Assassin's Apprentice Part 1 - Chapter 1 to 5

[Hanne]

Discussion page for start of the book. I'll add the others closer to the starting date

[Hanne]

finally started today!
i couldn't wait any longer, but unfortunately i was kept at work a little longer than expected, so only managed to squeeze two chapters in.

so far, so good though! really liking it.
i like the atmosphere she creates, and find a fantasy story told in the first person quite refreshing!

oh and David, i finally get your 'She Skilled me into it' quote. i thought it was weird Australian slang, but i guess it was Hobb-slang instead :D

[David Sven]

Ha Ha. I was using my Wit! I had initially thought this was a reread for you. Didn't realise this was your first time. Very brave moderating a group before you know whether you like the books. I'm sure you'll love them.

[Rob]

The book starts slow (but not in a bad way). It's just different. No wise man shows up to sweep the young boy off on an adventure in the first few chapters.

[Lee]

I absolutely loved the time Fitz spends learning in this first book. Arrgh, no, I am not going to re-read this.......... gah

be strong

[Rob]

Lee wrote: "I absolutely loved the time Fitz spends learning in this first book. Arrgh, no, I am not going to re-read this.......... gah

be strong"

Succumb to the Hobb Side!

[Lee]

but, but, I am in the Ringworld with Harry Dresden with Malaz on the horizon.

[Rob]

Yea Hobb and Malazan are why I'm not reading Ringworld..

[David Sven]

Lee wrote: "but, but, I am in the Ringworld with Harry Dresden with Malaz on the horizon."

I really recommend reading 5 books at once! Sleeping socializing and Xbox are so overrated.

[Lee]

Oh Gods I forgot about Red Country starting tomorrow. Borderlands 2 on the xbox tonight. Socializing with friends in co-op play ;)

[Hanne]

how i am going to reply on all of this. you guys are way too active while i am sleeping. a little bit like the hamster i had as a kid...

rob, alex: i'm only 50 pages in right now, but i do like the way she writes, and how she's not dumping some of the essential stuff on us but weaving it into a story of a boy with some beggar friends in a city.


Lee wrote: "but, but, I am in the Ringworld with Harry Dresden with Malaz on the horizon."
come on Lee... Mazalan is still 16 days away, that's almost a light year away in reading time! :p


David Sven wrote: "I really recommend reading 5 books at once! Sleeping socializing and Xbox are so overrated."
hehehe! :D

[Rob]

Hanne wrote: "a little bit like the hamster i had as a kid... "

So you're saying I'm like your pet hamster? o.O

[Hanne]

not specifically. all of you together are like my hamster.
he was always sleeping and doing nothing when i was awake and every morning i got the stories from my dad about how active he had been all evening/night. and i always missed it.
it's a bit the same as waking up to 10 new comments here, and 5 there and 3 there...
you guys are most active when i'm not around (ah, stupid time zones!)

[Rob]

Hanne wrote: " (ah, stupid time zones!) "

Yea. I think David and Lee are something like 15 hours ahead of me, so we don't suffer from the time zones as much. When I'm getting up and going to work (since I get up at 5am to get to work at 6) they are settling down for the evening.

Then they are sleeping while I'm busy working, and waking up as I get home from work.

But I think you're 6 hours ahead of me and therefore 9 behind them making the overlapping times less.

[Hanne]

Burrich frowned. 'Just think about it yourself for a while. You'll come up with a name that fits.'
'Fitz,' I said sarcastically, and I saw Burrich clamp his jaw.

I have to admit that i didn't know what Fitz meant, so i had to look it up. I will never be able to look at Mr.Fitzwilliam without a slight light bulb going of in the back of my head.

I also loved the part about "the polite way to kill". I really was like hearing Morveer (from Best Served Cold) again.

Finished the first 5 chapters, and so far I really like where this is going. Little Fitz with his many mentors but without friends.
I had to remind myself that he is only 10 years old right now, because that part with Shade and the thieving test, and especially his very emotional reaction on it, went a little bit overboard. But then, a 10 year old in his situation? I can imagine.

I can't wait to see where this is going.

[David Sven]

Hanne wrote: "I also loved the part about "the polite way to kill". I really was like hearing Morveer (from Best Served Cold) again."

Morveer and Chade do sound very similar. I think Morveer might be a tad more twisted though.

[Hanne]

oh definitely. chade seems like a friendly grandpa-version if anything!

[Rob]

Hanne wrote: "oh definitely. chade seems like a friendly grandpa-version if anything!"

Lol. I never thought I'd hear Chade described that way.

[Hanne]

i might still change my mind of course.
but compared to Morveer, he (currently) is.

[[deleted user]]

The combination of Fitz having Skill and Wit will be interesting I think.

[Candace]

Hobb packs a lot of information into a small amount of page. In the beginning I thought Oh no, I felt very detached for a first person narrative. But I looked back and Fitz was TRYING to detach himself and write a history of the duchies, NOT his memoirs. Thankfuly, as he guessed he would, he is failing. It is becoming all about him and I draw cloer and closer to Fitz.

Burrich was similar in that I didn't know what to think of him. I wondered about his motives at first. Was he taking care of Fitz for himself? to advance his own career (Burrich's)? Was he doing it for Chivalry? the Prince he obviously truly cared for. Did he care at all for Fitz? I think he grew to care for Fitz over time. He and Fitz had so much in common. The main thing being their loneliness. Fitz had lost the pup, Nosy, and Burrich had lost Chivalry.
They both seem to love animals? What else??

Speaking of Chivalry, did anyone else have a LITTLE trouble believing his dad would let him walk away from being the next King when he was such a gifted and talented everything apparantly?

[Candace]

In the above post, I spoke of the similarities between Burrich and Fitz. Fitz obviously feels more comfortable with Burrich. He would rather stay in the barn then in his royal room. This brings up something I could see running through the novel. Where Fitz would like to be versus where Fitz is placed. They don't seem like they will be the same things. When Chade asks Fitz what he thinks of what they have planned for him, Fitz tells him, he doesn't like it much,the idea of killing people. Will anybody ever care what the bastard wants??

[Candace]

Robin Hobb wrote this book in 1995. While reading it, even at the beginning, I'm reminded of other writers who have come AFTER her who have possibly taken/learned something from her. I think of Martin with his bastard, Jon Snow. I think of Rothfuss with his story within a story. The YA book Graceling has a lot of similarities. And I've just started reading!! Any others??

[Rob]

Candace wrote: "This brings up something I could see running through the novel. Where Fitz would like to be versus where Fitz is placed. They don't seem like they will be the same things. When Chade asks Fitz what he thinks of what they have planned for him, Fitz tells him, he doesn't like it much,the idea of killing people. Will anybody ever care what the bastard wants?? ."

This is a very good observation.

[Rob]

Cordelia wrote: "The combination of Fitz having Skill and Wit will be interesting I think."

It makes Fitz a very unique person in the world, and therefore interesting to read about.

[David Sven]

Candace wrote: "I think of Martin with his bastard, Jon Snow. I think of Rothfuss with his story within a story. The YA book Graceling has a lot of similarities. And I've just started reading!! Any others?? "

Kip in Brent Weeks' Black Prism which I'm currently reading is a bastard.

And GRRM is just a bastard for killing anything and everything on two legs.

[Hanne]

Candace wrote: "Robin Hobb wrote this book in 1995. While reading it, even at the beginning, I'm reminded of other writers who have come AFTER her who have possibly taken/learned something from her. I think of ..."

Candace - that is a great observation, and thinking of it i'd definitely say that George RR Martin was influenced. The bond the Stark kids have with their wolves sounds an awful lot like Wit to me...

(and since my version of this book has a quote from GRRM he definitely read the books)

[Hanne]

someone else: Brandon Sanderson, especially in the 3rd book of mistborn. the way he starts his chapters with someone's memoirs, so we get to learn more

[Lindsey]

Hanne wrote: "someone else: Brandon Sanderson, especially in the 3rd book of mistborn. the way he starts his chapters with someone's memoirs, so we get to learn more"

Sanderson's actually stated many times that Hobb is one of his favorite authors. I'll try to find the reference if you're interested.

[Hanne]

aha! that's cool to see it confirmed. thanks