Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy: A Fantasy Epic Worth Reading

Assassin’s Apprentice 

As I’ve been getting more into fantasy novels, I’ve seen Robin Hobb’s name brought up multiple times as an author worth reading. After getting my hands on a copy of her first novel, Assassin’s Apprentice, which is also the first book in her Farseer trilogy, I can see that her praise, though great, is also undersold. Because Assassin’s Apprentice isn’t simply a very good book, it’s a phenomenal one. 

Hobb’s skill as a writer is clear on these pages. Her style doesn’t make for a simple read though – Assassin’s Apprentice is more of a quality, well-written novel, as opposed to just a fun fantasy read that you can breeze through.

I’ve found that there are very different types of fantasy novels, which contain fantastical elements to drastically different degrees. Some acclaimed fantasy works, like Lord of the Rings, contain things like dragons and wizards. Other books, like the Green Bones Saga, are still considered fantasy stories, but have far fewer aspects that make them different from the real world. 

Assassin’s Apprentice takes place in a sort of medieval world (typical in many fantasy books), but doesn’t feature the more extreme fantasy aspects. In the world of the books, some people can have special abilities, called Skill and Wit, but these are a less substantial part of the story than this just being Fitz’s coming of age tale.

I found Assassin’s Apprentice to be fantastic, and I really have no complaints. This may not be as fast paced as some readers might prefer, but I appreciated the story’s pacing and was never at all bored. I greatly enjoyed Fitz as a protagonist, as well as other characters in the book. As for Hobb’s descriptive style, I liked it, finding this to be a more enjoyable read than other fantasy books I’ve tried in the past.

Grade: 10/10

Royal Assassin

Picking up right where we left off after Assassin’s Apprentice, Royal Apprentice is a fitting sequel and excellent second chapter in the story of Fitz Farseer. The book is longer than its predecessor, though the extra length feels mostly justified.

Still, I felt like Royal Assassin took a little longer for me to get really into it, whereas with the first book in the series I was drawn in right away. There’s a lot going on, in terms of actual plot and political maneuverings between various characters. However, once you get past the first couple hundred pages, the book turns into a so good you can’t put it down tale.

Hobb’s writing style, as I mentioned in the review of Assassin’s Apprentice, is fantastic, but one aspect of her books worthy of praise that I didn’t really get into is how amazing her characters are. Sure, there’s Fitz, our complex yet likable protagonist, but every side character, characters like Nighteyes, Kettricken, and the Fool, are equally compelling and interesting. Many longer novels tend to have throwaway, cliché side characters. That’s certainly not the case here.

Another facet that I enjoy about Hobb’s storytelling is that, though where we end up ultimately makes sense, it’s not super simple to guess where our hero’s journey is going to take him next. What happens fits but is not predictable early on. If you enjoyed Assassin’s Apprentice, this second book in the trilogy isn’t a letdown.

Grade: 9/10

Assassin’s Quest

Assassin’s Quest is the final book in the Farseer trilogy. While it’s still an above average read when compared to your typical fantasy epic, it’s definitely the weakest of the three novels.

The print version of Assassin’s Quest that I read was over 850 pages, more than twice the length of Assassin’s Apprentice. While I felt like the longer length of the second novel in series, Royal Assassin, was mostly justified, Assassin’s Quest is longer than it needs to be.

While the first two books in the Farseer trilogy have less linear plots, Assassin’s Quest is most certainly straightforward in its focus – this is a hero’s journey novel. From front to back cover, we follow the journey of protagonist Fitz Farseer. For a large portion of the book, Fitz is without many of the other exciting characters that are present throughout the trilogy. Hobb’s strength lies in her characters and the parts of Assassin’s Quest where Fitz finds himself mainly alone (or with minor characters not as important to the story) are its weakest.

Once we get into the latter third of the book (and towards the end of Fitz’s quest), the pacing does pick up. These parts of the Assassin’s Quest, which feature many of the characters we love from prior books, feel important, something in contrast to a lot of walking/getting injured that Fitz did in earlier chapters.

It’s also worth mentioning that this book has more fantasy elements than the original book in the series. In my review of Assassin’s Apprentice I wrote about how different fantasy books contain fantasy elements to different degrees. Hobb’s trilogy gets more and more fantasy as it goes, something that may (or may not) appeal to a reader’s individual tastes.

Hobb has a talent and skill for writing endings. Assassin’s Quest is a long book to get through, but its conclusion is a fulfilling one. While this was my least favorite of the three Farseer books by a decent margin, Hobb’s characters and great fantasy writing style still make it worthwhile. There are 13 other novels, many of which feature the same characters as these ones, set in Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings. I definitely look forward to reading some of them in the coming months.

Grade: 7.5/10