Fool's Assassin

Starred review from June 30, 2014
It’s been 10 years since Hobb concluded the Tawny Man series and ostensibly brought to an end the accounts of FitzChivalry Farseer and the Fool in Fool’s Fate—but now Fitz is back to star in a new trilogy, and the adventure and intrigue is as electrifying and mesmerizing as ever. Posing as Tom Badgerlock, the humble middle-aged caretaker of an estate for the Farseer crown, Fitz believes himself content with his life. He maintains the unassuming façade of country squire even as a series of unusual events hints that his past as court assassin is behind him. First an old friend pushes Fitz to shelter a couple of Farseer by-blows from harm at his estate. Then Fitz himself becomes a father again, to a miraculous and peculiar child. Though a leisurely beginning slows the plot slightly, the fully realized characters and vivid prose show that Hobb remains a supremely talented author of epic fantasy. Agent: Christopher Lotts, Lotts Agency.

July 15, 2014
After a decade, Hobb (Fool's Fate,2004, etc.) again takes up the characters from the Farseer series. In this world of magic, the highborn despise the Wit, an ability to connect to the minds of animals, yet prizethe Skill, a powerful magic possessed by most of the Farseer kings and theirkin. FitzChivalry Farseer, royal bastard and former king's assassin, hasabandoned intrigue and, posing as Tom Badgerlock, holder of the Withywoodsestate, lives the life bucolic. He's married to his childhood sweetheart,Molly, upon whom he dotes. Indeed, at the time of the midwinter festivals, heignores a possibly important messenger in favor of pleasing her, and when hefinally remembers, the messenger has vanished-possibly abducted by a group ofpale strangers. Tom, though, makes no serious effort to discover anything aboutthese mysterious events, being wholly occupied by family matters. Hundreds ofpages, literally and figuratively, dawdle by. In his more contemplative moments,Tom wonders why he's received no messages from the Fool, his companion and allythrough the first six books. Then 50-something Molly insists she's pregnant.More than a year passes. Molly's belly swells, slowly. Still nobody believesher, least of all Tom, though even the servants are careful to humor her.Finally, to general astonishment, she gives birth to a strange, tiny, pale girlshe and Tom name Bee. The girl seems to be simple-minded and, although shefeeds eagerly, grows as slowly as her gestation. Years pass. Tenacious readerseventually will be rewarded. With a cliffhanger.Hobb is hardly the first to stumble in reviving a long-dormant series, nor willshe be the last.

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March 15, 2014
FitzChivalry Farseer is presumably in his grave, but actually he's living quietly as Tom Badgerlock in the countryside with his beloved Molly. It's just that he misses the Fool. Hobb returns to her popular Fitz and the Fool series, which kicks off a repackaging of her nine backlist titles. Hobb will be guest of honor at the August 2014 World Science Fiction convention in London.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2014

Fitz Chivalry Farseer has been living a happy and anonymously quiet life in Withywoods; a reward for his many years of service to the royal family tree, of which he is a bastard branch. Having finally married Molly, the love of his life, he has every expectation of living out his days as plain Tom Badgerlock. But as the manor celebrates Winterfest, danger arrives in the guise of a pale murdered messenger, with the killers vanishing into the snow. Fitz will do anything to protect his new life, but he can never completely turn his back on the old one. Although this is a long book, the first volume in a new trilogy, and spends much of its time in quiet domesticity, the characterization is so fantastic and the setting so compelling that readers will not begrudge the lack of high action. Hobb broke new ground with Assassin's Apprentice, the first in her Farseer trilogy 20 years ago, and here she effortlessly picks up the character of Fitz, rewarding those who have enjoyed his earlier adventures but easily building him anew for readers just joining in. VERDICT The emotionally rich storytelling is sure to win Hobb new fans who will be anxious to read the next installment as the author leaves us dangling in anticipation. [See Prepub Alert, 2/24/14.]

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.