Assassin's Apprentice

So Robin Hobb is like Brandon Sanderson where people rant and rave about how great her books are and how great the world is. I was really excited to finally be starting this series and being introduced to this world and Fitz. I was a little let down because the writing was not what I was expecting. It seemed like it took paragraphs to explain something that could be done in a sentence or two. The book also happens to be one of the shortest ones, so it worries me about the future books.

I still loved the cast of characters around Fitz. Fitz's story is definitely depressing. He basically has no one and knows no one, but I really wanted to hear his story. This book is told in the past tense and it reminded me of The Name of the Wind which I love. I liked the story, I just could not get over how longwinded the writing was.

I will definitely be continuing the series, but it will take me a while because I need time to prepare. I'm really hoping I get more used to her writing style and enjoy the sequels more.

Suffer and suffer and suffer some more, for suffering's sake. Oh, and whine, and whine, and whine while you suffer.

Come on. I get it, “kill all your darlings” and “make your protagonist suffer the worst thing you can think of, and make him go through even worse” is always being told to authors, which is why a lot of books (but especially those in the fantasy genre) are so fucking cliched and infuriating to read. This book was the same. And it's exhausting and tiresome to just have people shitting on and hating the main character and having him suffer just to suffer. How miserable to read. I didn't necessarily mind the slowness nor the training scenes; but it was like Hobb didn't know where to go with the story and just threw in all sorts of plot threads before thinking, oh yeah let's torture the character some more.

According to Hobb's own system of reviewing (“books I like get 2 stars! why is everyone mad about that?!”), this book should get negative two stars from me.

I read until the part the boy had his dog friend sent away to prevent him from using his dog-speaking powers.

The book read as a diary of daily events, nothing caught my attention. The story developed too slow.

A six years old boy was dumped at the king's castle by his grandpa, who did not want to provide for him anymore. The boy is supposedly the bastard of prince Chivalry, which upon hearing about this, abdicates his claim as next in line to the throne.

The prince's most loyal servant, his beast master, is charged to look after Fitz since he cannot be legally recognized to have royal blood. Under his care, Fitz spent a lot of times among animals, and found out he could communicate somehow with them.

This strange power is considered dangerous because of how it was used on the past, and for his own safety, the boy must never use it, on the risk of being recognized for what he is and killed for the peril he represents.

Wow!
Estamos aqui num mundo de fantasia em que a mágia é um dom raro e apenas corre no sangue da realeza. Fitz - o filho bastardo, acaba por parar à corte e, para não ser um desperdício total (pois, não apresenta afinidades desenvolvidas de um nobre) acaba por ser ensinado a ser um assassino do rei. No entanto o povo não está contente, nem com o futuro rei nem com as misteriosos Barcos Vermelhos que andam a envadir a costa do Reino de Seis Ducados.
É uma aventura intrigante e entusiasmante! A Hobb tem imenso jeito para a criação de um mundo mágico super realista. Gostei muito das personagens, da sua profundidade e dos seus morais e crenças.
Recomendo para quem gosta de Senhor dos Anéis ou Guerra dos Tronos!

3 stars.

[Buddy-read with Giovanna and Sibil]

I liked the content of this book: the plot, the characters, the setting,... everything, but the writing. It was far too descriptive, imo, and somehow deprived me of the pleasure of reading, making the narration slow and boring. I found myself skipping the lines looking for dialogues or interesting events, because overall I didn't enjoy it very much. I think this is in part due to the fact that the narrator was telling his memories and not actually taking part in the events. But I must confess that the situation got better through the second part.
Two nice persons gave me the power to go on and they were Giovanna and Sibil, and also Lys. I know that she has been looking after us from afar :D
I would have thrown the book out the window without you.
I just hope that Hobb's recent books aren't so descriptive/boring. In any case, I'm sure I will read the next installment to follow Fitz'story, but not in the immediate future.

4.5
Speechless.

· Agora, recuperada, segue:

Procrastinei o término desse livro mais do que deveria. Mas acredito que tenho minhas razões. Arredondei a nota para 5, das 4.5 estrelas que julgo para esse livro, como um início de uma série. Justamente, porque se trata do primeiro (de tudo).

E duas coisas me passam a cabeça quando leio esse livro:
1ª vários leitores julgam este volume um tanto inicial e descritivo de pura ambientação, e não um dos mais fortes de Robin Hobb; a 2ª coisa é: já estou completamente engajada nessa estória, nesse universo, e um tanto apegada ao Fitz - seja ele criança, adolescente, o homem que ainda não conheço, e senhor de idade que escreve este relato.

Se esse é o volume mais fraco e esta trilogia a menos envolvente... não me vejo retornando a sanidade tão cedo.

Claro que tem seus problemas. A escrita de Hobb é floreada e bem escrita, porém, as vezes, um pouco rebuscada demais, e a riqueza de detalhes de algumas cenas do cotidiano de Fitz em sua criação, não precisavam de tantos lembretes. O mesmo vale para sua relação com os animais. Outra relação que torci um pouco o nariz foi a de Fitz com Bronco - e o contrário também se aplica. Vejo-os como “pai e filho que não se entendem” e Breu seria o tio bacana idolatrado mas que, na real, sempre desaponta a família. Enfim, queria que fosse mais balanceado.

Contudo, essa estória é de um cara que eu quero saber de tudo. Não apenas dele, mas da relação com a realeza, em especial, seus tios. Pois, embora Veracidade tenha subido no meu conceito, nunca torci tanto para um bastardo se tornar rei como FitzCavalaria. Não sei se esse é o intuito do livro. Mas essa é minha vontade.

Sinto que não é uma série que posso perder o timing do momento e ler o mais consecutivamente possível todos os volumes.

E me apegar ainda mais a todo o sofrimento desse menino.
.

Alright Hobb knows how to write, I loooved the detailed but not ultra dense prose, it hits the perfect spot.
And the coming of age story is so beautifully done, the characters were greatt, if this is the worst book in the series oh boyy.

I actually laughed when I learned why everyone cried at the end of this book lol

This is a brilliant start to a trilogy. While it stands well on its own with well-rounded characters and an intricate but well-paced plot, it also throws out tendrils of other larger stories in the books to follow. As for the story in this novel alone, one member of my book club pointed out that he is a hero without a quest. Fitz' place in society is so unique and his ways of coping with it feel very boyish and natural to me. He follows the hero's quest but every step of the way ends up a twist on the traditional formula. His relationships with people and with animals all carry a strength of realism within the fantastic setting. He isn't the most likable of heroes, but he is very believable in all his actions.

Definitely a series I'll be continuing when I clear a bit more off this to read shelf.

This is the first Robin Hobb book I have had the pleasure of reading and I will say that I did enjoy it overall as my introduction to Robin Hobb's writing.

I had been hearing so much about Realm of the Elderings and Robin Hobb on booktube and to be honest I did not feel this lived up the hype, I was expecting a 5 star read, that is not to say it s a bad book by any means

Assassins apprentice focuses alot of our main characters Fitz and his progression you can call it of being passed around to different teachers to learn a variety of different things and skill sets, that is the bulk of the story so far. There are still 2 more books in this trilogy yet, so I am expecting it will just get better as we go along. But given that the actual plot progression was not athe bulk of the story itself

As for the writing style itself it is taken from a 1st person narraitve which I do admit I enjoy that as that way of writing in a way makes you the character whose viewpoint is coming through. I find that this helps to have empathy for the character and more invested in the story overall.

I will be honest in that I did not like how Fitz being an assasin was not hidden well in the respective courts. It was too obvious in that everyone seemed to know he was an assassin there to assisnate a paticular person. which seemed kind of backwards vs someone being discovered.

The Magic system is subtle in this story, With skilling and forging seeming to be the main types of magci, but will be honest after this first book I am still not really sure of what those are exactly. All I can really say is skilling has something to do with telepathic communication and forging is a bad thing, but never really explained. I find I enjoy a book better when by the time you finish reading the 1st book you have a clear and good understanding of the magic system and how it works which I did not find with this one. But am hopeful that future books will further develop that understanding, I for sure want to keep reading this series

overall 3.5/5 stars for me, with the anticiaption that it will get better

It's a great story filled with great prose, and I feel that fans of «The Kingkiller Chronicles» will like it for what it accomplishes overall. Having said that, I really didn't feel a strong connection to the story as the better half of the book simply follows the day-to-day life of the protagonist since this one was a child until the age of 14-15. He doesn't really display a characteristic personality for the majority of it but there are several instances that his personality does come out in this first half, and by the time he starts learning to be an assassin towards the second half, he manages to be a likable/relatable protagonist.

When he started to engage in the duty imposed on him by the King, the narrative steadily began to gain momentum which culminates in the final “arc” of the book, as he is seemingly driven against a corner with every odd against him. By this point, I devoured every chapter until its conclusion. The righting, the stakes, the plot, and how Fitz figured in all that was so rivetting to read that I was dying to know how the story would end...and even though I liked the ending, its the type of ending that “returns to normality” aside from our protagonist's clear development, if you know what I mean.

It was a great book, but I hope that the sequel improves upon what was established here.
But hey, the trilogy is held in high regard for a reason.

Toch wat tegenstrijdige gevoelens bij dit boek.
Aan de ene kant had ik echt moeite om me hier doorheen te worstelen en dit maakt me toch wel triest.
Ik wilde zo graag hals over kop vallen voor dit boek, deze auteur, deze personages en wereld, maar dit gebeurde helaas niet. Misschien waren mijn verwachtingen veel te hooggespannen, maar mijn overheersende emotie toen ik (eindelijk) de laatste pagina uitlas, was dat het nogal teleurstellend en ook wel een beetje saai was.

“He held it out to me, and I took death upon my open palm.”

De schrijfstijl bezorgde mij echt problemen.
Ik zal niet ontkennen dat de tekst lyrisch en poëtisch is en een mooie flow heeft, maar het is ook erg langdradig, een beetje archaïsch en droog. Ik vroeg me op een bepaald moment af of mijn probleem lag in het feit dat Engels niet mijn moedertaal is, maar ik lees al meer dan tien jaar bijna uitsluitend in het Engels, dus daar kan ik me niet echt mee verzoenen.
Wat het ook is, het is een feit dat het schrijven mij niet kon boeien en dat ik het moeilijk vond om me er in onder te dompelen. Het maakte me steeds slaperig, met zijn rustgevende en sussende retrospectieve toon.

“All events, no matter how earthshaking or bizarre, are diluted within moments of their occurrence by the continuance of the necessary routines of day-to-day living.”

Het hielp ook niet dat het verhaal zelf erg traag op gang komt.
Het is niet echt een episch, actievol verhaal, maar eerder een langzaam, kronkelend pad door de eerste levensjaren van Fitz, die niet echt gelukkig zijn.
Ik begrijp waarom mensen dit gezellig en nostalgisch zouden kunnen vinden, vooral met de middeleeuwse sfeer en de verteller die zijn verhaal in herinnering vertelt, maar de combinatie van dit kronkelende, langzame verhaal met de langdradige, meanderende schrijfstijl was niet echt bevorderlijk voor mijn onderdompeling en binding aan het boek.

Mijn enorme verwachtingen weerhielden mij er echter van om het op te geven en het boek middenin te laten voor wat het was.
Ik wil zo graag ervaren wat zoveel anderen voelen als ze het verhaal van Fitz lezen en ontdekken waarom deze trilogie zo geliefd is, dus ik zette door, ondanks dat ik vaak moeite had om op te blijven letten.
Naar het einde toe kwam iets meer vaart in het verhaal en gebeurde er zelfs plots zo veel op korte tijd, dat ik het opeens te gehaast en te snel afgehandeld vond, vooral in contrast met de rest van het boek. In plaats dat dit mijn intrige opwekte, maakte het me alleen maar moe. Ik was zo lang in een slaperige staat gewiegd, dat de actie op het einde gewoon te vermoeiend was om echt indruk te maken.

“Don't do what you can't undo, until you've considered what you can't do once you've done it.”

Ondanks al dit, ben ik toch van plan verder te lezen in deze serie, want ergens kan ik wel herkennen waarom dit inleidende verhaal een speciaal plekje in iemands hart kan gaan innemen, nadat de rest van het verhaal zich heeft ontvouwd.
Het verhaal wordt namelijk vanuit de eerste persoon verteld door Fitz, wat een zeer intieme sfeer creëert, wat er waarschijnlijk toe kan leiden dat je geleidelijk meer en meer gehecht raakt aan een personage. Zelfs nu kan ik me scènes uit het boek nog levendig herinneren en ze associëren met de ervaringen en gevoelens van Fitz, wat ergens toch wel illustreert dat de auteur erin slaagde een zaadje van genegenheid te planten, ondanks mijn overheersende slaperige gevoel tijdens het lezen. Dit geeft me hoop dat de serie mij toch gaat besluipen en uiteindelijk zal uitgroeien tot iets bijzonders. Ik blijf daarom verder lezen op zoek naar die klik en hoop dat ik de schrijfstijl op een gegeven moment boeiend en meeslepend zal vinden.

I've just finished reading this book and I'm speechless. I loved every bit of it. I must admit I was a bit wary when I started reading it because everyone says it's so sad. It is sad, that's true, but not to the point that you're crying the whole time (I only shed a tear twice). All in all, this book was an absolute joy to read and I'm pretty sure I'll read the whole Realm of the Elderlings saga in time.