Fantasy Book Club discussion

Did you like our narrator/storyteller, Fitz? Why or why not? How did you feel about Hobb using first person to tell his story? Was it effective, or would it have been better from a third person perspective?

I believe I commented on this in the first impressions thread, but I'm enjoying the first person narration technique for this book. I think it works. Fitz’s mind wanders as he prepares the history of the Duchies and we are taken along for the ride. In particular, I like that he is pretty matter-of-fact about it even though you can feel the underlying bitterness.

Additionally, when he is talking about Nosy in his earliest recollections it is subtle way of showing the effects of the old Wit before we learn what it is

I actually really like it when a book is written in first person. I think if anything it helps you to get the know the character better and really get inside his head, and obviously there's a lot going on inside Fitz's head. He has a lot of insecurities. I'm one who likes it when characters don't always feel they are the greatest person ever, but have some flaws too. I wouldn't mind seeing more books in general written in first person because I think it really works well. At least Hobb does it very well.

@ Elise - I'm the opposite, I usually do not like 1st person narration but I agree that Hobb does a nice job with it here.

I think it must be tricky to tell a story using the first person, so the result can be awkward; but Hobb did a great job with Fitz: the story telling flows very naturally. And even though we know Fitz's every thoughts, we can still see him as another person, through our own point of view and with our own experience. We're like a mute conscience for him, seeing his mistakes but unable to counsel him. Maybe the effect would have been different with a third person narration.
Fitz as the narrator is a good choice: he's involved with all the events of the story, even when he's not present physically. It's a good trick from the author which allows us to know more without a change of point of view. Furthermore, he understands well enough what's going on (when it doesn't involve personal feelings, then he's as hopeless as anybody can be in real life).

Like Libby, I generally dislike first person novels, but I also thought this was a really good book. I've already started the second of the series.

I like Fitz (he's hard not to like as the narrator of the whole story). I can't say I love Fitz. I think that being inside his head, we can see far more than he could (or could understand at his age) and the result is a like.. but not a love.

I'm not sure I can ever love a first person narrator character. It likely stems to my dislike of the POV, though.