Fool's Assassin

Book One of the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy

By: Robin Hobb

Narrated by: Elliot Hill

Length: 27 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Nearly 20 years ago, Robin Hobb burst upon the fantasy scene with the first of her acclaimed Farseer novels, Assassin’s Apprentice, which introduced the characters of FitzChivalry Farseer and his uncanny friend the Fool. A watershed moment in modern fantasy, this novel - and those that followed - broke exciting new ground in a beloved genre. Together with George R. R. Martin, Robin Hobb helped pave the way for such talented new voices as Scott Lynch, Brandon Sanderson, and Naomi Novik.

Over the years, Hobb’s imagination has soared throughout the mythic lands of the Six Duchies in such best-selling series as the Liveship Traders Trilogy and the Rain Wilds Chronicles. But no matter how far she roamed, her heart always remained with Fitz. And now, at last, she has come home, with an astonishing new novel that opens a dark and gripping chapter in the Farseer saga.

FitzChivalry - royal bastard and former king’s assassin - has left his life of intrigue behind. As far as the rest of the world knows, FitzChivalry Farseer is dead and buried. Masquerading as Tom Badgerlock, Fitz is now married to his childhood sweetheart, Molly, and leading the quiet life of a country squire.

Though Fitz is haunted by the disappearance of the Fool, who did so much to shape Fitz into the man he has become, such private hurts are put aside in the business of daily life, at least until the appearance of menacing, pale-skinned strangers casts a sinister shadow over Fitz’s past...and his future.

Now, to protect his new life, the former assassin must once again take up his old one....

©2014 Robin Hobb (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Fantasy as it ought to be written... Robin Hobb’s books are diamonds in a sea of zircons." (George R. R. Martin)

"A gleaming debut in the crowded field of epic fantasies...a delightful take on the powers and politics behind the throne." ( Publishers Weekly) on Assassin’s Apprentice)

Narration becomes tolerable halfway through

I love this world and these characters. Starting this book with this narrator was very rough, but either I became too engrossed in the story about halfway through to get hung up on the narration issues anymore or he’s gotten slightly better as the book has gone on or both. The book itself is going in a direction I didn’t expect at all so I’m very glad I’ve stuck with it. I’m about 2/3 through, now.

Amazing new take but this narrator is garbage

Bro what the hell was the narrator thinking with the Fool? He straight up gave him a German accent that’s so bad it’s distracting. I like Fitz and Chade well enough but many of the old characters are just lazily constructed and it’s obvious the narrator didn’t bother to listen to the previous books for continuity.

Excellent character development

Hobb does a great job developing the primary characters and earning your investment in them. I plan to finish the trilogy for that alone. With that, if you are expecting action and magic, this books has very little of both. And the only reals action in the book was right at its close.

the greatest fantasy writer does it again.

it's fitz and the fool and what else do you need to know!? absolutely beautiful.

I Hate Hate HATE when they change the narrator

Any additional comments?

I Hate Hate HATE when they change the narrator of a series. It's hard to tell who is who, there's little difference between the characters. Difficult to listen to, very poor performance. Please bring back James Langton!!!

Great Book, Painful Listen

Great book if you liked the other adventures of Fitzchivalry Farseer. However, I cannot for the life of me understand why they keep on not only changing narrators, but choosing these polar opposites. This narrator, as seemingly everyone else agrees, is horrendous. Whether he's whispering every time anybody communicates with The Skill, or making literally zero changes in pitch or tone when differentiating characters, this narrator keeps you genuinely confused as to who's talking --- so much so, that as you're trying to figure out who's talking, you'll miss what's actually being said. How are you going to have a soft-spoken, clearly young man narrating a first person telling of a 50 year old assassin? This whole thing is beyond annoying and happens, I feel, way too much in audio books. I really think there should be a requirement when changing narrators that the new person is to do some research on name pronouncement, voice, tone, accents, etc. The changes experienced in some of these books almost completely ruins the fun of it all and fully eliminates any immersion in the story. Might have to get the hardcover copies of the next two so that I can properly perceive the characters in these amazing novels.

Great series, let down by terrible.com narrator

Where does Fool's Assassin rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I have enjoyed this series for its simplicity in delivering moral messages. If you like books like Enders Game, Watership Down, The Giver, or just have a penchant for a bit of fantasy and magic set in a well developed world then you will enjoy this.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Fool's Assassin?

Fitz realizing that he loved his old way of life. I admit that the beginning made me feel as if he had wandered far from his origins. And the fool. Say what you will, the author clearly intended for their love of one another to be something far, far separate from all other things. That made sense to me as the Fool is such a separate character.

What didn’t you like about Elliot Hill’s performance?

Every. Single. Thing. Where did this guy come from? Kudos for making a living of reading books- I lack this skill. However, that is no reason to listen to others who also lack it. This is not personal, this is simple recognition of the fact that this content is beyond him. In addition, and I know it has been said before, narrators of a series should be required to listen to the prior narrator if there is a change. What was that name? "Shade?" Oh, you must mean Chade. I understand that not every series is as faithfully narrated by the same people (Wheel of Time strikes me as one to reference for the purpose of narrator continuity) but can you just please hear a chapter or two before starting in and messing things up? I was turned off within minutes, will be buying the kindle version and reading it instead.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There are many, too hard to isolate any particular one. I am pleased with the way the author kept the relationship between Fitz and Nighteyes alive.

Any additional comments?

I am aware that Audible does not produce all content it sells. I do wish that series with narrator changes were identified as such. I would not have even bothered to use a credit to buy this audiobook if I had any warning to listen to the sample first. I simply clicked and downloaded assuming that the new narrator would be as good as the prior ones. My mistake.

Best Author Since Tolkien

Robin Hobb is compared to George R. R. Martin. That is unjust. She is better in every way than Martin. He writes medieval pornography, relying upon sex and shock to entrap his audience. Hobb does what Martin cannot. She tells a story that entraps a reader and does so without foul language, nudity, sex, gratuitous violence and without killing off 95% of the main characters. Martin is fluff. Hobb is the real deal. A much more accurate comparison is to Tolkien. He is the master and Hobb is his heir apparent.
Fitz is a self-destructive man of depth. Loves but feels unworthy of love. Making mistake after mistake in his effort to do right. He is me. He is most of us. And that's why I feel drawn to read of Fitz the Bastard. He is a common man at heart. He is what I would be if I lived in his world. There are few scenes of violence in this volume and yet it is truly tragic. Masterfully written and wonderfully narrated, this is truly worth the time and credit.

Best series by Robin so far

Out of all the series in this world, so far I think this tops them. I've always loved Fitz as a character and Robin adds another character that is just as enjoyable.

Fitz continues to have a hard life, but he at least receives some measure of joy and rest. I look forward to seeing where the story goes snd have already purchased the remaining books.

I listened and read this in conjuction with each other. I thought Elliot Hill was a wonderful reader and did an excellent job of making the characters come to life. Sometimes I would have a little bit of overlap between switching from reading and listening and I would find that Elliot brought a scene to life better than when I was reading it on my own. Highly recommend.

Very different

This book was very different from the previous books in the series. I guess based on how the previous books ended, a lot of groundwork needed to be laid in order to establish this next story arc. So yeah, this book seems to be mostly setting the stage for the next book(s), and introducing us to some new characters, so that we can probably more care about them in the greater adventures that are soon to unfold. So onwards I go.