Assassin's Fate

3 1/2 stars

Robin Hobb is one of my favorite writers of epic fantasy, and Assassin's Fate was one of my most anticipated books of 2017–I love the Realm of the Elderlings and I also loved the first two books in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. Even though Fool's Assassin was a slowly paced novel, it kept me riveted because of the characters, and Fool's Quest was even better.

So it took me by surprise when I started reading this and found it all too easy to put down for more than half the book. Though a couple of interesting things happened, it just seemed to drag on and on until around the 60% point. After that, it picked up and was difficult to put down, but I ended up feeling like too many more interesting things were glossed over quickly after reading so many pages that, frankly, weren't all that compelling for the most part. The characters and their interactions are usually my favorite aspects of these books, and they also didn't seem as vivid in this installment.

I wouldn't have wanted to miss the conclusion to this trilogy, and there were some great parts (and I loved the dragons!). However, I don't think it is as strong as most of the other books in the Realm of the Elderlings.

Longer Review on My Website

5.0 out of 5 stars – see this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.

I fear that I may never again read such a wonderful series. Robin Hobb has written 16 books that are immersive, heartbreaking, and brilliantly realized. There is quite a bit of fantasy that I have yet to read, and don't profess to be an expert in the genre by any means, but I can't imagine finding another series that I will be as emotionally invested in as this one.

As a singular book, Assassin's Fate functions as a proper conclusion to The Fitz & The Fool trilogy, the Liveship Traders trilogy, the Rain Wild Chronicles tetralogy, AND the Realms of the Elderlings series as a whole. There is a tremendous amount of story to tie off and Hobb does so masterfully. SO much happens in this book. It features tremendous buildup, non-stop action, and a conclusion that left me emotionally spent. This was a story of movement, progress, and rising tension. Our two POV characters set out on a collision course; the results of which were completely unpredictable. I was left guessing the entire way, with Hobb delivering surprises and her signature gut-punches to the very end.

This is a supremely satisfying finale to a series that will stick with me for my entire reading life. I hope Hobb continues with the threads of the story that she did not tie off. I would gleefully return to the world that she's created whenever she wants to have me again.


Some extraneous thoughts on my Realms of the Elderlings reading experience:

I read Assassin's Apprentice in 2014, liked the book well enough, but decided not to read on in the series. When I saw that the (potentially) final book in the series was to be released in 2017, I picked up book #2, suspecting that it wouldn't grab me enough to make it beyond the first few chapters. I...was...wrong. I burned through the remaining 15 books in a span of 237 days — each book my constant companion at home, on the subway, during lunch breaks at work, and even on my honeymoon in Iceland!

Thank you to the New York Public Library for providing ebooks of the entire series and thank you to Robin Hobb for writing such wonderful books that I will cherish forever. I understand if this is the end of the tale, but I will jump right back in if ever you decide to add to your masterpiece.

Executive Summary: There is not much I can say about this book without getting into spoilers, or making statements that may lead people to guess at their meaning. What I can say is much like Ms. Hobb's previous works, this book made me feel. A lot. Audiobook: Elliot Hill is a pretty good narrator. He can be a bit soft spoken however. And he's not great at female voices. I rather wish he didn't try. Still it's more good than bad, and I do think he adds something to the narration that makes the audio worthwhile. If you liked him in the previous books, you should like him here.Full ReviewThis book was difficult for me to rate. I don't give out 5 stars easily, and normally when I do it's a no-brainer. This one not so much. The book has some pacing issues, especially early on. I have no idea of the final page count, but in audio it's nearly 40 hours long. Ms. Hobb's books have always been on the slower side, but there were points in this book where it was a bit too much. That's only a minor gripe though.FitzChivarly Farseer is one of the most real character I ever read. When this series was announced I was both excited and nervous to get to spend more time with him. What terrible things would Ms. Hobb do to him this time? She has really put him through the ringer over the years. However my desire to spend time with him again outweighed my fear.When the series started, I was not happy about the addition of Bee's chapters. At its conclusion, I'm still a bit torn on them, but I think the story could not have been told otherwise. I think part of me was just irritated to have to spend any time in the book away from Fitz. In addition to Fitz, it was really great to see some old friends again, some of whom I never expected to see.This book like [b:Fool's Quest 23157777 Fool's Quest (The Fitz and The Fool, #2) Robin Hobb https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420496252s/23157777.jpg 42704733] before it, rewards those who have read the entire Elderlings series, not just the Fitz books. If you haven't read Liveship Traders and Rainwild Chronicles, I highly recommend you do so first. There is so much that'll you be missing if you don't.There isn't much else I can say without getting into spoilers beyond this: Ms. Hobb has an incredible ability to make feel strong emotions for fictional characters. Joy, anger, love, hate, cheer, sorrow. I feel so much that I'm drained. Few books do that to me, but hers seem to do it all the time, especially the Fitz books. It is for this reason I decided to give this 5 stars instead of 4.Prepare yourself for an emotional journey. I hope you'll find it as worth it as I did.

Disappointing. Some good parts drowned in endless “everyone thinks X's dead / But X is not!” (for various X), “Bee got away / Bee is captured again” and drama pumped up by people not talking to each other. My favourite character in the whole LONG book (45 hours in audio) is Motley The Talking Crow...
I would definetly put it down if it were not the Grand Finale of all the Elderlings Realm series, and I'm not sure if I could get through it reading instead of listening.
One and half star, rounded up as I always do on Goodreads.

Believing her to be The Unexpected Son, Bee has been kidnapped by the Servants. They hope to use her for their own personal gain and wealth. Knowing firsthand the torture the Servants are capable of, The Fool sets out with Fitz and Co. to get her back. When I started this book, I was thinking wow, that's a long book. A few pages in, and I was already wishing it was at least a thousand pages longer. I feel that way every time I read a book by Robin Hobb. She is brilliant! I received a copy of this book from Net Galley.

I think we all knew we were heading for something like this. I didn't predict the ending, although I feel a bit like I should have. This series of trilogies is, I think, the greatest modern work of fantasy I've ever read, and this was a perfect, amazing conclusion.

I didn't read this final trilogy for a good while after it was released, and procrastinated reading this final volume even longer, partly because the series is important to me and I didn't want it to be over, and partly because I've read enough Hobb to know that it would be an emotionally difficult read. I was right; I spent most of the last 10% of it – which is an insanely large amount, when you think about it, especially for a 950 page volume – sobbing and hyperventilating uncontrollably. My wife came downstairs to check on me, thinking from the sounds I was making that I might have received some kind of awful news.

The first volume of the first trilogy of this series was published in 1996, according to Goodreads, and I think I must have started reading it not long after publication. That means I've read this series for almost 25 years, which is a longer relationship than I have with nearly any other series. I hardly know what to say now that I've finished it, except that I have a decades-long connection to these characters and I'm incredibly pleased that Hobb has finished it so well, though that's no surprise.

Strangely, I never read the Rain Wilds trilogy, and I'll have to go back and do that. It'll be interesting and different to read it for the first time now, knowing what we learned in this final trilogy.

What an immense talent.