A review by ceallaighsbooks
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“So. I’m to teach you to be an assassin. Is that all right with you, boy?…There is this, boy—and you should remember it in every situation, not just this one—learning is never wrong. Even learning how to kill isn’t wrong. Or right. It’s just a thing to learn, a thing I can teach you. That’s all. For now, do you think you could learn how to do it, and later decide if you wanted to do it?” Such a question to put to a boy. Even then, something in me raised its hackles and sniffed at the idea, but child that I was, I could find no objection to raise. And curiosity was nibbling at me. “I can learn it.” “Good.” He smiled, but there was a tiredness to his face and he didn’t seem as pleased as he might have.” 
 
TITLE—Assassin’s Apprentice 
AUTHOR—Robin Hobb 
PUBLISHED—1995 
 
GENRE—ya fantasy 
SETTING—a medieval fantasy world 
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—coming of age, heritage & destiny, magic, death, politics 
 
WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
BONUS ELEMENT/S—Excellent world building details—especially the animal knowledge, Molly’s chandler shop, the dynamic in the kitchens etc. 
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️—some of it was iffy, but some of it was excellent, like this: “That is the trick of good government. To make folk desire to live in such a way that there is no need for its intervention.” is PERFECT. 
 
“‘Hard times are here, boy. And I wonder if they will ever pass.’ In the years to come, I was to wonder that often.” 
 
This is the kind of fantasy book that you honestly can almost feel the magic radiating off the page as you read it. I was just blown. away. By the stunning, stunning prose, the depth of all of the characters—even the ones that seemed trope-y, they all had *something* that made them feel more real, even a little sympathetic—and the incredibly insightful treatment of so many interesting themes it was just an extremely elevated fantasy story. I wasn’t expecting that! haha though so I think I ended up reading it a bit faster than I really wanted to so definitely going to save the rest of the series for when I have more time to really immerse myself and maybe even do a reread of this one then as well. 
 
So yeah. An excellent, excellent fantasy story. But. 😅
There were TWO. REALLY upsetting dog deaths—though it felt like THREE the way it was written 😩—so... I just don’t do dog deaths so. That was a pretty big bummer. 😕
 
 
“Most prisons are of our own making. A man makes his own freedom, too.” 
 
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
 
TW //
BOTH dogs frkin die in this 😡
, child abuse (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!) 
 
Further Reading— 
  • The Story of Silence, by Alex Myers
  • The Last Kingdom, by Bernard Cornwell
  • Terry Brooks

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