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A review by batrock
Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb
5.0
Not the best review I've ever written but whatever
The act of reading is cumulative. Unless you’re a masochist, you can’t read sixteen books encompassing five series without caring something for the characters and their outcomes. So it goes with Assassin’s Fate, which may not be the final book set in the Realm of the Elderlings, but it very much has the sense of an ending about it. Drawing elements of all fifteen books that came before it, Assassin’s Fate is an explosive paean to all of Hobb’s good work that came before (notably not the Soldier Son series, which was … not so good).
Convinced that his daughter Bee is dead, Fitzchivalry Farseer embarks from Kelsingra (from the Rain Wild Chronicles) and enlists the assistance of Paragon and his crew (from The Liveship Traders series) in order to take revenge on the future manipulating Whites of Clerres with the help of the Fool, who is traveling largely in the guise of Amber. In parallel, Bee, who was temporarily temporally displaced, is forced by her captors on her own quest to Clerres and must confront her place in the shape of history and prophecy.
Hobb is not much of a writer for restating the events of previous books, and so Assassin’s Fate has no passages catching the reader up on what happened at the end of Fool’s Quest. The conclusion of Fitz’s story in that book is difficult, if not impossible, to shake, but one who went two years between stories would be harder pressed to place where they left Bee - both literally and figuratively. Familiarising oneself with her entourage ultimately seems to be a fruitless task, but one can’t help feeling lost at first.
That said, once you are grounded in Assassin’s Fate and pointed towards its completely detour free goal, Hobb’s focus is intense, and each story is so well balanced that you don’t start a Bee chapter wishing that it had been a Fitz chapter or vice versa. The book is so well planned that when the stories do eventually and inevitably overlap, they don’t step on each other. Once the momentum picks up, it doesn’t stop; the downhill race to the finish has a profound sense of completeness and lacks any feeling of waste.
There is an intensely satisfying edge to much of Assassin’s Fate that can’t be put down to mere fan service or nostalgia. One gets the impression that Hobb chose to use every part of the animal, and that she has done indeed. Dipping into every series set in this world to bring a variety of loose ends to their close is satisfying for the reader but also logical for the story being presented. There are deep cuts here, and it would not be right to approach this having only read the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies. The other two series, apart from being satisfying in their own right - The Liveship Traders is unique among fantasy novels - are so deeply drawn upon that a lot of the best material would be lost on a more casual reader.
Another strength of the novel is that it implicitly gives us permission to dislike the Fool. Hobb’s dedication reads “To Fitz and the Fool. My best friends for over twenty years.” Clearly she loves them both, but where Fitz is a flawed hero who makes many glaring and frustrating mistakes over the sixty some years these books have spanned, the Fool has always been nebulous, opaque, and selfish. It’s easy to see why the two characters are bound, but their connection isn’t as easy (or as loveable) as that between Fitz and Nighteyes, potentially the series’ single greatest character.
The Fool is the sort of person who has to be along for the ride, but you kind of resent his presence. When the Fool is in his Amber guise - not the only instance of Hobb’s application of gender fluidity, which is at least progressive if not often a bit confusing - Fitz does not like her, even though she is exactly the same person with identical motivations. Bee, for her part, is not a fan of any incarnation. Hobb’s clear-eyed assessment of the weaknesses of her extra-human character make him finally palatable; it’s important to note that his motivations have always made sense for the character, even when they don’t seem to be in everyone else’s interest.
As to Fitz himself, Assassin’s Fate has him acting at potentially his most sensible to date. The bond that he shares with Bee is tangible, and both of them are well represented here. Wolf Father, the other major "new" character introduced in this trilogy, is a literal utility player. They and every character work towards an ending that feels inevitable without ever feeling arbitrary and, while this quest might not be the single greatest story that Hobb has ever told, it is fitting above all else. Readers and Hobb alike have put in the hard work and they reap its bittersweet rewards.
Assassin’s Fate is a rare specimen in that it ties up decades worth of material while still leaving room for something new to grow in its place. The Realm of the Elderlings still has a wide cast of characters to draw on, and a long distant history that has barely been examined. Barring another Soldier’s Son type debacle, Hobb can and should go anywhere from here; after this effort, long-term readers are liable to follow her down whatever path she chooses.
The act of reading is cumulative. Unless you’re a masochist, you can’t read sixteen books encompassing five series without caring something for the characters and their outcomes. So it goes with Assassin’s Fate, which may not be the final book set in the Realm of the Elderlings, but it very much has the sense of an ending about it. Drawing elements of all fifteen books that came before it, Assassin’s Fate is an explosive paean to all of Hobb’s good work that came before (notably not the Soldier Son series, which was … not so good).
Convinced that his daughter Bee is dead, Fitzchivalry Farseer embarks from Kelsingra (from the Rain Wild Chronicles) and enlists the assistance of Paragon and his crew (from The Liveship Traders series) in order to take revenge on the future manipulating Whites of Clerres with the help of the Fool, who is traveling largely in the guise of Amber. In parallel, Bee, who was temporarily temporally displaced, is forced by her captors on her own quest to Clerres and must confront her place in the shape of history and prophecy.
Hobb is not much of a writer for restating the events of previous books, and so Assassin’s Fate has no passages catching the reader up on what happened at the end of Fool’s Quest. The conclusion of Fitz’s story in that book is difficult, if not impossible, to shake, but one who went two years between stories would be harder pressed to place where they left Bee - both literally and figuratively. Familiarising oneself with her entourage ultimately seems to be a fruitless task, but one can’t help feeling lost at first.
That said, once you are grounded in Assassin’s Fate and pointed towards its completely detour free goal, Hobb’s focus is intense, and each story is so well balanced that you don’t start a Bee chapter wishing that it had been a Fitz chapter or vice versa. The book is so well planned that when the stories do eventually and inevitably overlap, they don’t step on each other. Once the momentum picks up, it doesn’t stop; the downhill race to the finish has a profound sense of completeness and lacks any feeling of waste.
There is an intensely satisfying edge to much of Assassin’s Fate that can’t be put down to mere fan service or nostalgia. One gets the impression that Hobb chose to use every part of the animal, and that she has done indeed. Dipping into every series set in this world to bring a variety of loose ends to their close is satisfying for the reader but also logical for the story being presented. There are deep cuts here, and it would not be right to approach this having only read the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies. The other two series, apart from being satisfying in their own right - The Liveship Traders is unique among fantasy novels - are so deeply drawn upon that a lot of the best material would be lost on a more casual reader.
Another strength of the novel is that it implicitly gives us permission to dislike the Fool. Hobb’s dedication reads “To Fitz and the Fool. My best friends for over twenty years.” Clearly she loves them both, but where Fitz is a flawed hero who makes many glaring and frustrating mistakes over the sixty some years these books have spanned, the Fool has always been nebulous, opaque, and selfish. It’s easy to see why the two characters are bound, but their connection isn’t as easy (or as loveable) as that between Fitz and Nighteyes, potentially the series’ single greatest character.
The Fool is the sort of person who has to be along for the ride, but you kind of resent his presence. When the Fool is in his Amber guise - not the only instance of Hobb’s application of gender fluidity, which is at least progressive if not often a bit confusing - Fitz does not like her, even though she is exactly the same person with identical motivations. Bee, for her part, is not a fan of any incarnation. Hobb’s clear-eyed assessment of the weaknesses of her extra-human character make him finally palatable; it’s important to note that his motivations have always made sense for the character, even when they don’t seem to be in everyone else’s interest.
As to Fitz himself, Assassin’s Fate has him acting at potentially his most sensible to date. The bond that he shares with Bee is tangible, and both of them are well represented here. Wolf Father, the other major "new" character introduced in this trilogy, is a literal utility player. They and every character work towards an ending that feels inevitable without ever feeling arbitrary and, while this quest might not be the single greatest story that Hobb has ever told, it is fitting above all else. Readers and Hobb alike have put in the hard work and they reap its bittersweet rewards.
Assassin’s Fate is a rare specimen in that it ties up decades worth of material while still leaving room for something new to grow in its place. The Realm of the Elderlings still has a wide cast of characters to draw on, and a long distant history that has barely been examined. Barring another Soldier’s Son type debacle, Hobb can and should go anywhere from here; after this effort, long-term readers are liable to follow her down whatever path she chooses.