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Fool's Assassin
Book 14 - Fool's Assassin
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Fool's Assassin > Part 4: Chapter 16 - 20
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Rob
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Aug 12, 2014 02:23AM
Discuss Chapters 16-20.
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CH 16I'm really not happy about so many Bee chapters. I'm starting to dislike her a bit as a result.
The Fool has a son? Whose the mother? (Or Father?)
Have we seen that cloak the messanger was wearing before? It seems familiar, but maybe I'm thinking of another book/show/movie.
Ch 17-19Fitz kills again for the first time in years and makes Bee a part of it.
The cat in the walls spooks Shun. And now FitzValiant is on the way.
I got my copy of the hardcover today, and I'm preferring it to the audio I think. Manual whispersync ftw.
I'd say that while I'm enjoying this book, but not as much as Tawny man. For a series called Fitz and Fool, there is far too little Fool for my liking.
And I'm greedy. I hate losing Fitz chapters to Bee.
Haha. I'm not sure if Harry Potter's cloak I was thinking of, but maybe.
Ch16 - I wonder if Bee is the Fools "son" that needs protecting. It seems white prophets method of reproducing is a little unorthodox.
Alex wrote: "Also, I don't have children, so I'm really wondering how somebody who does responds to Fitz and Bee's relationship. The struggling father is killing me right now, and I wonder if it strikes and eve..."I don't get how he has struggled so much with fatherhood this time. He spent years in a cabin with Hap and did a super job at being a dad. How come he's now worst dad ever. Really, it's like loving Molly removed his common sense, his caution and his ability to think straight! The same with the Fool- He appears to have shockingly poor judgement and made terrible decisions over the past 20 years. Maybe back together the two of them can get themselves back on track!
David Sven wrote: "Ch16 - I wonder if Bee is the Fools "son" that needs protecting. It seems white prophets method of reproducing is a little unorthodox."That's the thing with prophecies- they are rarely 100% acurate.
The other I note is that Bee has the Wit - she is able to communicate with the cat, strike a bargain with it, to do some ratting, discover from it that there are some more rat nests in the wall.
David Sven wrote: "The other I note is that Bee has the Wit - she is able to communicate with the cat, strike a bargain with it, to do some ratting, discover from it that there are some more rat nests in the wall."Ah, but does she? I recall a story from Hobb's 'The Inheritance' Short stories, where she said cats choose who can hear them, wether or not they have the wit!
Little wrote: "Ah, but does she? I recall a story from Hobb's 'The Inheritance' Short stories, where she said cats choose who can hear them, wether or not they have the wit! "Hmmm, that's interesting. I don't quite remember that.
Mod
I'm having the opposite reaction. She got me with the first POV chapter, but now there have been chapters that she is telling where i'm not sure what the point is? Still think Fitz' chapters are the best, but wherever she can add to the story, I'm all for it.
David Sven wrote: "The other I note is that Bee has the Wit - she is able to communicate with the cat, strike a bargain with it, to do some ratting, discover from it that there are some more rat nests in the wall."
I'm not sure yet on this. First there is LittleRed's comment indeed on cats, but then wasn't the Fool able to communicate with Nighteyes too? Even though he doesn't have the wit?
(or do i now really have my Fool facts mixed up? someone should re-read all those books and note down all these little things, it's going to be important! any volunteers :))
Hanne wrote: "Alex wrote: "I didn't like the Bee chapters at first, but now I'm warming up to them. "I'm having the opposite reaction. She got me with the first POV chapter, but now there have been chapters th..."
I volunteer! I'm a devil for the details. It amazes me that I can read these books over again and still find things i don't recall from before! The fool could only communicate with nighteyes when fitz and he were skill linked -via the silvered prints on his forearm. The first time he was 'conscious' of the majesty of nighteyes, was when they were in the quarry with verity, and they joined to reach for kettle's skill. Otherwise, i think there was a fuzzy awareness between the fool and nighteyes, but not witted commuication....I'm such a geek! ;-)
Mod
thanks that clarifies it! so how many times have you read the books?
Hanne wrote: "LittleRed wrote: "It amazes me that I can read these books over again and still find things i don't recall from before! The fool could only communicate with nighteyes when fitz and he were skill li..."Read a couple of times, but the have listened to the audiobooks countless times. The narrator is just perfection. His voice for the Fool is perfection. Hearing hm cry out 'BELOVED...' sets me a weepin' every time! ;-)
Alex wrote: "Also, I don't have children, so I'm really wondering how somebody who does responds to Fitz and Bee's relationship. The struggling father is killing me right now, and I wonder if it strikes and eve..."As a father with two young daughters, I think Fitz is really shitting the bed with regards to raising Bee here. Granted, his wife died and he's got a lot on his plate, and Bee's also not exactly a normal kid, but he really is coming across as one of those guys who has no idea how to relate to a young girl. The father-daughter bond is a very special one which really needs to be nurtured from birth, and he gave up entirely too easily when she was being inundated by his Skill and sort of just let Molly be the only caretaker. Now he's trying to half-assed recover his relationship with her and doing a mediocre-at-best job of it. Seriously, he's taking in strays and worrying about the Fool, when he really needs to be taking care of his own child. It's not out of character, but it is frustrating.
Bryan wrote: "Alex wrote: "Also, I don't have children, so I'm really wondering how somebody who does responds to Fitz and Bee's relationship. The struggling father is killing me right now, and I wonder if it st..."Fitz appeared to be a nuturing young lad, open to the needs of those animals he cared for in the stables with Burrich. He just seemed to have a naturally caring nature. His horses needs after a ride always came first. And when Starling delivered Hap to his door, again, he seemed to thrive in caring for the child. He really didn't do a bad job with Hap, and actually was wonderful looking after Thick on Aslevjal. It didn't take him long to see past Thick's physical differences to the personality beneath. Which is why I don't understand why he is so suddenly deadbeat dad. He has longed for his own child, and even the simplest communication is a trial for him. Yes,didn't realise he was burning her with his wit and skill- but again, what an idiot. He should have known his own offspring would be sensitive to his magic's and put up his walls.
LittleRed wrote: "Hanne wrote: "LittleRed wrote: "It amazes me that I can read these books over again and still find things i don't recall from before! The fool could only communicate with nighteyes when fitz and he..."Who is the voice for the Fool, do you remember? I'd like to hear that.
On Fitz's parenting: he had three problems:a) he felt both reserved about her apparent disabilities and guilty about his reservation
b) any time he so much as looked at her she screamed
c) his wife and daughter were utterly devoted to each other and any attempt Fitz made to share parenting duties was just getting in the way of that.
So it's understandable that he backed off, rather than making all three of them miserable by clomping around insisting "I AM THE FATHER! FATHERS MUST BOND WITH CHILDREN!" - particularly since he's never had a lot of confidence or tact to begin with. Plus, you know, he literally (and with good reason) thought she was so intellectually challenged she couldn't even talk for most of her childhood, so that probably reduced the feeling that she might be missing out on anything by him taking a back seat.
Besides, Bee's ended up both a wonderful child and a mirror-image of her father (combined with traits of his best friend). She also has a very strong bond with her father, and one that's getting stronger. So it's not like he's buggered up her childhood or anything - indeed, I strongly suspect that if he hadn't respected her need for distance from him it would all have ended up a lot worse (both because of her resentment and because he's probably an over-anxious parent when he lets himself engage).
As for Hap, it's worth remembering Fitz adopted him around the age of 8, iirc. In other words, he started parenting Hap around the same time he took charge of Bee. This makes sense to me: Fitz strikes me as someone who would be great with kids but terrible with infants.
Finally, we might also want to bear in mind that a family model where childrearing is done by the mother, or a nanny/governess, with the father taking a more distant role, has been the norm in huge swathes of Earth's own history, including only a couple of generations ago in Europe and America. We shouldn't necessarily assume that Fitz will share all of our assumptions about the importance of hands-on fathering.
Em wrote: "LittleRed wrote: "Hanne wrote: "LittleRed wrote: "It amazes me that I can read these books over again and still find things i don't recall from before! The fool could only communicate with nighteye..."The audible uk version of Tawny Man is narrated by an actor called Nick Taylor. http://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Sci-Fi-Fa...
You can listen to a sample. When the fool first goes to Tom's cabin, the voice isn't right, but he finds perfection by the time Fitz asks his true name. ' He closed his eyes againbut his grin grew even wider. 'Beloved. She called me only ''Beloved''.' I would 110% recommend joining audible just for this!
LittleRed wrote: "Em wrote: "LittleRed wrote: "Hanne wrote: "LittleRed wrote: "It amazes me that I can read these books over again and still find things i don't recall from before! The fool could only communicate wi..."Thanks, listening to it now. I've not tried any audio books before, I'll check out the membership prices, may give it a go!
Haha, love Riddle's voice, that made me giggle, and Nighteyes. No Fool on all 3 samples but that's ok:)
Wastrel wrote: "On Fitz's parenting: he had three problems:a) he felt both reserved about her apparent disabilities and guilty about his reservation
b) any time he so much as looked at her she screamed
c) his wif..."
I just hope that Fitz does get the chance to be a father to Bee again and she's not trapped there for years.
Wastrel wrote: "On Fitz's parenting: he had three problems:a) he felt both reserved about her apparent disabilities and guilty about his reservation
b) any time he so much as looked at her she screamed
c) his wif..."
Good point about Molly's attachment issues with the child, although Fitz could have nipped that in the bud if he'd had the stones. As far as Bee's reactions to his presence, that was a truly facepalming moment. It's not like it's a huge intuitive leap to think "Hmm, my kid is uncomfortable around me and other Skill-users and screams every time someone tries to use the Skill on her." Instead he simply shrugs and returns to his dusty old scrolls.
As I said in my earlier post, this type of behaviour is quite true to Fitz as a character, and I think it's a credit to Hobb's ability to write good characters. It's just frustrating.
(ETA: sorry for the novel below, I'm coming to this a bit late and there were lots of good comments to respond to upstream!)Bee's POVs are growing on me. Hobb has really captured the mind of a gifted child well and I'm enjoying the slow burn of Bee and Fitz learning to communicate with each other. Fitz's POV still feels more like "home" to me.
I've actually enjoyed the (IMO, realistic) frustration between Fitz and Bee. First, Fitz & Bee are both grieving; Fitz's POV slowly points this out explicitly, whereas Bee's do not (as she is experiencing significant loss for the first time). Hobb's descriptions of how grief can shut you down are vivid and overlap very much with the symptoms of general depression. It's also worth remembering that in his time with Hap & Thick, Fitz was missing part of his "self" that was in the stone dragon. The Fool returned that to him, so he may simply be a different sort of parent now.
I agree that Fitz isn't used to dealing with very young children, who can be needy in a way that older children are not. Plus, as many parents of more than one child can tell you, being a great parent to one kid doesn't guarantee you'll be a great parent to a different kid! Children (and methods to parent them) are no more interchangeable than adults are. And let's admit, while Hap seems to have turned out okay, we get our opinion of Fitz's parenting of him from Fitz himself. We might have felt differently if Hap had ever had a POV! I'm finding the brief views of Fitz's interaction with Nettle equally instructive; there's a parenting relationship he has fouled up. Nettle talks to him adult-to-adult, more like contemporaries than daughter and father.
(And again, all praises to Hobb for pulling all of this off so well!)
I suspect that Bee is the "unexpected son" as well. Her dreams sound more like the Fool's prophecies and less like Nettle's command of Skill dreams. (Now I'm curious how the Fool's "magic" fits in with the silver-related magics!) Thinking Hobb may be playing on the nebulous nature of prophecy as well as possibly a language trick (maybe moving from a non-gendered to gendered language messed up the translation?). I also wonder why Hobb is being cagey about whether Bee possesses any Wit or Skill ability.
Thoughts on the "Wolf Father"? Nighteyes is the obvious choice but how does he reach Bee? I almost think this is some manifestation of Fitz himself... after all, Bee's favorite dream is of two wolves running freely. There's a lot of symbolism there but I think it could be her and Fitz as easily as Fitz and Nighteyes.
