“Fool’s Quest” by Robin Hobb
As expected, I loved this book. It’s hard to talk about all the things Robin Hobb does right, especially because at this point, I expect her to do them right, so this is going to be a pretty short review.
Spoilers for Fool’s Assassin ensue.
We pick up right where we ended things in Fool’s Assassin, and the pacing of the first half of the book is really slow. This was a bit irritating from the plot perspective considering the cliffhanger at the end of the last book, but Hobb doesn’t waste a single word. Fitz’s usual stubbornness is tempered by a little bit of wisdom, but he’s still very much himself. The Fool’s is not really himself, which is very unpleasant to read about, but makes sense. Bee is not as much of a presence in this book, but she’s a welcome one when she does show up. There are great new characters like Ash, great old characters that I never thought I’d see again, and welcome character development for characters from the first book.
There are a few moments involving Fitz in this book that I never really expected to happen, and some loose ends from the original Farseer trilogy are wrapped up. The last few chapters of the book are especially exciting for those of us who love the whole Realm of the Elderlings universe. All these good things make me scared for Fitz’s fate in the third book (especially as the book is called Asssassin’s Fate, and Robin Hobb doesn’t have a history of leaving her characters happy) but otherwise, I was thrilled.
I really don’t want to wait until this time next year to find out what happens next.