Royal Assassin

Robin Hobb is brilliant. I'm not going to say anything about the story itself since it's the second book. I loved every minute of this book. These characters are so amazing, the plot is amazing, and I absolutely love this world. I am so glad I decided to finally read this series. I love it!

Long winded.  One character kept hanging out with evil character that killed her brother.  Evil character keeps doing evil things and no one does anything about it.

Tried a second time to no avail.  Tired of Molly.  Tired of no assassin stuff happening.  Tired of the moaning and self centered thoughts of Fitz.  I'll just have to accept unlike most ppl this series is just not for me.  It lacks logic in how people act. And sadly I bought the whole series that now need to find a new home sigh.    

I think I need to complete the trilogy to really know what I feel about this book. As seems common with trilogies, this second book feels less a novel in its own right, more a sequence of events to setup the final book.

The story is more claustrophobic than the first part, taking place in largely one locale, with only a couple of excursions into the wider world. Indeed, the action takes place in so few locations, this could almost be a stage play. It feels slightly odd that when one character leaves on A Hero's Journey To Discover Mysteries - a topic that would be the center of other books - the entire subplot happens entirely “off screen”. Maybe the third book will cover this in more detail.

There is also not a huge amount of progression in the story itself; as others have noted, FitzChivalery seems to spend an awful lot of time feeling miserable and sorry for himself, although, given the events around him, this is not too surprising. Having said that, all events lead to an ending is certainly climatic and the setup, I hope, for some form of renaissance in the final book.

That is not to say that this is not a well written and, at times, absorbing read. The world is well drawn and the sequence of events well plotted. I just hope that the final book pays off in bringing things to a satisfying conclusion.

I found this book better than the first in the series. It may simply be due to the fact that Hobb didn't need to spend any time setting things up. The story moved along quickly, and I enjoyed the character development that occurred. It left things off in a place where I'm glad to have [b:Assassin's Quest 45112 Assassin's Quest (Farseer Trilogy, #3) Robin Hobb http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328153405s/45112.jpg 503752] to jump right into.

Wolves have no Kings.

This book picks up right where the last book left off. I won't get into the plot so I don't spoil the first book.

This book was such a good sequel. Now that the world is set up, we really get to dive down deep into the political intrigue and the relationships. Fitz is a little older now, and we get to experience him trying to figure out how to not only do the multiple jobs he has, but also keep up with all of his personal relationships. The magic system really comes into play more in this book more, as well. We get to explore the depths of what Fitz can do, as well as the people around him. The magic system may be pretty simple, but I think the way Hobb uses it really makes it something special to the story.

My favorite thing so far about Hobb's books is how personable all of the characters are. Even Regal has some understandable motives, even if he's a nasty character. She really makes you think about motivations, as well as intent/impact. Fitz almost always means well, but his plans backfire multiple times. This concept of actions/reactions/consequences is executed so wonderfully. I highly recommend this series to fantasy lovers. It is a delight so far, and I'm incredibly excited to continue.

TW: ableism, alcohol, alcoholism, assault, attempted murder, blood, bones, death, drugs, gore, miscarriage, murder, poisoning, pregnancy, terminal illness, torture, violence

3.5

Fuck dude its just so good.

A very emotive sequel. It will be a while before I can get over this.

Also, reading this made me realize that I enjoy character-driven fantasy stories. The political intrigues and navigation in this book were so interesting with the focus on Fitz and his dynamic with the characters.

I liked Fitz as a protagonist in the first book, but I came to love him in this sequel. His narration is brilliant, flaws and all. I loved basically every interactions he had with the characters, especially with Burrich or Nighteyes.

Very excited to finish this trilogy! Even though I know I'll be emotionally damaged.

Above 3⭐️ but not quite 3.5.

As with book one, I loved the characters and the world building, as well as where the story went ultimately.

But there are two reasons why I gave this book lower rating than the first one.

#1 The plot with Molly nearly drove me to roll my eyes out of my head. I don't like Molly - she is whiny, inconsiderate and selfish, and this thing with her was way too over the top melodramatic.

#2 The stupidity of the king and the king's people. A king must think of his people first and foremost. Before family and comfort. Nearly all that the Six Duchies went through could've been avoided if someone had taken the measures to stop Regal (by all means necessary) and I am sorry, but you have to be a halfwit to not see his game. Even Fool admitted as much, when he implied that Regal was doing all this to avenge his mother. So you mean to tell me that all this time you knew and didn't think to mention this to Chade or Shrewd? And speaking of Chade, he kept on yapping about the duty of the king's men, but forgot the most important one - to give sound advise and to warn his king when said king is endangering his people and one of his sons - the future king, because his other son is his favorite... All the big heads spent 80% of the book trying to convince Fitz that he doesn't know enough and the last 20% discovering what he was saying from the beginning was actually true. And don't get me wrong, I have no issue with characters being stupid, I just don't like it when they do, yet the author is trying to convince me it's otherwise. There is unavoidable suffering and there is unnecessary suffering. And, sadly, I am afraid there was quite a lot of the latter in this book.

Strangely took a very long hiatus about 2/3 through this book. But went back and finished it after all. Great character driven fantasy. Will be interest to see where it goes next.

An utter delight from start to finished, I absolutely loved every minute of reading this. Yes it's not a fast paced, edge of your seat tale but it's so rich and well written that you are completely immersed in the world and don't want to stop reading. I loved the characters, I loved the scheming and plotting, I just loved everything about it!

HOLY. SHIT.

You know how the middle book of a trilogy is mostly just set-up for the third one, so they save the best for last? That may very well be, but goddamn, if this didn't already feel super intense, I can't even dare to imagine what else is in store.

There was a certain point at which this book just refused to let me go. I did the “One more chapter” thing a little too often every evening and decided I didn't need that much sleep after all. Hell was about to break loose every new chapter and I just couldn't wait to find out. And then it did.

These books do something to me. They make me smile, they make me cry. And to be perfectly honest, not a lot of books (or at least of the ones I've read) have been able to do that to me. This series did it almost from the very beginning, so wow.

Aside from story and the characters I already loved, it also made me see some of the existing characters in a new light. Just one sentence about them, and suddenly, I understand them and fall in love with them and just want the best for them. Which is exactly why I usually prefer series to standalone novels, not everyone gets their chance to shine at first.

Robin Hobb has officially got me, and as much as I want to devour everything in the Realms of the Elderlings series right away, I also never want it to end and want to savour them as much as possible. Which is perhaps the most clear sign that I've fallen in love with this world and its characters.

Royal Assassin is one of the best that I've ever read. I didn't think that Hobb would be able to so decidedly top the already amazing Assassin's Apprentice, but here I am, basking in the fact that she made her previous work look almost amateurish in comparison. She's opened my eyes to parts of her books that I didn't even realize appealed to me, and doubled down on the aspects that I loved.

First things first, let's get the prose section out of the way. If you're at all familiar with Hobb's work, you'll know what you're getting with this. She doesn't do purple prose, but she does exceptionally well crafted prose that enriches the text at every step. Some of the lines that she drops into this book wracked me full of sobs because of the sheer power of the writing. Dialogue is also a massive strength of hers, every single character feeling like their dialect and delivery has been painstakingly considered. Of special note is the Fool, who's every line feels like it's been meticulously crafted to get your mind racing about the possible meaning behind his cryptic speech.

Then there's the story. First off, the court politics. They're so much better in this than they were in Assassin's Apprentice, since Fitz is so much more observant and alert, and finally begins to take a more proactive approach when it comes to involving himself in them. We actually get the opportunity to really see the man behind the curtain, and it's fantastic. But even then, Hobb uses this newfound agency and observant nature as a fog for the reader, blindsiding us with twists that are brilliantly crafted and that she practically screams at both us and Fitz, but neither notice because we don't have the experience the world required to see them. I found myself regularly blindsided by the twists the story took in regards to the court.

But that's only a small part of the whole, and of equal note in my opinion is her handling of the magic systems. If I was to complain in the first book, it would have been the underdevelopment of the magic system, but I was under no illusions that that would be the case for the rest of the series. In this book we have extended periods of time coming to grips with both the Wit and the Skill, and these are also used to give us broader of the characters that surround Fitz, both old and new. These have the potential to be one of the most interesting magic systems that I've ever encountered, and I'm so excited to see how they're expanded upon in Assassin's Quest.

I also really enjoyed how she did combat. If it's small brawls we get the whole thing with almost every detail, but if it's larger scale battles, we get the initial burst, and then a smash cut to the aftermath, the reasoning being that Fitz loses himself in the battle and his future self can't recall the nitty-gritty. I really enjoyed this way of doing large battles, since in some fantasy, the fights can begin to drag on after a while, so this method sates our appetite while not burning us out on the combat.

And then there's the characters. I could probably write a full essay on my love for the characters here, but I don't want this section to drag, so I'm gonna briefly touch on the standouts. But, before I do, I just want to say, there isn't a single character that I dislike in this book. There's ones I hate, but they're still solid characters when all is said and done.

Something that I really appreciated about the book was Hobb's ability to write off screen character arcs that work really well. For instance, Hands was a prick last book, and I didn't like him. But throughout the book, he undergoes a character arc in the background that completely transforms him to be a much more tolerable person, and we don't see the journey, just the slow transition of the character as Fitz notices him around the stable, and when finally we see an interaction with him, his arc has been completed, and it doesn't feel like whiplash from a sudden character shift.

For the characters we do see the arc for, Fitz has to be talked about. Fitz' journey throughout this entire book is one of the most cathartic, yet still painful, arcs that I've ever read. We finally see him begin to come into his own, while weathering painful setbacks and losses, and growing from each one. He's an incredibly well crafted character, and is honestly one of the bests PoVs in fantasy. I don't want to spoil too much of his journey, but this isn't the Fitz we once knew, who was placid and tried to fade into the background. His heritage plays a large part in his story now, coming to the forefront rather than being an insult to put him down.

Verity is a standout as well, as we finally get to know the reclusive King-in-waiting, destroying himself to save his kingdom. He's one of my favourite characters in the book, and steals every scene that he's in.

Burrich is just as good, if not better than he was in the prior book, and is just my favourite character in the series so far. His devotion to Fitz is beautifully written, and the pain that he carries with him is heart wrenching the few times he shows it. I adore him so much.

Then lastly, there's Regal. I hate Regal. He's an inhuman spiteful little shit. He makes Ramsay Snow look like a kitten in comparison. He is one of the most evil characters that I've ever read. He draws genuine fury out of me so often it's shocking. I have had to put the book down for a bit to calm down after he's done something. I'm desperately hoping to see a very brutal and drawn out end for him in the last book.

I've barely touched on the characters, but they're all phenomenal, and I don't know how Hobb nailed each one so perfectly. There's still Nighteyes, Molly, Patience, Kettricken, the Fool, Rosemary, Chade, the list just goes on and on, and it's great. Just for the characters alone, you should read it.

The world is also expanded in staggering ways. We get more of the history, both political and mythological. But mainly, we get the current political climate shown to us, through Fitz' work as a kings man. We're introduced to new leaders, and get our first glimpses at what the raiders true motivations might be, whilst also being shown that not all Outislanders are scumbags. It's wonderfully executed, and as with Assassin's Apprentice, leaves me parched for more, since no amount will satiate my desire to see the wonders hidden in the world.

The only major thing that I can say might be an issue for people is the pacing. This book is slow as shit. I really appreciated that about, but I've been told before that I don't have the best gauge for what good pacing in a story is, since I can just sit there and read character moments ad nauseum if they're done well enough, which as I said before, they all are. That being said, the pacing won't be an issue for people until the middle of the book, since the beginning is actually really fast paced.

Overall, this was an absolutely perfect book in my opinion, and I'm gonna be recommending this to anyone who'll bother listening to me about it. 5/5 stars, but only because I can't give it more.

Idk how I'm gonna enjoy the Live Ships trilogy, I love everyone here so much. This was really slow around 200 page mark but once it picked it up I really enjoyed it. 

I can't remember the last time it took me this long to read a book, but this was not a bad thing. Robin's writing just demands time, attention, appreciation and I loved every bit of it.

Royal Assassin takes over immediately after the first book, but with an even better plot: more intrigue, more secrets, more magic, more lies, more bonds, more love, more surprises, more tension, more everything. It played with my emotions close to an unbearable level. I wanted to scream at the characters and throw my kindle to the floor. And although I was 100% sure I was going to pause the Farseer trilogy, to read something else in between, I'm not sure I'm able to do it, I need to know the rest of the story.

This was truly great! More thoughts to come (maybe)

oh, fitz fitz fitz. things are so miserable for you always! from the beginning to the end. i can only hope that the final book in this trilogy will provide some much needed relief for you. 

hobb really has a way with words! i found myself really liking Nighteyes. there was a scene in the book that had me laughing pretty damn loud (“female? nice. vast approval.”) so unexpected and hilarious. please please please give our boy a break in the last book! 

Robin Hobb is the Queen of Fantasy. So freaking good. I love the first person style and the endings are always climactic and the relationship with animals and humans are always emotional. Love it all.

Much better than the first book in the series. Moments of humor, heartbreak, and battle. Really great overall.

I like the setting, and the writing. However, it seems like the entire book is an endless series of the main character doing dumb things– obviously dumb things. And not in a funny way, either.

This is one of the very very very few books that I've just stopped reading partway through.

Wow. Even better than the last, and that's saying something. Full review to come.

Much like the first book in this series, this is a masterclass in character work. You just feel so strongly for Fitz and Robin Hobb really draws you in with her narrative. The villains are eminently relatable to the point you’re seething right along with our protagonist. I can only hope this trilogy sticks the landing!