Assassin’s Apprentice book review

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
Series: Farseer Trilogy #1
Published by Spectra Books on March 1, 1996
Pages: 435
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.

Assassin’s Apprentice is one of those books that has been written for my enjoyment. I really think that even with the issues I have with the story this series will end up becoming a fast favourite. This is definitely a series that is playing the long game and I’m extremely excited to see where it ends up going and whether I do count it as a new favourite.

I really loved the characters in this book. I think their relationships and how wonderfully they grow from infancy was well done and probably my favourite part of the book. I think the characters gave me something to hold on to when it came to being lost with the magic and the politics, they were my anchor all the way through Assassin’s Apprentice and I think that’s why I’m so up for reading the sequel because I really want to see where they all end up and how everything happens. I love the idea of watching this character grow up around all these different people and see how he will change in response.

The best part of Assassin’s Apprentice for me would have to be the little bit of politics I understood and learning about the country and the kingdom. I really loved seeing the different parts of the world, even if I didn’t quite understand the way it all worked. I think the true marvel of this book was how deep the relationships went and how they developed throughout the book. I also really loved the magic system and how that all worked with the raiders but I wish that I had understood more about it and what it was.

The worst bits of Assassin’s Apprentice for me was there wasn’t an awful lot that happened action wide, I also found that some of it was a little confusing and there was a lot packed into one go with a lack of explanation for a lot of it. It was a really odd book to read in that sense because there wasn’t a huge amount of action but then there wasn’t a huge amount of exposition either. I don’t know what I was expecting or wanting from this book but there just didn’t seem to be any direction and I almost missed the climax of the story. I just really struggled to understand not only the point of the story or the politics. I think I was expecting something more and this left me a little lacking.

I am so confused by this book and whether or not I enjoyed it. I feel as though Assassin’s Apprentice has a lot of information packed into it and that didn’t necessarily mean it was a good or a bad read but just that there was a lot. I do think that this is a series that will get better in time and with more action as the characters grow up so I have picked up the sequel to see what I think.

This was a long read for me and it took a long time for me to read but I’m still not sure it was a win! Have you ever had a book that leaves you completely confused by the end of it? Let me know which one!