The Farseer #2: Royal Assassin (original 1996; edition 1997)

As I predicted this is much much much more intense part of the trilogy. I just could not put it down and used every free moment available to read.

Fitz is now a young man so his tasks and assignments are much more serious. It's an interesting story reading how he struggles to swim trough a sea of intrigue on court. Staying alive has never been so hard, especially if you want to save your friends also.

Surprisingly, Fitz was not my favorite, but a lot of side-characters won my heart.
First there was Nighteyes, the wolf cub. His philosophic discussions with Fitz about differences between human and wolf's view of the world always made me chuckle...
Then there was queen-in-waiting Kettricken. Girl power! Yay!
And last but not least - Burrich. Grumpy and cuddly like a bear. What to say about a man who shows his affection with statements like: "If I had a dog that was sick as often as you are, I'd put it down." :D

The book ends with a lot of things unresolved, so I am off to the third part [b:Assassin's Quest|45112|Assassin's Quest (Farseer Trilogy, #3)|Robin Hobb|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1328153405s/45112.jpg|503752] to see what happens in the end. :) ( )

The only reason this isn't as highly rated as the first book is that it didn't grab me quite as much. It's still amazing fantasy, and the writing is very good -- when Fitz gets hurt, you wince right along with him. The characters are realistic and sometimes frustrating, in exactly that way that real people are. I love Fitz dearly, but sometimes I'd like to punch him in the nose. ( )

More like 4 1/2 ( )

Holy crap, that was a good book. I made the mistake of reading until past my bedtime to finish. Not only did I lose some sleep before starting a work week, but I then gave myself a series of messed up dreams as my poor little brain processed the end of this book.

Damn.

Not a lot I can say without spoilers. But Hobb is definitely moving up a few spots on my author list. Assassin's Apprentice was a very good book. Intriguing characters in a (seemingly)simple but interesting world with a good story. It made me want to read more of the story of Fitz and the world of the Six Duchies.

But this damn book made me HAVE to read more about Fitz and the Six Freaking Duchies. Where Book 1 was a little slow moving as Hobb set up the characters and the overall plot, this one does not hold back. It's not a roller-coaster ride, not until the last few chapters at least. But it's definitely one that keeps interest all the way through.

Hobb's strength is her characters. Especially in how they relate to one another. She creates emotional bonds between them that are real. When these characters hurt, so does the reader. There's not just disappointment when something bad happens to a beloved character, but the pain of loss.

Intrigue. Twists and turns. Betrayals. Unexpected WTF? moments. Even the occasional burst of humor. Everything I read a book for. ( )

As with the first book, I enjoyed this, but I felt it was even more deeply marred by some questionable plotting and a pretty lame villain. I just could not believe that the general populace would have put up with his behavior for months and months, not when his actions had such terrible consequences and were consistently indefensible.

Hobb makes the strange choice of explaining his motivations (kind of) long after we've become frustrated with him. Same with the Inner Duchies - they have good historical reasons for acting in really idiotic ways ("pirates pillaging our only trade partners? no prob Bob!"), but these are not fully established until the two-thirds mark.

Pretty nifty ending though!

I'll definitely read the third book, but I need a break first! ( )