The Farseer Trilogy

The main problem I found with Assassin's Apprentice was the pace. The first part took me about a week to get through (I remind you this book is 435 pages long!). The only reason why I was picking it back up was to get to the point where I could understand people's praises about this book. Needless to say, this novel is highly regarded by readers, but I was, at first, not impressed with it. There was just a bunch of not much happening, and the plot had yet to be established - one of the reasons why I didn't feel compelled to continue reading. I also want to add: for a book with “assassin” in the title, there's not a lot of assassination going on, or even deaths. If you pick up the book expecting and wanting this, know you will be disappointed. The same can be said about magic, there's just not much of it. Regardless, I managed to pull through, and as I said previously, this book started to get my attention in the second half. Not only was the plot finally moving forward, but you got to know the characters better, as well as feel for them. I especially loved the last third, which was filled with political intrigue. We were introduced - without spoiling too much - to a new land and a new set of characters. I immediately liked them and was looking forward to seeing more of them and pondered on the impact they would have on the ending. It did not disappoint. I cannot explain how good of an ending it was. It completely made reading the book worthwhile. I've also heard people say the second book is better so I definitely plan on reading it!