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Robin Hobb Collection: Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin's Quest (The Farseer Trilogy) (2000)

by Robin Hobb(Favorite Author)

4.28 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1780481012 (ISBN13: 9781780481012)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

review 1: All finished and what a ride. I didn't expect to love these books so much.I expected more typical fantasy and I got very little of that until the ending of the third book, which I swear was written in the 70s (in a good way) and sent forward in time. Other than a few types of "magic" that come into play every chapter or so, plus a dragon and some mindless not-undead people, it's very low fantasy. Think GRRM.The characters are all unique and feel real, with the exception of the main villain, who is a stereotype of the evil aristocrat, ambitious-no-matter-what. But even he has a few quirks, a bit of character history, to set him apart. His fate was not what I expected, but felt fair.Every person is treated fairly, even when they're not. How do I mean? They are written as hum... morean beings - every one has faults, quirks, moments they regret, the hero himself, Fitz, most of all. While he occasionally feels a bit Mary Suish at first, with how easily he becomes this beloved but still outcast character who is able to fix any situation and stumble into the solutions to all problems, as he grows up and becomes a teenager you see where his lucky breaks end and the hero, the human, has to come out. He whines, he overlooks things that hurt people he loves though we're screaming at the page to look, look, look. But he acts his age and pays for it. He ends fairly.I loved the books, mostly because of the emotional ride we went through with Fitz, the Fool, Molly, Burrich, Verity, Kettricken, Starling, Kettle, etc. I ended up dreaming about these people, unable to sleep until I finished the last pages.Great books.
review 2: The best thing that can be said about this series is that Robin Hobb is a gifted writer, who has thoroughly researched and considered this world that she has created. The dialogue is clever, and the characters introduced are interesting with great backstories and are well developed. I also found the strong feminine characters, sprinkled in all unlikely roles to be amusing and interesting. That being all said... the main character FitzChivalry is just about the whiniest, helpless, and most emotional character this side of the planet. For an assassin trained to kill people, he spends more time bemoaning his place in life and fate, than actually killing anyone of import. What he does kill, tends to be emotionless and feckless brainwashed character zombies. His emotions gets the better of him most of the time, and he can't seem to sit down to master any of the talents or skills, he's gifted with. He is a man (woman?) with premenstrual cramps 29 days out a month. His female compatriots on the other hand, are all strong champions of justice who seem to drag him along for the ride, while he wiles away his life drinking blackberry wine or elfbark tea and getting hangovers or nightmares. He can't assassinate or protect his king, he can't be a good father, he sucks at his magic, he's the quintessential fantasy deadbeat dad with a depressive/narcisstic complex who's place in this book seems only to be to bolster strong feminist zealotry and self-esteem for female readers.This series is 1 book of great narrative, and 2 books of whining, self loathing/depressive contemplation. I had read great reviews about this series and expected some high adventure, but I found this be mostly a character study, slog with repetitive themes of helplessness, self loathing, and lackadaisacal effort. Is it unique? Sure. Would I ever read it again? no. less

Download links for: Robin Hobb Collection: Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin's Quest (The Farseer Trilogy)

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