Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

SYNOPSIS

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.
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So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

Synopsis from Goodreads

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PERSONAL REVIEW

This is an older series that came highly recommended to me (so much so, that the person literally bought me this book so that I would finally read it!) so I was interested to see what it was all about. I don't often read Adult Fantasy books, but mainly because I just don't do the research to find something that grabs my attention. I'm happy I was pushed to read Assassin's Apprentice because I think Fantasy could be a genre I get into. 

Very Slow Moving 
Fair warning: this story takes a long time to get moving. I really had to push myself through the first 1/3 of the book, and the only reason I did so was because I didn't want to let down the person who gave it to me. However, once it starts moving (aka Fitz grows up a bit) the story gets a lot more interesting. I liked Fitz's training, both as an assassin and in the art of "the Skill" (a mental ability that I hope we learn more about in future books), and just wish that it started happening sooner. I'm not sure why we had to start the book with him so young, other than it being a convenient way for him to not yet have a name that he remembers, so that he can be named "Fitz", which means "bastard", so that it can be a constant reminder to everyone that he is the accidental child of a prince (which was a little too on the nose for me, but whatever). 

Character Driven Story 
This is very much a character driven story, so that's a fair warning. I still found it to be really compelling, but we do spend the majority of the book in Fitz's head. He is not a character prone to conversations, but instead prefers to watch everything take place. The story also starts when Fitz is around 6 years old, so it takes him quite a while to grow into his own story as he is thrust into a whole new reality. As I mentioned, it takes a pretty long time for the story to start moving, and I think it's because Hobb wanted to spend a lot of time having Fitz grow up and grown accustom to his new life. 

Interesting Beginning to the Series
It took me a while, but I eventually got into this story and I'm interested to see where the series goes. I thought it ended at a really interesting part, and left a TON of room for Fitz (and the story) to go. We have a much clearer understanding about who can and cannot be trusted, and it will be interesting to find out what role these characters play in the next book. I'm also excited to see how Fitz grows up. He's getting better that making decisions for himself, and clearly has the potential to use the Skill, but we'll now have to see if he'll actually learn how to use it. 

Overall, this was a bit of work to get through, but if you still with it, it's a fairly interesting read. I'm very interested to see where the series goes and what will end up happening to Fitz! Have you heard of or read this series? What did you think of it?

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FINAL RATING: 3.5/5