| Assassin's Apprentice |  | Author: Robin Hobb
Publisher: Spectra
Category: eBooks
In Stock
Rating:  474 reviews
Sales Rank: 1,308
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Pages: 464
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
Publication Date: November 5, 2002
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Product Description
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 like an outcast by all the royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him sectetly 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 the Paperback edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 474
 I could not put this book down! September 3, 2010
Mary H. Mundy (Charleston, SC)
This book came up as suggested reading for me on my Kindle. I purchased it and then forgot about it. I finally got around to reading it and wondered what took me so long. I disagree with the reviewer who says that the book contains interesting people in a boring world. I quite liked it that the fantasy/magical aspects had to do with the mental abilities of the characters rather than supernatural physical characteristics. I thought the story was masterfully woven. The author drops lots of subtle hints about why things are so and waits until just the right time for the explanations. This keeps the reader intrigued. I actually started to panic when I passed the 90% point and immediately bought the next book and started reading it when I was finished with this one.
I Love This Trilogy! August 9, 2010
Darren Amundson
I didn't think I liked fantasy, but I now know that it depends on the author and I love Robin Hobb. Her characters are great, great, great. She is brilliant and ought to win an award for writing like this. Thank you Robin Hobb! This is the first book of the trilogy and while it is good, I assure you that the second one is even better. Keep reading.
 Not my cup of tea--but the series gets better July 23, 2010
Jeremy Casterson (Craig, CO USA)
Are you looking for epic battle scenes, heroes engaging in sword fights, and suspenseful action scenes?
If you are, don't look to Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy. That's not Hobb's M.O. However, if you're interested in political intrigue, subtle dialog, and well-developed characters, then you might really like The Farseer Trilogy.
I'd like to sugar coat it, but I can't: This book is pretty slow. I'm sorry, but only character development for hundreds of pages doesn't do it for me (which is why I put down the excruciatingly boring Tawny Man and never picked it up again). The first 3/4 is quite slow, but the last 1/4 picks up a bit and will keep you reading. I'll talk about this more in my review of Royal Assassin, as it really stands out in that book, but Hobb is quite good and getting you emotionally attached to her characters. Unlike Martin and some other authors who have "gray" characters who are partly good and party evil, Hobb's are pretty black and white. They're either evil or good, and you will love the good ones and hate the evil ones. This emotional attachment to the good guy's fates at the hands of the evil doers is "gut wrenching" as another reviewer put it. (In fact, Galen's torturing of Fitz was almost too much and turned me off).
After finishing this book I told myself I wasn't going to pick up Book 2 unless I was desperate. Well, my small town library doesn't have diddly-squat so I had to take up Royal Assassin. Ironically, I'm glad I did so, as I enjoyed it quite a bit more than Assassin's Apprentice. All of it reads like the last 1/4 of this book, with enough suspenseful political intrigue to keep you turning pages. I give it 4 stars and it's good enough for me to willingly pick up the last book of the trilogy.
 Depth of Character... July 11, 2010
blacKnight
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are looking for a book that has excellent character building, some twists and turns, and that makes you feel involved in the story this is an excellent book to pick up.
I have been spoiled by 'Lord of the Rings' and 'The Hobbit', so much so, that it has been hard for me to find a book that would get me as involved with the characters as these two classics have. Another difficulty I have is finding books that are not part of a 10+ book series. I do not mind a trilogy or a tetrology, but when the books are 600+ pages, a trilogy can even be difficult to read through. I am not a fast reader by any means. Do not hear me wrong, I have read 'Eye of the World' (loved it!), would still like to make it through the last two books of 'Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn' tetrology (which is also a great series!), but at my current speed, I found this book easy to relate to the characters and finish in a short time.
Hobbs' spectacular debut into European medieval fantasy! June 14, 2010
Paul Weiss (Dundas, Ontario Canada)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
At the outset of THE FARSEER trilogy, a reader might be forgiven for believing that author Robin Hobb was creating a medieval historical fiction novel. ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE is the clever and entirely convincing story of a dysfunctional royal family, in-fighting over their entitlements and the lineage to the throne, squabbling over every political nit and nat, secretly lining up their supporters and implementing one Machiavellian scheme after another to support their self-centered aims.
For obvious political reasons, Fitz, the bastard son of Chivalry, king-in-waiting, has been ordered into the care (and safekeeping) of Burrich, Chivalry's stableman and man at arms. As the story unfolds, we learn that Fitz possesses the "Wit", the ability to communicate telepathically with animals. As Burrich does his best to raise the boy, we also learn that Fitz has combat skills and a sense of political savvy and survival abilities beyond his tender years. King Shrewd, also aware of these skills, bounds Fitz to himself by oath as a "King's Man" and has him secretly apprenticed to Chade to learn the myriad skills of undercover political assassination. Only Fitz, Chade and King Shrewd are aware of the very private, exclusive arrangement and Fitz's oath of loyalty to the sitting king. All the while, barbarian raiders are ravaging the coasts of the land, killing many and ruthlessly turning others into terrifying, emotionless, hateful zombies called "the Forged ones".
ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE is the story of the care and nurturing of Fitz's real world physical and other world fantastical skills of communication and his part in the defense of the Six Duchies, Shrewd's embattled kingdom.
Robin Hobb has created a convincing, atmospheric medieval world and peopled it with credible characters moving to the tune of their own drummers with heartfelt emotions and motives. Hobb's dialogue is never stilted and seems to fall off the tongue with an amazing sense of realism. Writing under the pseudonym Robin Hobb, THE FARSEER TRILOGY represents Megan Lindholm's debut into the world of European style medieval fantasy and what a debut it is! I'm positively salivating at the prospect of reading more of Fitz's exploits.
Highly recommended.
Paul Weiss
Showing reviews 1-5 of 474
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