AWESOME! I first looked at these books beacuse I thought it said Robin Hood. So I took a look at it. The cover was cool and the titles were cool, so when I got them for free I jumped with joy, only to discover the story was BLOODY brilliant as well. As the story goes on it just gets better! I raced through it and on to the next!

While many would see the first person narrative a liability, I for one would say that this is one of the most tentalizing assets.
This book has less physical movement but a lot to have your mind exercised. The characters are very strongly built, the plot is unpredictable (less than the first book) and events are astounding.
I hope no one whines that they hate the ending, for this is a trilogy and as of now the 3rd book is available in paperback. Any cliffhangers are meant to be solved or resolved in the last book.
I am also a very picky reader, especially when it comes to Fantasy, and for me to give all 5 stars means a lot.

Fizt is back!
Anyone who has enjoyed the first book in this trilogy will love this book! We've watched Fizt grow up,as if we've grown up with him. Now we get to see him as a young adult, still bound by his loyalty to the king, and therefore possessing very little control over his own life. The effect this has on him is amazing to see.
I must warn you, though, that the plot in this book is somewhat slow. But while some would find that frustrating, I found it refreshing. This isn't the kind of book you rush. The author is has written it in a way that makes you feel as if your living a second life (excuse the melodrama). You laugh when Fizt laughs, you cry when he cries, and when things get really terrible your angry enough to throw book acrooss the room (I had to buy a second copy having thrown the first one into my bathtub) All and all, it's well worh the journey. I highly recommend it!

It took me a while after reading George RR Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" (thus far) to find another fantasy series that measured up. Now after completing "Royal Assassin" I feel confident in saying that Robin Hobb has more than lived up to the task.
I don't consider myself a qualified judge as to what makes fine literature, aside from its ability to entertain and inspire emotion. I don't really analyze writing style, I often miss metaphors and alliteration, and my knowledge of the "classics" is limitted at best. What I can say is, no one since GRRM has grabbed my attention and strung me along the way Hobb does. No character in literature has ever made me feel such a vested interest in their well-being as Fitz. These books make me angry, sad, excited, fearful...basically every emotion that a figment of someone else's imagination can possible imbue.
In order for this series to not become my favorite, book 3 would have to take a massive step backward. So far I wouldn't change a thing.

With the first book of this series Robin Hobb became one of my favorite authors, and with the second book she set it in stone. If you like fantasy, READ THESE BOOKS, they have something in their pages you just won't find elsewhere.

Robin Hobb's Royal Assassin is a wonderful example of true adventure and fantasy. Hobb has a spectacular imagination and a talent for writing. This second book in the Farseer Trilogy links the young Fitz to the new, grown up FitzChivalry. The plot is not overly intense but is full of new and unique ideas. The story is so creative that the turn of each page brings a new suprise. Hobb's style of writing really makes the reader more involved in the book. He writes not only the actions and events that occur for the characters, but the feelings and emotions as well. Each character's personality is developed enough for the reader to understand yet leaves room for the reader's own imagination. Each character is unique in it's personality making the story even more interesting. I especially enjoy the action scenes in this book. The description of what is happening flows so easily and with just the right emotion. I find myself reading faster yet understanding it all. As a reader, I am much more involved in the story and the characters. I find myself hating the antagonist, Prince Regal. I pity the honorable Burrich, the father-like stablemaster and worry about the king-in-waiting, Verity, in his struggle to save his lands from both invasion from the Outislanders and curruption from within Buckeep itself. It isn't often that I find a book that is so involved and well-written. I would also recommend the first and third books of Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy; Assassin's Apprentice and Assassin's Quest. Enjoy!

I know that Kindle/the store and [...] both have the first book in this series for free. Please start in the beginning. get the free book and you'll love this series.

I tend to read books that are atleast 3 or more in a series. There is;

The Farseer's Trilogy
The live ship traders
and the tawny man trilogy

these are in succession, and are wonderful reads.

I choose authors that have many in a series, as i read very quickly, about 650 pages per book and i tend to read 1 book per week. If you are a fast reader, or just love to get caught up in a series that will hold you for a while. Robin Hobbs's books are the ones for you.

First of all: the cover-art on this particular edition looks embarassingly ridiculous, but don't let it fool you. This novel, and the whole trilogy, are genuinely well-written: full of detail but never bloated or tedious, and never boring. This second installment in the Farseer Trilogy is a deeply absorbing read. As I wrote in my review of the first book in this triology, the magic in Hobb's world is subtle and very believable. This is not a corny Tolkein knock-off, none of the usual fantasy cliches. It's suspenseful and engrossing. The characters are memorable, distinctive, and sympathetic, and none of them seem unnecessary.
Be aware, though: this is not a "light" story. The hero undergoes a lot of emotional and physical pain, and a lot of tragedy. In fact, the hardships and the downbeat stuff can seem repetitive or melodramatic, after a while. Yet, somehow, this story does not strike me as depressing or excessively dark. It did not make me too sad, though I wished Fitz would eventually have better luck.
Also, be aware that there are some very violent moments. The violence is always relevant to the story, but I still think the author could have toned it down a bit, while still getting her point across.

I rarely say a book I am getting enjoyment out of should be shorter, but that is most certainly the case with this one.

The first thing that should have been left out is about 60 pages of self loathing and uncertainty. In this book, the main character is hardly an assassin, which makes the title misleading in the extreme. He is more of a professional whiner, which begins to grate on you.

But other people have mentioned that in their reviews, the one thing I haven't seen voiced is that the other 40 or so pages that could have been left out were the love story. Molly, the love interest of the main character, has no redeeming qualities at all. She is the least appealing love interest I have ever come across. She is paranoid, rude, surly, illogical and totally unreasonable. It's not a crime to write an unappealing love interest, but it seems evident that we are supposed to feel bad for Fitz when he loses the girl. I just felt relief.

But still kept me reading. Many people complained about how whiny Fitz was in this book. I really didn't think he was overly whiny considering his age and all that was going on. That age group is just Whitney. I thought the author did a good job with character development for the most part. It took me a while to figure out that Wallace was suppose to be the healer. I really love the queen though.

This was the first time that I had read a book by a female author being the prejudice male that I am. For a debut trilogy in my favorite genre you have to blow my socks off, and she has. Assassin's Apprentice was great and introduced loveable characters that I could care for and follow their misadventures with an open heart. Royal Assassin was not only bigger but better. I thought that Regal would have taken a back seat to the Red Ship Raiders, I was wrong there. I thought that Molly would eventually wed Fitz, I was wrong again. So much has happened with Fitz over the cource of a few books that I thought I wouldn't be able to put the book down for fear of missing something. I finished the last half of the book just a few days ago and felt completely emmersed in the Six Duchees. I couldn't turn on the television afterwards without thinking of what is going to happen to in Assassin's Quest. Robin Hobb is totally different from conventional authors like Robert Jordan and Terry Goodkind in that she has a way of keeping you alert on every page without having to spread the good stuff thinly over 1000 pages. The Farseer trilogy will sit on my 'favorite books' shelf for years to come...and I'm not even done with the story yet.

Conflict and war.

An older Fitz is now not quite so lonely as his Wit talent has enabled him to bond with a wolf partner, and he finds he has a thing for a young local woman, as well.

However, his psychic abilities and the group he has been using them with fall victim to a political rival, a conflict that they don't need with the Red Ship Raiders on their doorstep.

Fitz has to survive all this in a story excellently told by Hobb from a first person point of view. Just as good as the first book.

This book is definitely the greatest book within the Farseer Trilogy - the first was too short, and the third became a bit far-fetched and strange at the end. This book really is brilliant and it DOES keep you turning the pages - you find yourself really sympathising with Fitz and every thing he suffers you suffer too - this may sound stupid, but it is true, and it is all too rare in writing these days. The first-person perspective makes the story-telling extremely personal, and especially at the end of this book and the beginning of the next is the use of first-person perspective brilliant. I cannot stress how great this book really is - it is an unbelievable read, and although not Shakespeare, it is certainly a lot of fun. Much deeper than Eddings and more captivating than Raymond E. Feist or Tolkien, get this book now.

Yeah, this book was good - not as good as the first, which I absolutely hated at first, the reread and fell in love with, but it definitely makes you think. It confuses you, plays with your head, and draws you in. And just wait... if you loved this book, but thought the ending sucked, just wait 'til the next one. I threw the thing up against the wall, I was so mad. Even though the endings to the books suck bigtime, however, they are wonderful books - it's just a love/hate relationship. Sadly, though... deep down in your heart, no matter how much you wish it to be otherwise... the endings are fundamentally RIGHT and totally consistent with the character. So, read it and enjoy it. But whatever you do, don't blame the author for the ending, blame the Fitz.