fantasy, young adult
Assassin's Apprentice, an epic young adult fantasy, is about a boy who was fathered by the heir to the throne. At the age of 6, the boy’s mother’s family will no longer raise him and he is left at the castle with only an explanation of who fathered him. There, he is kept and raised by the residents of the castle—primarily the prince’s stable hand. The boy, Fitz, discovers he has special powers of communication and is taken under the wing of the king’s assassin.
Fitz is a loveable character because of his
unfortunate circumstances as well as his innocence, naivete, and sweet
demeanor. He makes the most of his
situation and is a good person. Therefore, the reader is interested to find out
how he fares. As in any good fantasy,
there are conflicts and troubles to overcome and the story is very
engaging. There is intrigue, adventure,
and murder. The ending was gripping. My
main complaint is that Robin Hobb tends to ramble on with journey details much
too long. I’d have skimmed several sections if I were reading the book.
However, I look forward to reading the next book in the trilogy.
The narrator was Paul Boehmer and I felt he was cast poorly
for this tale about a young man because his was the voice of an old man. He always felt a bit pretentious in his
reading. He was a decent voice actor but
had a narrow repertoire of voices. I
give him a B.
Royal Assassin was a great sequel which I really enjoyed. It had lots of action and intrigue. It moved the story forward and ended at just the right point. Fitz has grown up and enjoyed new experiences and responsibilities. I loved the fantasy elements of this series and the author explored more of them in this novel.
This audiobook had the same narrator, Paul Boehmer, as the first one but I’ve
grown to like him more. I feel he did a better job with distinct voices in this
one and thought his voice acting was terrific.
I’ll give him an A.
Amy
fantasy
Continuing where the last novel left off, we are given a helpful summary of the current state of things. Since I have grown to adore Fitz, my heart broke for him often during this tale. As the novel continued, I realized that Fitz is one of my favorite literary characters. I think I would read anything in which he appears. Although, I believe the author is long done with him.
Despite my Fitz, Assassin's Quest had bizarre sections that made little
sense or were contradictory to previous sections. Worse, sometimes it felt like
a contrivance by the author--breaking her own story rules in order to make
something she later devised fit the storyline. As with the other novels in this
series, there were some boring sections having to do with painstaking travels.
There were also times when Fitz was not using his head which infuriated me
because, again, I feel the author was not allowing her character to be himself
and act with his usual intelligence for the sole purpose of forcibly adding
drama. But, for all that, I enjoyed the novel. There were some incredibly
gripping, edge of your seat sections.
The ending, while not sad, had a great deal of sadness—mostly my
heartbreak over Fitz’s conditions on which I cannot elaborate without giving
things away. Yet, it felt mostly satisfying.
Several mysteries could have been explained more sufficiently. However,
it was a fun ride with wonderful characters. I’ll miss them!
I listened to some of the audiobook and read the rest on my
Kindle. Again, Paul Boehmer narrated the audiobook and he has truly grown on me
through this long series. When I was reading on the Kindle, I heard his voice
in my head! He does invoke the love,
heart, and spirit of Fitz and has a very wide voice repertoire. I again give him an A.
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