Assassin's Quest
Synopsis
In this final installment of the Farseer trilogy, we join Fitzchivalry and his magically bound wolf on a pilgrimage to save the Six Dutchies. Driven by the disappearance of the rightful heir Verity and the wrath of his tyrannical uncle, Fitz is forced to confront his personal demons and uncover who he is beyond his title as a royal assassin. He embarks from his home at Buckkeep palace to coastal regions devastated by Redship Raiders and overrun with vicious “forged” people who have been stripped of the things that make them human. Fitz traverses isolated woodlands, an abandoned Elderling city, and enchanted Skill Roads. Along the way, he grows beyond certain past relationships, but is conversely reacquainted with others, creating new sacred ties altogether. He meets a minstrel girl named Starling, who is determined to make her songs her legacy and a surly, mysterious old woman named Kettle. Is Fitz’s fate predetermined? Who is he without the magical bonds that define him? Should he remain loyal to the nobility he serves or do what’s best for his family?
Review
This book is expansive in the ways Fitz travels beyond his familiar world. The reader follows as he ventures from courtly interiors to vast mythic landscapes, each with a life and personality of their own. It was truly a joy to inhabit Fitz’s mind over this series, from being orphaned and left in the hands of the stablemaster Burrich to first loves and even resurrection, all testaments to the strength of his character arc. Robin Hobb does high fantasy so well and I’ve really grown to love the magic system she’s created. That being said, I don’t think this needs to be nine-hundred pages. The editing left something to be desired, with certain vocabulary being repeated many times on one page. She uses “chided” and “rebuked” so much that whenever I stumbled across these terms, I was jolted out of the narrative. The trilogy’s denouement felt rather drawn out and didn’t leave me in a great spot to want to continue on with the next thirteen novels set in this world. In terms of atmosphere, this series is everything I was wanting from Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Fellowship of The Ring. While the pacing is comparably slow, Hobb is a master of whimsical and immersive storytelling.