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A review by sergek94
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
5.0
"He blew out my candle and left. My head reeled and my body ached from the day's work. But I still didn't sleep. What I found myself doing was crying. The drink had loosened whatever knot held my control, and I wept. Not quietly. I sobbed, and hiccuped and then wailed with my jaw shaking. My throat closed up, my nose ran, and I cried so hard I felt I couldn't breathe. I think I cried every tear I had never shed since the day my grandfather forced my mother to abandon me. "
Emotional pain caused by traumatic events impact each individual differently, based on coping mechanisms one develops to survive. Sometimes, our psyche is cloaked with a numb serenity, gently softening the blow of each brutal strike our abuser(s), whether a human, or life choosing to be cruel, deals us. Fitz, a child of 6 years, has been dealt a challenging set of cards ever since he could remember. Born as a bastard of a prince he never knew, he walks on a thin line between being somewhat of a higher standing than the rest of society while being constantly reminded that he is the product of a dirty mistake an honourable man committed during a brief lapse in judgment.
His birth not only damned him to carry this inferiority throughout his life, but it also made him a potential threat to a cruel and power hungry class of elites. Some of them choose to make use of him, employing him as a pawn who helps them push their own agendas without daring to have his own, while others choose the other route and attempt to eliminate him and break his spirit while doing so. Fitz, graced (or cursed) with the ability to numb himself from abuse, attempts to navigate this turbulent life that was given to him. As a bastard of Prince Chivalry, he undergoes training to become the assassin the King employs to meet his Machiavellian objectives. A child with a tender heart, alongside a skill to be one with the minds of animals, forming close bonds with them, is forced to set aside his true nature and learn how to brutally murder others, without asking any questions and leaving no room for his innate compassion.
Fitz quickly learns that life is a harsh and unforgiving teacher. The first installment of The Farseer Trilogy takes us through his early life and how he develops from a young, emotionally numbed out soft-spoken child to a young adolescent who must navigate through court intrigue and deal with crises way above his age.
"It was a long journey, in the cold and the dark. Somewhere I could hear a whimpering, and I despised myself for that, too. But as I scraped myself along, it grew, as a spark in the distance becomes a fire as one approaches. It refused to be ignored. It grew louder in my mind, a whining against my fate, a tiny voice of resistance that forbade that I should die, that denied my failure. It was warmth and light, too, and it grew stronger and stronger as I tried to find its source. I stopped. I lay still. It was inside me. The more I sought it, the stronger it grew. It loved me. Loved me even if I couldn't, wouldn't, didn't love myself. Loved me even if I hated it. "
Robin Hobb is one of the shining stars in the genre of fantasy and her light can never be dimmed.
Her writing gives me an internal imagery of pure white snow blanketing the greenery of nature. You lose yourself in the winter scenery but are suddenly struck with the cold and hard winds of winter which make your soul ache and shiver right to your very bones, but all it takes is a desire for you to keep moving forward to be comforted by the serene and comforting beauty of the snowy landscape.
Her writing is gentle when it needs to be, and extremely brutal when necessary. It is never exaggerated and she doesn't simply write heart wrenching scenes just to make an emotional impact. Each sorrow and tragedy serves to further develop the characters and to add more and more layers to their already complex personalities. Robin Hobb has a natural talent for building her characters. One can feel their soul dripping through the pages. The lines between good and evil aren't clearly set in stone and each character has a complex set of motivations. This means that good people we root for sometimes do things that disappoint us, because in Robin Hobb's world, no one is perfect. Which brings us to the fact that...
Despite being a fantasy novel, Robin Hobb's world is a coldly realistic one.
Humans, no matter how good they try to be, are primarily driven by self-interest and unless they've done a lot of inner work, often fall victim to their selfish impulses that stem from various emotional wounds. Hobb expertly portrays this through her characters.
An interesting magic system that exists in the story without being an all-consuming aspect of it.
We don't see the typical wizards and mages and warlocks one might expect in a fantasy novel. However, two important forms of magic present are:
1) The Wit:A type of magic that allows a human to merge with the minds of animals and form personal bonds with them.
2) The Skill:A type of magic that allows psychic communication and influence between people, a crucial power that can drastically turn the tides of war to your favour, if used correctly, but not without a price.
We also hear murmurs about the mythical Elderlings who are a seemingly superior race who had important dealings with normal humans and represent an important part of the region's lore. However, despite the presence of magic in the world, it is largely kept as a background influence, not overly present and only a tool very limited people can sometimes use, which makes the story very realistic and grounded, which is good for people who don't like stories which are overly reliant on magic.
A classic trademark of Robin Hobb is her extremely immersive style of writing, which has never failed to make me fond of the story despite the fact that I am NOT a fan of lengthy descriptions of trivial details like the shape of a door or details about the natural landscapes in the area. With her, these "tedious" elements only serve to make the story feel more complete and beautiful. When I'm done reading a Hobb book, I always feel satisfied. It's akin to leaving the dining table after having a very fulfilling meal, which had all the right tastes and flavours and succeeded to make you very satisfactorily full. Her worlds are densely beautiful. I'm torn between wanting her works to be made into movie adaptations and dreading the possibility of that happening since it might tarnish her beautifully created universe.
“I think myself cured of all spite, but when I touch pen to paper, the hurt of a boy bleeds out with sea-spawned ink, until I suspect each carefully formed black letter scabs over some ancient scarlet wound.”
I finished this book having felt a wide range of emotions, from sadness to grief, from contentment to joy, from fear to relief. The world of Fitz Chivalry is not one I will soon forget and I am left craving more of it. Luckily enough, I'm only one book in and I still have plenty of books that tackle the different stages of his life.
The pacing of this book might not be for everyone, and despite it being relatively action packed, it does have some very slow moments, where we are taken through the tedious day to day life of Fitz. To me, that is one of the aspects of Hobb's immersive writing, having us live through her characters. It is not a light and happy story and has a big share of tragedies and heartache, but it is also full of bubbling feelings of warmth, joy and contentment, which feel like a fresh air of spring after cruel and frosty winters.
On a side note, if you are a fan of dogs, you will love this book even more, since the bonding between humans and dogs is an important pillar of the story and is described in the most heartwarming and touching ways.
This is definitely a book I will want to re-read one day and has made its way to one of my favourites. Even the less than perfect aspects seemed to pose no problem for me, since the overall book was such a nice experience. I recommend every reader to try reading at least one Robin Hobb book and I consider her works as must reads. The opening story of "The Farseer Trilogy" and of "The Realm Of The Elderlings", a set of 16 books taking place in the same universe, The Assassin's Apprentice, did not disappoint.
5 stars given to our young assassin!
Note: One of my favourite symphonic metal bands, Within Temptation, have a song based on this series which I will link here just in case you want to have a listen!
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“I'd rather I was a stray pup,' I made bold to say. And then all my fears broke my voice as I added, "You wouldn't let them do this to a stray pup, changing everything all at once. When they gave the bloodhound puppy to Lord Grimsby, you sent your old shirt with it, so it would have something that smelled of home until it settle in.'
'Well,' he said, "I didn't ... come here, fitz. Come here, boy.'
And puppy-like, I went to him, the only master I had, and he thumped me lightly on the back and rumbled up my hair, very much as if I had been a hound.”