Assassin's Apprentice

Wow. Just wow. This book, from the offset, absolutely floored me with it's prose. Prior to this, I'd never tabbed a book, but by the time I'd finished it, it sat with around 50 tabs jutting haphazardly out of it. It is truly one of the most beautifully written books that I've ever read, and for that alone I would recommend it. However, the rest of the book is just as noteworthy.

I'd never read a Hobb book prior to this, which is something I rather find myself regretting now, since it turns out that I've been missing out on some of the best modern fantasy on offer.

Fitz is an incredibly strong protaganist, diverging from the, at the time very popular, beefy muscle man archetype of fantasy protaganists. His stoicism in the face of a rather difficult life is fantastic, and Hobb gets you invested in him by starting the story with the reader meeting him as a child. You very quickly get a strong picture of who Fitz is, and who he has the potential to become.
Being a bastard in the court, his birth causing his father, the heir to the throne to leave, Fitz' is treated incredibly harshly by certain members of the court, with one of his uncles calling for his death at the beginning of the book. He finds solace in those who treat him well, becoming fiercely loyal to them.

His evolution throughout the story is stellar, each ounce of suffering a boon for his character. And ooh boy, does Fitz suffer. This book is certainly tame in comparison to how the series is described, but by no means does that mean that Fitz gets off scot free. Fitz loses a lot throughout this story, and always grows for the loss.

The supporting cast is equally as strong, each member of it being written exceptionally tightly by Hobb, in a manner that allows you to get to grips with them, even though they all keep parts of themselves from Fitz, as he's too young to truly know them. This is a really impressive feat for Hobb to achieve, as the story is being told by Fitz in the future, who presumably knows a lot more about them at the time of him writing his history than we the reader do, but she doesn't try to spoil future developments, and hint at how things might play out.

Burrich is a distinct highlight of a character, acting as one of Fitz' father figures throughout the story, alongside Chade. He's oathbound to Fitz' father, Chivalry, so raises Fitz' so that Fitz' may live up to be the kind of man worthy of the blow that Chivalry's honour took in siring him. Throughout the story, Burrich was a consistently strong character, being my favourite of the extended cast of the book.

The world itself is also really well fleshed out, with a fairly unique ruling system, believable internal strife in the kingdom and politics lying just beneath the surface that make you desperate to learn as much as you can about the world.

The extended lore of the world, specifically about it's folklore, is really intriguing, and I look forward to learning more about it as I dive deeper into the series.

There's also a very intriguing magic system, that has two distinct parts. There's Fitz ability to telepathically bond with animals, that's seen as a base and disgraceful style of magic, misunderstood by people that haven't used it, and there's the more respectable Skill, which allows users to communicate over long distances, siphon from others, use telekinesis etc. Both of these feel completely unique from the other, while also feeling connected in some way.

There's a third, much more mysterious magic system in place, that of Forging, where morals are stripped from people, turning them bloodthirsty and selfish. This is used by the raiders from across the sea to threaten the stability of the kingdom, and is terrifying to read about

I'm extremely excited to continue reading the series, and Hobb's got a lifelong fan in me because of this book. This was a very easy 5 stars for me to hand out.