Royal Assassin

Wolves have no kings
 
Royal Assassin is the second book in the Farseer Trilogy. To be honest this book took me two attempts to get through, because this story starts out at a very slow pace, yet it builds tension throughout the entire novel to the point where the last quarter is almost unputdownable. I think a big part of my enjoyment this time around came from me reading smaller parts of the book, maybe a chapter or two, at a time. Because even though the plot moves rather slowly overall, many chapters still had me in awe at how they juggled the large cast of characters, setting up the intrigues, foreshadowing later events, letting the story breathe and have nice character moments and interactions.

The supporting cast of characters is really great: Burrich, Lacey, Patience, Hands, Rosemary, Duke Brawndy, Chade, Wallace, Celerity, Cook, besides many others all feel real and have their own strong motivations. And this is especially true for the main cast. Molly is the weakest point of the book, while still definitely being bearable. I hate Prince Regal, hate him with a passion! Robin Hobb's antagonists do not disappoint. The Fool on the other hand is wonderful and incredibly intriguing. The Farseer family, King Shrewd, King-in-Waiting Verity, Queen-in-Waiting Kettricken and Bastard FitzChivalry serve up one of the best political intrigues I have read recently. Nighteyes was one of the highlights of the books for me, I won't say anything further than that.

The world-building is very convincing, the threats feel real and dangerous and I like the epigraphs that often offered interesting bits of lore, because they acted as an elegant way of giving bits of exposition. It was especially satisfying when these bits of the world would show up in the chapters and be relevant. The Skill and Wit are well executed soft magic systems.

Robin Hobb is a master of prose, especially writing strong emotions. Reading Fitz seeing a white ship, instills in you a deep sense of his horror. Joy and desperation are both prevalent throughout this book and are written so that you feel them alongside of Fitz. The twists and turns of the narrative are foreshadowed well and don't feel unearned while still mostly being surprising.

Being the second book in a trilogy the book leaves a lot of questions open, that the conclusion has to answer. Nonetheless the ending is at a fitting point. I recommend this book and trilogy, but only for people in the mood for something that has a slow pace.