fool's errand part 1 > chapter 1 to 5

[Hanne]

... and we're off again!

I'm joining later this evening

[David Sven]

Yay! Started Chapter 1. Time for Fitz to come out of retirement I think. Looks like he's still hooked on skilling. I wonder if Nettle will find out he's her father?

[Hanne]

ch1 - yes, i think his early retirement is done. i actually really thought he would give in when Chade mentioned that he might do the skill training himself, purely based on the scrolls.
but i guess you can't go back when everyone thinks you're dead either.

so we head into the mountains instead. although i would suspect that this is just a long detour to end up in buckkeep anyways?
why else start the trilogy with a visit from chade?

[Hanne]

ch2 - and back comes starling with a very loyal boy who shies away immediately so he doesn't have to tell fitz what he knows.
i think fitz definitely has matured a awful lot during his solitary life, but looks like that life is over. where will he head to though? the mountains, or buckkeep after all?

[Rob]

This was my favorite trilogy of the three. I just wish all the details weren't so fuzzy. But I read this probably 70 books ago now..

[Lindsey]

Yay! Just read this one a couple months ago, excited to discuss. Hoping I can keep straight what happened where... I'll be sure to mark anything I'm unsure about as a spoiler.

I liked that Fitz doesn't go with Chade. It's a pretty strong statement that he's gotten used to not being someone else's tool during his "retirement".

[David Sven]

Ch2 - So Starlings using Fitz on the side. Ouch. Wit magic is still frowned on. And I wonder what Change Night Eyes senses coming.

[Hanne]

Lindsey wrote: "I liked that Fitz doesn't go with Chade. It's a pretty strong statement that he's gotten used to not being someone else's tool during his "retirement".

I liked that too. Although i doubt Chade every really expected Fitz to join him back. Perhaps Chade's visit was only intended as the first stone in an avalanche?


David Sven wrote: "Ch2 - So Starlings using Fitz on the side. Ouch. Wit magic is still frowned on. And I wonder what Change Night Eyes senses coming."

I hadn't expected that! Fitz on the side i mean.
Regarding the Wit magic, I'm not surprised it's still considered some weird witch-kraft.

I'm hoping Fitz might go to the mountains or Bingtown where Wit seems a lot more openly used. I thought it was funny how Fitz rejected the rumour of newly hatched dragons in Bingtown.
He's been out of it allright :)

[David Sven]

Hanne wrote: " I thought it was funny how Fitz rejected the rumour of newly hatched dragons in Bingtown. "

Lol - I laughed at the rumour that you could hire the dragons out as watch dogs. I'm sure Tataglia would be really impressed with that.

[Rob]

See and if you had skipped Liveship Traders...you wouldn't know what the heck to believe!

[David Sven]

Rob wrote: "See and if you had skipped Liveship Traders...you wouldn't know what the heck to believe!"

Too true. I wouldn't even know where Bingtown was supposed to be - Or that there was a difference between real dragons and the dragons in the Farseer Trilogy.

[Rob]

I think you can probably read this trilogy without being lost, but you miss out on a lot of subtleness.

[Lindsey]

Hanne wrote: "Lindsey wrote: "I liked that Fitz doesn't go with Chade. It's a pretty strong statement that he's gotten used to not being someone else's tool during his "retirement".

I liked that too. Although i doubt Chade every really expected Fitz to join him back. Perhaps Chade's visit was only intended as the first stone in an avalanche?"

King Shrewd lived up to his name in choosing his tools well, didn't he? Chade, obsessed with the preservation of the Farseer dynasty, would of course go after the best tool in his arsenal: Fitz. And Fitz, who wants all the comforts of family that he's been denied... yeah, it really is an avalanche. I think Chade knows that all he needs to do is tell Fitz that it's possible and his own loyalty will eventually see to the rest.

[David Sven]

Ch3 - So Starling was Chade's spy. And the possibility that Chade might have been considering taking him out? I can't believe that. Kettricken is standing up for Witted Ones because of him. But there is a song about Fitz floating around by the son of one of the guards who saw him and Verity. If Fitz went back what would that mean? There might be some who saw him as a better king than Kettricken. Or maybe they want him to go back to deal with the whole Witted thing.
The Fool's got to be turning up soon I think - He keeps sensing him/her.

[Hanne]

ch3 - and if chade himself hasn't put things in motion, then i guess the tale Starling just told will. witted ones being hunted, and the witted ones taking brutal vengeance on those who do the hunting.
the tale of the piebald prince and the song about fitzchivalry being alive will do the rest i think.

fitz has always been foolish enough to fall for these grand sacrificial things :)

[Hanne]

David Sven wrote: "Ch3 - So Starling was Chade's spy. And the possibility that Chade might have been considering taking him out? I can't believe that. Kettricken is standing up for Witted Ones because of him. But the..."

I guess a few things. One, the fact that the song goes around will make it easier for Fitz to go back if he wanted to. The song will have put some seed in people's mind, even if they didn't believe it. Although it won't help for Burrich who of course knows that Fitz came back from the grave after the torture by Regal, but he thinks he died afterwards.

I definitely think Kettricken is standing up for the Witted ones because of Fitz. Although it would be interesting to remakr here that Fitz always thought Kettricken had some kind of Wit as well in how she could enjoy the world around her. But he suspected she had no clue about that.

[David Sven]

Hanne wrote: "that Fitz always thought Kettricken had some kind of Wit as well in how she could enjoy the world around her."

That's right. I'd forgotten about that.

[Hanne]

ch4 - i wonder whether Jinna was serious about the charm to keep chickenhouses safe, or whether she secretly wanted to try out a new charm for witted ones? surely a witch like her living off selling charms will know pretty well what people are afraid off?
or was it really an accidental discovery? will she use it or not?

i have to say that i quite like her, and the same can't be said about Starling. who says a fourteen year old boy that he's like his raping father? even if that were to be true, you don't really say that, grmbl.

still wondering where fitz will go though. his skill dreaming might have been with Prince Dutiful. The girl blushing, the queen and chade looking up.
will he reall leave the boy to discover everything by himself?
i'm still hoping he'll head to bingtown though.

[Rob]

Never been a Starling fan myself.

[Hanne]

i remember being quite neutral to her in the previous books, but here.. aarrrggghhhh. she's just mean!

[David Sven]

Ch4 - Was it a charm for witted ones? Or was it just that it had affected Night Eyes - the predator - and that fear carried over to Fitz?

I like how she saw his two different lives in both hands. The left hand he dies early - which he did in book 2 of Farseer

[David Sven]

Ch5 - The Fool has arrived. I like all the Liveship references. The Fool has Amber eyes. The horse is called Malta - I bet Malta would love that..not.

[Hanne]

David Sven wrote: "Ch4 - Was it a charm for witted ones? Or was it just that it had affected Night Eyes - the predator - and that fear carried over to Fitz?

I like how she saw his two different lives in both hands. ..."

It's a carry-over, i would presume. Like the torture story of the witted girl.
So you're right it might only indirectly work with witted ones bonded with other predators, those linked with birds might feel nothing

[Rob]

The horse Malta was probably my FAVORITE part of the Liveship references. HILARIOUS. Especially after despising her for so long.

[Hanne]

ch5 - and so we finally know what happened when we thought Amber would be knocked dead by the first-mate-whose-name-i-don't-remember. it was fitz witting and skilling to save Amber's life.

i'm also glad to see Fitz remarking how the Fool's colouring has changed! i knew the Fool in the first trilogy wasn't so tanned!

the horse Malta, aye, i can completely see it! well bred, a bit of a show off and a mind of her own. i like, i like!

[David Sven]

Hanne wrote: "ch5 - and so we finally know what happened when we thought Amber would be knocked dead by the first-mate-whose-name-i-don't-remember. it was fitz witting and skilling to save Amber's life."

Ah thanks - I was trying to remember the incident.

[Sumant]

Started the book, and just couldn't stop reading it.

Fitz has really matured, and has become a type of loner and he has taken a boy under his hood Hap.

Also the wolf and Fitz are more dependent on Hap, only Night eyes can tell Fitz that without his ego coming into play for it.

Jade showing up is no co-incidence, he is surely tracking what Fitz has been upto for so many years through Starling.

Also those incidences where the witted ones are getting persecuted and the piebald exacting revenge for them smells of some conspiracy.

The fool is a fresh breath of air in Fitz life, and naming her horse Malta and all those bingtown references makes me nostalgic with Liveship traders.