Product Description

The second in the thrilling fantasy series returning readers to the Six Duchies and the magical world of the Farseers, from the author of the bestselling Assassin's Apprentice. Fitz has succeeded in rescuing Prince Dutiful from the clutches of the Piebald rebels, and has returned with him to Buckkeep castle. With Dutiful safe again, Queen Kettricken can proceed with plans to marry him to the Outislander princess, Elliania, but with tensions building among the peoples of the Six Duchies over Kettricken's tolerance of the Wittted, even Buckkeep is no longer safe. A reluctant Fitz is assigned to protect the young prince, and also train him in the Skill, and in doing so he finally makes contact not only with his estranged daughter, Nettle, but with someone in Buckkeep who may possess a greater Skill talent than Fitz. And who may represent a terrible threat to the Farseers. Meanwhile, Elliania arrives, and before she will accept Prince Dutiful's betrothal challenges him to undertake an impossible quest. He must kill a legendary Outislander dragon.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6496 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 712 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
The Golden Fool, the second volume of Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy, is explicitly a sequel to both the Farseer and Liveship trilogies. The palace intrigues, which Fitz has found himself dragged back into, have as much to do with the politics of trade and conquest--the war between the Bingtown traders and their living ships and the theocratic bullies of Chalced--as with the oppression of the beast-speaking Witted by the majority and the terrorism of the Piebald faction among the Witted. Fitz has always been a deeply flawed hero--growing up as a royal bastard trained in assassination has not been good for his character--and his inability to understand how deeply he is loved upsets all the people around him.

One of Robin Hobb's strengths is her capacity to set up an interesting dialogue between metaphor and the literal; at both levels, The Golden Fool is a novel about moving through estrangement to reconciliation, about finding out the truth and then finding a way of living with it. This thoughtfulness means that, as always with Hobb, Fitz's role as tutor of a magically gifted prince, is as exciting as the book's occasional explosions of violence. --Roz Kaveney

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 Assassin's Apprentice: 'A gleaming debut' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Assassin's Quest: 'Assassin's Quest achieves a bittersweet, powerful complexity rare in fantasy' LOCUS 'Robin Hobb writes achingly well' SFX Praise for The Liveship Traders series: 'Even better than the Assassin books. I didn't think that was possible' George R R Martin 'Hobb is a remarkable storyteller.' Guardian

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, and was followed by the equally successful Royal Assassin and Assassin's Quest. She lives outside Seattle, Washington.

Customer Reviews

A fine read but suffers from 'middle book' syndrome
First and foremost this book is a fabulous read. I was gripped from the very beginning and hugely enjoyed it. The other reviewers are correct in that this book does not move the story forward enormously but I think that it is a necessary scene setter. A large amount of characterisation is built up in this book including Chade's flagging influence on the queen and Fitz's rediscovery of his loyalty to the Farseer's. It also adds in some tantalising plot lines that needed this book in which to develop - the outislanders, the Bingtown traders and the Piebalds - all of which will doubtless be major factors in the final book.

Don't let other reviewers put you off reading this. Hobb's writing is wonderful and though not much happens in terms of battles and action, an amazing amount of plot is being set up and we see deeper than ever in to the characters that have made the Assassin series so riveting from the very first.

I for one am fascinated to see how the threads of these eight books (yes, the liveship traders are part of this too) are brought together in Fool's Fate.

A Bridge of Character
Middle books of planned trilogies are difficult, as they must necessarily not be complete in themselves, but can only build the setting for the last book. The middle book of the last of three related trilogies must be even more difficult. Haven gotten through the Assassin and Liveship Trader sets (and if you haven’t, you need to before tackling this set – you won’t regret it), and Fool’s Errand as a the first book of this set, this becomes an obvious bridge work between all that has gone before and (presumably) the tie-up of all the various plot threads in the last volume.

FitzChivalry Farseer is once more the star, opening this volume as a very much-wounded man, having lost his bond mate, and forced to once more try to fit in to the court intrigues by playing the servant to Lord Golden as Tom Badgerlock. New problems almost at once descend upon him, from his adopted son Hap’s wayward ways to complications in his own love life, while the pressures of the Piebald group mount upon both Fitz and the kingdom, and Prince Dutiful’s training in the Skill becomes an imperative, regardless of Fitz’s own feelings of inadequacy in matters of the Skill. Add in problems with the Outisland delegation and Dutiful’s promised bride, and the Bingtown traders requesting help in their war against Chalced, and there are more than enough plot threads for several novels. But the focus of this book is not so much in unraveling all these threads, but rather in Fitz’s development as a person, along with all the people around him. Throughout this book, we see Fitz make errors in judgement, fail as a parent, as a spy, a lover, a teacher, as a friend. Each error leads to further growth of the man as he tries desperately to fix all his self-imposed problems while also working to aid the kingdom in what he sees as the best way possible. Lord Golden is exposed as having even more personas than previously known, each equally as enigmatic. Lord Chade comes into his own as a real human, with understandable desires and forgivable failings, and even Hap becomes a very recognizable young man with a very normal set of young man’s problems.

This is therefore a quiet book, without a great deal of surface action, but with a great deal of character development, and the setting in place of all the things and characters needed for a final denouement. As the characters make up so much of the charm of this entire set of interrelated stories, it is a fully satisfying book, even though it has no real ending, and with possibly even more questions raised than answered within its various disclosures of tie-ins between the various plot threads. The only real problem with this book, like almost every other middle book of a series, is the agonizing wait for the final volume.

--- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)

A Golden Author
Having read Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan I was looking for another fantasy writer to explore.Several reviewers suggested Robin Hobb and my thanks goes out to all of them .The Golden Fool is writing of the highest quality.It explores the strengths and weaknesses of the human condition with warmth and accuracy.I found myself laughing not because something was funny but due to the insight the writer lends to her characters.Unlike most fantasy writers her books are actually getting better.