#90 Assassins Apprentice

Assassins Apprentice by Robin Hobb

My first ever Robin Hobb book! Robin Hobb is pretty prolific in the high fantasy genre and you cant really call yourself a fantasy lover without checking out her work. Ive only really got into adult fantasy in the last few years since reading A Song of Ice and Fire. So when i saw 'Elderlingalong' hosted by Becca and the Books as part of her catch up book club (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJz__BP5EdI) i jumped on it, im very excited to read the books along side others and discuss on a live show. The book for March is the first book in The Farseer Trilogy, Assassins Apprentice and the following months will have us finishing this trilogy and moving onto The Liveship Traders trilogy.

Assassins Apprentice i believe is one of her shorter books and was around 400 pages, i listened to the audio book which i believe was 17 hours. The story follows Fitz who is a bastard son of Prince Chivalry who is the next in line to the throne, he is hidden away from view to be raised by the Kings stableman. Fitz soon captures the attention of his grandfather the King, who takes him from the stables and places him in the care of Chade who is the royal assassin. The King informs Chade that he is to watch over and train Fitz to become a 'kingsman' which is another name for the royal assassin.

Fitz has struggled to fit in his entire life and is treated terribly by the royal staff and family, he is treated as 'a bastard' and made to feel worthless pretty much his entire childhood. The book spans from Fitz being a young boy to his teenage years. Fitz attracts a lot of anger from his uncle Regal who views him as an abomination that should never have been born. Fitz has a lot of obstacles that he must overcome and it makes for an interesting read of his journey.

In this world there are two types of magic systems, the first being 'the skill'. The skill is prominent in the Farseer line which is the line Fitz was illegitimately born into, it is a psychic type ability in which you can see places that are outside of yourself, it is a visual skill in that you are able to connect to someone elses mind when they are miles away from you in a telepathic sense if the also carry the skill. Another neat trick the skill allows the bearer to perform is that you can subtly change peoples emotions without them noticing and make them see things that arent actually there. The second magic system is 'the wit', which Fitz possesses. The wit allows the bearer to communicate with animals and is seen by most as unnatural and not a good ability to have. It is also known as beast magic and people have been killed if they are found out as having this type of magic as it is seen as very dangerous. Typically the bearer will bond with a particular animal and will be able to understand and somewhat communicate with the animal.

I must say this is one of the first series ive read that was written in the 90's and it had such a different feel to it, the descriptions are very rich and there isnt a lot of world building, there is so much focus on plot and characters which was unusual to read but also very refreshing. I enjoyed Fitz as a character and really liked seeing his character development from a meek young boy to a logical and intelligent young adult. My only real criticism is that at times it is overly descriptive. The magic systems are the stand out features in this book for me, they are so well done and i struggle to think of better developed magic systems in any of the other fantasy books ive read.

Overall i really enjoyed this story and i cannot wait to see where the rest of the story goes and what antics Fitz gets up to! I am also low key obsessed with these covers,i need them on my shelves!