Assassin's Quest

The Farseer Trilogy, Book 3

By: Robin Hobb

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 37 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

From an extraordinary voice in fantasy comes the stunning conclusion to the Farseer Trilogy, as FitzChivalry confronts his destiny as the catalyst who holds the fate of the kingdom of the Six Duchies...and the world itself.

King Shrewd is dead at the hands of his son Regal. As is Fitz - or so his enemies and friends believe. But with the help of his allies and his beast magic, he emerges from the grave, deeply scarred in body and soul. The kingdom also teeters toward ruin: Regal has plundered and abandoned the capital, while the rightful heir, Prince Verity, is lost to his mad quest - perhaps to death. Only Verity's return - or the heir his princess carries - can save the Six Duchies. But Fitz will not wait. Driven by loss and bitter memories, he undertakes a quest: to kill Regal. The journey casts him into deep waters, as he discovers wild currents of magic within him - currents that will either drown him or make him something more than he was.

Catch up with the rest of the Farseer trilogy.

©1999 Robin Hobb (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

"An enthralling conclusion to this superb trilogy, displaying an exceptional combination of originality, magic, adventure, character, and drama." ( Kirkus)

Great series!!

I loved the trilogy and watching FitzChivalry grow from a young boy to man. Each book has its moments of inspiration, gasp worthy break throughs and insights that leave you feeling like you’re being led a by merry chase.

Held my interest, but had ridiculous ending

I enjoyed this book. Fitz makes a long journey, traveling as a peasant that seems real. Hobb does a great job relating the adventure in a believable way. The interaction of Fitz, Burrich, and the Fool was quite excellent.
I give the story three stars because the climax was very silly. It was a resolution that reminded me of a children's book. The defeat of the seemly unstoppable red ship raiders was barely mentioned, and the explanation of the great mystery of forging was glossed over in a couple sentences.

Get ready to fall in love with this boy

Would you consider the audio edition of Assassin's Quest to be better than the print version?

I have read the trilogy and listened to them with my husband. Listening to the book was a treat. I preferred listening to the books due to the pronunciation of the characters names.

Engaging, entertaining, thought provoking

What made the experience of listening to Assassin's Quest the most enjoyable?

Between Robin Hobb's unquestionable talent for creating true to life characters and Boehmer's ability to tell the story like it's his, you feel as though you've just spent a weekend in front of the fire with Fitz while he entranced you with his life story. While you may not love Fitz (he is most definitely a fallible character), you can't help but feel his love, his wounds, his victories and his losses.

What did you like best about this story?

The characters. The depth of each character in this story is simply astounding. Even using the first person narrative, Hobb is able to create a whole host of realistically complex personalities.

Which character – as performed by Paul Boehmer – was your favorite?

The Fool is one of the best characters ever written. He is mysterious, comical, tragic, and heartwarming all at once.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If only there were enough hours in the day, I would listen to all three Farseer books without pause.

Any additional comments?

This is the third book of an epic fantacy that every fantacy fan must read. I gave it four stars only because I found the other two books to be slightly more enjoyable. This was mostly because the author led you up to the end in exquisite detail and them suddenly ended the story. The ending is complete, it just doesn't have the fullness of description and life that the rest of the story has. That said, this isstill one of the best stories I've ever encountered.

poor ending

If you could sum up Assassin's Quest in three words, what would they be?

book was slow moving until the end and then was rushed.

Any additional comments?

needed a book four just for the ending.Liked the store but, hated the details of the ending.

Getting better all the time

Much better than the first book. This is one of the only serious that I've read that keeps getting better as the story continues. Is it as good as Wheel of Time? Not by a long shot. I still think that that's a pretty big statement for the edit or to make. However, I would recommend it.

great conclusion to the farseer trilogy

Fitz in this book really comes into his own, but I can't help but feel like Hobb struggled with the ending here. it drug on and then snapped together all at once. too much tragedy tho.

still great

It's a good story

Probably my least favorite of the 3 but it was an good finish to the series.

Great! But...

I can wish only that Hobb wrote this in a form that had faith in her readers' intelligence. Many times throughout the trilogy I found myself well aware of some great plot twist or betrayal that nobody ever seemed to notice for what felt like an excruciatingly long time. Other than that, exceptional adventure to follow along with.

Rarely...

have I finished a book in been so emotional.... Cuz I was so invested. amazing just amazing.