I took a couple of day before writing about Assassin's Fate, a book that I should read and enjoy again since it is wonderful. As other final installment of Robin Hobb's series the book is fast paced for the most part, then it slows down till the ending.
Everything works: both the PoVs are nice and engaging, the old and new character melts well in the course of the story and there are some moments of suprise and rejoyce; I only noticed small flaws that I did not particularly enjoy, overall the book is very good, also because it does not answer everything.
Robin Hobb confirms to be an incredibly cruel author.

This was so very nearly an utterly perfect book. Perfect beginning. Very perfect ending. Just, there was a bit in the middle that felt a lot like the characters walking through Middle Earth in The Two Towers as Fitz and co sailed across to Clerres. So I won't talk overly on that. Because 80% of this novel was fantastic. And this is a very long novel.

For those who have been reading these books with Fitz and the Fool in them since 1995 when Assassin's Apprentice was first published and, honestly, for those who picked up the series later along the way and loved it, this book is going to be the final book with these characters that everyone had been waiting for.

Not only does it bring in everything that has been coming since the first one of the Fitz and Fool series, but it also acknowledges and harks back to relevant events in the world of both the Liveship Traders characters in Bingtown and the earlier six books involving Fitz and Fool. No mean feat at all.

Just like the others in this series, it is a tale told between Fitz and Bee's joint points of view. Bee has become a formidable character in her own right and god I hope that she gets a series of her own in the future. I'd love to see if she's Witted or creates her own Wit bond. My favourite parts were, by far, the relationship that she created with Wolf-Father, AKA Nighteyes. And also a scene between her and Shun against the ladies of the court, which surprised me to no end.

Seeing the Liveships begin to become dragons was wonderful. Also harking back to more of what the Skill/Memory stones could do, and the knowledge that Silver and Skill are essentially the same thing put to different purpose just shows again how thorough Robin Hobb's world building really is.

I am still weeping a little at how beautifully crafted was the ending.

Now it's just a toss up as to whether I go back and re-read Assassin's Apprentice again, or whether I crack open The Wilful Princess & the Piebald Prince for the first time. I definitely need something to fill the gaping hole that Assassin's Fate left.

Assassin's Fate completes the stories of Fitz and the Fool. Which, if you've followed this series of trilogies for years, is a little difficult to come to terms with.

My very favorite is the Farseer Trilogy, but I've loved The Liveship Trilogy, the Tawney Man Trilogy, the Rain Wilds Chronicles. Is Assassin's Fate the end of the adventures of Farseers, White Prophets, and dragons. Twenty years of following these characters and their adventures--and that's it?

Assassin's Fate follow's the kidnapped Bee as the Servants of the White Prophet make their hazardous journey to Clerres. Both Fitz and the Fool believe Bee dead, but they are determined to destroy the Servants and are rushing to Clerres to take revenge, not only for Bee, but for what was done to the Fool. This quest brings together Liveship Traders and Rainwilders as well, reuniting characters from other trilogies; to fail in their mission to eradicate the reign of the Servants is to fail the world as they know it and to fail the dragons. And the dragons have their own reasons to despise the Servants and seek vengeance.

Each trilogy is complete in and of itself, but each trilogy connects to the others, sharing characters, events, and history. Although I'm happy to see the end of the Servants, I am not ready to let go of this world. Having loved Fitz, the Fool, and Nighteyes for so many years, I am feeling bereft that Assassin's Fate might be the end of an era. Well, it is. But surely there will be a place for Bee in this complex world--she has Wit and Skill and too much spirit to remain in the rigid aristocratic role she finds herself in.

Farseer Trilogy
Assassin's Apprentice
Royal Assassin
Assassin's Quest

Liveship Trilogy
Ship of Magic
The Mad Ship
Ship of Destiny

Tawney Man Trilogy
Fool's Errand
Golden Fool
Fool's Fate

The Rain Wilds Chronicles
Dragon Keeper
Dragon Haven
City of Dragons
Blood of Dragons

Fitz and the Fool Trilogy
Fool's Assassin
Fool's Quest
Assassin's Fate

Read in February; blog review scheduled for April

NetGalley/Random House

Epic Fantasy. May 9, 2017. Print length: 976 pages.

I like happy endings. This book, for me, did not have a happy ending. I didn't like the ending of the first Fitz and Fool series and I found myself in the same position at the end of this Fitz and Fool series. I want to feel good after reading a book and with both of these series I did not end up feeling good after completing the huge amount of pages involved. My patience in keeping reading to the end was not rewarded. I found very little character development, which for me is very important and I kept thinking that the book would get better, which it did not. I will not read any further Robin Hobb books.

This book, by no means a standalone novel, is the conclusion to the “Fitz and the Fool Trilogy.” The story continues the tale of FitzChivalry’s efforts to get revenge on the Servants of the White Prophet for the kidnapping and presumed murder of his daughter Bee. He is aided on his quest by his long-time friend The Fool; The Fool’s attendant Spark; Lant; who is the son of Fitz’s old mentor Chade; Bee’s friend Perseverance (or “Per”); and Per’s companion crow Motley. They complicate matters for Fitz and put him in even more danger, but Fitz of course only feels guilty for not taking better care of them all.

As this third and final volume of this trilogy begins, the group is in Kelsingra, a place where the Skill-magic runs strong.

The Fool decides that Bee is still alive, and moreover, she has been taken to Castle Clerres, the stronghold of the Servants. He also wants his own revenge on them, demanding that Fitz “go to Clerres and kill them all.” The Servants, originally meant to help set the world on a better path, got corrupted over time and, as Fool contends, “care only for enriching themselves and their own comfort.” Now they breed those who have precognizant dreams, and profit from “disasters and windfalls.” Moreover, they cruelly tortured Fool for “disobedience.”

Fitz and his group learn that the dragons also want revenge on Clerres, so they must speed there to rescue Bee, if indeed she is there and alive, before the dragons destroy everyone and everything in Clerres. The leaders of Kelsingra, who feel a debt to both the Fool and Fitz, arrange for their transportation. Part of the trip is accomplished by “liveships,” living ships made of wood formed from dragon cocoons and enhanced by the memories of those who served and died on the ships. A subplot running through the story is the desire of at least some of the dragons at the heart of the liveships to be released and realize their natural forms and destinies.

In alternate chapters, we follow the progress of Bee, who is in fact still alive, and her captors, a warped group from Clerres led by the evil Dwalia. Dwalia and her coterie had originally set out from Clerres to follow The Fool (known to them as “Beloved”) in the hope he would lead them to the Unexpected Son foretold in dreams. They decided Bee was this person, and, killing most of the people at Bee’s home in Withywoods, are now taking her to Clerres for interrogation (and presumably for Dwalia to be rewarded). [It should be noted that The Fool believes Fitz is the Unexpected Son, in addition to being Fool’s “catalyst” to change the world. Fitz, for his part, believes he is the foretold “Destroyer.”]

Bee, though weak and sad, is aided by the inner guidance of her wolf-father, Nighteyes.

Bee is put in a prison cell in Clerres, and there meets Prilkop, another prophet who has fallen out of favor with the Servants. She asks him, “Prilkop, just tell me. Do I break the future?” He tells her: “Oh child. We all do. That is both the danger and the hope of life. That each of us changes the world, every day.” Indeed.

Bee decides that the stored memories at Clerres harm the world: "The problem is not that we forget the past. it is that we recall it too well. Children recall wrongs that enemies did to their grandfathers, and blame the granddaughters of the old enemies. . . . hates are bequeathed to [children], taught them, breathed into them. If adults didn’t tell children of their hereditary hates, perhaps we would do better.”

Thus she resolves to do something about the chain of vengeance. This will be her destined Path.

Meanwhile, Fitz and his group finally arrive in Clerres, and all the plot strands come together. The readers know at least some will not make it out alive, because the dreams have foretold as much. But the dreams are conveyed in symbols and allegories, and moreover refer to the Unexpected Son and the Destroyer, whose identities we also don’t know for sure.

Discussion: We know that in Fitz’s world, “Nothing is really lost. Shapes change. But it’s never completely gone.” But it’s not always clear in what ways this happens. Even the characters in the book aren’t always sure what is real, and what they just wish were real.

The Fool continues to exercise a sway over Fitz that is very annoying, and I have to say I shared Bee’s assessment of The Fool (and was gratified that I wasn’t the only one to feel that way, even if it was a fictional person that shared my feelings!). But this relationship has always been at the heart of the series, and the author stayed true to it throughout the story.

As with the previous books in the trilogy, I found that some of the most endearing and unforgettable characters were not human.

Overall, though it was wonderful. Unlike other books of this length, I did not come out of this one (or any of her previous ones) wishing it could have been edited to be shorter. On the contrary, I was sad to see it end!

Wow. I finished this over the weekend, and I am still struggling to find the right words to convey what a massive emotional impact it had on me. Assassin's Fate is everything I could have asked of Robin Hobb - an entirely satisfying conclusion to not just the story of FitzChivalry Farseer, but that of the entire Realms of the Elderlings and all its interconnected works.

This is a book of Farseers, Fools, White Prophets, Liveships, Dragons, are more. It's as if everything that Hobb has ever teased or hinted at before is finally realized here. Not content to merely rip out our hearts, she tears the entire world asunder, ensuring that no corner of the Six Duchies will rise from the ashes of Fitz's final story unchanged. Let there be no mistake, this is a book of endings. Yes, there are new beginnings to be found as well, but Assassin's Fate marks the end of so many characters and storylines that it's easy to miss some of them.

I will be honest, it hurt to see Fitz and the Fool at such odds in this series, and that pain only gets deeper here. The closer they get to realizing their thirst for revenge, the more fractured their relationship becomes. He's always known that the Fool lies, holds back, and plays things close to the chest, but it's only here that Fitz feels the true sting of well-meaning deception. What's more, as much as the loss of Bee has already driven a definite wedge between them, the discovery that she may still be alive only serves to splinter that wedge and drive it in deeper. There is a lot of guilt and sorrow here, on both sides, and the way Hobb finally resolves that conflict . . . well, I refuse to spoil it, but I will say it does a beautiful job of bringing the entire story full circle, with a climax that's quietly significant, rather than explosively tragic.

In reading this final volume, I find myself gaining a new appreciation for its first installment, a book I was rather hard on at the time. While I still feel Fool's Assassin had some pacing issues, I now understand what Hobb was doing with the characters. It was clear from the start that they had aged, changing drastically in the process, but it's taken three books to understand the how, the why, and the how much. The more we learn about Fitz, the Fool, and Bee . . . the more we understand how their fates intersect . . . the more recognize who they really are . . . the bigger their shared story becomes. I still feel as if Chade was set aside a little too easily, but I loved the way Hobb allowed Queen Kettricken and Thick to slip back into the story, all part of bringing so many things full circle. As for Bee, I resented her in the first book and barely tolerated her in the second, but here she becomes a heroine of note, still hard to like, but easy to admire.

Much of this story is a journey, but it's deeper than the waters of the Rain Wilds themselves. There's a dual significance to just about every scene, a story that we read upon the surface, and a story that we feel beneath the waves. I wish I could say more about the Liveships, the Dragons, and their connections to far-off Clerres, but that's something to be discovered in the course of the story. Like I said earlier, hints are exposed and secrets revealed, and done so in such a way that we almost feel as if we should have already guessed at them, yet cannot deny the skill with which Hobb uncovers each one. You don't necessarily need to have read The Liveship Traders Trilogy or The Rain Wilds Chronicles to enjoy this final volume, but you'll certainly miss out on some of the significance.

Robin Hobb books take a lot of patience, focus, and thought to appreciate. Her stories are not easy ones, and the emotions they provoke are not always the ones we'd like to take away from an escapist fantasy. Despite the dragons, the prophecies, and the magic of both Skill and Wit, these are human stories, well-grounded in the human experience. As such, Assassin's Fate is the final chapter in a long life, well-lived, a story that many of us have aged with, and while we never want to let go of friends, sometimes it's clear that it's time.

I was late to the Robin Hobb party despite being a massive Fantasy fan. But when I started I was hooked. This is a fantastic end to the series. It perfectly rounded off not just Fitz & the Fool, but also the story arc that came before. The characters, as always, were perfect, and the Hobb's World Building just can't be faulted. I can now rest easy in my constant recommendations of Hobb's books. She never lets me down.

As usual, these characters and their world drew me in and made me want to stay. I couldn't wait to read this book each night. Excellent. Wonderful. I loved it!

I don’t know how much more I can say while keeping this spoiler free, but I will say that everything is tied up in the most Robin Hobbsian ending I can imagine. Imagine holding up three fingers, each finger representing something that you, as the reader, wants from the story. Your fingers may be similar or different to mine but regardless, you’re probably only going to get one of them. And you will be so thrilled over the one that you get, and crying over the two that you don’t, and everything will be wonderful and heartbreaking and so, so appropriate, and that’s what this book is like. That’s the adventure, and that’s the end to it all. And honestly, what more could you expect from this wonderful, emotional, series?
(Full review on blog...)

Robin Hobb may be the only author who can break my heart, at the same time as giving me hope. I'm a tough old bird, and this series (and these characters) regularly rips me to pieces. This one is no exception. If you have NOT read about Fitzchivalry Farseer, I would suggest you go back to the beginning and start there. It is well worth it. As a side note, the Rain Wild series, whilst separate, does come together with this series here, so you might want to read that one as well.

I just read the ending of this book about 8 times before finally putting it down . . .
I have followed Fitz & the Fool since I was 13, and also read all the other Realm of the Elderlings titles as they came out. This final trilogy was an opportunity to revisit the world one more time, see it expanded further, glimpse the future that Fitz & the Fool had called forth, and have some loose ends tied up.
Without giving anything away, this final installment was a beautifully crafted book. I had no idea how Ms. Hobb was going to close out the series, and considering how long I've loved these characters, I was not sure if even the perfect ending would be satisfying. But it was. I read it over and over because it was absolutely right.
Consistent with the other books, the world building, plot and character development are compellingly detailed. And like Assassin's Quest, Fool's Fate, and Ship of Destiny, this is a trilogy finale that pulls no punches in creating an earth-shattering, fateful end that also recognizes the individuals and relationships forged along the way.
A terrific read, but if you haven't read the other Realm of the Elderlings books (Farseer, Liveship, Tawny Man, & Rain Wild series), you should read them first so as not to have anything spoiled.