Review: Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb

Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy # 1
Pages: 688
Copyright: 2014
Publisher: Del Rey
Buy: Amazon

Summary: from Good Reads
Tom Badgerlock has been living peaceably in the manor house at Withywoods with his beloved wife Molly these many years, the estate a reward to his family for loyal service to the crown.

But behind the facade of respectable middle-age lies a turbulent and violent past. For Tom Badgerlock is actually FitzChivalry Farseer, bastard scion of the Farseer line, convicted user of Beast-magic, and assassin. A man who has risked much for his king and lost more…

On a shelf in his den sits a triptych carved in memory stone of a man, a wolf and a fool. Once, these three were inseparable friends: Fitz, Nighteyes and the Fool. But one is long dead, and one long-missing.

Then one Winterfest night a messenger arrives to seek out Fitz, but mysteriously disappears, leaving nothing but a blood-trail. What was the message? Who was the sender? And what has happened to the messenger?

Suddenly Fitz's violent old life erupts into the peace of his new world, and nothing and no one is safe.

Feelings:
FitzChivalry farseer lives as Tom Badgerlock with his wife Molly. He is happy to be free of the politics of court. However, when a messenger disappears at his house at a Winter's Eve party and his wife faints, he sees the first glimpse of what is to come years in the future.

I really enjoyed the novel. Robin Hobb has, again, created characters and a world that is believable and fun to explore. I realized after reading this book that maybe I should have started with the Assassin's Apprentice, but I was able to follow and enjoy the story without having read previous novels from the same world.

Fitz was an assassin in a past life, but now he is doing his best to be a loving husband. He watches his wife Molly grow old as he stays young and she becomes disillusioned, believing that she is pregnant. When Bee is born, a very small girl after two years of Molly saying she is pregnant, I felt it was believable. I think the reason this was not hard to digest was the fact that Fitz, the narrator, is very sorry that he didn't believe his wife before.

This is fantasy at its best, and I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend this book to those that enjoy fantasy. I am looking forward to the next in the series. I also think I'll go back and check out the beginnings or the world.