Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5792 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 672 pages

Customer Reviews

Assassins Trilogy book 4
I adored Robin Hobb's Live Ships trilogy, and most of the Assassin trilogy, but it seems that the more she writes, the less she edits (or gets edited). Though this book is good, I would strongly advise you to skip the first ten chapters. This is all you'll miss:

Fitz lives under the name Tom Badgerlock with Hap, who used to be the stableboy, and Nighteyes the wolf. They keep hens. He was sleeping with Starling the minstrel, but found out she was married and stopped. A hedge witch called Jinna turns up briefly. Chade turns up. Chade goes away. The Fool turns up. Now read on...

Prince Dutiful, the son of Queen Kettricken, has disappeared. Due to be betrothed to an Outisland (they of the red ships) princess, believed to have the Wit (the generally-dispised ability to mentally communicate and emotionally bond with animals), the prince would be a prize to many political groups, alive or dead. Fitz is charged to return Dutiful home before the betrothal ceremony, aided Nighteyes's tracking skills and his own Skill (telepathic) link to the boy he fathered. But they reckon without the boy's own desire to stay away, and a use of the Wit that even Fitz finds abhorrent.

Once I'd waded through the first part, this was Robin Hobb at her very best. Her very obvious love of the world she's created, that means at first that she can leave no character's history untold, also leads us into a powerful political drama, about duty and difference, where Fitz is torn between the Farseer line he's sworn to protect, and loyalty to the persecuted minority amongst whom he is numbered.

But ultimately this is not focussed enough to be the beginning of something new. It's not book one of the the Fool trilogy, but book four of the Assassin series. It's a nice continuation of the story for those who liked her previous work, but it demands too much prior knowledge to work as a stand alone, and it won't win Robin Hobb any new fans.

Un Put Downable
As with the Farseer Trilogy I lived and breathed this book thinking of the characters and their lives and longing to get a moments peace from the kids, if only to read another sentance or two.

I laughed and cried often late into the night absorbing every word,

I feel as if I personally know the characters and have lived their experiences with they rather than just being a voyeur. I can't get enough of them and know that I will be mortified yet strangely satisfied when I have completed this series.

thank you Robin Hobb for enriching my life so!

A welcome return...
The only thing I wanted to know before I started this book was whether or not it would live up to the Farseer trilogy (I didn't expect it to be the same type of story), but I was desperate to know whether I would be disappointed or relieved. I was...relieved!

The sedate pace set at the beginning of this book may be in contrast to the dramatic Farseer trilogy, but it's the perfect introduction for our hero, as it mirrors the circumstances in which we currently find Fitz (or Tom Badgerlock, as he now likes to be known) who is certainly transformed from the young lad we met in 'Assassin's Apprentice' into a man middle aged, set-in-his ways, yet restless.

It's only been a matter of months since I finished the Farseer Trilogy and so only one piece of information made me think "hold on...I don't remember that!" but I trusted that before long I'd be subtly reminded by Hobb and of course, I was rewarded for my patience. Depending on your memory and the length of your gap between 'Assassin's Quest' and this story, there will probably be only a couple instances like this for you along the way, but always the author rescues you from ignorance, so no worries there.

P.S. If you're able to get a BCA copy of this book, you'll find the binding perfect for reading hours at a time i.e. from page 1 to 584 of 'Fool's Errand' the book will fall open and remain on your current page, which for devotees of Robin Hobb, Fitz and all the rest will not make an unwelcome relief from aching arms! So I won't keep you any longer, it's a scintillating return to the Six Duchies and our beloved characters, so get reading now!!!