Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) in Beyond Reality

Aug 25, 2021 Carrie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, mgr, psychic-ability, tear-jerker, dogs

So I cried about 5 times but at least 1 of those times were happy ones.

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Sep 06, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy

A young orphan is trained to be an assassin. Someone reading this book might think that every horrible thing that could happen to Fitz has happened, but no! There are so many more books in which to torment the main character (and thus, the reader). Almost unrelentingly grim.

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Oct 16, 2012 Kerry rated it really liked it

Shelves: 9-out-of-10, 2005, fantasy

I've known for a long time that Robin Hobb's books are meant to be good, but I've always been distracted by other things and never taken the time to read them. Having [ffseries] reading the last of this first trilogy at the end of the month has been a good reason to finally taken them off the shelf and get on with it.

I am very, very glad I did. This is a solid, well put together fantasy without getting so dense I get overwhelmed by it all (one of the reasons I haven't yet tried George R. R. Mar I've known for a long time that Robin Hobb's books are meant to be good, but I've always been distracted by other things and never taken the time to read them. Having [ffseries] reading the last of this first trilogy at the end of the month has been a good reason to finally taken them off the shelf and get on with it.

I am very, very glad I did. This is a solid, well put together fantasy without getting so dense I get overwhelmed by it all (one of the reasons I haven't yet tried George R. R. Martin's books which I also understand are excellent). Fitz is an engaging character, which is a triumph considering he starts as a lost six year-old and passes through phases of whiny childhood and adolescence. At one point he calls himself a catalyst for the Six Duchies, and I certainly think that is true. There is a feeling of fate tossing him into his life and situations more than he ever chooses them for himself. Still, despite everything he turns out pretty well.

By the end of the book, as everything and everyone seemed to be conspiring against him, I was very worried about him despite knowing he's got two more books in this trilogy to go and possibly several more futher along in Hobb's booklist. I was muttering, "Boy Fitz, you've really been set up" as things seemed to go from bad to worse. Fortunately, he's still around at the end of the book and I hope he gets a bit of rest before the start of the second in the trilogy, as I get the impression the bad stuff is far from over yet.

I liked the concepts of both the Wit and the Skill, although I really don't see that the ultimate danger of the Wit is any worse than that of Skill, so why one should be abhorred and the other praised continues to puzzle me. After reading the page of blurb for Royal Assassin at the back of this book, I do get the impression that may be further developed as the trilogy progresses.

I find Hobb's villain of the piece to be particularly disturbing, not because he's all out evil and crazy with it, but because he's petulant, vain, selfish and ruthless with all of it. He's going to cause a lot of grief simply because he can't see beyond his own wants, hates and self-importance and for me, that's often the scariest kind of evil of all.

I'm taking a break to read a different book next because I hate it when I know bad stuff is going to happen and I'm pretty sure it is here, but I'll be back to read the next in the series after that because I really need to know what happens next to Fitz, Verity, Chade and all the others.

[Copied across from Library Thing; 17 October 2012] ...more

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Sep 30, 2007 John rated it it was amazing

Do I really not have a review of this on here? Criminal.

According to Goodreads, this is my 2nd read, though I think it's at least my third. I've read all the sequels, both the ones that center on Fitz and the expanded universe of the Bingtown Traders and the Rain Wilders. And every time I re-read one of these novels, I'm more and more impressed.

I remember reading the third Fitz and the Fool trilogy and being brought to tears, and I thought about how many hundreds or thousands of pages had gone Do I really not have a review of this on here? Criminal.

According to Goodreads, this is my 2nd read, though I think it's at least my third. I've read all the sequels, both the ones that center on Fitz and the expanded universe of the Bingtown Traders and the Rain Wilders. And every time I re-read one of these novels, I'm more and more impressed.

I remember reading the third Fitz and the Fool trilogy and being brought to tears, and I thought about how many hundreds or thousands of pages had gone into setting up that beautiful and/or heartbreaking moment. But as I was revisiting Assassin's Apprentice for the first time in many years, I felt the exact same thing, which I think is a testament to how well these novels are constructed. There are these moments that are all the more poignant because I know what's happening a thousand or more pages from now, it's like this dramatic irony. Was it all planned out this early? Maybe, maybe not. But it's there, either put there intentionally or mined for all it was worth later. And it's amazing.

I will admit that I'd forgotten some of the details and how early or late some of those things happened. Nighteyes is so central that I'd forgotten entirely that he isn't in this book at all. It was also interesting to see these characters through another lens. Because the narrative is filtered through Fitz, who starts as a very young child and ends up a teenager, I'm not sure I'd ever appropriately calibrated the ages of Burrich and Verity and Chade (or Regal for that matter), and I felt how relatively young all of them are at this point far more clearly this time around, perhaps became I'm older than all of them except (I think) Chade (which wasn't the case the first time I read it).

Anyway, I'm babbling a bit. But I'm considering it a happy coincidence that I couldn't find anything in the library's audiobook system that caught my fancy, because it was a real treat to revisit this novel. The only unhappy coincidence is that there's a wait for book 2 or 3. ...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Adrienne rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, owned, assassins-thieves-etc, fantasy, first-person, reread, characters-that-feel-real

Oh, Fitz.

I first read these books back in high school on a recommendation from one of my mom's coworkers. Actually, "read" isn't quite the right word: more like "devoured." I've since re-read them a few times, and I am now on my second copy of the series and even those are starting to get worn after all the times I've lent them out to friends. But that means more people are reading Robin Hobb, which makes me happy!

What I really like about this book (and any book, really) are the characters. Even ...more

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Aug 03, 2007 Brian rated it it was amazing

Before recognizing R. Hobb's serial abuse of her readership, I really enjoyed the dark, sad, and deep drama of these books. The world seemed believable, even as it was impossibly pessimistic. I don't read Hobb's stuff anymore, because she's relentless in this attitude. ...more

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