Fool's Assassin

Have you ever found yourself reading a Robin Hobb book and thinking, “Huh. I’m a third of the way through this, but I still have no idea where this is going.”? Have you ever wanted to have that thought when you’re 80% of the way through a book? Well, have I got the book for you!

In all seriousness, my wife and I found ourselves saying repeatedly how it was odd how, despite having no discernible through plot, we kept wanting to read more. It was highly interesting. And I will say, when I got to that last 20% of the book, it did start to make a little more sense; the big reveal and the direction it takes are foreshadowed throughout, it’s just not…obvious foreshadowing.

This book is set in Withywoods, which I found an interesting albeit slower change of pace. It’s not much of a spoiler to tell you that this book is set many years later than Fools Fate, and is about Fitz and Molly having married life together. At least, that’s what the story is about at the onset. I love that Robin Hobb allowed us to really experience what that relationship is like for them, since after all we’ve only had 6 books of Fitz wishing he could have a real relationship with her again. It’s really neat to see how their relationship has the same core as before but has significantly matured.

One of the things I love is that you learn more about the culture and history of the white prophets and their people. You also have a lot of the book hinging around a mysterious new person who has supposedly been birthed into the world who is presumably the world’s next white prophet.

From there out I feel that anything I tell you about this book would be a major spoiler, but I will say, it does go in some bold new directions. There are several new characters, including one who will obviously be extremely important to the rest of the trilogy and perhaps beyond. This is the first book out of all the Fool and Fitz books that we have chapters written from someone’s perspective other than Fitz. It’s been engrossing.

The ending of the book is brutal, brutal, and more brutal, bordering on grimdark. There is some violence that is a bit shocking. Sometimes I wondered if it was too much, to make up for the fact that most of the book lacks any action. There is plenty of drama and things happening to care about, but this is one of the least action oriented books of the series. It’s even more character driven.

Because of the darkness at the end of the book I might actually take a break before diving into the next one but, I can’t wait to see what is revealed next about these characters and the world. It does end on a cliffhanger which isn’t my favorite kind of ending, but I’m more than willing to overlook that. This is a solid entry for me with lots of great memories from having read it.

At some point I’m also thinking that this book would be a good study in how to make a book compelling without a clear plot. There’s a lot of really creative things Robin Hobb (Megan Lindholm) is doing here and I’m so glad to see her never being complacent to keep writing in the box she’s set for herself; I feel like she’s always pushing her craft forward, and that’s something I really seek to learn from as a writer.

Also I will mention that if you get the fancier versions of this particular trilogy, they are really worth it. They are just gorgeous with the gold and silver. $15-20 each and I don’t normally spend that much money for a book but in this case I’m glad I did.