A review by cappuccino136
Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

This book picks up right where the first book in this trilogy ended. We see the internal politics and the crisis with the Red Ship Raiders playing out and getting worse. We stay with Fitz as the only point of view. The pace is slow and the writing style is descriptive and just what you want for fantasy. The core characters are so well drawn, they feel like they live and breathe. And that can hurt, because the stakes are so high and the author does not protect them from horrible situations. The infighting and intrigues never stop and the rift between the coastal duchees and the inland duchees keeps growing wider. The worldbuilding also unfolds a bit at a time as characters struggle to piece together knowledge from myth and history to search for sources of help and ways to deal with the raiders who are only getting bolder and stronger. Kettricken, Chivalry's new wife and now the Queen in Waiting, does not have an easy road trying to navigate this very different court and at first finds little support or friendship. Her character development is so interesting and she is a favorite of mine. We learn more backstory and see the relationships between the core characters change and grow, too. Regal is an out and out villain, no apologies and no sympathetic shadings. I like that about him. It is refreshing after reading a lot of the traumatized, angsty, or misunderstood style villains. 
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