Reviews

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

acornett99's review against another edition

slow-paced

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

4.25

Beautifully written, but I wish Molly and Fitz actually had more chemistry. I see what people mean now when they say Fitz can be a frustrating character, I was face-palming when he didn’t come to the conclusions that I had already drawn.

The rest of this book was great though. Regal is such an amazingly hateable villain though, and I love Verity and Kettricken. 

milliei's review

5.0

The last 150 pages or so were A WILD RIDE. And what even was that ending?? This book left me crushed, I simply do not know where the next one will go.

Hobb has such a way of writing believable characters, you really feel like you know all of them and their ambitions are truthful to their personalities. Fitz is one of the best protagonist I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading about. His way of viewing life is not only informative for the reader, but his streaks of being naive and understanding that he doesn’t know everything is also refreshing.

kenzcocke's review

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

caffeinatedmoodreader's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.75

charsiew21's review

3.75

The inner monologue-ing started to get tedious in book #2 of this series.

emilye3's review

5.0

I love these characters so much. The only thing I didn’t quite like with this book was how much it centered on Molly. The ending was hard to read but I can’t wait to continue.

camscampbell's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-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

5.0

I just finished this one for the second time. I remember enjoying them nearly twenty years ago, around the time my concept of God was evolving. The Wit and the Skill tied in with that nicely. 

Here is my favourite part...

The exercise for centering oneself is a simple one. Stop thinking of what you intend to do. Stop thinking of what you have just done. Then, stop thinking that you have stopped thinking of those things. Then you will find the Now, the time that stretches eternal, and is really the only time there is. Then, in that place, you will finally have time to be yourself.

2024 Reread
The same text stood out to me this time around. Reading puts me in the Now. I've always called it 'the good place,' and that's where I am now, having just finished the reread. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. It's a rare book that I can read in bed and not find myself struggling to get through two pages because of the lure of sleep. This series is just such rare books. 

acereviews's review

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

the_bookish_escape's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

Nobody shipped molly and Fitz right? 
This is a review full of spoilers and without a lot of sense. 
If the whole book would have been as exciting and interesting as the last 20% I wouldn’t have taken down my headphones for one waking second. 
It wasn’t. How I hated Molly and Regal. I hated molly not for herself but for the sole ANNOYANCE I felt in every scene with her. 
Regal goes without explanation. 
Most of the book, not much happened. But as others pointed out as well, at this point one is interested in Fitz as a character and care for what happens to him. 
The lack of plot over so many pages is the reason why I did not rate it with 5 starts. But politics are amazingly written. I love the coast vs. Inlander conflict and hope to read more of it! 
I really liked the twist of who killed the king. And all the interactions with the fool. I see why people ship those too. 
Nighteyes having sex with molly was so casually mentioned and Fitz witnessing his uncles sex life through his eyes also…weird? I was laughing. 

jakelewis_23_'s review against another edition

5.0

Fantastic! Only way to put it! And even better 2nd time through! Cannot wait to get to Assassins Quest