Product Description

The gripping finale to Robin Hobb's classic Farseer trilogy, now reissued in gorgeous new livery. Keystone. Gate. Crossroads. Catalyst. Fitz is about to discover the truth about the Fool's prophecy. Having been resurrected from his fatal tortures in Regal's dungeons, Fitz has once more foiled Regal's attempts to be rid of him. Now, back in his own body, and after months of rehabilitation, Fitz begins the painful and slow process of learning the ways of a man again. Under the watchful eye of Burrich, old King Shrewd's Stablemaster, Fitz must learn to cast off the wild but carefree ways of the wolf and enter once more the human world: a world beset ever more viciously by the relentless Red Ship Raiders who are now left free to plunder any coastal town they please. But more immediately, a world in which he finds he is utterly alone. Regal has stripped the kingdom of its riches and retired to the inland city of Tradeford. Of Verity, on his quest to find the legendary Elderings, there has been no word; Molly, Kettricken and the Fool have all vanished. Unless Fitz can find Verity and help him in his quest, the Six Duchies will perish and there will be no safe place to live.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1530 in Books
• Published on: 1998-03-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 848 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

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

Gripping to the end!!
A book that I culdn't put down. Fizt carries the reader with him and you experience his emotions.A good ending to the trilogy but i must admit that when i got to the end i found it a bit rushed. I had expected a good few more chapters to finish the story off but this doesn't drag the book down in my opinion (especially since there will be a follow up trilogy). As for the story line, it was gripping, with dramatic action, emotional scenes. What I like best about it is how the storyline never had a dull moment, how all the different plots jelled together. I also enjoyed the emotional side. The relationship between Fitz and the Fool intrigued me. All in all this is a trilogy that once started, can't be put down. One night i couldn't sleep because i couldn't stop thinking about the story so i stayed up all night reading (almost like being caught in a skill stream). I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading!!

A sense of loss prevailed when I finished this book.
I started Assasins Quest immediatly I had finished Royal Assasin. Odd that a book can give you a strange feeling of excited nervousness whilst you are starting to become entwined with its world, but that is exactly the feeling I got with this book, made possible by Hobb's powerful explanations and descriptions of the Six Duchies throughout the first two books.
The storyline - one difficult to make feasable - was as expertly carved and detailed as Verity's Dragon. A special quality was the emotive response associated with each of the lead characters, these have been building up from the begining of the trilogy and finally climax in the middle of the Quest.
Something equally rare in any type of book is the sense of loss experienced with the completion of the Trilogy. It is impossible for me to adequtely describe in words but for a good few days after finishing Assasins Quest, there was something not quite complete about me, an emptiness only quenched by fact that the story continues in Fool's Errand, offering the chance for another immersion into Hobb's special world and the possiblity of escaping reality for a while longer.
If you were not sure to continue your journey into the Duchies after the close of the second book, be assured that the conclusion is surly some of the most exciting fantasy writing I have ever had the fortune to read.

Can this be the end?
Fitz has to return to his battered body and learn to be a man again. Life as a wolf was far more satisfying and less complicated. But duty calls, as it always does for Fitz and his hard life continues where it left off with his final near death experience at the end of book 2, "Royal Assassin". It takes quite a while occupying his abused and damaged young body to recall himself and his old life and even then, he blocks out many of the more painful and distressing memories. But when he finally grasps what has happened and who he is and what is expected of him, he rebels. Chade and Burrich are rejected. He feels he must kill Regal and find Verity, never mind what anyone else wants him to do. He encounters obstacles every step of the way but he also finds new friends and allies. They meet witted folk who are not ashamed of what they are. Nighteyes meets members of his own kind and tries pack life for a while. When wolf and man renew their old relationship the pack grows to include the wolf, several humans and a flock (what is the collective noun for dragons?) of ferocious and magical flying predators.

As several previous reviewers have observed, the ending did seem rushed. I have to agree that the ending didn't have the satisfying sense of completion we could have hoped for. Fitz only observes the final battles vicariously. The great, momentous events we were all waiting for, are skimmed over as though they were the matter of least importance in the story. There was a long, careful, detailed account of events up until the last couple of chapters then a sudden dash to finish. It seemed to be almost as abrupt as: and then I saw this happen, that happen and the other thing happen, and then it was now. The End! It's the end of the trilogy but I feel deprived of a sense of closure.

Even so, nothing's perfect and this book comes quite close. It's imaginative, well written, full of well defined characters - both loveable and loathable - and I was so completely immersed in the story while I was reading it and enjoyed it so much that I feel it's easily worth the full 5*s.