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A review by sergek94
Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb
5.0
“There is a dead spot in the night, that coldest, blackest time when the world has forgotten evening and dawn is not yet a promise. A time when it is far too early to arise, but so late that going to bed makes small sense.”
I have at last finished The Farseer Trilogy, a series I started the beginning of this year. Following FitzChivalry Farseer's early life throughout 2021 has been one of the literary highlights of my year, and I am so happy to have finished this journey by buddy-reading this with some friends from The Fantasy Guuild Book Club!
I have had very mixed expectations about this book before getting into it, since a lot of people seem to complain about the pacing, considering it to be very slow and uneventful. Therefore, I expected to like this book the least out of the entire trilogy, but I should have known better, since out of the 3, this has been my favourite one!
FitzChivalry Farseer, the bastard son of Chivalry Farseer, has been violently jerked out of his regular life in Buckkeep. After being tortured in Regal's dungeons following the death of his sovereign King Shrewd, Fitz managed to fake his own death with the help of his primary "caretaker" characters, Burrich and Chade. Believed to be dead by the people who love and hate him, Fitz finds himself more alone than ever. He's faced with two options, either head toward the town of Tradeford, the centre of the inland Duchy of Farrow, and kill the newly crowned King Regal, exacting his vengeance, or cross the perilous Blue Lake that separates the Duchy of Farrow from The Mountain Kingdom, and go beyond those lands, deep into the ancient forests in which King-In-Waiting Verity has ventured to, on a mission to find The Elderlings in hopes of having them save the Six Duchies from the Red Ships, who are laying waste to most towns in the area.
“...To free humanity of time. For time is the great enslaver of us all. Time that ages us, time that limits us. Think how often you have wished to have more time for something, or wished you could go back a day and do something differently. When humanity is freed of time, old wrongs can be corrected before they are done.”
As the title of this book indicates, the entirety of this book is about questing, and moving from one location to the next, which is already a stark contrast to the first 2 installments of this series, where our main character was mostly stationed in Buckkeep Castle, with some occasional journeys sprinkled here and there. Consequently, it is safe to assume that this book had way more plot than the first two, and as a plot driven reader, that was definitely a plus for me. However, it is worth noting that Hobb's expertise in characterization makes it so that even with a relatively plot-less installment, I would be very glad to dive into the world she builds, just to see her character interactions. This book had both an engaging plot, nourished by the multitude of locations and characters Fitz comes across during his journey, and an impeccable cast of multi-dimensional characters she poured life into. No two characters are alike, and each character has their own "vibe" that distinguishes them quite starkly from the rest. It is a perfect melange of character and plot driven narratives that Robin Hobb so deftly intertwined.
Why then, do so many people claim it is painfully lacking in plot? My guess is that due to the nature of the story line, not much plot movement takes place at the macro-level of the setting, with a lot of the major cliffhangers of the story, such as Verity's location and fate, and the existence of the elusive Elderlings, aspects the reader has been longing to uncover since the last book, being mercilessly dragged on, with small breadcrumbs of information being bestrewn every now then by Hobb, leaving the reader frustrated. It is safe to say that despite there being good plot at the micro-level, with the little things moving quite rapidly, the reader must come to terms with the fact that the big questions that drive the general story will be very slow to be uncovered. Enjoying this is a matter of taste, and I do not fault the reader for finding this a weak point in the book.
“I am a minstrel. I know more about lying than you will ever discover. And minstrels know that sometimes lies are what a man needs most. In order to make a new truth of them.”
Another aspect of this book that readers might potentially be bothered by is the relative remoteness of most of the main cast we have come to love from the first two books. Fitz began a new life after faking his death, and Hobb does little to soften this blow. Some favourite characters like Lady Patience do not appear much in this story, and instead, we get a new cast of characters that Fitz meets on his way, and two people who eventually become part of his questing circle. I personally did not mind this one bit, since Hobb managed to make me as attached to the new characters she introduced as I was to the former ones. To me, this also emphasizes the consequences of Fitz's public death, since we get to see how much it pains him to be separated from the people he loves.
My favourites from this installment are definitely Nighteyes and The Fool, both of whom get very significant character growth before the trilogy's closure. Nighteyes is more raw and real than he ever was, and a tiny scratch on his fur pained me as if I were the one bound to him through the Wit. I was left panicking for his safety more than one time, and I was at Hobb's mercy, hoping that no harm befell him. As for The Fool, he felt surprisingly more "real" in this book, and his bond with Fitz was stronger than ever, and I enjoyed reading every page about them. Our new cast, Starling and Kettle, were very enjoyable to read as well, and Queen Kettricken was a delight to quest with, since I was craving to spend more time with her in the previous book.
A character who fell even deeper down the trenches of my dislike was Molly. I could never like this woman, ever since I met her as a child in the first book, and Fitz's love towards her left me in a constant state of irritation. It became a comical aspect of the book my friends and I in the book club constantly joked about, and I do find her to be quite selfish, overly simple minded and with an unattractive and bland personality. I cared more about fleeting characters who spent no longer than 2 chapters being in this book way more than I ever managed to care about Molly during this entire trilogy.
“...sometimes it only makes one more lonely to know that somewhere else, one's friends and family are well.”
In this epic journey of which every second of reading I enjoyed, an aspect of the story that I would have preferred to be different are dimmed, but I will mention it in the review. The magic system in this book is quite vague, which led to the seemingly inevitable consequence of it being used as a tool for plot-convenience. Some seemingly difficult situations in the story have been solved with a vague usage of either The Skill of The Wit, and where these magic systems are painfully limited in one situation, they would be very effective in others, and the logic seems to blur.
Spoiler
For example, the fact that Fitz and Nighteyes could awaken the sleeping dragons just by using their Wit and shedding blood felt like a very simple solution that I felt to be a plot convenience.I definitely recommend this trilogy to all fantasy lovers, and now that I'm done with The Farseer Trilogy, I am looking forward into diving into The Liveship Traders Trilogy next year! I will hopefully be buddy-reading it with the same people, which is great because reading these books with friends quadruples the enjoyment of the experience! I do need a well-deserved break from Fitz, since Robin Hobb is relentless in her quest to make his life as horrifying as possible, so the fact that Fitz is absent from the next trilogy can help me spend some time elsewhere in this universe before going back to his story. Definitely recommend this trilogy to all fantasy lovers!
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“Six Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town
Climbed a hill, and never came down
Found their flesh and lost their skins
Flew away on stony wings.
Five Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town
Walked a road not up nor down
Were torn to many and turned to one,
In the end, left a task half-done
Four Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town
They spoke in words without a sound
They begged their Queen to let them go
And what became of them, no one can know.
Three Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town
They’d helped a king to keep his crown.
But when they tried to climb the hill
Down they came in a terrible spill.
Two Wisemen came to Jhaampe-town
Gentle women there they found.
Forgot their quest and lived in love
Perhaps were wiser than ones above.
One Wiseman came to Jhaampe-town.
He set aside both Queen and Crown
Did his task and fell asleep
Gave his bones to the stones to keep.
No wise men go to Jhaampe-town,
To climb the hill and never come down.
‘Tis wiser far and much more brave
To stay at home and face the grave.”