The Farseer: Assassin's Apprentice

By: Robin Hobb

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

With unforgettable characters, a sweeping backdrop, and passionate storytelling, this is a fantasy debut to rival that of Robert Jordan. Filled with adventure and bloodshed, pageantry and piracy, mystery and menace, Assassin's Apprentice is the story of a royal house and the young man who is destined to chart its course through tempests of change. Young Fitz is the bastard son of the noble Prince Chivalry, raised in the shadow of the royal household by his father's gruff stableman. An outcast whose existence has forced his father to abdicate his claim on the throne, Fitz is ignored by all royalty except the devious King Shrewd, who has him secretly tutored in the arts of the assassin. For in the young man's blood is a heritage of magic, the talent called the Skill, as well as another, even more mysterious ability.

As barbarous raiders ravage the coasts and leave behind the zombie-like husks of the townspeople to prowl the countryside, Fitz is growing toward manhood. Soon he will face his first dangerous, soul-shattering mission, a mission that poses as much a threat to himself as it does for his target---for Fitz is a threat to the throne...but he may also be the key to the survival of the kingdom.

©1999 Robin Hobb (P)2010 Tantor

Critic reviews

“Intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured...at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.” ( Kirkus)

Great Book

Fantastic characters, great storytelling! Robin Hobb is one of the great Fa tasty writers of our time.

Even Better the Second Time Through

I listened to this book a few years back and loved it at the time. The second listen was even better!

the depth of characters

I like the character of Patience. Would have liked more stronger characters being not only cisgender but more gender fluidity with recognition of strong women with strong positive values

story line

liked the majority of characters and the plot. will continue on to the next series happily

One Time Listen

I have listened to the whole series. Overall, I liked the world Robin Hobb created but the characters were a little frustrating at times. Also, the conclusion of this series wasn't that great. However, it did wrap things up for the most part and I felt compelled to keep buying into each book with my credits to get a conclusion. But it is really hard to sympathize with the main characters motivations and understand his loyalty rulers of this society. I have mixed feelings about some of the characters too. I just felt the story could have been written better and I think generally that is my opinion about some other Robin Hobb works I have listened to as well.

Despite those complaints I would still say this is worth a listen, but be prepared for a long story. This is a series about a boy coming of age and being outcast because of his blood. There is a mentor component and a struggle to find ones identity. There is also magic and adventure in the later books.

Great Read

I was pleasantly surprised by this author. I was looking for a new series and tried her as an experiment. I hoped for the best and was not disappointed. The story was slow to build tension but the main character was easy to sympathize with. At first I thought the story was too slow but by the end of the book I was having trouble turning off the iPod. Give her a try. I think you'll like her.

Good story, awful narration

The story is good and very engaging, but the narrator tries to fake an English accent and it is incredibly cringeworthy and distracting to listen to.

Wonderful Entertainment

Just finished listening to The Assassin's Apprentice today, a fantasy tale set in an alternate medieval time about a young man who is trained from age 6 onward to become a dispatcher of souls at the king's command. A lovely coming of age story, plenty of adventure, and intimations of special 'gifts' that allow for wordless communication. This is most definitely not my usual fare, as I don't read fantasy all that much. But Robin Hobb is an apt storyteller and has crafted characters you want to find out more about. I was going to just give this first book a listen, taking advantage of a sale, and thought I'd just ignore the rest of the series (who needs yet ANOTHER series to follow when the tbr is already out of control!), but I'm already tempted to listen to the next book. A perfect diversion from current events.

Well written, but too slow for me

You might love this book if you like lots of character development and dialogue. I thought I liked character development, but after this book, I guess I realize that I don't.

This book was well written in my opinion. The story was good and the characters were believable. The world was developed. But for me, there was not enough tension in the plot. The character development was not enough to hold my interest. I was interested enough to keep listening, but I will not get the second book.

Gets interesting. After the first six hours.

I'm glad I stuck with it, but it was a sloooooooooow start. And skill? That's the best the author could come up with to name the skill?

I liked the narrator. And the characters. But you could just start 1/3 the way in and won't have missed anything.