Leippya's review

Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 1)
by Robin Hobb

[close]

blog this review

Copy/paste the text below into your blog.

<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45107.Assassin_s_Apprentice?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy, Book 1)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170273738m/45107.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45107.Assassin_s_Apprentice?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Assassin's Apprentice</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/25307.Robin_Hobb">Robin Hobb</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8357296?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 4 of 5 stars<br/>This is a series I've been afraid to start for a long time, as I've seen people with tastes similar to mine get completely lost in these books. This didn't happen to me...... at first. I have several issues with the beginning of the book. The first is probably that the hero is so young at the beginning, so he is stup... I mean, naive, like all kids his age, but because as a reader we're smart enough AND we know the title of the book, we can see everything coming from a mile away. It's boring. Also, because the style starts by being all description and barely any dialogue, it's very hard to build a feel for the personality of the hero, besides "he stands there and gets insulted and says nothing." I remember reading something along the lines of "Lady Thyme told us to shut up because we were laughing too loud" and stopping there because I just couldn't imagine him laughing. I wished the author has shown the conversation because really, what could he be laughing at? At something normal for a boy his age, or something else?
<br/>
<br/>Then, somewhere between the end of the first quarter of the book and the start of the first third, something changed. I suspect it's because there's more dialogues and more importantly, the hero starts doing things instead of passively being subjected to whatever the other characters want to throw at him. We get a great view inside his mind when he analyses situations and problems -- that guy is smart and has been very well-trained -- and we start to get a good feel for his personality as well. As far as I'm concerned, that's when I started caring and what made me keep thinking about the book at all times. 
<br/>
<br/>My conclusion would be that this is definitely a series worth reading. I already have the two following books, but that doesn't prevent me from  planning like mad my next trip to the bookshop, to buy the second trilogy. Great, crazy stuff!
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/436784?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Leippya's review
rating:

bookshelves: fantasy
recommended for: people who like political fantasy
status: Read in April, 2008

This is a series I've been afraid to start for a long time, as I've seen people with tastes similar to mine get completely lost in these books. This didn't happen to me...... at first. I have several issues with the beginning of the book. The first is probably that the hero is so young at the beginning, so he is stup... I mean, naive, like all kids his age, but because as a reader we're smart enough AND we know the title of the book, we can see everything coming from a mile away. It's boring. Also, because the style starts by being all description and barely any dialogue, it's very hard to build a feel for the personality of the hero, besides "he stands there and gets insulted and says nothing." I remember reading something along the lines of "Lady Thyme told us to shut up because we were laughing too loud" and stopping there because I just couldn't imagine him laughing. I wished the author has shown the conversation because really, what could he be laughing at? At ...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it) flag

comments (showing 0-0 of 0)

newest »

date

all Leippya's books »