FitzChivalry Farseer is fighting mad. Bastard grandson to the old king, and apprenticed in his youth to the court assassin, he now finds himself separated by his dangerous trade from the woman he loves and the child he will never know. His mentor, Verity, the King-in-Waiting (and uncle by blood) is possibly dead on a desperate quest of his own, and Fitz, can only watch as their kingdom is ravaged by ferocious Sea Raiders after being abandoned by the usurper king, Prince Regal.
In Assassin’s Quest, the final installment of Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy, Fitz has only one goal left in his shattered life — to find and kill the contemptible Regal, who has destroyed Fitz's own life, before Regal's negligence and conniving can destroy the entire realm.
From the opening sequence of Fitz reluctantly detaching himself from the freedom and relative simplicity of life as a wolf, courtesy of his link to his bond animal, Nighteyes, to the arduous journey through the mountains, always trying to stay one step ahead of Regal's thugs (not always successfully) in search of Verity, who calls irresistibly to Fitz through telepathy called The Skill, this page-turner sucks you in like the vortex of a tornado.
Fitz and Nighteyes' companions include an ancient woman who seems to know a lot about The Skill, an often troublesome minstrel who tags along determined to fashion a heroic ballad from Fitz's adventures that will make her fortune, and Verity's intrepid bride, Queen Kettricken of the mountain kingdom. Diverse as they are, they strive to work together as a unit. Or as Nighteyes exults, "We are pack!"
Also along for the ride is the latest iteration of the oft-evolving Fool; not quite as "colorless" as before, but just as sharp-tongued, enigmatic, insightful and compassionate. Referred to by some as a White Prophet, the Fool was the first to nickname Fitz as "Catalyst" (to Fitz's great annoyance), while Nighteyes sometimes calls him "Changer."
One of Fitz's few pleasures (but just one of many for the reader) is the immediate and easygoing alliance that develops between his two closest friends, Fool and Nighteyes. The wolf calls Fool "the Scentless One."
This only highlights intriguing questions hinted at about the Fool's age, origin, species (perhaps not exactly human) and gender. Which, having already read the next trilogy in Hobb's ouevre, The Liveship Traders, opens up to me a whole new raft of possibilities around one of the principal characters in those books.
Hobb is an Equal Opportunity storyteller: Guards, warriors, Skillmasters, armorers, artisans, all are as likely to be female as male. Hobb herself is a master weaver, embroidering rich details into her massive and complex tapestry — each trilogy from a different point of reference and a different region, but all part of the same engrossing world.
These are the three Anniversary Edition covers. Pretty cool huh? Click here to see what Hobb has to say about it!
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