Tag: Farseer trilogy

Book Review: Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb

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Today, I review a book on my review backlist – Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb! I’ve published a few review for blog tours of late. It’s been fun, and I want to keep up momentum of reviews and recommendations. 

I first picked up the book on the recommendation of my friend Rachael. She loves Robin Hobb and I gave her a go based on that recommendation. I haven’t looked back since! Since reading Assassin’s Apprentice in 2022 I’ve gone on to read 5 further books in the Realm of the Elderlings series and loved every one. I’m also hoping to read Fool’s Errand soon and return to Fitz and his adventures.

But, I guess I need to introduce you to him first! So, let’s crack on!

 

Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 392

Audience: Adult

Publisher: Harper Voyager

Publication Date: 01 April 1995

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Goodreads –  Assassin’s Apprentice

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

 

My Thoughts

Plot

In Assassin‘s Apprentice, we follow a young boy who is known to us as Fitz. In the opening of the narrative, he is just a small child, dropped off at the home of his father who is absent. Instead, he is cared for by his loyal man and stable master Burrich.

Fitz is eventually brought into the royal household, but his duties are far from regular. He serves the crown by training and executing his duty as the royal assassin. Not only that, but he is an irregular boy. Fitz shows signs of a form of magic frowned upon. Having been a part of his identity all his life, he fails to see why the superstition of others should prevent him from bonding with animals. It’s a point of conflict throughout an I expect this to become even more prominent in the later series. 

If you enjoy fantasy with plenty of political intrigue, then this book is a great foundation for a series rife with it! I really enjoyed the depth and attention to detail even in this opening book. It is shorter than the sequels to this mini series within the Realm of the Elderlings universe. Even so, it really paves the way and draws the reader in. Honestly, this description of the book really doesn’t do it justice, but I doubt I ever could!

 

Setting

Western medieval fantasy fans will be in their element. The vast majority of this first book is set in the location of Buckkeep. Home to the Royal family, it is where Fitz is brought as a young boy and we watch him progress into adolescence and role in court.

It is a very typical setting on its own, but it is vastly complimented by the introduction to the wider landscape and universe that Robin Hobb writes so well. We start to see some of this landscape explored in this first book and it adds a great deal of contrast to the political landscape we otherwise spend our time exploring.

 

Characters

Fitz is a wonderful and complex protagonist, and his perspective is one that I have enjoyed the most out of the series so far. At first I was a little bit disappointed when the second mini series deviated from his character arc. However, I quickly got over that because that set of books follow a completely different (but equally impressive) character set. I am excited to be going back to his storyline in the next mini series though, I can’t lie.

Fitz it’s a bit of an emotional rollercoaster in that his relationships with the people around him are constantly changing. Dynamics constantly ebb and flow, and it makes the events taking place in the book feel even more tangible and like real life.

In reality, Fitz is one of many in-depth characters in the series. There are many prominent characters in their own right, such as Verity, the Fool, Chade and Burrich. They all ultimately help shape and support the man Fitz becomes. Even beyond that, every character introduced has their part to play, however major or minor.

 

Narrative Style

Personally, I find Robin Hobb to be an author to take on the slower side. These books aren’t the quickest in terms of pace or readability. But, with the amount going on at any one time, that’s not a bad thing. There is a lot of depth and detail to take in and turn over.

Assassin’s Apprentice itself isn’t so bad, but this comes into play more as you get further into the series. I love these books, but I feel it’s only fair to advise this to potential future readers to manage expectations. There have been times I have wanted to read her books more quickly, but I’m not able to. You may have a completely different experience and find it easy to rattle through her narrative. If you do, that’s great! When it comes to Robin Hobb, I’m a “slow and steady wins the race” kind of girl.

In terms of the written style itself, I find there is a good balance of action, as well as world-building and general description. There is no lack of detail in these books, and especially so in this introduction. It’s the shortest of the series I’ve read so far, with the longest being near 900 pages. Even across these vastly different page ranges, the writing style is consistent throughout. Robin Hobb has a knack of lifting events off the page and portraying it vividly in the readers mind.

 

Summary

If you are looking for a new epic fantasy series to start, and aren’t intimidated by a large number of books (or page count), I strongly recommend Realm of the ElderIings. I only discovered Robin Hobb for the first time in 2022 and already she is one of my favourite authors!

I love this series and I am always looking forward to picking up the next book. I wanted to feature Assassin’s Apprentice in today’s review because I cannot scream loud enough from the rooftop that Robin Hobb is an author you need to try. Have I done her justice in the review? Who can say?

If you have read Assassin’s Apprentice or any other books by Robin Hobb and want to add to this sentiment, please let everyone know in the comments what you think! I’d love to persuade more people to start this series 😊

 

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Sunday Summary – 23rd October 2022

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Good evening and welcome, as always, to my Sunday Summary update post. If you are new here, this is a weekly post in which I talk about the books I have been sharing and reading, and those acquired during the week! At the end of the post, I will also talk about what you can expect on my blog next week.

Let’s jump into this week’s updates!

I have been enjoying a week of work this week. It has been a really good one in terms of reading progress. On the blog, things have been very run-of-the-mill. On Tuesday, I shared a book review for a read I thoroughly enjoyed last year – The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This was an emotional five-star read, and I really enjoyed the unusual perspective. If you’re interested in my thoughts on this book, you can find a link to this post here.

Later in the week, I returned with a Shelf Control post. In this regular feature, I take a look at the books on my TBR to determine if they are still relevant. I feature one book at a time and talk specifically about why I am looking forward to reading it. This week’s book, much like my review on Tuesday, was a historical fiction novel. However, the similarities end there. Focusing on a completely different time period and continent, my shelf control feature is set in one of my favourite periods of history. If you haven’t read that post yet, there is a link here for that one!

 

Books Read

In my last Sunday Summary update post, I was 466 pages into Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb. I also shared that I was optimistic that I could finish this book this week, whilst I was off work.

I am pleased to say I did in fact finish this book! If you have ever read Robin Hobb for yourself, you will know that these are not easy books to read. There is a lot going on; the depth of world-building and detail means you cannot consume them quickly, however hard you try. I chipped away at the remaining half of this book across several sittings and finished the book on Thursday. As I expected, this was an absolutely phenomenal read. I really enjoyed how this book concluded. Most importantly, I can’t wait to see how the characters in these books come back later on in the series.

Next, I picked up my fixed read of the month, Blink of the Sun by Ross Kingston However, this didn’t go as well. In the end, I read just over 50 pages before I decided it wasn’t for me. It’s a shame because this was a book I really liked the sound of and had requested to read and review for the author. If you have never been in the situation before, sites such as BookSirens (via whom I downloaded this book) help you to provide feedback to the author. It isn’t a nice position to be in, but the one thing I pride myself on is being honest. It wasn’t for me, and if I had read and reviewed the book it would have reflected in my review.

After the unfortunate conclusion to Blink of the Sun, I decided to pick up Babel by R.F. Kuang. After receiving my copy of this book a couple of months ago, I’ve been dying to dive in. Admittedly, I’ve only really just started this book – I’m whole 34 pages in! A start is a start though, and one I want to build on. Naturally, I’ll update you next week’s Sunday Summary post with how I get on!

 

Books Discovered

I have one addition to my TBR this week, which is a little unusual in that it isn’t a genre I normally choose.

Kerry Tucker Learns to Live strikes me as a contemporary novel, but the synopsis indicates that there is something more going on. Having looked into the author, Louise also writes psychological thrillers. I’m hoping that an element of this comes into Kerry Tucker Learns to Live. Even if it doesn’t, I really enjoyed reading In Case You Missed It by Lindsey Kelk recently. Sometimes it’s good to have a change or palette cleanser, and that is my aim with reading this book. 

 

Coming Up…

Next week I have a fun and seasonal post to share with you on Tuesday. That particular post is part of the Top Ten Tuesday family. The topic is a freebie, provided it is Halloween-themed. With that in mind, I have decided to share my top ten Halloween reading recommendations for the spooky season!

Later in the week, I was supposed to be sharing my review of Blink of the Sun with you. However, as I am not reading and reviewing that book anymore, I will instead be sharing a First Lines Friday feature post with you. As of yet, that post has not been drafted. However, I’ll be getting onto this tomorrow night. So, I can’t even give you any spoilers as to what my featured book will be, as I haven’t decided yet! If you have any ideas of books you would like to see, or a challenge you would like me to take part in when selecting the book, let me know in the comments!

As always, I will be rounding up the week with another Sunday summary update post, at the same time next week.

 

That will do it for today though folks! Don’t forget to let me know if there’s anything you’d like to see in my First Lines Friday post; otherwise, I look forward to seeing you in the next one.

 

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Sunday Summary – 16th October 2022

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Good evening – welcome back to another Sunday Summary update!

This week has been considerably better than last week. However, as a consequence of my working overtime last week, I’ve only shared one blog post with you this week. It isn’t the end of the world, but it is a deviation from my usual blogging schedule. I hope you can understand and that you enjoyed my light-hearted book tag post – The Cozy Autumn Book Tag.

 

Books Read

Thankfully, I have also had a lot more reading time this week. As of my last Sunday Summary update, I was 183 pages into Assassin’s Quest by Robin Hobb. Don’t get me wrong, 183 pages is reasonable progress. However, when you take into account this book is nearly 840 pages long, it’s not as much as you think.

This week I have done considerably better. I am now 466 pages into the book (which is just over halfway) and I’m really excited about where the plot is leading at the moment! A lot has already happened so far, but I feel like we’re finally getting into the main action of the story. 

I was avidly reading this book earlier this morning and I can’t wait to jump back into it soon as this post goes live! Fortunately, I have a lot more free time next week as I am on annual leave from my job. I’m going to be making a real push to finish Assassin’s Quest next week – wish me luck!

 

Books Discovered

Good news is I haven’t added any new books to my reading list this week! I have been fluctuating at roughly the same number of books on my reading list for quite some time. Whilst it’s good but it’s not growing, I would like to try and whittle it down some!

 

Coming Up…

You’ll be glad to know that I will be back to my usual schedule of sharing two posts midweek, and a Sunday Summary to wrap up events at the end of the week.

My first post of next week is a book review of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I really enjoyed my read of this historical-fiction novel. Whereas we normally read narratives of World War II from the perspective of British or American characters, I found the book me refreshing in as it focused on the lives of German and Jewish individuals. The Book Thief was a very easy five-star read for me, and if you want to find out why, check out my post on Tuesday.

Later in the week, I will be back with a Shelf Control. In that post, I am featuring another historical-fiction novel; this one is from a very different, but equally loved time period. If you like reading and learning about the Tudors, I recommend you check out my post on Friday!

As always, we will round off the week with another Sunday Summary update. How much reading can I do during a week off work? Let’s find out!

 

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Sunday Summary – 9th October 2022

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Hello everybody and welcome to today’s Sunday Summary update post. I don’t know about you, but it is a very dreary evening here. It is the kind where you just want to snuggle in with blankets, candles and all the cosy things about you. I have done just that.

This week… has been a long week. I can’t say it particularly went to plan. In terms of my blog, this week’s posts went out as usual. On Monday, I shared my reading list for October 2022. This list is considerably more manageable than last month’s TBR! I’ve deliberately kept the number of books on the list towards the shorter end. Whilst I may be reading fewer books, the ones I am picking up are also on the chunky side! If you want to find out what I’m reading and haven’t taken a look at that post yet, there is a link above as always.

On Friday I shared a First Lines Friday post. In that post, I feature a book that I purchased a copy of originally… not realising it was part of a wider series. This particular book caught my mum‘s eye on my blog, and she has gone on to read some of these books even before I have touched any of them! She has really enjoyed them so far, and I can’t wait to try them for myself.

As for the rest of the week, well, it ended up being busy in every aspect that I didn’t expect. Long story short, I ended up doing overtime on a project for work. As a result, my usual blog post scheduling, and a lot of my reading, just didn’t happen. I’ll leave it at that. The good news is, we got the project done. However, I was working some fairly long days towards the end of this week.

 

Books Read

As of last week’s Sunday Summary update, I had just finished reading Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. That was the last book on my September TBR that I managed to pick up.

This week, I started my October TBR, but not with my one ‘fixed read’ of the month. I decided to pick up one of my mood reads. It was one that I had wanted to pick up sooner, however, I couldn’t justify picking it up in September as I had a large quantity of books to try and read. I have been really enjoying the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb, and so I have picked up Assassin’s Quest, the final book of that trilogy.

As I mentioned above, I ended up working a lot this week and so this limited the amount I was able to read. However, as of this Sunday Summary update, I am 183 pages into this 800-and-something epic. I am really enjoying where this book is going so far, and so I’m optimistic that I will be able to make a good amount of progress next week! I am very heavily invested already, meaning I want to pick it up at every opportunity I’m given!

One of my ongoing reads from my previous Sunday Summary post was Ordinary Heroes by Joseph Pfeifer. As of that last post, I only had 45 minutes of listening time left of my audiobook. I will admit that I only picked up and finished this audiobook this morning. However, I’m really glad I did. I have mentioned quite a few times that this is a really interesting book, albeit sad. I have really enjoyed this listen and I have learned things about the events of 9/11 that I didn’t know before. This book will work really well to read (in print or kindle) or as an audiobook. The narrative flows really well, and I think I would have flown through this in either case!

 

Books Discovered

I suppose I have technically added a book to my TBR this week, although it was always going to be on there. As I am enjoying my current read of Assassin’s Quest, I decided to pick up the next book in the Realm of the Elderlings series – the first book of The Liveship Traders series.

Ship of Magic is every bit as chunky as the rest of the series has proven to be so far. This excites me; this book/series shifts its focus from the main character we have seen so far, FitzChivalry Farseer, into the wider realm. It’s an opportunity for me to dig into world-building from a different perspective.

 

Coming Up…

Normally I would have next week’s post already lined up for you. However, this week I don’t as yet.

I have been trying to work out a plan of attack and I have decided that this week I will be reducing my posting schedule from three posts (Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday) to two posts. Instead, I am going to share my take of The Cozy Autumn Book Tag on Wednesday this week.

I’ve taken that decision because I am already going to have my usual full ‘blog workload’ in drafting and scheduling posts for the week after next. I didn’t want to put myself in a position where I effectively doubled my workload, at a time when I’m just recovering from having an increased workload! So, I hope the change of schedule and the slightly lighter topic isn’t too much bother for anybody, and I’ll be back to my usual posting days from the week after.

In addition to my post on Wednesday, I will of course be back for another Sunday Summary update at the end of the week. Naturally, I’m hoping for a lot more progress in terms of reading – but I will let you know next week’s Sunday Summary.

That’s all from me folks! There isn’t too much in the way of updates from me this week, but I hope you can understand why.

What have you been reading?

 

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