The Sword and Laser discussion

Just finished and loved it. I reached the "can not put this book down" around the 50% mark. Just a few remarks to note for me at this point. I loved the political intrigue that builds tension incredibly through the final third of the book. I appreciated how, for me, things that resonated early (Nosy, the relationship with Burrich, the good guy-ness of Verity) is rewarded with rich detail by the end of the book.
It is great to not have to wade through endless descriptions of forests and mountains during the trip through forests and mountains. I always felt that the plot was king here, not necessarily overemphasis on details (but the details of each area are cinematic and descriptive).
I am thinking that Molly's storyline will return, since the part about "going off to live with relatives after her inheritance went belly up" intrigued me.
Call me crazy, but I love Lady Patience. I find her amusing,infuriating and having far more insight into Fitz's destiny than almost anyone else in the book.
Thanks to Veronica and Tom for introducing me to this book. I want to start the second book, but I also want to focus on this discussion without lurching uncontrollably into possible spoilers as I read the next one, if that makes sense :-)

I liked the book as well. I very much enjoyed the bit toward the end about the Mountain Kingdom. I'm a sucker for any story about cultural contact and misunderstandings, And the Chyurda are a quite well-thought out culture -- even if it seemed ridiculous that Fitz learned the language in all of a day.

Bill wrote: "Call me crazy, but I love Lady Patience. I find her amusing,infuriating and having far more insight into Fitz's destiny than almost anyone else in the book."

Its been a while, but I clearly remember Patience ending up as my favorite character in the series.

The more I've learned about Patience the more I like her. It's hard for me to separate what I learned in book 1and 2.

Call me crazy, but I love Lady Patience. I find her amusing,infuriating and having far more insight into Fitz's destiny than almost anyone else in the book.

While I haven't read any further into the series than Assassin's Apprentice, my intuition suggests that Patience could possibly be a character inspired (at least in part) by the author and then inserted into the story as a sly personal joke. I had the same feeling when reading about the character of Sam in George R.R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series.

I pretty much agree with everything you said, Bill. I really liked the way the story slowly built on the plot lines set up in the first chapter, yet still managed to take the story in surprising directions. When the skill lessons began, and Fitz showed obvious aptitude for it, I felt sure I saw the road ahead, but was quite mistaken. I like a book that does that.

Just finished reading it late last night myself. Enjoyed the characters, complexity of the plot, I'm still not entirely clear about a few things which is good as that means I may just have to reread it someday like I do to most of my beloved series.

Very happy this was the reading for the month as it has been on my mind since the 1990s but never got around to it. This gave me the push I needed.

I finished rereading it last night and was surprised to find that it held up remarkably well.

The Fool's Errand begins the concluding trilogy of the series, Hobb pulls off the remarkable feat of providing closure for almost all of her characters.