Robin Hobb

Tom Badgerlock begins this tale as the sole protagonist but Hobb gradually adds in other perspectives to round a fascinating world with a modest cast. Now, this is not Hobb's first series about this character, AKA Fitzchivalry. And the "fool" does not enter the action for a very long time. As this is a trilogy, these 2 characters' relationship plays a larger and larger role as does Tom's abnormally born daughter, Bee. Hobb skillfully weaves a variety of characters and their interacting stories into this narrative as well as antagonists and mysterious visitors. One of Tom's strangest habits (well, strange to me at least) is his habit of writing about his life and then usually burning them before anyone else can read them. However, he does reveal that he is a thoughtful, deep thinker on many issues of life...even when he stumbles badly in many ways. Wonderful writing, inventive plot, great characterization.… (more)

Assassin's Apprentice isn't doing anything incredibly new, but what it does do it does with such a high level of craft and emotional resonance that it feels new anyways. Be prepared for pain! Born out of wedlock and growing up without parents, Fitz knows from a young age that the odds are stacked against him. Most people see him as a tool at best and an obstacle at worst. He has to fight for every ounce of respect he gets; and no matter how hard he tries, he is always plagued by feelings of loneliness and powerlessness, finding himself unable to protect the people he loves or imagine a happy future for himself. He fails, and his failures have tragic consequences. There are points where it feels like Fitz is totally alone, like he has somehow lost everything that ever made his life good and faces a kind of hopelessness from which he will never escape.

However, perhaps the world is not ultimately a hopeless place. Maybe things can get better. Sickness can be healed; mistakes can be forgiven; relationships can be mended. Fitz's ability to turn away from desolation before it consumes him, to continue through hopelessness, keeps him and the reader afloat. There are moments of joy. Fitz does get stronger and smarter over time; and he does find people that he can see him, at least in part, for who he really is, and care about that version of him. It makes you think--maybe there is hope for the future.

Among all the darker aspects of childhood, one thing the novel does a particularly good job of depicting is the challenges children face in their relationships with authority figures. By virtue of his low status as court, Fitz has few friends his age. The most important relationships in his life are with mentors--adults like his father's groom Burrich, the assassin Chade, and cruel Skillmaster Galen who attempt to organize Fitz's life and cultivate him into the kind of man they want him to be, and use their age, rank, and expertise to justify doing so. Fitz is aware of all the ways that these mentors don't completely understand him as a person, but he can't help wanting to earn their love and affection. He can't stop wanting to become the person they tell him he should be, and trying to see the world in the way that they see it--for good or for ill. They don't just tell him what to do, they change who he is as a person. That's what childhood is to me--the unacknowledged gulf between a child and an adult with authority over them, and the pain of looking across it and seeing how far apart you are. That's what Fitz has to confront as he tries to develop a new understanding of himself, not long to be a child.… (more)

Satisfying conclusion to the Liveship Traders trilogy, which is really a single very long story divided into three volumes.

With the conclusion in sight, the pace gets faster and that makes the story more riveting. Robin Hobb has a gift for creating appealing characters and it shows in this story. Liveship Traders is told in third person, using several point of view characters. We lose some of the closeness we had with FitzChivalry, the first person narrator of the Farseer trilogy, but it worked for me just fine. Special mention has to go to Kennit, half-villain and half-hero, whose tormented character arc is excellent. I felt a bit disappointed that Amber did not turn out to have a bigger role, after so much development of the character.

All in all, this trilogy is a worthy successor to the Farseer Trilogy. Even though it takes place in the same world, some years after Farseer, it stands alone perfectly well. There are some passing references to what happened in Farseer, but they can be read independently without missing anything.

Highly recommended for those who enjoyed the Farseer trilogy!… (more)