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A review by armandnolastname
Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb
5.0
i'm stressed. i'm sad. i'm terrified of what's going to happen in the next 2 books. 5 stars tho because i don't care about my well-being.
my usual robin hobb praise that i highlight in every single review: i! love! her! prose! i love how her books can have little to no plot and you spend around 500-600 pages just following the characters, growing to love them even more than you did before or getting to know them, in the case of bee. for you to care about rote's plot, you HAVE to love the characters. both elements go, and will always go, hand-in-hand. never have i seen a writer that combines them more perfectly than her. hobb will make sure you love the main cast. and then she will tear them apart, be it emotionally or physically. and she will make you cry over them and feel their pain and despair. that's real talent.
this book mostly follows fitz's daily life, now in his 50s and widowed, as well as little bee's, since the moment she's born until she's almost 10. that's basically it. fitz finally gets a chance to be an actual father, at the same time as he deals with grief, loneliness, and the trauma that is so heavily present in his life since he was a boy.
the main focus of the story lays on fitz and bee's father-daughter relationship and how they build up their trust in each other little by little. they learn to accept the other as they are, they are family and allies and will always choose to be on the other's side no matter what happens. and what makes their relationship so special and real is that you get to see how this happens, slowly. you don't read about how much they love each other, you are directly allowed to see it. that is something i appreciate wholeheartedly, i know i'm always complaining about authors telling and not showing. not robin hobb though! you see why fitz and bee love each other beyond the simple fact that they share blood. you see their bond, the moments in which their relationship takes another small step towards the purest love and trust that there can exist. i have so much love for both of them, individually and together. robin hobb did a wonderful job, she's an excellent writer and she has demonstrated it once more.
bee farseer as a character is amazing on her own as well. with only this book, she has become one of my overall favourites in the realm of the elderlings. she's incredibly smart, sweet, brave, and has so much weight on her shoulders since the day she's born. her father's daughter indeed. but she's still a child and the moments in which she acts as such, always according to her established personality, are endearing.
a novelty that i didn't know i would enjoy as much is that bee is a new narrative voice in fitz's books. as i have read 6 books through fitz's first person narration, i thought it would be fairly easy to make a mess of it by introducing another point of view. but no, bee's voice works perfectly and it gives you a new perspective of the world and fitz as a character. you think that, by now, you know every single aspect of fitz's personality, but bee's young eyes give you a refreshing view of him. and you grow to love him even more. bee's comments, thoughts, and complex feelings make you care about her not only as fitz's daughter but because she is bee farseer. bee makes you feel too, she doesn't depend solely on her father. i really like it.
this time, the fool is the third most important character and he's not event present until the end of the book. still, he is there. in fitz's memories, in fitz's heart, in fitz's thoughts and actions. each chapter i waited for a single mention of him, wondering when beloved would finally appear. he is one of the greatest characters in rote and has such a strong presence even when he's not in the scene. nighteyes, too, is missed dearly but also present in a different way. all of them are pack, the little family i love the most.
there is truly no action until the last 12% of the book, but that's totally fine. you care about the important event simply because you have paid attention until then and you love fitz, bee, and the fool. from the start you know something is bound to happen, and that sense of anticipation and wariness only grows with each piece of information you receive. i don't think The Revelation at the end was intented to be... well, that, a revelation. to me it is pretty obvious since the very beginning and the 'plot-twist' is not the important thing. as always, what matters is how the characters are going to feel because of it, how they will react and deal with it. truly, robin hobb doesn't hide it nor tries to be tricky, she simply doesn't put it in a single, crystal-clear sentence for you to read and think 'oh! so it's that!'. no. but you know if, again, you care about the characters.
fool's assassin sets up the main feel of the final trilogy. can't wait to be utterly destroyed (again).
my usual robin hobb praise that i highlight in every single review: i! love! her! prose! i love how her books can have little to no plot and you spend around 500-600 pages just following the characters, growing to love them even more than you did before or getting to know them, in the case of bee. for you to care about rote's plot, you HAVE to love the characters. both elements go, and will always go, hand-in-hand. never have i seen a writer that combines them more perfectly than her. hobb will make sure you love the main cast. and then she will tear them apart, be it emotionally or physically. and she will make you cry over them and feel their pain and despair. that's real talent.
this book mostly follows fitz's daily life, now in his 50s and widowed, as well as little bee's, since the moment she's born until she's almost 10. that's basically it. fitz finally gets a chance to be an actual father, at the same time as he deals with grief, loneliness, and the trauma that is so heavily present in his life since he was a boy.
the main focus of the story lays on fitz and bee's father-daughter relationship and how they build up their trust in each other little by little. they learn to accept the other as they are, they are family and allies and will always choose to be on the other's side no matter what happens. and what makes their relationship so special and real is that you get to see how this happens, slowly. you don't read about how much they love each other, you are directly allowed to see it. that is something i appreciate wholeheartedly, i know i'm always complaining about authors telling and not showing. not robin hobb though! you see why fitz and bee love each other beyond the simple fact that they share blood. you see their bond, the moments in which their relationship takes another small step towards the purest love and trust that there can exist. i have so much love for both of them, individually and together. robin hobb did a wonderful job, she's an excellent writer and she has demonstrated it once more.
bee farseer as a character is amazing on her own as well. with only this book, she has become one of my overall favourites in the realm of the elderlings. she's incredibly smart, sweet, brave, and has so much weight on her shoulders since the day she's born. her father's daughter indeed. but she's still a child and the moments in which she acts as such, always according to her established personality, are endearing.
a novelty that i didn't know i would enjoy as much is that bee is a new narrative voice in fitz's books. as i have read 6 books through fitz's first person narration, i thought it would be fairly easy to make a mess of it by introducing another point of view. but no, bee's voice works perfectly and it gives you a new perspective of the world and fitz as a character. you think that, by now, you know every single aspect of fitz's personality, but bee's young eyes give you a refreshing view of him. and you grow to love him even more. bee's comments, thoughts, and complex feelings make you care about her not only as fitz's daughter but because she is bee farseer. bee makes you feel too, she doesn't depend solely on her father. i really like it.
this time, the fool is the third most important character and he's not event present until the end of the book. still, he is there. in fitz's memories, in fitz's heart, in fitz's thoughts and actions. each chapter i waited for a single mention of him, wondering when beloved would finally appear. he is one of the greatest characters in rote and has such a strong presence even when he's not in the scene. nighteyes, too, is missed dearly but also present in a different way. all of them are pack, the little family i love the most.
there is truly no action until the last 12% of the book, but that's totally fine. you care about the important event simply because you have paid attention until then and you love fitz, bee, and the fool. from the start you know something is bound to happen, and that sense of anticipation and wariness only grows with each piece of information you receive. i don't think The Revelation at the end was intented to be... well, that, a revelation. to me it is pretty obvious since the very beginning and the 'plot-twist' is not the important thing. as always, what matters is how the characters are going to feel because of it, how they will react and deal with it. truly, robin hobb doesn't hide it nor tries to be tricky, she simply doesn't put it in a single, crystal-clear sentence for you to read and think 'oh! so it's that!'. no. but you know if, again, you care about the characters.
fool's assassin sets up the main feel of the final trilogy. can't wait to be utterly destroyed (again).