Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
The second book in The Farseer Trilogy, Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb continues the story of FitzChivalry Farseer. It was originally published in 1996 and is part of the Realm of the Elderlings universe. It won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1997 and the Realm of the Elderlings is considered a favorite series of many. Royal Assassin deals with kind of a lot, so strap in: bullying, a fairly graphic child death, death of regular old adults, amble drug use, terminal illness, elder abuse, torture, toxic relationships, violence, blood, grief, murder, pregnancy, gaslighting, abandonment, war, injury, thoughts of suicide, and generally just being not very nice. There will be spoilers for the first book in this review.
FitzChivalry Farseer has made a vow to King Shrewd, and a man is only as good as his word. But when he is nearly killed (by several people) in the Mountain Kingdom, Fitz begins to wonder if he wouldn't be better off leaving the Six Duchies and trying to make his own way elsewhere. Fitz has made his choice - he won't be going back! - when he sees a vision of the Red-Ship Raiders as they raid the town of Neatbay. He sees someone that he recognizes in the vision, someone that he cares very deeply for and never thought to see again, and their life in the vision is in jeopardy. Not knowing if they live or die, Fitz changes his mind and returns to Buck. All that he finds in the keep is not as he left it. The King grows weaker by the day, Verity is consumed with his plan to build warships and take the fight to the Red-Ships, and Regal's influence continues to grow.
This book was so good. The intrigue, the plotting - wonderful. We get to watch Fitz learn more about his abilities, with the Skill, the Wit, and being a statesman. All the while, the net is closing in around him. He knows it, he can feel it, but he's not sure there's anything he can do about it. We learn more about Shrewd and Burrich, and we have a great character arc both for Fitz and for Regal - as Regal continues to become a real villain, but so charming that almost no one can see it. The book moves a bit slow, it certainly is not the most exciting book (at least until the last hundred pages or so), but it has such an underlying feeling of tension. You're waiting for the other shoe to drop, Robin Hobb does a great job of making you feel almost as uneasy and as anxious as Fitz does. And while it does not end on a cliff hanger, it ends with the Six Duchies in such a bad position that I need to know what happens next.
I'm giving Royal Assassin 4.25 stars out of 5. If you like political maneuvering and clever schemes, this is the book for you. It is a slow burn, and a bit on the slow side, but it isn't uninteresting and the last hundred pages really pack a punch. As for spice, there is a small romantic relationship but it is not spicy whatsoever. For a summary and study guide of the books in The Farseer Trilogy, check out our series page.
For more from Robin Hobb, check out https://www.robinhobb.com/index.htm
Pairs well with currant buns (they're Shrewd's favorite) and investing in a pair of buskins.
My favorite quotes, there are several:
"My father's wife, once horrified to discover that he had sired a bastard before they were wed, had gone from abhorring me to aggressively bettering me. Sometimes that was more difficult to deal with than if she had ostracized me."
"One can only walk so far from one's true self before the bond either snaps, or pulls one back."
"'History is what we do in our lives. We create it as we go along.' He smiled enigmatically. 'The future is another kind of history.'"
"'What good is a life lived as if it made no difference at all to the great life of the world? A sadder thing I cannot imaging.'"
"No man is so dangerous as the man who cannot decide what he fears."
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