Reviews

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

fuego's review against another edition

4.0

Thank you Robin Hobb for terrorising Fitz

oforowen's review against another edition

4.0

4.0. While I overall enjoyed this book, you can only examine the same emotions and feelings before it starts to get a little stale or repetitive. I really like the world, characters and writing but the pacing could use a small shot in the arm at times.

abkas98'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? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

silversaintgoblin's review against another edition

4.25

Once again I just find myself at a loss for explaining how much I loved this book.

The characters are so well-defined, flaws and all. The political intrigue keeps you guessing, and goddamn does Robin Hobb know how to write beautiful and moving endings.

2/2 on making me cry so far.

snowblessed's review against another edition

5.0

Some things may be learned from words on page, but some skills are learned first by a man's hand and heart, and later by his head.

And that skill is the art of writing Robin Hobb possesses. Royal Assassin is by no means a flawless piece of literature, but it is a perfect book to me. Not for the vivid imagery, the intriguing magic-system, the refreshing political intrigue or the hilarious witticisms, but the hardships and wonders of human life.

I find a lot of people complaining about the pacing of this book saying it's slow but the ending was worth it. While the book is relatively slow to other fantasy books, it's the type of slow that you savour and find solace in the fact that so much of the story is yet to be explored. Someone on the internet said that reading Hobb is like walking through a park, where you appreciate beauty in the little things and relax in the atmosphere. That is exactly how I feel about this book. As cinematic as the ending is, I actually preferred the first third of the book, where we go through Fitz's day-to-day life and his interaction with other characters. For me, that is where the heart of Royal Assassin lies and those moments provide the bombastic flavour of the consequences in the end. Spoilers to follow from here.

Spoiler

With the summary itself, I loved being back in this world. Fitz does go through a world full of pain from the beginning, but his journey throughout the book has been a hell of an adventure. The words came out of the page and clung to me the more I read.

No magic I possessed, no Skill, no Wit, was proof against the accidental touch of her hand against mine, nor could defend me against the awkwardness that overwhelmed me at the quirk of her smile.

While everyone's going crazy over Nighteyes (as they should) -- and we'll get to our brother soon -- I rarely found anyone talking about the wonder of the relationship between Molly and Fitz. Especially, the way he saw her. Granted, he didn't set her to be a priority and straight-up lied to her, these lines just make me melt inside. I was so mad when he's drunk through no fault of his own and that is how Molly found him. I wanted it so bad for them to work out. As expected, every Molly-Fitz moment had me smiling uncontrollably and I was so happy that Fitz got to experience something happy in his life for once.

In the moment of the kiss, somewhere near Buckkeep a wolf lifted up his voice in a joyous ululation that set every hound to baying and every dog to barking in a chorus that rang against the brittle night sky.

Every moment since then had me feeling like I was in the room with Fitz as a spren, watching him go through the trials of his first relationship. The inexplicable joy (which is explained SO WELL) and the confusing times, all of them made them more real by the word. There's a thousand such details which could not illustrate it. (wink, wink)

The memory of that night’s sweet awkwardness is the truest possession of my soul.

The secondary characters are given such depth here, that I could find instances where I had to take a step back and marvel at their development. Especially Patience and Kettricken. I would die for my girls. I fucking love Patience, I don't know what to say. If she would be physically manifested, I would want her by my side, so I could feel the tenderness she brings with her in every interaction.

I saw past her giddiness and distractibility, into a soul more capable of more pain and vaster regret than I had ever suspected.

Only this woman, who by all rights should have abhorred me, had come to shelter me for my sake alone. She had given up her quiet life, her orchards and gardens and woods, to come here, to a damp castle of stone on the sea-cliffs, to a court full of folk she cared nothing about, to watch over her husband's bastard.

Kettricken and the way she used her Wit was MAGNIFICENT. I don't need a visual medium for serotonin anymore, when I have beautiful words like THIS.

I felt it all, not just the human folk with their comings and goings, but every pigeon that fluttered in the eaves, every mouse that crept unnoticed behind the wine kegs, every speck of life, that was not and never had been a speck, but had always been a node of life.

THE FOOL. Goddamn it, I love that man. I always have a thing for humorous characters with insane depth, and The Fool is exactly that. Not only does he have prescience, he's witty with it. He's right up there with my favorite characters in this book and the Realm of Elderlings so far.

"Not all men are destined for greatness."
"Are you sure, Fitz? Are you sure? What good is a life lived if it made no difference at all to the great life of the world? A sadder thing I cannot imagine. Why should not a mother say to herself, if I raise this child aright, if I love and care for her, she shall live a life that brings joy to those about her, and thus I have changed the world?"

I love his relationship with Fitz. That both of them are so hurt and affected by each other's actions is something precious to me. It's also so cool that he influences a lot of Fitz's actions, and Fitz feels the web unfolding before him.

The very name of your house is the future reaching back in time to you, and naming you by the name that someday your house will deserve. One Farseer, with no name at all. Unnamed in any history, past or future. But I have seen you take a name, FitzChivalry Farseer. And I shall see that you deserve it.

Finally, we come to Nighteyes. My pack-brother. I admit I was a bit bothered by him when he was Cub, because I didn't want Fitz to indulge in the Wit, and become a goddamn wolf. But boy was I wrong. When the breaking of their bond finally came to pass, I couldn't endure it, but the moments after! Nighteyes is the shit!!! He brings so much life to the whole story, and his failure to understand the ways of humans is hilarious and at times, concerning (for humans). I promise myself, that whenever someone transcends the barrier of being a close friend of mine, they will hear me say "WE ARE PACK!" I cannot say anything about him that hasn't already been said, but his care for Fitz MAKES. ME. TEAR. THE FUCK UP.

I think I had been alone so long, I had forgotten what it meant to have a friend.
A friend? Too small a word for it, brother. And in the wrong direction. So do not look at me like that. I will be to you what you are to me. Bond brother, and pack. But I am not all you will ever need.

I could go on and on about every other amazing character like Verity, Burrich, Brawndy and Chade. But these were the ones that I had to speak about. Couple more little things I'd like to mention: I don't mind Fitz getting with Celerity, she seems so goddamn awesome. I hate Regal with every fibre of my being and him getting some character development was a pleasant surprise. The moment Fitz cuts off Serene's throat was a get-up-and-cheer moment and made me hyped for the last run of the book. The little pauses that Fitz has which makes him appreciate the person he's talking to are pure gold. Especially ones with Verity, Kettricken and Patience. Also, when Fitz realizes he's having sex with Molly and Kettricken, I was STUNNED. I could tell he's subconsciously attracted to his queen since they met lmao.

Well, I wanted to see Fitz taking charge of Buckkeep but of course he won't be doing that. I'm going to start the last book right now and I'm so excited I get to spend time with my dear friends again.

ALSO this is the first book where I've started annotating and tabbing and I LOVE IT!!! I hope it's a practice that stays with me, but it has increased my reading time 2.5x ;-;

jj_29's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

anluluz's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

isabella_trying_to_read's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

lindakat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

4.5

It was slow at times, but I loved everything related to Chade, Fitz's character development, and Nighteyes. Molly is definitely pregnant, Reagle is going to destroy basically everything, and I am super looking forward to seeing what's to come. 

hoppeka1's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0