Assassin's Apprentice (1995)

by Robin Hobb

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Realm of the Elderlings (1), The Farseer Trilogy (Book 1)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Conversations / Mentions
10,215	240	523	(4.1)	1 / 392
Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father's gruff stableman. He is treated like an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz's blood runs the magic Skill--and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family. As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.… (more)

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▾Will you like it?

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	Group › Topic	Messages	Last Message
	Name that Book: Kid grows up in stables and has magic ability to bond with an animal	4 unread / 4	danielloehr, August 2020

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▾Member reviews

English (225) Dutch (5) French (4) Italian (2) Finnish (1) German (1) All languages (238)

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Showing 1-5 of 225 (next | show all)

I liked the narrative and how the plot develops. I love a book when I get to connected to a character or feel myself in their shoes. 🙂 (

)

FirstSpeaker | Apr 16, 2021 |

This was well-written with intriguing characters, an engaging plot, and a well-realised world. I found it a bit slow at the beginning but was soon caught up in the wonderful storytelling. (

)

KarenBayly | Apr 10, 2021 |

This is strike 2 for Hobb for me (which probably means I won't give her another chance). It was kind of like a dark YA novel that just kind of meandered. I gave it 13 out of 17 hours on audio, but just couldn't take it anymore. It really seems to lack focus. There's some royal intrigue stuff going on, there's a kind of zombie plague thing happening that people don't seem all that concerned about, an attempted murder that the hero seems to have forgotten about, there some kind of mind magic, that it seemed the hero only had but not they're training people to use it, but that's not really a big deal either it seems. Then there was a princess who decided the hero must be trained to be a royal, but that totally stopped and went nowhere. So there I was 3/4ths of the way in and not really attached to anything.

I guess I got too excited by the word "Assassin" in the title, I thought it would be some cool dark fantasy novel about an adult assassin, but even as far as I got, the hero was still only about 15 and still blushing around girls. (

)

ragwaine | Mar 17, 2021 |

From the day he was abandoned at the king's gates the boy with no name was content with tending the horses and dogs in the king's stables, never imagining or wanting involvement in the world of royal intrigue. But what one wants isn't necessarily what one gets.

I was racing through this book to see what would become of the ill-conceived child of a royal heir. The story was interesting, and I fell in love with the characters.

Wow, what a ride that was! (

)

fuzzi | Feb 7, 2021 |

Good stuff, great characters and some unusual twists and plot subjects. Moving on to #2. (

)

Rick686ID | Jan 27, 2021 |

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Showing 1-5 of 225 (next | show all)

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▾Other authors

» Add other authors (11 possible)

Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Hobb, Robin	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Boehmer, Paul	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Howe, John	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Santikko, Sauli	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Spångberg, Ylva	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Whelan, Michael	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

The Farseer Trilogy (Book 1)

Realm of the Elderlings (1)

Belongs to Publisher Series

Varraku F-sari (27)

Is contained in

Assassin's Apprentice [and] Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

The Farseer Trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice / Royal Assassin / Assassin's Quest) by Robin Hobb

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▾Common Knowledge

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For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Assassin's Apprentice

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1995

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

British Fantasy Award Nominee (1997.1|August Derleth Fantasy Award, 1997)

Compton Crook Award Nominee (1996)

World Book Night selection (2015)

Epigraph

Dedication

For Giles

And for Raphael and Freddy,

the Princes of Assassins.

Bantam 1996 edition:
To Giles
and
to the memories of
Ralph the Orange
and
Freddie Cougar
Princes among Assassins
and
Felines above Reproach

First words

A history of the Six Duchies is of necessity a history of its ruling family, the Farseers.

Quotations

[The Fool] was proffering a leather drawstring bag. "What is it?" I asked, and tried not to let him hear either the flowers or the doll in my voice.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Despite some titles similar to those of the original 6, the French version of the Farseer books splits the 2 trilogies into 13 books. This is 1 of 13 and it is the only book that is exactly the same as the original one. Make sure you combine only with identically split parts of the series.

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Rawn, Melanie

George R.R. Martin

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

File:Robin Hobb - Assassin's Apprentice Cover.jpg

▾Book descriptions

Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father's gruff stableman. He is treated like an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz's blood runs the magic Skill--and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family. As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.

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Book description

Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father's gruff stableman. He is treated like an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him sectetly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz's blood runs the magic Skill--and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family. As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.

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