Assassin's Apprentice

Solid read. Top 5 classic fantasy book in my opinion. The illustrated edition is gorgeous but there's only 10-11 illustrations.

Lloro

Fantstic. I was entranced from the beginning and loved every word.

Now I want to read all of Hobb's books.

Great story that really draws you in.

Something about the experience of reading this book felt like coming home. I've read so many books from so many genres but the Assassin's Apprentice reminded me why high fantasy will always hold a special place in my heart.

I've always been aware of the Farseer Trilogy, how could you call yourself a fantasy fan if you aren't, and have always been meaning to read it. Now that I have read it, I'm kicking myself for not having read it sooner. It's breathtaking. The writing is absolutely gorgeous vivid and engaging. The characters all so lifelike and provoking. The plot, the world building, everything about it was amazing. I managed to get my hands on an illustrated copy and I have to mention how gorgeous the art was as well.

I'm already itching to get my hands on the second book. Robin Hobb, aku padamu

Oh my god this book. It was so good. Robin Hobb is a master of my absolute favorite style of character development - showing you highly descriptive encounters, and letting you draw your own conclusions from it. I fell in love with the world in the characters, delighted in hating the bad ones, loving the good ones, and just the world as a whole. Really cannot recommend this book enough, I'm so excited that there's so much more to read.

4.5
Speechless.

· Agora, recuperada, segue:

Procrastinei o término desse livro mais do que deveria. Mas acredito que tenho minhas razões. Arredondei a nota para 5, das 4.5 estrelas que julgo para esse livro, como um início de uma série. Justamente, porque se trata do primeiro (de tudo).

E duas coisas me passam a cabeça quando leio esse livro:
1ª vários leitores julgam este volume um tanto inicial e descritivo de pura ambientação, e não um dos mais fortes de Robin Hobb; a 2ª coisa é: já estou completamente engajada nessa estória, nesse universo, e um tanto apegada ao Fitz - seja ele criança, adolescente, o homem que ainda não conheço, e senhor de idade que escreve este relato.

Se esse é o volume mais fraco e esta trilogia a menos envolvente... não me vejo retornando a sanidade tão cedo.

Claro que tem seus problemas. A escrita de Hobb é floreada e bem escrita, porém, as vezes, um pouco rebuscada demais, e a riqueza de detalhes de algumas cenas do cotidiano de Fitz em sua criação, não precisavam de tantos lembretes. O mesmo vale para sua relação com os animais. Outra relação que torci um pouco o nariz foi a de Fitz com Bronco - e o contrário também se aplica. Vejo-os como “pai e filho que não se entendem” e Breu seria o tio bacana idolatrado mas que, na real, sempre desaponta a família. Enfim, queria que fosse mais balanceado.

Contudo, essa estória é de um cara que eu quero saber de tudo. Não apenas dele, mas da relação com a realeza, em especial, seus tios. Pois, embora Veracidade tenha subido no meu conceito, nunca torci tanto para um bastardo se tornar rei como FitzCavalaria. Não sei se esse é o intuito do livro. Mas essa é minha vontade.

Sinto que não é uma série que posso perder o timing do momento e ler o mais consecutivamente possível todos os volumes.

E me apegar ainda mais a todo o sofrimento desse menino.
.

8/10

Wow!
Estamos aqui num mundo de fantasia em que a mágia é um dom raro e apenas corre no sangue da realeza. Fitz - o filho bastardo, acaba por parar à corte e, para não ser um desperdício total (pois, não apresenta afinidades desenvolvidas de um nobre) acaba por ser ensinado a ser um assassino do rei. No entanto o povo não está contente, nem com o futuro rei nem com as misteriosos Barcos Vermelhos que andam a envadir a costa do Reino de Seis Ducados.
É uma aventura intrigante e entusiasmante! A Hobb tem imenso jeito para a criação de um mundo mágico super realista. Gostei muito das personagens, da sua profundidade e dos seus morais e crenças.
Recomendo para quem gosta de Senhor dos Anéis ou Guerra dos Tronos!

I definitely appreciated this more on a second time round and I will get to the second book eventually. Slow-pacing isn't normally off-putting for me but I definitely seemed to feel it here. I can't put my finger on why.

The main problem I found with Assassin's Apprentice was the pace. The first part took me about a week to get through (I remind you this book is 435 pages long!). The only reason why I was picking it back up was to get to the point where I could understand people's praises about this book. Needless to say, this novel is highly regarded by readers, but I was, at first, not impressed with it. There was just a bunch of not much happening, and the plot had yet to be established - one of the reasons why I didn't feel compelled to continue reading. I also want to add: for a book with “assassin” in the title, there's not a lot of assassination going on, or even deaths. If you pick up the book expecting and wanting this, know you will be disappointed. The same can be said about magic, there's just not much of it. Regardless, I managed to pull through, and as I said previously, this book started to get my attention in the second half. Not only was the plot finally moving forward, but you got to know the characters better, as well as feel for them. I especially loved the last third, which was filled with political intrigue. We were introduced - without spoiling too much - to a new land and a new set of characters. I immediately liked them and was looking forward to seeing more of them and pondered on the impact they would have on the ending. It did not disappoint. I cannot explain how good of an ending it was. It completely made reading the book worthwhile. I've also heard people say the second book is better so I definitely plan on reading it!

This was a really good book that I had terrible getting into/staying in until the last 5 or so chapters. Then I absolutely couldn't put it down. I'm honestly a little frustrated that I can't get my hands on book 2 for a while (thanks, Corona)

My first Robin Hobb read, and wow, can she write fantasy.

This book was definitely a slow burn, but for someone that can hold onto patience to enjoy the small developments within Fitz and his relationships early on will absolutely see how beautiful the payoff is in its conclusion.

Robin's pacing in the book was unorthodox to me, for it was a risk that was wonderfully calculated. Sometimes it's wonderful to enjoy the surrounding within a chapter's scene, but in the case for Assassin's Apprentice, she was able to flip that motion on its head. I can absolutely respect an author for bringing in originality successfully. This makes her voice even more distinct.

Now I need to read everything Robin Hobb. Right when I thought I had too much to read before the year ends.

So Robin Hobb is like Brandon Sanderson where people rant and rave about how great her books are and how great the world is. I was really excited to finally be starting this series and being introduced to this world and Fitz. I was a little let down because the writing was not what I was expecting. It seemed like it took paragraphs to explain something that could be done in a sentence or two. The book also happens to be one of the shortest ones, so it worries me about the future books.

I still loved the cast of characters around Fitz. Fitz's story is definitely depressing. He basically has no one and knows no one, but I really wanted to hear his story. This book is told in the past tense and it reminded me of The Name of the Wind which I love. I liked the story, I just could not get over how longwinded the writing was.

I will definitely be continuing the series, but it will take me a while because I need time to prepare. I'm really hoping I get more used to her writing style and enjoy the sequels more.

Suffer and suffer and suffer some more, for suffering's sake. Oh, and whine, and whine, and whine while you suffer.

Come on. I get it, “kill all your darlings” and “make your protagonist suffer the worst thing you can think of, and make him go through even worse” is always being told to authors, which is why a lot of books (but especially those in the fantasy genre) are so fucking cliched and infuriating to read. This book was the same. And it's exhausting and tiresome to just have people shitting on and hating the main character and having him suffer just to suffer. How miserable to read. I didn't necessarily mind the slowness nor the training scenes; but it was like Hobb didn't know where to go with the story and just threw in all sorts of plot threads before thinking, oh yeah let's torture the character some more.

According to Hobb's own system of reviewing (“books I like get 2 stars! why is everyone mad about that?!”), this book should get negative two stars from me.

So good! I haven't cared for, yelled at or teared up over characters this much in awhile...I imagine it only gets better from here.

I really enjoyed this book, I'm so glad I finally picked it up! It's exactly the kind of fantasy is enjoy - rich world building, plenty of characters, interwoven storylines. I enjoy the characters, especially Fitz and Verity, and I adore the concept of connecting to animals through The Wit. On one hand I just want to dive into the next book and on the other I want to take my time and enjoy them for ages!

I had very high expectations about this one and maybe because of them i give this “only” 3 stars. The magic system is great and reading the [b:The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince 16244663 The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince (Realms of the Elderlings, #0.5) Robin Hobb https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1357838601s/16244663.jpg 21858020] before starting the actual story seemed to make a lot of sense at least for me. Nothing too wild but the “wit” and the “skill” and “forging” add a great element into the world. I somehow felt that there is not enough interaction between the main character FitzChivalry and some of the more interesting characters such as Galen, Regal and Verity or the king. A nice start for things, but i hope things really take off in the next one!

Le premier tome de la saga connue en français sous le nom de l'Assassin Royal, avec son héros Fitz qu'on adore détester !

Oh, man. I had been looking forward to getting into Robin Hobb's books for a while, and my first venturing in it certainly did not disappoint. I love the writing style in which the simplest line almost reads like poetry. I love the world building and how it's a lot of information but yet easy to consume. I also love the characters and I'm excited to see where they go next.

I also was amazed that this book managed to make me feel things. Of course, that's what a good book is supposed to do, but I can't remember the last time one single line on a page almost made me tear up. Most of those moments were with Fitz and Burrich and I've grown very attached to that relationship throughout this book. A lot of times too Fitz was able to find out something, and I was surprised along with him, feeling the same things he felt, and wanting to go back a few chapters to see if it checked out and how I even missed it. That was great. (This made me glad I went with the eBook version of this instead of the Audible one!)

Though I felt that the climax of it felt very... chaotic. Which the situation in itself also was, but I sometimes found it hard to follow during that part of it what exactly was happening or who was talking to whom and I had to reread those parts a few times.

Now more than ever I wish Goodreads had a half star system. I feel this book definitely deserves more than four stars, but I'm not sure about five stars either and I'm not sure why. I might up the rating later when I'm going through the other novels in the Farseer Trilogy as they will probably make me appreciate this book even more since I'm not sure yet what in it might pay off later or what might not.
Needless to say though, I am now very excited to get through the other novels!
EDIT: I'm changing the rating to five because honestly I haven't been able to stop thinking about this book ever since I finished it, and that's quite a feat!

I like the setting, and the writing. However, it seems like the entire book is an endless series of the main character doing dumb things– obviously dumb things. And not in a funny way, either.

I actually really enjoyed this, which surprised me. I picked it up because it was cheap, and because it's a series I've been hearing was a fantasy “must-read” and I've been thinking I should catch up with some of those.

Turns out this is a character- rather than plot-driven story and I'm in to that.

I read until the part the boy had his dog friend sent away to prevent him from using his dog-speaking powers.

The book read as a diary of daily events, nothing caught my attention. The story developed too slow.

A six years old boy was dumped at the king's castle by his grandpa, who did not want to provide for him anymore. The boy is supposedly the bastard of prince Chivalry, which upon hearing about this, abdicates his claim as next in line to the throne.

The prince's most loyal servant, his beast master, is charged to look after Fitz since he cannot be legally recognized to have royal blood. Under his care, Fitz spent a lot of times among animals, and found out he could communicate somehow with them.

This strange power is considered dangerous because of how it was used on the past, and for his own safety, the boy must never use it, on the risk of being recognized for what he is and killed for the peril he represents.

3 stars.

[Buddy-read with Giovanna and Sibil]

I liked the content of this book: the plot, the characters, the setting,... everything, but the writing. It was far too descriptive, imo, and somehow deprived me of the pleasure of reading, making the narration slow and boring. I found myself skipping the lines looking for dialogues or interesting events, because overall I didn't enjoy it very much. I think this is in part due to the fact that the narrator was telling his memories and not actually taking part in the events. But I must confess that the situation got better through the second part.
Two nice persons gave me the power to go on and they were Giovanna and Sibil, and also Lys. I know that she has been looking after us from afar :D
I would have thrown the book out the window without you.
I just hope that Hobb's recent books aren't so descriptive/boring. In any case, I'm sure I will read the next installment to follow Fitz'story, but not in the immediate future.

I liked this, but I felt like the main character's angst (sometimes justified, sometimes just silly whining) was the main driver of the story, and it got a bit tiring.