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