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4.67 AVERAGE
4.67 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
How to even find the words to describe how I felt finishing this book and Fitz’s story. This world is so rich and will stay with me forever. Thank you to Fitz, Nighteyes, and The Fool who feel like old friends.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
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:
Complicated
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What do I say of a series that has made me feel so deeply and has been with me for years? Words cannot do it justice, but I’ll give some thoughts. Robin Hobb has a remarkable way of world-building through her characters. Every single character in her books is a real, complex individual. She understands the human heart in a way other authors don’t. This makes all of the twists and turns of the stories of this Elderlings series even more gut wrenching—I felt every single pain and joy along with the characters. The themes and stories of this series all started separately and ended up untwined so beautifully, and this concluding book captured it perfectly. I usually feel rather hollow after finishing a series. Instead, I feel content. The ending was perfect. I liken it to Frodo boarding the ship for the West in Lord of the Rings. Beautiful, and perfect for him, though hard for his friends. Fitz chose a similar fate, and it could not have been more perfect.
Words cannot describe the ending of this book. Fitz, Nighteyes, and Beloved with always have a special place in my heart, and I’m honored to have gotten to take this journey with them. Truly the greatest series of all times. I am forever changed because of this series.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
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:
Complicated
Though it was not perfect, it was a perfect end for Fitz and Beloved. I’m satisfied.
the way i cried and sobbed 5 different times, no one does it like ROTE. i am satisfied with the beautiful, bittersweet ending, which is so rare; lastly there will never be a series ever again like ROTE 😭😭😭😭😭
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
I don't think I've ever found the conclusion to a series to be more satisfying. And it's done in a very Hobb kind of way. So the things you wanted are here, but not how you expected, and things you didn't know you needed are here, and some things that happen just gut you and surprise you and then become somehow inevitable.
I don't even know what to say. I picked up this series for the first time in 2014 and I didn't realize then how much it would mean to me. Even after finishing Assassin's Quest, it didn't really strike me till months later that I had read something that would utterly change me, that had driven its way into my bones and blood.
Fitz and Nighteyes and the Fool.
I can't think of any characters that mean so much to me. But it's not just those three. It's Malta and Reyn and Wintrow and Paragon and Chade and Kettricken and on and on. It's incredibly bittersweet to leave this world behind. To spend 16 books in this world, to grow to love so many characters so much, and then for there to suddenly be nothing left to read. I think of all the times I cried during these books. I've shed more tears for Fitz then I have for just about anyone, real or imagined. And I wept several times during this final novel, but especially for the last, like, 50 pages. Tears just flowing and unable to stop them but also unable to stop reading.
And I felt so empty all day, having finished this morning. Emptiness may not be the right word. It's more like I've lost a dear friend. All the memories are here within me, and yet Fitz is gone.
There's so much to say about these books. All 16 as a whole, but even just this final trilogy, or this final book, which takes big risks that only Hobb seems to be able to make worth it.
I think Hobb really did the impossible here, which is to make the end worthwhile. To have it meet all expectations. To have it satisfy so thoroughly while remaining true to the spirit of the books, and to keep Fitz and Nighteyes and the Fool who they are. Who they have always been. To break our hearts one last time but make us so happy to have it broken, to stare at the shattered pieces spread all round us.
I recently reread the first chapter of Assassin's Apprentice and it was a heady sensation. I know Hobb has discussed how she did not plan to keep writing Fitz, but she managed to make it so cohesive. To have this world that felt so sturdy and real and alive from the first page. Unlike many writers who gradually stitch together an epic over a handful or dozen books, Hobb never rewrites the rules. Instead, the world just keeps deepening as it grows. Mysteries remain, even here, after the end, but it never feels like we're cheated or some plot device is spun out of nothing to pull things together. It all feels inevitable after the fact. Even looking back at those first pages, when Fitz describes meeting Burrich and Verity for the first time...to read the ending now, it feels like a closed loop. Like it all had to be this way.
What impresses me most about Hobb, I think, is how she understands that the quest is hardly ever the point. Saving the princess or defeating the monsters--that's incidental to what matters. And so every quest Hobb writes ends up being so different than expected, and the resolution is so distant from what you imagined. Even here, the conclusion of the quest is not the end. Because the quest is not life. It's an interruption to life. And life is the real story. Our relationships with one another. Our anger and sorrow and love. That's the real story. That's what matters.
And I don't think I've ever encountered a writer who understands that more. It's something I didn't understand until reading Hobb.
But, yes, I'm absolutely wrecked, but also so happy.
The one nice thing about coming to the end, is that Fitz will never be lost to me so long as I have the books.
I don't even know what to say. I picked up this series for the first time in 2014 and I didn't realize then how much it would mean to me. Even after finishing Assassin's Quest, it didn't really strike me till months later that I had read something that would utterly change me, that had driven its way into my bones and blood.
Fitz and Nighteyes and the Fool.
I can't think of any characters that mean so much to me. But it's not just those three. It's Malta and Reyn and Wintrow and Paragon and Chade and Kettricken and on and on. It's incredibly bittersweet to leave this world behind. To spend 16 books in this world, to grow to love so many characters so much, and then for there to suddenly be nothing left to read. I think of all the times I cried during these books. I've shed more tears for Fitz then I have for just about anyone, real or imagined. And I wept several times during this final novel, but especially for the last, like, 50 pages. Tears just flowing and unable to stop them but also unable to stop reading.
And I felt so empty all day, having finished this morning. Emptiness may not be the right word. It's more like I've lost a dear friend. All the memories are here within me, and yet Fitz is gone.
There's so much to say about these books. All 16 as a whole, but even just this final trilogy, or this final book, which takes big risks that only Hobb seems to be able to make worth it.
I think Hobb really did the impossible here, which is to make the end worthwhile. To have it meet all expectations. To have it satisfy so thoroughly while remaining true to the spirit of the books, and to keep Fitz and Nighteyes and the Fool who they are. Who they have always been. To break our hearts one last time but make us so happy to have it broken, to stare at the shattered pieces spread all round us.
I recently reread the first chapter of Assassin's Apprentice and it was a heady sensation. I know Hobb has discussed how she did not plan to keep writing Fitz, but she managed to make it so cohesive. To have this world that felt so sturdy and real and alive from the first page. Unlike many writers who gradually stitch together an epic over a handful or dozen books, Hobb never rewrites the rules. Instead, the world just keeps deepening as it grows. Mysteries remain, even here, after the end, but it never feels like we're cheated or some plot device is spun out of nothing to pull things together. It all feels inevitable after the fact. Even looking back at those first pages, when Fitz describes meeting Burrich and Verity for the first time...to read the ending now, it feels like a closed loop. Like it all had to be this way.
What impresses me most about Hobb, I think, is how she understands that the quest is hardly ever the point. Saving the princess or defeating the monsters--that's incidental to what matters. And so every quest Hobb writes ends up being so different than expected, and the resolution is so distant from what you imagined. Even here, the conclusion of the quest is not the end. Because the quest is not life. It's an interruption to life. And life is the real story. Our relationships with one another. Our anger and sorrow and love. That's the real story. That's what matters.
And I don't think I've ever encountered a writer who understands that more. It's something I didn't understand until reading Hobb.
But, yes, I'm absolutely wrecked, but also so happy.
The one nice thing about coming to the end, is that Fitz will never be lost to me so long as I have the books.