Fool's Errand

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

It is so good to see these characters again after three books away. When we last left FitzChivalry Farseer, his story had ended in a place that I was comfortable with and he seemed to be at peace. I was initially apprehensive about his return to action, but author Robin Hobb eventually coaxed me back – just as Chade and The Fool do for Fitz. As such, our now-unretired protagonist must use his magical Wit and Skill to track down young Dutiful Farseer from interlopers with complicated aims.

As excited as I was to see the band back together, it really took a while for this story to get rolling. Hobb's writing is top-notch, as always, so even long sequences of relative idleness are not difficult to stomach. About two-thirds of the way through, though, there was a scene that grabbed and shook me deeply. From that point forward, the action picked up and I flew through the final chapters. I've fully bought in to Fitz's new story arc and I see great potential for the next books in this series. 7 books down, 9 to go!

Executive Summary: This is another great entry in the Realm of the Ederlings. It picks up not long after the Liveship Traders and 15 years after the Farseer Trilogy.

If you enjoyed those previous books, I imagine you will enjoy this one as well. If you haven't read those books, I highly recommend you do before starting this one.

Full Review
Like all the previous books in the Realm of the Ederlings books, this starts off slow without much indication as to what the main plot will be.

In a lot of books this would annoy. Fantasy in particular tends to ramble on, especially some of the extremely long epic fantasy series.

Ms. Hobb is different somehow. I'm not bored or anxious or wondering when she'll just get on with it. I'm excited to follow Fitz around discover what he's been up to while I was reading about pirates and magical ships.

The return of several characters from the Farseer trilogy brought a smile to my face. It was like catching up with old friends.

Ms. Hobb can be quite cruel to her characters, especially poor Fitz. As the catalyst he seems destined to lead a tragic life where his choices are always between bad and worse options. I was particularly sad when Nighteyes died.

The books involving the Wit make me want a pet. I've always been more of a dog person, than a cat person. These books make me want a wolf, because Nighteyes is awesome.

Despite this the addition of cats to this book from the previous trilogy is a welcome one. The cats talk and act like I'd expect them to if I could share their thoughts. I particularly love the comments from the Hedge Witch Jinna's cat Fennel. He cracks me up.

Overall an enjoyable book that looks to be setting up nicely for the rest of the trilogy.

It feels strangely good to be emotionally traumatized again.

The first third was a bit slow, but once it gets going, it gets going. I can only imagine the next two are going to be really great, since they get to build off of this one.

As an aside, if you're going through the Realms of the Elderlings series for the first time, I highly recommend you read the Liveship Traders trilogy first before jumping into this one (instead of going directly to this right after Assassin's Quest). It gives tons of background information, gets referenced every now and then, and maybe most importantly, it makes the time that has passed in between books feel more natural.