The Farseer Trilogy 3-Book Bundle: Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, Assassin's Quest

I read this series as it was being published and have just finished my second leisurely reading of it now that I am retired and have the time to do so. This I remembered as being one of my favorites and it is very satisfying to find it every bit as enjoyable the second time around. Love the characters even though some are so much better developed than others and the villains are truly mean, conniving and hateful. Overall just great story telling from a wonderful author!

I read this series back when it was first published and always kept it in the back of my mind to read again. I very rarely do this as I can rattle off one series after another that has been read and the story immediately forgotten. (Just look at any "Top 25" list of fantasy series and think how many you'd really consider re-reading? For me it's very few). Fast forward almost 20 years (yikes) and am I glad I revisited the Farseers! Great writing, excellent characters, and an engaging plot make this series a "must have" in the fantasy genre. It really brought home the reason I liked the series in the first place years ago. Even better, there's another trilogy (The Tawny Man, which I immediately devoured and enjoyed even more!) as well as half a dozen other books written in the same world. Yes, there are many times you'll want to throttle the main character Fitz, and there is occasional repetitiveness between books, but in the end I'd recommend this series to pretty much anybody.

This is a wonderful story but by the 3rd book I was tired of the redundant dialogue and Fitz's idiocy. How many people have to tell you something before it sticks? I notice, in many series an author will start throwing senseless things in to try an get to the ending they decided on beforehand. Books 1 & 2 were great but book 3 was a bear to finish, I took a long break from it. I lost interest, even after skipping many pages of repetitive info or dialogue. The break was so long I just started from book 1 again.

I can’t say that this is my favorite story, as I tend to like simple and easy stories where the good guys wins, gets the girl, and rides off into the sunset. And Fitz, the main character is not the typical good guys, he does win in the end, but he never gets the life with his true love that he longs for, rather the man who raised him ends up with her in a heart-breaking twist in the story. This is not shallow entertainment, this is more like the real world but with an epic fantasy story happening in it. It is real and it is raw, and the writing is masterful. I don’t know what to feel, but I feel it a lot!

One of the things that I love about Robin Hobb is that, she doesn't JUST tell a story, she takes you to another place. When you finish reading her books you come back from a journey with your friends. These are books you will read again and again. She is truly one of my very favorite authors. In this series, we get to know FitzChivalry Farseer. We watch him grow from a little boy to a man with all of the struggles of being born a royal bastard. We see his spirit and his desire to honor his commitment to his King and later the struggle of such a commitment. Amazing. I laughed, and I cried and in some places my heart just wrenched at the choices he would need to make.

Great series! 2 years ago I read the 5 Game of Thrones books. Last year a fried recommended this series and I gave it a try... I enjoyed it a lot. The main differences between Hobbs and Martin's books are the point of view (first person for Hobb and third person for Martin), the amount of characters (tons of them in Martin's, quite a few in Hobb's) and the amount of death, especially of the main characters. What I liked the most about Hoob's books is the connection with the main characters, and that the magic in her world could have existed in the real one, or may exist, I don't know... There is a lot of action, tension, details and I couldn't stop reading it. Already bought the next trilogy.

The Farseeer Trilogy is a compelling action story peopled with distinctly drawn characters and enough descriptive prose to fully visualize an alternate world and its peoples. That alone would make it a solid read. The reason it is a great read is the plot, which, for a predictable genre (fantasy), has far more twists than most. The hero doesn't automatically get the girl. Good doesn't always win. Key figures die (much like Game of Thrones). Some major characters get left behind, because they have wandered out of the protagonist's life - and others wander in. Small, insignificant actions turn out to have lifelong consequences - some good, some bad. Yet , despite this richness and chaos, there is always a destination for the story, and it is always just ahead. There is also a destination for individual characters: even offstage characters still feel alive, and progress in their own lives as time passes. The story arc is incredibly detailed and well-planned . Many mysteries set up in the early pages of book are resolved, quite unexpectedly - and almost incidentally - in books 2 or 3. The fact that the reader doesn't know what happens next, to either any one character, or to the realm as a whole, is what makes each page turn faster than the last.

***This is vague for anyone who hasn't read it but I wanted to keep this spoiler free*** The first two books are fantastic as Hobb immediately brings you into the Bastard's world with a fitting first person narrative that extends from boyhood into young adulthood. However, by the third book Hobb's character evolution of Fitz stagnates, particularly in the second half of the novel. He becomes a whining boy trapped in self-pitch and wallowing over things that should have been understood and reconciled as he matured. I had no patience for it and had to skip most of this until the final 10% of the book where the plot finally moves on (but not without Fitz still crying all the time). Sadly his self pity has nothing to do with the overall outcome of the novel or it's plot line, so it's a big time suck. However the ending reconciles things and meets the strong story crafted in the first two novels.

Très bon livre, pour l'instant jamais déçue des opus de Robin Hobb. L'histoire est un peu lente à démarrer mais est ensuite très captivante.

La prima trilogia del regno di. Buckkeep e dei suoi sei Ducati vede svilupparsi il personaggio principale FitzChivalry Farseer assieme a un nutrito gruppo di comprimari, quali i principi Verity e Regal, la spia Chade, la futura regina Kettricken e molti altri personaggi interessanti. Tutti i caratteri sono ben delineati, la storia è molto avvincente. Mi ha colpito in particolare la forma di magia detta “Wit” (nella traduzione italiana pubblicata da Fanelli è chiamata”Spirito”) che consente di comprendere a fondo gli animali, dialogando mentalmente con loro e potendo stabilire un legame speciale con uno di essi che diviene un partner, un amico, un alleato (pur senza essere un vero e proprio daimon). Per gli amanti del genere Fantasy è una lettura da non perdere. Volendo continuare a seguire FitzChivalry e il suo speciale comprimario The Fool le vicende proseguono in altre due trilogie altrettanto avvincenti.

I love these books. I have "read" them in audiobooks, and I could not wait to have them on paper. These stories are bewitching and will keep you reading all the 16 volumes of the Robin Hobb universe, with characters that grow up and live all kinds of adventures in a world where you have 2 kinds of magic. As I said, I could not stop listening and I mean to reread them all over again. The binding is quite good, the book opens almost 180 degrees without having to crease the spine. Also, the library that sent them was perfect, the books arrived in perfect condition, with only a little delay on Customs (no payment had to be done).

Dich unterhalten!

I have read my sons book, the whole farseer series more than ten years ago. The books were some of the best I ever read. So this time I am buying my own collection and rereading them all . I like the cover illustration very much but the card cover seems to be a little thinner than my sons book from years ago.. The books arrived safely packaged and very speedy. Impressive.