Assassin's Apprentice

This is a work of high-quality fiction, well imagined in considerable detail and well written.

I give it only two stars because it leaves me feeling sad and depressed. It's about the early life of a royal bastard, whose life is persistently difficult and perilous; and he lives in a kingdom in crisis. We know he'll survive, because there are more books about him; but that doesn't guarantee him happiness, and he finds little of it.

It's realistic, I suppose: this is probably what life in that kind of world would be like. Although I think strict realism would require his death at one of the various points where it could easily have happened.

But I read fiction for my own enjoyment, I want some positive result out of it. What good does it do me to become sad and depressed? Almost any work of fiction must surely contain some conflict or struggle or problem to be solved, and there will be probably be moments of unhappiness. But I want moments of happiness and humour as well, and above all I want it to end on an upbeat note. I don't insist that every book should end with everyone ecstatic and living happily every after, but I want to come away from the book feeling good about it.

I don't think I'll read the other books set in this world, because they seem likely to be about as depressing as this one. It's a pity, because the author is talented, but from my point of view her talent is wasted on books like these. However, fortunately for her, plenty of other people apparently manage to enjoy them. Taste in fiction varies so much from person to person.