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Assassin's Apprentice
Assassin's Apprentice (Farseer Trilogy) Review: A Bastard Prince's Hard Training (Robin Hobb)
Robin Hobb's fantasy debut follows Fitz, a royal bastard raised at Buckkeep and trained in secret as an assassin. Fantasy-Faction scored it 9/10 for its vivid characters, while another blogger warns the pacing is slow and Fitz is divisive.
LuvemBooks Verdict
Best for
Readers who prize character, loyalty and a grief-shaped hero over action and spectacle, and who are happy to live inside a slow, immersive apprenticeship.
Worth it if
Worth reading if you want a patient, character-driven fantasy where the relationships with Burrich, Chade and the Fool and Hobb's vivid prose carry you through a slow build to an emotional close.
Skip if
Skip it if you want brisk plotting and a protagonist who wins, since reviewers describe the pacing as slow and Fitz as a passive, at times self-pitying narrator, and the book carries abuse and animal death.
Where reviewers agree and split
Readers rate it 4.5 on Amazon. The reviews we read that discuss it in depth split on some points:
Of the 3 reviews we read that discuss its characters, 2 praise the characters, but 1 finds Fitz passive and self-pitying.
Characters
2 praise the characters · 1 finds Fitz passive and self-pitying
Prose
3 praise Hobb's prose
Pacing
1 enjoys the slow build · 1 calls the pacing genuinely slow
Who says what
Characters
“Her characters are dripping with dimension, as rounded and fleshed-out as if the author has spent years with them in her head.”
— Fantasy-Faction · Book blog“No character in the cast seems two dimensional, each with in-depth wants, needs and goals.”
— Grimdark Magazine · Book blog“Fitz himself is a divisive narrator: he is passive, self-pitying at times”
— imlovingbooks.com · Book blogProse
“Robin Hobb’s prose is brilliant, making for many memorable passages.”
— Iris Marsh · Book blogPacing
“While the writing is slow-paced, it all builds in tension to an epic, emotional, and suddenly fast-paced conclusion.”
— Iris Marsh · Book blog“The pacing is genuinely slow, and not in a way everyone will forgive.”
— imlovingbooks.com · Book blogWhat readers & critics say
Reviewers lean strongly positive: Grimdark Magazine calls it a must-read for its character relationships, Fantasy-Faction praises Hobb's vivid writing and richly dimensional characters, and book bloggers echo the praise while flagging the slow pace and a divisive Fitz. The reservations concern tempo and temperament rather than craft.
Sources: Grimdark Magazine, Fantasy-Faction, imlovingbooks.comAsk LuvemBooks
Was this helpful?
- Is it worth reading?
- Reviewers who enjoyed it single out Hobb's prose as the draw: Fantasy-Faction scored it 9/10 and called her writing "vivid and dazzling". The cost is spelled out by imlovingbooks.com, which finds the pacing slow and Fitz passive at times. Iris Marsh sees the opposite payoff, a slow build that tightens into an emotional conclusion. Worth the time if you will trade momentum for immersion.
- Similar books
- The most natural next step is Hobb's own Royal Assassin, which continues Fitz's story, and her Liveship Traders trilogy opens with Ship of Magic. Outside her work, Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind offers another retrospective apprenticeship tale told in a lyrical voice. George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones pairs court intrigue with a bastard raised among a royal family. Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora trades Hobb's quiet sorrow for a livelier, more kinetic criminal underworld.
- Who should read this?
- It suits readers who prize character, loyalty and a grief-shaped hero over action, and who are content inside a slow, hushed apprenticeship. It also rewards anyone drawn to quiet, gradually tightening pressure and scheming. Readers wanting fast-paced action with victory should skip it or return later, says imlovingbooks.com.
- What age is it for?
- This is an adult fantasy novel rather than a children's or YA title, and the content notes matter more than a number here. Reviewers flag abuse and death, and one found the fate of the Forged harrowing to read. Readers sensitive to those themes should approach with care.
- About Robin Hobb
- Robin Hobb is the pen name of Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, an American writer of speculative fiction. She also writes as Megan Lindholm.
- How does the magic work?
- Magic here is personal and costly rather than flashy. The Wit lets Fitz bond with animals but is distrusted, and Burrich breaks his bond with the dog Nosy and warns him never to use it again. The Skill is a telepathic magic of the royal line that enters his education later.
- Do readers like Fitz?
- Reviewers genuinely split. Fantasy-Faction praises the characters as rounded and fleshed-out, and some reviewers say no character feels two-dimensional. imlovingbooks.com calls Fitz a divisive narrator, passive and sometimes off-putting, whose choices make some readers bounce off him.
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Sources & Further Reading
The key facts and claims in this review are grounded in the retrieved, verified sources listed below.
- Cited in this review
- 1
en.wikipedia.org
- Further reading
- 2
Robin Hobb, LuvemBooks
- 3
en.wikipedia.org
- 4
- 5
fantasy-faction.com
- 6
- 7
- 8
penguinrandomhouse.com
- 9
- 10
Grimdark Magazine
Age & Reading Level
Our age band
Adult
Our age band groups books for browsing; it isn't an age a review gave.
4 content notes · who it suits
Content to know about
Skip if you want brisk plotting and a protagonist who wins rather than a slow, sorrowful character study.
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