The Assassin's Apprentice

The Assassin's Apprentice
Robin Hobb

In case you missed the first post, everything will be FULL OF SPOILERS!!!

Summary (with spoilers):
The book begins when Fitz, the illegitimate son of Prince Chivalry, is deposited at a castle. He's swiftly put into the care of Burrich, the stablemaster, and forms a bond with a dog named Nosy. After it is revealed that Chivalry has abdicated his right to the throne, the group travels to Buckkeep, the seat of King Shrewd and his sons, Verity and Regal. From here, Fitz has a series of adventures, as he is trained in the art of assassination by Chade, befriends a town girl named Molly, and is told by Burrich not to use the Wit, which is a magical ability that lets him connect with animals. Burrich severs the connection between Fitz and Nosy, implying that Burrich has killed the dog. Also, Chivalry mysteriously dies. When the Red-Ship Raiders start Forging citizens (turning them into zombie-like people without empathy), Fitz and other illegitimate royal children are trained in the art of the Skill by Galen, an abusive teacher who beats up Fitz. Fitz is given another dog, Smithy, by Patience, the wife of the late Chivalry. As a final test of the Skill, Fitz is taken to a distant location and left on his own. Guess what, it's right near the town of Forge, home of the first people to be Forged! Fitz hurries home, because Burrich and his dog Smithy have been attacked, which Fitz gleans through his use of the Wit. After dispatching with some Forged zombies, he makes it home, to discover that Smithy has died. Meanwhile, Verity is using the Skill to hold off the Red-Ship Raiders, but Shrewd decides that he should take a wife. All of the courting is handled by Regal, since Verity is too busy, and when the wedding day comes, Regal has to stand in for Verity as the groom. Fitz and ensemble travel to the mountainous region of the bride, but Fitz has a secret task, to assassinate the brother of the bride. Only it turns out the task is not so secret after all, since Regal has told everyone that Fitz is an assassin. The bride ends up poisoning Fitz, but the brother comes to Fitz with a purge, saying that he'll support the Six Duchies, so there is no need to kill him. However, Regal insists that the deed must be done, giving Fitz a packet of poison. Fitz goes to the brother and reveals the whole plot as they share wine. But wait, it turns out that the wine they were drinking was poisoned! The brother dies, Fitz is set up to take the fall, and through the Skill he also learns that Galen is planning to kill Verity. Things are looking bad for our hero, but at least he discovers that his old pal Nosy, instead of being dead, is actually alive and well in this mountainous kingdom, where Burrich shipped him off to those many years ago. Fitz and Regal have a showdown in the baths, where Burrich is clubbed and Fitz is almost drowned in a pool. (He's having trouble physically after drinking the poisoned wine.) However, he's able to contact Verity using the Skill for the first time, warning him of the plot against his life, which results in Verity draining Galen his energy using the Skill, thus killing Galen. All seems right again in the kingdom, except that Nosy valiantly gives his life to save Fitz from drowning. (That's right, they let you know the dog isn't actually dead, as you've thought for the entire book, only to kill him off again a few pages later.) There's also some political intrigue stuff, like, "how much did King Shrewd know about this plot?" etc.

My Thoughts:

PROS:
-An engaging fantasy novel
-Liked the little stories/notes at the beginning of each chapter
-Interesting to see another world, with its magic system
-Fairly exciting throughout

CONS:
-Uses some common fantasy tropes (Fitz is illegitimate, but wait, he has super powerful magic)
-Leaves some ends hanging (where did Molly really go/what's happening with the raiders) but those will probably be addressed in further books, since this one is part of a series
-Seems like the book tries to cover too much set up at once (Fitz is learning to be an assassin, but he's also learning the Skill, but he also has the Wit)
-For the love of Pete, why are all of the dogs so ill-fated?

Overall, I thought the book was fun to read, and I enjoyed stepping into a new world.