Book Review: "Assassin's Quest" by Robin Hobb (Spoiler-Free)

Today I'd like to review my most recent read, Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb, the conclusion to the Farseer trilogy. It is the first trilogy within the Realm of the Elderlings book series that started being published in the 90s and by now spans a TON of books. It is therefore quite a committment to get into this series, but still one most people (including myself) would consider worth it.

(picture credit: Goodreads)

Book one and two in this trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice and Royal Assassin) were both five star reads for me. I had such a blast reading them and couldn't help but fall in love with the world Robin Hobb has created here.
The books follow FitzChivalry, the bastard son of the former King-in-Waiting Chivalry of the Six Duchies. After Fitz' existence had been revealed, Chivalry forfeit his right to the crown and went into self-imposed exile, where he eventually passed away without ever having met his son. His brother Verity becomes the new King-in-Waiting. Fitz is brought to the castle at only about 7 years old, where he first lives and works in the stables and is later trained to become an assassin to carry out the king's justice, since that is all he will be able to contribute to the Farseer line. The books follow him as he grows up, his work as an assassin, the political upheavals that the Six Duchies go through and all that he must give up in defense of king and country.

For obvious reasons I can't talk too much about the plot of book three here, since people might read this who have not yet read the first two and I wouldn't want to spoil that experience for anyone.

Let's instead turn to some of the general thoughts I had in regards to this book.

LIKES

• Fitz. This whole series is very character-driven so I guess it's lucky Fitz is (usually) a pleasant enough POV to read from. What makes for most of this series' charm is how real he seems and how closely we get to follow his life. There's no way I can't care about what happens to him, no matter what. I am just too invested.

• The dynamic between Fitz and the Fool as well as Fitz and Nighteyes. When that wolf dies my heart will die too.

• Some of the magical things happening towards the end of the book. I liked how they worked and the idea behind them.

• The character developments. Again, this is one of the greatest strengths of this series and again this book did not disappoint.

• Plot (for the most part), world building and writing style are as always really fantastic. I couldn't rate this book lower even if I wanted to, just because of that.

• It was FUN. While I did have quite a lot of gripes (see below) I still really enjoyed myself reading this and following Fitz' story along. I will never NOT want to know what he gets up to next.

DISLIKES

• Fitz. Ha. Yes I already mentioned him, but while I like his personality and character in general I found myself mostly angry with him in this book. He is a HOT MESS for most of the book. The amount of self-pity, whining and stupid decision-making he has going on is genuinely mind-boggling. He trusts people he shouldn't while pushing those closest to him away from him. He thinks he's so speshl and doesn't need anyone and then only realizes too late that he is literally no use without people giving him directions or helping him. I guess kudos to him for at least figuring that much out (I'm looking at you Harry Potter) but still... I facepalmed so hard multiple times in this book, mainly at his continuous refusal to better himself, particularly when it comes to the Skill and Wit. He throws himself into battle with people he knows are much stronger and better trained than he is and still he refuses to improve himself.
  Plus, some people manage to travel the continent in a single paragraph, while it takes him 90% of the book sooooo... what's up with that, man.

• Starling. UGH. She is the single most obnoxious person I have ever read. I kept hoping she'd a) die or b) drop off the face of the earth some other way. She didn't. She kept sticking around, bothering everyone and still no one ever actually told her to stfu and just leave, which in and of itself is a mystery to me.

• This book is WAY too long. I didn't mind for the most part but towards the end it reaaally started dragging on and on and on. I kept thinking the payout would be worth it and was then quite disappointed when it kind of wasn't. There were some seriously fucked up things happening towards the end of the book.

• In general the ending was kind of a meh-thing for me. In comparison to the rest of the book, the amount of time devoted to it is negligible. There is so much build-up that the ending really just kind of passes you by without leaving much of an impact, which is kind of sad.

• And lastly, the motherfucking MISCOMMUNICATION aka Kettle not telling anyone anything until it was way too late.

Overall, this was quite a disappointing book. 3 stars isn't bad and I still had a great time reading it, but compared to book one and two this just didn't hold up. I was expecting so much more from this, especially considering it was the conclusion to this first trilogy. I will obviously continue reading this series and am looking forward particularly to more Fitz & Fool stories, but this has still dampened my enthusiasm for it significantly.

Have you read Assassin's Quest or do you have any plans to pick up this series? Let me know!

Happy reading,
xx
ivymuse