Assassin’s Apprentice

Title: Assassin’s Apprentice

Author: Robin Hobb

Genre: Fantasy

Series: The Farseer Trilogy #1

Pages: 435 pages

Synopsis:

Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal court by his father’s gruff stableman. He is treated as an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in Fitz’s blood runs the magic Skill–and the darker knowledge of a child raised with the stable hounds and rejected by his family.

As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts, Fitz is growing to manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission. And though some regard him as a threat to the throne, he may just be the key to the survival of the kingdom.

(from Goodreads)

My Thoughts:

DNF – 250 pages (57%)

This maybe a controversial opinion but I really did not like this book. I am really disappointed with this book. I was expecting this to be a book about a person who learns how to be an Assassin and eventually has to do… well assassin things. All I got was a boring slog with not really that much story. And an awful lack of assassinating.

Fitz, our main character is just bland. Like he’s not fun and he’s just not interesting to me. And speaking of characters, that’s pretty much the same with all of the characters. The only sort of interesting character is the mysterious Fool, but that’s it. Fantasy characters are very important to me and is often the key as to whether or not I will enjoy a Fantasy book. For example: Despite The Eye of the World (the first Wheel of Time book) and it’s issues, I still did like some of the characters such as Moiraine, Rand and Thom and was one of the reasons why I decided to continue with the series. Here, I didn’t like any of the characters.

The political stuff could be interesting… if there was some thriller to it, which there were none.

There is zero tension in this novel. There was some sort of conflict about the Red Ships and I didn’t care about it and so did the novel now that I’m thinking about it.

Also this book is depressing. Our main character Fitz seems to just keeping getting abused, neglected and feels unwanted from everybody. All just because of him being an illegitimate child.

This was a true disappointment for me, as I do love the Rogue archetype and I was looking forward to a fun Rouge-like story. This had to be the most boring start for a Fantasy series I have ever read so far. Well this is yet another trilogy that I am DNFing. And I guess this experience is a reminder to me that not all Fantasy series are going to be for me. Next!

Rating: