Royal Assassin (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 2)

Robin Hobb

Sept 2011 · The Farseer Trilogy Book 2 · HarperCollins UK

About this eBook

‘Fantasy as it ought to be written’ George R.R. Martin

The second volume in Robin Hobb’s internationally bestselling Farseer Trilogy.

Honesty is the bedrock for any relationship. But how can Fitz – royal bastard, trainee assassin, holder of secrets crucial to the security of the kingdom – bare his soul to his beloved Molly?

Danger lies all around him – from the raiders savaging the coastal towns, and from within the court. The king has been struck down by a mystery illness and his eldest son, Verity, is bound up in the defence of the realm.

When Verity leaves the court in search of the mythical Elderlings, Fitz finds himself friendless apart from his wolf, Nighteyes, and the king’s strange, motley-clad fool, exposed to Prince Regal’s malign ambitions. He will be asked to sacrifice everything – his heart, his hope, even his life – for the sake of the realm.

Ratings and reviews

It gets bogged down in narrating everything that happens to Fitz, such that it kills the pacing. There's plenty of intrigue and you want to know whats happening, it just takes so long to get there. I didn't like out it ended, but I'm still interested in what might unfold in the third book.

On one hand, I really enjoyed this book, the characters, the overarching plot (redship raider threat and the whole monarchy strife) and the world it is set in. But I was hoping for some kind of resolution towards the end of the book... it never came... it has just left me with a feeling of utter hopelessness for the main character... I'm hoping book 3 has a much more "happy" tone.

Although I enjoyed the first book and this to some extent the negativity became a little wearing after a while. I don't mind the darkness of the story, I actually quite like it, but with such detestable characters it would be nice for them to have some form of comeuppance.

About the author

Robin Hobb is one of the world’s finest writers of epic fiction.She was born in California in 1952 but raised in Alaska, where she learned how to raise a wolf cub, to skin a moose and to survive in the wilderness. When she married a fisherman who fished herring and the Kodiak salmon-run for half the year, these skills would stand her in good stead. She raised her family, ran a smallholding, delivered post to her remote community, all at the same time as writing stories and novels. She succeeded on all fronts, raising four children and becoming an internationally best-selling writer. She lives in Tacoma, Washington State.