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Book Review: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

The Assassin’s Apprentice is the first book in the Farseer Trilogy written by Robin Hobb. It’s a fantasy novel following the early life of a boy named Fitz, the illegitimate son of the prince of the Six Duchies. As the title suggests, Fitz eventually becomes an assassin’s apprentice and learns the trade of stealthily killing for the king. The book is written through the eyes of a much older Fitz recalling his childhood, so we get glimpses into what he thinks about his past circumstances, experiences, and choices throughout the book.

Summary

At the beginning of his recollection, Fitz is about six years old. His early memories of being left in the care of Burrich, the stable master, are hazy, cozy, and lonely. Buckkeep is a coastal town, but Fitz spends most of his early childhood within the keep itself, never venturing far. Fitz’s days consist of eating, helping Burrich with the dogs and horses, sleeping, and occasionally going into town to play with the local kids including his friend Molly. Ever since he could remember, Fitz has had a natural, semi-telepathic connection with animals and especially dogs. Throughout the book, this ability is always present, but never fully discussed or explored by Fitz. It is considered taboo and unnatural, and he is expressly told by Burrich never to use it. His unique yet forbidden talent mirrors his own struggles with his identity and birthright as the royal bastard. Eventually, Fitz swears allegiance to King Shrewd (who is technically his grandpa), and is put into all sorts of training: swordsmanship, penmanship, and, of course, assassination training from the royal assassin, Chade. Fitz grows to find great purpose and pride in his training and his friendship with Chade, but has yet to face the reality of what it means to be an assassin until much later in the novel. Fitz is constantly trying to find his place within Buckkeep and the world around him.

Writing Style

Due to it being a recollection of his youth, we have the unique ability to know both what he was experiencing at the time as well as his thoughts about the events from a much older Fitz that “knows how the story ends”. This gives the book a very reflective and at times melancholy atmosphere, which cannot bode well for the characters.

Aside from being pensive, the book has overall slow pacing. This gives it a much more real-to-life depiction of youth and life in the Six Duchies. Sometimes afternoons are spent just sitting by the ocean or days sick in bed. Just like in real life the characters have routines, rather than every other day being crazy event after crazy event. This slow pacing may turn some readers away, but I loved how it created more true-to-life characters and immersed me in the world and day-to-day life at Buckkeep.

Character Development

I haven’t felt attached to characters like I have in this book in a really long time. So often characters are written as one dimensional and I could care less whether they live or die. Which is never a good sign. I’d rather read about a character I absolutely hate than one I don’t care about one way or another. The main character, Fitz, is obviously the most complex and nuanced, but the side characters, Burrich, the Fool, Lady Patience, Prince Verity, Prince Regal, King Shrewd, Chade, Galen, Molly, and even his dog, Smithy, all have their own unique personalities and importance they bring to the story. While only being in a few scenes, the Fool’s whimsical and mysterious nature makes me eager to get to know more about him later on in the series. Hobb is great at creating relatable and lovable characters, and uses this first book in the trilogy to set up the backstories and relationships between major characters.

Themes and Messages

As he grows from a small child to a young teenager, Fitz has to grapple with overcoming who the world says he is and should be versus who he is and can be. He is constantly reminded that he is a bastard and often talked badly of. While he faces mistreatment from certain people, Burrich, Chade, Verity, and Molly see him as an individual rather than the label he was born into (as they should). They see the potential in him to become great like his father was. At one point when Fitz felt badly about himself, Burrich said: “That was how Chivalry ruled. By example, and by the grace of his words. So should any real prince do…Be your blood, boy, and ignore what anyone else thinks of you.”

Ftiz’s struggle and journey with accepting himself has room for growth throughout the series, despite all he’s already learned. I love that Robin Hobb didn’t give this one big moment that Fitz realizes he’s a complete and good person despite what people want to say. So rarely are our challenges with self-confidence overcome by singular events, but rather confidence builds slowly over time.

Without spoiling anything, Fitz goes through a lot in Assassin’s Apprentice. He experiences grief and has to learn how to keep living despite it. I thought the book presented accurate descriptions of his struggles with depression and grief. Several times he wants to quit trying, but he lives to fight another day anyways. When Fitz had a near death experience, Smithy was there for him: “It grew louder in my mind, a whining against my fate, a tiny voice of resistance that forbade that I should die, that denied my failure. It was warmth and light…It loved me. Loved me even if I couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t love myself. Loved me even if I hated it. It set its tiny teeth in my soul and braced and held so that I couldn't crawl any further. And when I tried, a howl of despair burst from it, scaring me, forbidding me to break so sacred a trust.” And when Fitz was recovering from that same near death experience Burrich was there for him and helped him to recover: ”But after two days of bed rest, Burrich informed me that only so much stillness was good for a man, and it was time I was up and moving if I wished to heal well. And he proceeded to find me many minor chores to perform, none heavy enough to tax my strength, but more than enough to keep me busy, for I had to rest often. I believe that the busyness was what he was after rather than any exercise for me, for all I had done was to lie in bed and look at the wall and despise myself.” Burrich, the Fool, and Smithy help him get out of his head, and teach us the importance of people that help you when times are bad.

Strengths

Aside from the characters and lived-in feeling of Buckkeep, I really enjoyed this book and Robin Hobb’s obvious love for dogs. She must have dogs of her own, because the descriptions about the dogs were all extremely loving and relatable to me as someone who has a little puppy herself. Hobb knows that a puppy actually CAN solve everything: “So I did, but reluctantly, and not at all sure that Burich was right that bonding with a puppy wouldn’t solve anything. I longed for his warm little world of straw and siblings and milk and mother. At that moment I could imagine no better one.” She also knows that there’s nothing better than cuddling a puppy: “It is difficult to explain what I felt. I needed to pay attention to Lady Patience, but this small being snuggled against me was radiating delight and contentment. It is a heady thing to be suddenly proclaimed the center of someone’s world, even if that someone is an eight-week-old puppy. It made me realize how profoundly alone I had felt, and for how long.” And that dogs can help you see the joys in life: “Yet Smithy remained my only real source of comfort. Following me about the stable was the purest enjoyment he’d ever had. Every scent and sight he relayed to me with an intensity that, despite my bleakness, renewed in me the wonder I had first felt when I’d plunged into Burrich’s world.” Basically dogs are the best. I know it. Robin Hobb knows it. And Fitz knows it.

The second thing I really enjoyed was the budding relationship between Molly and Fitz. These moments in fantasy books always feel more real and rewarding than any romance in a romantasy book could (probably because the characters actually have a life outside of flirting and their counterpart, but I digress). One moment in particular was so sweet and relatable, because I too am quite dense when it comes to love: “The conversation had grown and twined around us, my words coming as naturally as breathing to me. I had not intended any flattery, or subtle courtship. The sun was beginning to dip into the water, and we sat close by one another and the beach before us was like the world at our feet. If I had said at that moment, “I would,” I think her heart would have tumbled into my awkward hands like ripe fruit from a tree. I think she might have kissed me, and sealed herself to me of her own free will. But I couldn’t grasp the immensity of what I suddenly knew I had come to feel for her. It drove the simple truth from my lips, and I sat dumb and half a moment later Smithy came, wet and sandy, barreling into us, so that Molly leaped to her feet to save her skirts, and the opportunity was lost forever, blown away like spray on the wind.”

Weaknesses

The only small gripe I had with the book was how rushed the ending felt to me, although it might have been due to the juxtaposition between it and the slow pacing of the rest of the book. The majority of the book is spent on Fitz learning new things and meeting new people and then BAM all of a sudden he’s in the middle of a murder plot. Though, now that I think of it I kind of like that, because sometimes life does just hit you out of nowhere. In the matter of 24 hours your whole life could be different.

Recommendation and Rating

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone, and of course to fans of the fantasy genre. This book is a great entry point to the fantasy genre. There are technically only two books to read after Assassin’s Apprentice, the characters and character names are easy to remember, and there’s not a complex magic system or world building to figure out. If you’re a fan of the BBC series Merlin, I think you’d especially like this book as it takes place in a similar medieval-style world and I see a potential Merlin and Arthur style friendship(?) going on between Fitz and the Fool. If you enjoyed the Throne of Glass series for the assassin plot, you’d probably like this book as well. I rate this book four out of five stars, purely on the basis of giving other books in the series a chance at the five out of five spot. I feel like I’ve met all the characters and been to Buckkeep which warrants a top rating in my book.

Star rating: 4/5