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A review by onejadyn
Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This review contains spoilers.
I had a good, but very long, time with this book. This book was in many ways VERY dense. It is political fantasy as much as it is reflective, and you spend a lot of time in Fitz's head, and his life isn't great.
The beginning I found much faster paced. Everything from getting home to Buckkeep and studying with Verity, making up with Molly, and guiding the new queen in waiting. It was a routine, a fairly slow one, but one I was happy to fall along with.
I very much enjoyed Fitz and Nighteyes. While at first I thought the literal speech between them was silly, as we didn't much see that with Nosy in the past, I grew to understand it, and I loved their connection with each other, and Fitz's acceptance of the Wit.
When Verity left, the atmosphere changed quite a lot. Around this time I found I was picking up the book less, but when I did I was wholly absorbed.
It's hard not to get into Fitz's head, to avoid feeling what he feels. It's solemn and tense and reflective, and you really do just live inside his head while you read the story.
The rushed attempts to move Kettricken and the King out of the city were wholly absorbing to read, and the Fitz's life in the cell afterwards were such a stark contrast that I feel like my perception as a reader of it was almost as shocking as Fitz's experience himself.
The choice of Burrich in the end to tell Fitz to become one with the wolf in order to escape—it's hard to determine if that is growth, overwhelming paternal love, or selfishness that he didn't feel prepared to lose the boy who was like a son to him. Within all likelihood it was all three.
I enjoyed this story very much, slow as it was, despite not always rushing to pick it up.
And as I've forgotten to mention it til now, I feel I must add that the Fool was a highlight and a character like no other, and seeing his loyalty to his king, spilled our and bared for all to see, was absolutely one of the best parts of this story for me.
I had a good, but very long, time with this book. This book was in many ways VERY dense. It is political fantasy as much as it is reflective, and you spend a lot of time in Fitz's head, and his life isn't great.
The beginning I found much faster paced. Everything from getting home to Buckkeep and studying with Verity, making up with Molly, and guiding the new queen in waiting. It was a routine, a fairly slow one, but one I was happy to fall along with.
I very much enjoyed Fitz and Nighteyes. While at first I thought the literal speech between them was silly, as we didn't much see that with Nosy in the past, I grew to understand it, and I loved their connection with each other, and Fitz's acceptance of the Wit.
When Verity left, the atmosphere changed quite a lot. Around this time I found I was picking up the book less, but when I did I was wholly absorbed.
It's hard not to get into Fitz's head, to avoid feeling what he feels. It's solemn and tense and reflective, and you really do just live inside his head while you read the story.
The rushed attempts to move Kettricken and the King out of the city were wholly absorbing to read, and the Fitz's life in the cell afterwards were such a stark contrast that I feel like my perception as a reader of it was almost as shocking as Fitz's experience himself.
The choice of Burrich in the end to tell Fitz to become one with the wolf in order to escape—it's hard to determine if that is growth, overwhelming paternal love, or selfishness that he didn't feel prepared to lose the boy who was like a son to him. Within all likelihood it was all three.
I enjoyed this story very much, slow as it was, despite not always rushing to pick it up.
And as I've forgotten to mention it til now, I feel I must add that the Fool was a highlight and a character like no other, and seeing his loyalty to his king, spilled our and bared for all to see, was absolutely one of the best parts of this story for me.