Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy, #1) in Fantasy Buddy Reads

Dec 19, 2014 Sara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This book was good, it wasn't what I was expecting and the writing was really cool! I did find some parts to be boring and overall the story was slow for me but I will be picking up the next books and I'm really looking forward to it! ...more

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Sep 11, 2017 Rachael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I can't quite bring myself to rate this 5 stars, knowing all that is to follow this, all the times Hobb will rip my heart in pieces and stomp on it over the next dozen books. But, I am certainly nostalgic for this book, the one that started it all. This is a slowww, character-driven series that will punch you in the feels again and again. You have been warned. ...more

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May 02, 2013 Amyiw rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, new-author, series, z-home-shelf, new-series, na-ya, x-2013

2 1/2
I put this at 3 stars for the story but because of all the last minute close calls with luck saving the hero, I could not call it great. The story is very compelling and kept my interest, about a boy, a bastard son of the prince, being given to the care of his father's family. One uncle sees him as his brother's son but doesn't give him much mind, a 1/2 uncle sees him as competition, and his grandfather the king sees him as a tool. At first he is raised in the stables by his father's ex-val 2 1/2
I put this at 3 stars for the story but because of all the last minute close calls with luck saving the hero, I could not call it great. The story is very compelling and kept my interest, about a boy, a bastard son of the prince, being given to the care of his father's family. One uncle sees him as his brother's son but doesn't give him much mind, a 1/2 uncle sees him as competition, and his grandfather the king sees him as a tool. At first he is raised in the stables by his father's ex-valet and stable master. Then he is moved by the king into a room in the palace. He is given training and education but one evening he is told that he should be trained as an assassin for the king. He swears fealty to his king and begins training.

During all this, you come to find that Fitz, the boy, has psychic powers of connecting with animals and can see humans in their links and being. In the middle of the book they decide to train him in the psychic skill called "the Skill". Now that ability, talking mind to mind, and seeing into others minds is considered a valuable skill whereas connecting with animals is considered unnatural and a hanging offense. I never got why.

All through these trainings and acquiring of abilities, you start seeing Fitz grow and learn about the politics around him. Certain people obviously hate him, his Skill teacher, his 1/2 uncle, ect..., some your not sure of the King, his assassin trainer Chade, and some you can get are good and like him, the stable master, his uncle, (view spoiler), his friends in town, etc... It is black and white, yet the king doesn't seem to protect him at all.

So my issues with the story all spoilers. (view spoiler)
My take on the last minute saves. (view spoiler)[
Galen attacks Fitz in the Skilling class and puts the thought of worthlessness and needing to end himself in Fitz's mind, he is badly beaten. Fitz actually looks over the edge of a roof but his dogs connection brings him to not do it. Yet, his desire to end himself still drones on. None of the classmates think to make sure he is OK. And no one calls Galen on it except Burrich, the stablemaster. If he tried to kill him once, don't you think he'll try it again. Still the thought that the connection to the dog saves him makes it make sense unlike some of the other close calls.

During Skill training, Galen drops Fitz off on the other side of a town that has been infected by "The Forge" which makes people blank in ties to others. They become feral, fighting for all things and uncaring of hurting others. Galen does not leave Fitz a horse like he does for the other boys. This leaves Fitz walking through a very dangerous place. He is attacked, not once but twice, by forged people. It is a three to one fight and Fitz gets away the first time and then actually kills the people the second time. He is a 15 year-old and these are adults. He has no weapons, hmm... OK, he survives by shear luck.

Fitz is out in the open when the Red Ship comes, yet he is not seen. This wasn't done so badly but it was just another close call.

The ending,
--Fitz is told, "don't eat anything not from your own hands", yet he takes the herb in the garden. It is poison and if the princess didn't tell him how his uncle betrayed him as an assassin, Fitz would not have run to get an antidote in time.
--His 1/2 uncle, who he does not follow, talks to him in an obviously incorrect manner, and outs him as and assassin. To me there is no reason to contact the king to ask what to do. It is obvious. Still he takes the poison to Prince Rurisk. He knows he is being set up and that he is to be killed one way or another, why does he again drink wine that was not got by his own hand? So Rurisk and he drink the win. By miracles of miracles, Fitz doesn't seem to have drank enough of the very deadly wine, which kills Rurisk immediately, yet Fitz just suffers numbness and spasms. Again dumb luck that he didn't get enough poison.
--Then... his 1/2 uncle Regal calls him to the hot baths. Even though Fitz cannot even walk on his own, he goes to the Regal who is trying to kill him. His 1/2 uncle knocks Burrich out and believes him dead. So now Fitz has no support and Regal throws him into one of the deeper pools. Why doesn't Regal hold him under. It wouldn't take but a minute and it would insure that no one came around in time to fish Fitz out. No that would be too simple. So Fitz has enough energy to get to the top to take breaths several times yet he cannot get purchase to climb out. We find out later that his old dog drags him out, leaving bite marks on his hand. Really, his hands slip and slide and he cannot get out, yet the dog can pull him out by his hand? And even if he was knocked out and couldn't get out of a small tub, it would've been a close call with the luck of the Irish that he had a dog so bonded to him there.
--So he tries to Skill to his uncle Verity or the King to let them know what is going on. He gets the Skill to see the back deal of his 1/2 uncle planning to kill his uncle, Verity, the future King. But he has no ability to get to it before his 1/2 uncle tries to kill him. So when he is dropped into the pool and struggling to keep his head over water, suddenly the skill comes and he can warn Verity of the attempted assassination, and even at his weaken state, he can give power to Verity to fight the assassin, Galen. And this all happens right at the moment that the assassination is taking place, during the ceremony, which his 1/2 uncle is attending. How did Regal, his 1/2 uncle, get to the ceremony so quickly. In less time than it would take for Fitz to drown. The timing is all wrong, last minute, and doesn't work. But hey suspend disbelief and Fitz saves his uncle Verity from being killed, last minute save to the rescue.
(hide spoiler)]
I could have probably suspended believe if there was only one incongruency or last minute saves at the end but 4 saves and 2 timing issues is just too much.

I like the story until the end. And really I liked the end too, just not the way it was told. It could have turned out without all the last minute issues, plot missteps and been done in a very different, smarter way. But alas no.

I was pretty sure I was going to continue the series when I was 3/4 through but after the ending, I've changed my mind. I don't know if I'll ever come back to it, but I don't think so. As good as the story was, not the ending, it was not at all fun... at least in some places. No humor or lightness as one reviewer pointed out. I've read the reviews of the next two in the trilogy and found that the author is not nice to Fitz and that they both end badly for him. The last (view spoiler) I believe she leaves much in the air as she wrote a continuation as a 2nd trilogy. I didn't like it enough, or care enough about Fitz to read 5 more books of averagely 750 pages each.

...more

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Jan 23, 2022 Nikki Saulnier rated it really liked it

I picked it up and put it down so many times through the beginning/middle. It was a bit slow but that may have been because I was trying to read it to help my anxiety about teaching with covid in my classroom every day...

The end was a whirlwind, so action-packed in the last 3-4 chapters 😵

I enjoyed it and I'll definitely read the rest of the series. ...more

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Nov 09, 2023 Atlanta rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction-fantasy, fiction, audio, young-adult, epic-fantasy, magic, adult, high-fantasy, adventure

I ripped through this book. I had it around for years. When an artist friend mentioned she liked the trilogy I was finally motivated to pick it up. Wow. It is like the wheel of time but more easier to understand. I’m glad there are at least 8 more books in the three series .

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