Reviews with content warning for Torture - Assassin's Quest

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Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb

20 reviews

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Wow, Robin Hobb can end a chapter! She left me reeling more times than not. Compared to the previous two Farseer books, this one moves quick! Extremely emotional, especially at the beginning and end. There was an odd twist at the end that was uncomfortable but it fits with the culture of the Six Duchies. Loved how it came together in the end.

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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3.5

One of the things i really valued about the second book was the way that not everything went to plan for Fitz. It made the plot hard to predict and enjoyable to follow along with. This book took that a step too far i think. Fitz’s plans failed so often that it circled back into predictability. It was hard to root for any of his plans when i knew that he would be thwarted. It was realistic, but the romantic in me wants the underdog to catch a break. I love the way that Robin Hobb writes women and i wish we could’ve seen more of that in this book. We get glimpses of women being cool and incredible and brave but Fitz is so focused on his own woes (of which he has plenty) that the women and other side characters fall to the background. This is (somewhat surprisingly) remedied a bit by Nighteyes and his building of a pack. (I particularly loved the audiobook narrator’s tone whenever the wolf talked about pack).

This momentum is, of course, dashed upon the rocks when the found family separates at the end of the book. I’m excited to see how it plays out in the later series, but disappointed in the meantime. One last thing on the ending—I hate list epilogues. The monotonous listing of events that occur after the final action leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I have high hopes that future books may expound on these events, but just in the context of this book, i was annoyed.

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bookswithcuppatea's review

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adventurous challenging emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I found this book to be a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy.

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evekenzinator's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

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laszloluvr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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lanna_aud's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious medium-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

4.75

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thoseoldcrows23's review

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adventurous emotional 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

4.0

I can not express how much these characters have stolen my heart. This is for sure a new favorite series for me, and I'm sure my love will only grow as I move forward with the rest of the Realm of the Elderlings. That said, I am giving this one a 4 instead of a 5 because it really is absurdly long, and all though, by the end I had forgiven it all its sins, I can't pretend that there wasn't about 300 pages in the middle of it that dragged on.

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britreads's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

While I did not enjoy this novel as much as I did the other two in the trilogy, I am still in awe of Hobb's writing and storytelling. I look forward to reading more from this universe.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about Assassin's Quest. I enjoyed the first 15%-20% of the book where Fitz and Burrich are living in the cottage together.

I loved how this mirrors the end with Fitz, Nighteyes and Hap the boy living together after the story is over.

I also enjoyed the last portion of the novel where

Fitz and Co. set off to find Verity beyond the Mountain Kingdom.

But the middle portion of the book were difficult to get through. I liked seeing more of the Six Duchies beyond Buck and the Coastal Duchies. And, even though I found most of the journey repetitive, I found the landscape descriptions absolutely stunning and realistic.

In terms of characters, Hobb had a difficult challenge on her hand. Most of the characters we met and grew to love in the first two books are absent here or we see them in quick scenes when Fitz uses the Skill. I wished we had more of Lady Patience. She is my favorite in the series so far and I wanted so much more of her in here. My heart broke for Kettricken and Verity. (Though I will always firmly believe Verity was a terrible husband.) And while Fitz's angst and self-pity was annoying most of the time, I did understand why he held such feelings and why he struggled to release them. I also grew to love both Nighteyes and the Fool here. I always appreciated the Fool, but this was the first time I genuinely enjoyed reading the Fool and Fitz's relationship. And Nighteyes matured immensely and endeared himself to so many people.

There are two new and recurring characters here: Kettle and Starling. I enjoyed Kettle from the time she joined the story. Her backstory was heartbreaking and I was interested in all of the secrets that surrounded her. Starling on the other hand... *sigh* At first, I liked Starling and the friendship she established with Fitz. Not only was she entertaining, but also resourceful. And while her motivation was selfish (not in a bad way), I liked that it was simple compared to everyone else's goals. I wished it stayed there with Starling. But at some point, right around when Fitz makes it to the Mountain Kingdom, things change and I grew to dislike her. Now to be fair, I understand how Starling's backstory and some events in the story influenced her actions, particularly her complicated relationship with Fitz. Truly, I believe Starling is a hard character to write given what happens to her. What softened my dislike of Starling was the realization that everyone in this story is desperate in some way. Starling is desperate for a sense of stability and safety. But I think Fitz's angst and his constant lamenting over Molly was annoying at times and adding Starling into that mix only made things worse for me. By the end, I have no strong feelings about her. Given the in-universe importance of minstrels in this world, I understand why she needed to be part of the story. I just wish some things were different about her...mostly I wish there wasn't this strange romantic subplot between her and Fitz.

Speaking of romance, I don't like ANY of the couples in this series.

Molly and Burrich? Absolutely not! Outside of the huge age difference, Burrich was essentially a father figure to Fitz. For Burrich to fall in love with his surrogate son's former lover (who Fitz often saw as his wife) was so weird to me. And Molly's speech was nice, but girl...raise your standards a bit. Burrich was nice and did lie to you or hit you and that's why you love him?? ...Okay. I already said that Verity is a terrible husband and Kettricken deserved so much better. (Actually all of the Farseer men are terrible romantic partners.) I like them separately. But I was not really moved by their love story. Also Verity using Fitz's body to have sex with Kettricken was icky to me. There are some major consent issues at play. The wiki claims that Kettricken knows the paternity of her son Dutiful, but did she know in the moment or does she find out well after the fact? Even if Kettricken knew and understood, Verity didn't give Fitz a clear understanding of what was going to happen so it still feels like a huge violation. And even if Fitz understood, Verity was his King so there is a power imbalance at play. It's not like Fitz had a real ability to say no. I get what Hobb was trying to do with this, but I think some things could have been clarified. With Starling and Fitz...I understand why Starling wants to sleep with Fitz. But again, I'm not really moved by their relationship outside of a friendship. The only (potential) romantic relationship I am invested in is the one between the Fool and Fitz. Their scenes, especially in the quarry, were beautiful. I am eager for their eventual reunion.

I heard the Liveship Traders series is one of Hobb's best series. I am taking a quick break from her work to read other things, but I look forward to reading the next installment in this world soon (possibly in February). And while I struggled to read this final book in the Farseer trilogy, I genuinely loved this series and I want to work my way through all of Hobb's stories. So far, Assassin's Quest is my least favorite book by Hobb and I hope her other stories far exceed my expectations.

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allyordyna's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

4.0

What on earth just happened—

Molly got with Barage?? He’s Fitz’s father figure and could be Molly’s father; I can’t TT
Verity turns into a dragon and leaves his dear wife to run the kingdom on her own, after all she did to find him? Tragic. I was as weirded out as Fitz was when Verity uses his body to get Ketrikan pregnant.
Fitz has no happy ending, and I think that’s what upsets me the most. We’ve followed his self-sacrificial butt across 3 books and like 60 hours-worth of reading and he’s left alone in the final chapter, with no fool, no Molly, no Barage, no Nettle, no Chade, just his wolf and some kid that gets dumped on him… and his broken and scarred body.

I don’t even know what to think of that last chapter. I didn’t expect it all to wrap up so quickly, I suppose. Once again I am left wanting for more like an unquenched thirst.

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thebowandthebook's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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