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A review by samanthaardenlockheart
Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
5.0
There are spoilers in this review. Proceed with caution. ♥️
I would be terribly remiss to not begin this review by first thanking a wonderful person I know who was kind enough to give this book to me. Its impact on me has been incredible. Robin Hobb is now one of my favourite authors, for certain. I am looking forward to reading Royal Assassin and Assassin’s Quest next.
Throughout reading Assassin’s Apprentice, it became extraordinarily clear to me that Hobb has a very unique way of articulating herself; I definitely read slowly at parts so as to not be confused, mostly because I am not used to her writing style. And yet, I was so completely immersed in his world thanks the unique characters with very distinct personalities. FitzChivalry, Burrich (the stablemaster), Prince Verity, Chade Fallstar (a royal assassin), Molly, Sooty, Smithy, and all others unmentioned are all such wonderful characters. The first chapter was very captivating as it showed our main character begins to write out this story, and that he is telling from his perspective as a young boy. I’ve never felt so intrigued by characters in such an intellectual way before engaging with a story in the fantasy genre. Their personalities are poignant and distinct, and Hobb does an excellent job of conveying this through constructing mannerisms for her characters along with implementing distinct modes of dialogue, or the manner in which each character speaks.
The perspective of our main character FitzChivalry Farseer starting off as just a six-year-old boy was something I have not seen in any stories I have read, and this story documents him through his adolescence. I also loved Hobb’s wonderful portrayal of animals, as if she was reaching into the minds of horses and dogs themselves and revealing their thoughts through what is known as the Wit in this story. I love animals so much, and scenes when their mental states were described made me feel all warm inside. Upon reading of Fitz’s first journey to Neatbay in Chapter Eight it started becoming evermore clear to me (as if it wasn’t already) that he was a very well-learned, brilliant young boy, and Chade’s teachings to him were starting to pay off. I enjoyed his sense of humour upon watching Lord Kelvar and Lady Grace interact; their incompetence for not being able to defend their territory on Watch Island was so comical. Reading about how Fitz made up a vision in his mind to convince Lady Grace to become an actual Duchess and give a speech was also brilliant; this shows his character and natural ability and influence to make that situation play out in the best way he saw fit. In Chapter Ten, Chade Fallstar and FitzChivalry’s journey to Forge was one I loved reading about. The scene with the inn fire was as memorable as it was terrifying, for two reasons to me: (1) the idea that the villagers in Forge had lost their internal souls and everything that made them human and (2) the fact that Fitz could feel their emotions and how they felt like nothing to him when he passed by their raided inn in Forge. Immediately after this point in the story, Chade informed Fitz that he must be taught the Skill. Galen is the one who was tasked to teach Fitz by the King.
One of my favourite less intense scenes was right when Fitz was meeting Lady Patience in her chambers, and he was gifted a little puppy, who was then named Smithy. Little did I know just how much little Smithy would help Fitz recover after weeks of gruesome and mentally and physically taxing training sessions with Galen in the Skill. He was a very ruthless Skillmaster with enormous disdain for Fitz, over nothing the poor boy could have control over. In Chapter Fifteen, Galen’s rage only worsened through Fitz’s quick mastery of the Skill, thus bringing him to his breaking point where Fitz’s entire spirit was tested. Thankfully, because of Burrich and Smithy, Fitz began making a recovery and healing from the traumatic events he had gone through after failing to keep his mind guarded and succumbing to the euphoria of feeling the Skill. Unfortunately, life continued getting rather difficult for poor Fitz. This can be seen in Chapter Sixteen. When he had to face Galen’s final task of practising the Skill, Fitz ended up failing rather miserably. He was sent to just north of Forge: a rather dangerous area. He ended up waiting and waiting for Galen’s call out to him which never came. What Fitz instead felt was Smithy’s crying out to him through his mind, along with Burrich being attacked. When he returned to Buckkeep, everyone thought he was dead, and he knew that he failed Galen’s test—despite all of the training. He quickly realized that poor Smithy had passed away. Burrich had found out that he was using the Wit all along, claiming that that was why he could not master the Skill, and then he commanded Fitz to leave and that they shall not be speaking again. This left him feeling sad and internally empty, and the way Hobb articulated this was extraordinarily moving. I felt the strong urge to cry, as there was a tight feeling in my chest, when I found myself relating to the feeling of failing and not measuring up to others’ expectations and even your own.
The internal fear and despair measuring up, not being enough, and feeling ashamed and confused that Fitz regularly experiences are certainly very human experiences— experiences I unequivocally know all too well, just as you do. Not long after this deep failure, Fitz learned from Price Verity that Galen had purposefully convinced him via his mind that he would never be able to Skill, effectively sabotaging his many months of effort intentionally. To me, this truly spoke of the hatred and vengefulness inside of Galen despite his outward air of dominance and power as a Skillmaster. In Chapter Twenty-One, where Fitz is tasked with having to poison Prince Rurisk of Jhaampe, I was very taken aback by what happened at the end. It seems he had decided that he had no intention of going through with the plan, since having Rurisk alive might unite the Duchies by being able to provide invaluable resources. In the end, when Regal commands him to go through with the initial plan, Fitz thinks to himself, “Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.” I found these words of Hobb to be particularly meaningful and wise for my own life along with the people I interact with. There is so much hidden meaning in just this sentence that lead me to feel contemplative and think about the choices I’ve made in my own life. In Chapter Twenty-Three, Fitz does not end up wanting to poison Prince Rurisk, but as it turns out, Prince Regal already poisoned the wine and intended to make it look like Fitz is the one who carried out the act, which is alarming since he admired the man. Even more distressing is that Fitz was also left poisoned. After being taken and shamed by Regal, in this state of being poisoned, Fitz started hearing various voices around him through the Wit as if he was in a dream-like state. In the last two chapters, the plot started coming together even more, indicating to me that there is more to Assassin’s Apprentice than just Fitz. Regal literally tried overthrowing Prince Verity, and nearly killed Fitz in the process. While FizChivalry is the main character, and I am most interested in him, but he is also part of a larger story of people who have events happening to them just as he does. For this reason, I found the last two chapters to be the most challenging to read, yet that did nothing to take away from the pleasure and internal whirlwind that reading this book was for me.
To conclude my review, it was very pleasing to me how Robin Hobb revealed very few hints of information without giving too much away in this book, which makes her writing so intriguing to me. She managed to fit so much important detail within these pages, yet her words always left me guessing about the plot, the characters, and how things would continue to unfold. The complex emotions such as those articulated in this book are echoes to my own soul, reminding me that the depth I feel is universal. Fitz is a very unconventional protagonist because he ends up never obtaining one of his main goals, which is learning how to Skill. In fact, he ends up sick and in a very weak position by the end of this first installment. I actually thought that at some point in this book, he would gain the ability to Skill somehow—yet he does not. This is a reminder to me that he is human with imperfections and insecurities, and Hobb did a very excellent job of making readers (at least someone such as myself) feel seen. Not being able to Skill does not make Fitz a failure or anything less than the person that he is; if anything, it is a testament to all he had to endure. Many of the passages in this story possess a profoundly safe place in my heart.
I would be terribly remiss to not begin this review by first thanking a wonderful person I know who was kind enough to give this book to me. Its impact on me has been incredible. Robin Hobb is now one of my favourite authors, for certain. I am looking forward to reading Royal Assassin and Assassin’s Quest next.
Throughout reading Assassin’s Apprentice, it became extraordinarily clear to me that Hobb has a very unique way of articulating herself; I definitely read slowly at parts so as to not be confused, mostly because I am not used to her writing style. And yet, I was so completely immersed in his world thanks the unique characters with very distinct personalities. FitzChivalry, Burrich (the stablemaster), Prince Verity, Chade Fallstar (a royal assassin), Molly, Sooty, Smithy, and all others unmentioned are all such wonderful characters. The first chapter was very captivating as it showed our main character begins to write out this story, and that he is telling from his perspective as a young boy. I’ve never felt so intrigued by characters in such an intellectual way before engaging with a story in the fantasy genre. Their personalities are poignant and distinct, and Hobb does an excellent job of conveying this through constructing mannerisms for her characters along with implementing distinct modes of dialogue, or the manner in which each character speaks.
The perspective of our main character FitzChivalry Farseer starting off as just a six-year-old boy was something I have not seen in any stories I have read, and this story documents him through his adolescence. I also loved Hobb’s wonderful portrayal of animals, as if she was reaching into the minds of horses and dogs themselves and revealing their thoughts through what is known as the Wit in this story. I love animals so much, and scenes when their mental states were described made me feel all warm inside. Upon reading of Fitz’s first journey to Neatbay in Chapter Eight it started becoming evermore clear to me (as if it wasn’t already) that he was a very well-learned, brilliant young boy, and Chade’s teachings to him were starting to pay off. I enjoyed his sense of humour upon watching Lord Kelvar and Lady Grace interact; their incompetence for not being able to defend their territory on Watch Island was so comical. Reading about how Fitz made up a vision in his mind to convince Lady Grace to become an actual Duchess and give a speech was also brilliant; this shows his character and natural ability and influence to make that situation play out in the best way he saw fit. In Chapter Ten, Chade Fallstar and FitzChivalry’s journey to Forge was one I loved reading about. The scene with the inn fire was as memorable as it was terrifying, for two reasons to me: (1) the idea that the villagers in Forge had lost their internal souls and everything that made them human and (2) the fact that Fitz could feel their emotions and how they felt like nothing to him when he passed by their raided inn in Forge. Immediately after this point in the story, Chade informed Fitz that he must be taught the Skill. Galen is the one who was tasked to teach Fitz by the King.
One of my favourite less intense scenes was right when Fitz was meeting Lady Patience in her chambers, and he was gifted a little puppy, who was then named Smithy. Little did I know just how much little Smithy would help Fitz recover after weeks of gruesome and mentally and physically taxing training sessions with Galen in the Skill. He was a very ruthless Skillmaster with enormous disdain for Fitz, over nothing the poor boy could have control over. In Chapter Fifteen, Galen’s rage only worsened through Fitz’s quick mastery of the Skill, thus bringing him to his breaking point where Fitz’s entire spirit was tested. Thankfully, because of Burrich and Smithy, Fitz began making a recovery and healing from the traumatic events he had gone through after failing to keep his mind guarded and succumbing to the euphoria of feeling the Skill. Unfortunately, life continued getting rather difficult for poor Fitz. This can be seen in Chapter Sixteen. When he had to face Galen’s final task of practising the Skill, Fitz ended up failing rather miserably. He was sent to just north of Forge: a rather dangerous area. He ended up waiting and waiting for Galen’s call out to him which never came. What Fitz instead felt was Smithy’s crying out to him through his mind, along with Burrich being attacked. When he returned to Buckkeep, everyone thought he was dead, and he knew that he failed Galen’s test—despite all of the training. He quickly realized that poor Smithy had passed away. Burrich had found out that he was using the Wit all along, claiming that that was why he could not master the Skill, and then he commanded Fitz to leave and that they shall not be speaking again. This left him feeling sad and internally empty, and the way Hobb articulated this was extraordinarily moving. I felt the strong urge to cry, as there was a tight feeling in my chest, when I found myself relating to the feeling of failing and not measuring up to others’ expectations and even your own.
The internal fear and despair measuring up, not being enough, and feeling ashamed and confused that Fitz regularly experiences are certainly very human experiences— experiences I unequivocally know all too well, just as you do. Not long after this deep failure, Fitz learned from Price Verity that Galen had purposefully convinced him via his mind that he would never be able to Skill, effectively sabotaging his many months of effort intentionally. To me, this truly spoke of the hatred and vengefulness inside of Galen despite his outward air of dominance and power as a Skillmaster. In Chapter Twenty-One, where Fitz is tasked with having to poison Prince Rurisk of Jhaampe, I was very taken aback by what happened at the end. It seems he had decided that he had no intention of going through with the plan, since having Rurisk alive might unite the Duchies by being able to provide invaluable resources. In the end, when Regal commands him to go through with the initial plan, Fitz thinks to himself, “Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it.” I found these words of Hobb to be particularly meaningful and wise for my own life along with the people I interact with. There is so much hidden meaning in just this sentence that lead me to feel contemplative and think about the choices I’ve made in my own life. In Chapter Twenty-Three, Fitz does not end up wanting to poison Prince Rurisk, but as it turns out, Prince Regal already poisoned the wine and intended to make it look like Fitz is the one who carried out the act, which is alarming since he admired the man. Even more distressing is that Fitz was also left poisoned. After being taken and shamed by Regal, in this state of being poisoned, Fitz started hearing various voices around him through the Wit as if he was in a dream-like state. In the last two chapters, the plot started coming together even more, indicating to me that there is more to Assassin’s Apprentice than just Fitz. Regal literally tried overthrowing Prince Verity, and nearly killed Fitz in the process. While FizChivalry is the main character, and I am most interested in him, but he is also part of a larger story of people who have events happening to them just as he does. For this reason, I found the last two chapters to be the most challenging to read, yet that did nothing to take away from the pleasure and internal whirlwind that reading this book was for me.
To conclude my review, it was very pleasing to me how Robin Hobb revealed very few hints of information without giving too much away in this book, which makes her writing so intriguing to me. She managed to fit so much important detail within these pages, yet her words always left me guessing about the plot, the characters, and how things would continue to unfold. The complex emotions such as those articulated in this book are echoes to my own soul, reminding me that the depth I feel is universal. Fitz is a very unconventional protagonist because he ends up never obtaining one of his main goals, which is learning how to Skill. In fact, he ends up sick and in a very weak position by the end of this first installment. I actually thought that at some point in this book, he would gain the ability to Skill somehow—yet he does not. This is a reminder to me that he is human with imperfections and insecurities, and Hobb did a very excellent job of making readers (at least someone such as myself) feel seen. Not being able to Skill does not make Fitz a failure or anything less than the person that he is; if anything, it is a testament to all he had to endure. Many of the passages in this story possess a profoundly safe place in my heart.