A review by shandyt
Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb

5.0

4.75 stars.

I've always said I love a book with a good denouement, and boy, does this deliver.

The first third of the book is the weakest—think of it as "getting to the place." There is a long stretch of the book devoted to travel that felt interminable, with the only bright spots the

Spoiler

dream contact that Fitz had with Nettle, and Nettle helping Thick deal with his fear and sickness

. The middle third of the book, wherein they "do the thing," gets much more interesting. The pace is still slow at first, but then events pick up speed and coalesce into something almost like a miniature version of a Sanderson-style avalanche. Robin Hobb doesn't seem much of an action writer, but the action scenes were pace-y and had me on the edge of my seat. This section also featured the second passage to bring me to tears,

Spoiler

when Burrich, tenderly caring for Fitz, remarked that seeing Fitz injured turned him from a grown man back into the little boy that Burrich had raised on Chivalry's behalf.

Then the final third of the book is devoted to the best, most satisfying denouement of any fantasy series that I can think of. We are reintroduced to dear, beloved old friends, and are treated to what feels like the culmination of everything that came before. I only have two minor quibbles: that, after the moderate pace of the denouement up to that point,

Spoiler

Fitz's re-seduction of Molly

felt rushed, and that, after already having been faked out once,

Spoiler

Fitz was not the one to tell Nettle he was her father. He deserved that moment with her, loath as he seemed to actually speak the words

.

It's almost hard to imagine that there's a whole trilogy left to go. Then again, I thought the same thing after completing the original trilogy, wondering where the story would lead. The only way to know is to read on... so on I go!