Product Description

A glorious classic fantasy combining the magic of Ursula Le Guin's The Wizard of Earthsea with the epic Mastery of Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Now reissued in gorgeous new livery. Fitz is a royal bastard, cast out into the world with only his magical link with animals for solace and companionship. But When Fitz is adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and learn a new life; weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly. Meanwhile, raiders ravage the coasts, leaving people soulless. As Fitz grows towards manhood, he will have to face his first terrifying mission, a task that poses as much risk to himself as it does to his target: for Fitz is a threat to the throne ! but he may also be the key to the future of the kingdom.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1449 in Books
• Published on: 1996-03-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Review
'Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers ! what makes her novels as addictive as morphine is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics.' The Times

At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue - murdered, it's rumored - Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders - formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill - mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
Robin Hobb was born in California in 1952 and majored in Communications at Denver University, Colorado. Assassin's Apprentice was her first novel which began the internationally acclaimed Farseer trilogy. Since then she has found further success with her wonderful series: The Live Ship Traders and The Tawny Man. Her latest trilogy is The Soldier Son, beginning with Shaman's Crossing and continuing with Forest Mage. Robin Hobb lives outside Seattle, Washington. Her website is: www.robinhobb.com.

Customer Reviews

Fantastic start to an epic series
I am so jealous of anyone who still has all these Robin Hobb books to start. It is an epic journey which is beautifully crafted. Great characters and storyline. One of the best things about Robin Hobb's books is she takes the time to finish the story as well as she writes the rest of it and you feel you have been on a journey and weren't robbed at the end. Read them!

one of my all time favourites
Robin Hobb is certainly on of the best fantasy writers out there.
I have read both the Farseer trilogies(Farseer and Tawny Man ) as well as the Liveship Traders and also the Soldier son trilogy.
Beautifully written - it is fantasy that does not lean on clichés 90 percent of the time.
Robin creates real characters that grows on you within a completely believable world and a very interesting and fresh type of magic.
This is the kind of Fantasy novel that got me hooked on the genre.

90% feelings-10% action
Having read so many positive reviews I bought the 3 books.....what a shame ! The idea for the books a fine, but Ms Hobb puts feeeeelings in everywhere...the plot becomes tidious and nothing is happening without describing more feelings...in the end I "speed read" - one page in every 30 and at last, towards the end, hoped some action without feeling and some explanation to the plot story was given...I was wrong.

So I don't get the hype about this series. Nothing close to just one page of Tolkien.

On the other hand. If you like caracters that expresses feelings all the time, do not fight (very short and none-gory fights here in the books)and just can't get their act together - this series is for you.