Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb

Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tom Badgerlock has been living peaceably in the manor house at Withywoods with his beloved wife Molly these many years, the estate a reward to his family for loyal service to the crown.

But behind the facade of respectable middle-age lies a turbulent and violent past. For Tom Badgerlock is actually FitzChivalry Farseer, bastard scion of the Farseer line, convicted user of Beast-magic, and assassin. A man who has risked much for his king and lost more…

On a shelf in his den sits a triptych carved in memory stone of a man, a wolf and a fool. Once, these three were inseparable friends: Fitz, Nighteyes and the Fool. But one is long dead, and one long-missing.

Then one Winterfest night a messenger arrives to seek out Fitz, but mysteriously disappears, leaving nothing but a blood-trail. What was the message? Who was the sender? And what has happened to the messenger?

Suddenly Fitz's violent old life erupts into the peace of his new world, and nothing and no one is safe.

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I have had two life-altering experience when it comes to fantasy, first reading David Eddings The Belgariad as a teenager and then reading Robin Hobb The Farseer trilogy in my early twenties. They made me love fantasy. So it was a great pleasure to finally be able to read the first book in The Fitz and The Fool Trilogy.

In this book Fitz is living a happy life with Molly, raising her sons, living a peaceful life in the country. But when a messenger disappears, everything changes, although he doesn’t know it yet, it will take some time before he realizes that. And that’s how much of the plot I’m going to reveal. The rest is up to you to find out!

Robin Hobb has written a fabulous book, a worthy follow-up The Tawny Man trilogy and I loved every page, every chapter was a truly joyous experience, it’s a book you read until your eyes can’t take in anything more and you have to sleep so you can continue reading the next day. It’s well written and intriguing to read and it’s never boring, even though there isn’t much action in the book. I was pulled into the story and the only thing that I didn’t like was reading the last chapter and knowing that it will be a while before the next book…