Reviews

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

itsdevyn's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

strikingvipe's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

jomarch436's review against another edition

4.5

This one was quite slow for me. I enjoyed it, liked a few of the characters, but found I didn’t really want to pick it up, and considering it’s not that long, it took me a while to read. However, those last 100 pages really amped the book up for me, tied a lot of things together, and make me really excited to read the rest of the trilogy and the rest of the RotE series.

kloudseeker's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

aryareads's review against another edition

4.0

Robin Hobbs will destroy me! I can tell you that now 😭

dogmomirene's review against another edition

4.0

So many people I know have raved about this book that I thought I would love every minute of it. Turns out that for me the beginning dragged. While there were few pieces of the political intrigue storyline that interested me, most of Fitz's training was laborious.

Once I hit the half-way mark, the story picked up its pace. More characters were introduced to either train Fitz or impede him in some way. More political intrigue, traveling, poisonings. Good stuff that may compel me to read the series.

zoececil's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

aburnss's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

Assassin's Apprentice is a book that immerses the reader into a new world full of adventure, challenge, and mystery. We follow Fitz, a bastard of the king-in-waiting, as he is dropped at the castle and into political challenges and magical discovery. Fitz has

two magic abilities, the Skill which runs in royal blood and enables the weilder to communicate via thoughts and influence the actions of others if sophisticated enough, and the Wit which is a scorned ability to speak with and bond to animals.

The reader watches Fitz grow,

face the heartbreak of separation from his first bonded dog, deal with political ostracization and loneliness, struggle with schooling, and learn that he is to be trained as the King's assassin

. 

Hobb creates a world that feels entirely real with only a few touches of ancient magic that has been lost to the ages. While the magic is fascinating and adds to the story, problems in the story aren't just solved by magic. It is incredibly easy to follow the characters in the story, something that can be a challenge in long reads. The character development is multidimensional and we uncover information and details on even supporting characters that give Buckeep a three dimensional feeling. 

The story is fast paced, even as it spans years (a decade?) of Fitz's life. There is always some unknown and intrigue that kept the pages flying by. 

I checked out the second book in the series as soon as I finished this one, if that's not a glowing review I don't know what is! 

ergative's review against another edition

5.0

 Gosh, I'd forgotten how really, really good this book is. It's a perfect Book 1, too: introduces all the key events that I know will become important later, while still ending in a satisfying way, with a complete story wrapped up. 

robomatica's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0