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A review by mightyjor
Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb
5.0
4.5/5 Stars
This is a long book and I had a lot of thoughts while reading it, so I wrote the review in 2 chunks, one from halfway and one when I finished it.
50% of the way through:
So I absolutely love this book. I was just so so about the other books, and I'm not sure if it's because I've just come off a number of first novels in fantasy series or I'm it's just a great book but this is such a cozy a comfortable and addicting read. I put it off since it was generally agreed to be the worst of the trilogy, but I don't know what people are talking about.
For one we get way more involvement of both the skill and the wit, which I always wanted more of. Nighteyes is also a much bigger part of the book, he's one of my favorite characters. Molly is mostly gone, I disliked her.
But most of all, Fitz is finally able to get away from all those awful schemers and can actually figure out who he is by going on an adventure far away from home. I just care so much about Fitz and all these characters and I just want to spend time with him. The writing is wonderful and the audiobook narrator is great, though I swapped to my ebook partway through because he just wasn't fast enough and I was hooked.
100% complete (still spoiler free review)
Ok, I see why some people don't like the book. At some point after the halfway mark, the book slows to a crawl where next to nothing happens and what does happen is intentionally strange and confusing. It reminds me of the Shadesmar sections of Oathbringer where I kept thinking "couldn't this all have been like a montage chapter?" While I think I understand why we needed so much time here, I won't deny that I was figuratively checking my watch hoping that we would hurry that plot along a bit. I still believe that the first half of this book is an absolute masterpiece. Even the second half isn't necessarily bad, it just takes the focus off the characters and the drama and instead places it on weird mystical plot that the reader doesn't understand, which can really make it drag on. I'm sure that this section is going to have a huge impact for the rest of the series, but I really don't think it needed to be as long as it was.
There's still some amazing scenes by the way and it ends with a real gut punch of an ending and some moments that even made me tear up. So still worth reading. But it's nearly 1000 pages and I think we could have easily cut 100-200 for a tighter read. Ultimately though I think this is still one of the best fantasy series I have ever read and I'm for sure continuing on. Most people say this is one of the weaker novels and that makes me even more excited to continue on.
Some thoughts with minor spoilers:
There's a thing that happens with Verity and Fitz that I really don't get. I feel a little disappointed that almost everything with the Red Ship Raiders happens somewhere else. This includes everything that happens with Buckkeep, and I'm a little bummed that significant things happened that just sort of happened in the background. Like, let's spend some time following that for a few chapters! He's already Skilling to get viewpoints of people, maybe we could have seen a bit from Patiences POV? I'm sure it's one of the reasons people felt disappointed by the book, but it wasn't enough to sour anything for me. I still loved it.
This is a long book and I had a lot of thoughts while reading it, so I wrote the review in 2 chunks, one from halfway and one when I finished it.
50% of the way through:
So I absolutely love this book. I was just so so about the other books, and I'm not sure if it's because I've just come off a number of first novels in fantasy series or I'm it's just a great book but this is such a cozy a comfortable and addicting read. I put it off since it was generally agreed to be the worst of the trilogy, but I don't know what people are talking about.
For one we get way more involvement of both the skill and the wit, which I always wanted more of. Nighteyes is also a much bigger part of the book, he's one of my favorite characters. Molly is mostly gone, I disliked her.
But most of all, Fitz is finally able to get away from all those awful schemers and can actually figure out who he is by going on an adventure far away from home. I just care so much about Fitz and all these characters and I just want to spend time with him. The writing is wonderful and the audiobook narrator is great, though I swapped to my ebook partway through because he just wasn't fast enough and I was hooked.
100% complete (still spoiler free review)
Ok, I see why some people don't like the book. At some point after the halfway mark, the book slows to a crawl where next to nothing happens and what does happen is intentionally strange and confusing. It reminds me of the Shadesmar sections of Oathbringer where I kept thinking "couldn't this all have been like a montage chapter?" While I think I understand why we needed so much time here, I won't deny that I was figuratively checking my watch hoping that we would hurry that plot along a bit. I still believe that the first half of this book is an absolute masterpiece. Even the second half isn't necessarily bad, it just takes the focus off the characters and the drama and instead places it on weird mystical plot that the reader doesn't understand, which can really make it drag on. I'm sure that this section is going to have a huge impact for the rest of the series, but I really don't think it needed to be as long as it was.
There's still some amazing scenes by the way and it ends with a real gut punch of an ending and some moments that even made me tear up. So still worth reading. But it's nearly 1000 pages and I think we could have easily cut 100-200 for a tighter read. Ultimately though I think this is still one of the best fantasy series I have ever read and I'm for sure continuing on. Most people say this is one of the weaker novels and that makes me even more excited to continue on.
Some thoughts with minor spoilers:
There's a thing that happens with Verity and Fitz that I really don't get. I feel a little disappointed that almost everything with the Red Ship Raiders happens somewhere else. This includes everything that happens with Buckkeep, and I'm a little bummed that significant things happened that just sort of happened in the background. Like, let's spend some time following that for a few chapters! He's already Skilling to get viewpoints of people, maybe we could have seen a bit from Patiences POV? I'm sure it's one of the reasons people felt disappointed by the book, but it wasn't enough to sour anything for me. I still loved it.