The saga of Fitz and the Fool is one of my favourite book series to date. Highly recommend this book and all of those that follow afterwards.

I read this series many years ago and Fitzchivalry and The Fool remain 2 of my favourite characters in fantasy fiction. told in the first person through Fitz we find a bastard of the king with no purpose and bullied by Burrich, when he meets the motley albino Fool they become friends in a destiny planned long before. If you liked Gemmell and Abercrombie give this a go.

i've read this quite a while back and i can't wait to do a reread! the only downside to reading realm of the elderlings is that, the writing is so good, it'll RUIN reading for you. nonetheless, i have never enjoyed reading more than when reading this series.

For years I've owned this book and I've kept putting off reading it. It's just never been the right time. Then I ended up with a free e-book copy of Assassin's Apprentice (I can't remember how) and thought that as I always have a book available on my phone to read (in case) and this one was the most tempting I'd read this on the side of whatever physical book I was reading at the time (mainly research books for my dissertation) but then the book because so captivating that I just ended up flipping between the physical book and the e-book. The physical book whenever I was home and read in my bed, and the e-book whenever I was out and about. It was impossible to put down. Robin Hobb has officially become my favourite fantasy author. Not fantasy and sci-fi or YA fantasy but pure fantasy. High fantasy. This was exactly what fantasy should be like. I may even go so far to say that it was better than A Song of Ice and Fire, but then I read those books years ago (I need to re-read them so I can review them all for you). Her writing is incredibly captivating and entertaining. Even if the story is a little bit slow at times there is no way, under any circumstances that you will stop reading it (at least not in my opinion). And the story is a bit slow sometimes. The book, I believe, having not read the rest of the trilogy yet, is a set up for the rest of the series. This book covers the first fifteen or so years of Fitz's life as a bastard of the crown prince in Buckkeep (the royal household) where he is trained to become an assassin. The book is told from first person, but as a memoir. An older version of Fitz is telling us the story of his childhood and so therefore sometimes chapters zoom in on certain events he remembers clearly, and sometimes looks at his life at months at a time, or skips a year of two. The narrator even admits that he does not remember everything from then, which makes the reader more sympathetic towards him and actually connect more with a narrator who technically we have not gotten to know yet (because we don't know the older version of Fitz, not really). Assassin's Apprentice is set in a traditional fantasy universe. Heavily inspired by medieval times, with its classical royalty, environment, use of magic and even pirates. However, there are some nice uses of royal names that play a part in politics and different laws when it comes to inheritance etc. Every chapter is opened up with a short, shall we say lecture, about the world. This information is usually useful to know for the coming chapter and the rest of the story. Hobb feeds us bits of world building through Fitz's notes on the world the story takes place in. Therefore everything is not introduced to us through Fitz younger character (it wouldn't appropriate as he wouldn't be old enough to perhaps understand everything that we are told) but its extremely useful and interesting. I highly approve. I can't wait to get my hands on Royal Assassin, the second book (which I think my boyfriend may actually have a second hand copy of). Although it is over 600 pages! I need to take a break from bricks. Robin Hobb has left such a good impression on me though, and I really see myself reading all of her books and almost wish she had more books out, so that I could never run out of then. Fantasy at its finest, really!

This is the second book I have read by Robin Hobb - my partner bought me one for Christmas. He challenged himself to try and find me a new author that I would like with no input from me - and it worked! I am now collecting all Robin Hobb books from the start and this is the first one. Very easy to get into the characters and the story and leaves you satisfied but wanting to read the next one. If you like epic fantasies like Game of Thrones, this could be another epic tale you would enjoy while waiting for the next George R.R. Martin! Very well written and has great imagination - easy to lose yourself in this author's writing.