Title: Assassin’s Apprentice

Author: Robin Hobb

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Spectra Books

Format: Paperback

Pages: 448

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

*Warning: Mature Content. Parents please be advised*

Synopsis (Goodreads):

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

Review:

On the front cover, George RR Martin praises the book as great fantasy. I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews regarding Hobbs work, but if Martin is praising her, I knew I must delve into this book! Special thanks to the bookstagrammers who read Hobb for helping me decide which book/series to start with!

Alright on with the review:

The book follows the main character, Fitz, who is a bastard of the royal prince. This places him in an awkward position, and he must learn to navigate this difficult status at court. While many are worried about his relationship to the crown, that gets solved when he begins to train as one of the kings assassins!

The world building and character development was so strong in this book, as well as a lot of plot development. I find with the first book in a series you get a lot of world building and character development, and not a ton of plot, but Hobb was able to have all three!

I also really liked that there are some history lessons at the beginning of each chapter to get you into the world and understand how the world came to be in the eyes of the people living in it! What a cool idea!

Fitz goes on a ton of adventures and learns a lot of different things about himself in this book. I’m definitely going to continue on with this series!

Happy reading!