Golden Fool

The Tawny Man Trilogy, Book 2

By: Robin Hobb

Narrated by: James Langton

Prince Dutiful has been rescued from his Piebald kidnappers and the court has resumed its normal rhythms. There FitzChivalry Farseer, gutted by the loss of his wolf bondmate, must take up residence at Buckkeep as a journeyman assassin.

Posing as a bodyguard, Fitz becomes the eyes and ears behind the walls, guiding a kingdom straying closer to civil strife each day. Amid a multitude of problems, Fitz must ensure that no one betrays the Prince’s secret - one that could topple the throne: that he, like Fitz, possesses the dread "beast magic." Only Fitz’s friendship with the Fool brings him solace. But even that is shattered when devastating revelations from the Fool’s past are exposed. Bereft of support and adrift in intrigue, Fitz finds that his biggest challenge may be simply to survive.

©2003 Robin Hobb (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved

Critic reviews

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

great book

This book was very hard to put down from the time I started to the time it ended. It is awesome the continuation of the Tawny Man trilogy, it builds in great depth on the relationship of the fool and the fitz... introducing Dutiful... and the wit takes on new shape and prominence. Only issue I had with his book was it seemed that the ending was abrupt and unfinished, luckily I have the next book to go on to but it makes this impossible to read as a single book.

Epic Fantasy novel meets Phenomenal Performance

How could I possibly find mere words to illustrate the verbal pictorial you may choose to embark, upon your purchasing this masterpiece.. I mustn’t.. in fear that with my mouth I might betray what is held in my heart through my attempt in telling that in which can only be felt.

Rushed?

I liked the booked, but compared to previous books from the series, the storyline feels rushed and not as complete/thorough

A middle book with a purpose.

Book two of the Tawny Man series finally ties the events happening in the Six Duchies to those that occurred in the earlier Liveship Traders series. Now that Prince Dutiful has been rescued from the Piebalds he must face the fact that his life is not his own. He has been promised in marriage to the Narcheska Elliania of the Out Islands in the hope that such a marriage might heal the wounds between their kingdoms after the recent war.  The two of them do not hit it off when they finally meet and neither of them wants to follow through on the arrangement. This angst leads to Dutiful carelessly offending the Narcheska and in return she publicly challenges him to prove he is worthy of her. She demands that Dutiful slay the Dragon Icefyre that legends say sleeps beneath the ice back in her lands. Before anyone can stop Dutiful he agrees to the challenge to show that he is worthy of this bride that he doesn't even want. Kids.

Preparing for this quest becomes the focus of much of this book and of course things are not exactly straightforward. While the Out Islanders are in the Six Duchies for the betrothal ceremony the Jamailians also arrive in an effort to court the Six Duchies into an alliance. If you have read the Liveship Traders trilogy then you know that the Jamailians have hatched a single Dragon, Tintaglia, and they hope that she will enable many more to return to the skies. In order to accomplish this they need the help of the Six Duchies to hold back their enemies while Tintaglia watches over an ailing clutch of young.  The Out Islanders oppose any support of the Jamailians and there is no way for the Six Duchies to please both sides and their opposing desires. 

The complexities in this book extend well beyond political and it is actually the relationships of the characters that take center stage. Fitz manages to alienate just about everyone important to him and finds that, much like the Six Duchies, his fate is intertwined with that of the Dragons. The two closest people in his life, the Fool and Chade, both expect him to support them in their conflicting allegiances. The Fool is certain that helping the Dragons return to the skies is his destiny and he expects Fitz, his Catalyst, to ensure that it happens, while Chade adamantly supports his Prince and the commitment to slay Icefyre. Fitz tries to straddle the line between the two and that goes about as well as you would think.

As happens in many trilogies this book suffers from being the middle book of the series and winds up being mostly set-up for book three. I do like the fact that Robin Hobb brought the two prior series together into one consistent story line and I feel she did an excellent job of setting the stage for an interesting finale in Fool's Fate.

James Langton continues his excellent narration and he has done a great job enhancing the personalities of the characters across the board.

Strange to hear a story I have read numerous times

Rather reading or hearing the story it was pleasurable time spent. Ready for book 3.

Sadly I began in the wrong place

I blunderedm in the fact that I started this fantastic series about in the middle.
I first purchased “Fools Errand”followed by this Audible book “The Golden Fool” Two books I enjoyed immensely.
In the Book “Fool’s Errand” I even made notes where I made bookmarks. Never before had I been compelled to do so. But I could not let go the woods of wisdom go without remarking upon them. I will go back and start at the beginning. The only thing that I could suggest is to have patience. Because it seemed to be a very slow start. But well worth the wait

No ending.

I would give this a five if author had found a plausible resting place. This makes me worry about starting the next book in case there is a similar unsatisfactory halt to the book. Especially as the next book is the last available. The moralising and political tendencies of the writing are well incorporated into the story telling and become quite inoffensive.
Basically it is so well written and told it rises above these annoyances.. and however much I complain it is a great listen/read.

Wonderful

Beautiful story, gorgeous writing, fantastic narration. James Langton- how about you record Fitz and the Fool trilogy too? :D This is my 5th re-read of this series and it’s better every time

Characters! So well developed and portrayed

Bringing together characters and events from prior trilogies. Excellent! Amber Fool!! Wow. Blew me away♥️

Robin Hobb is a marvelous story teller.

Wonderful story, rich in detail, magic and feels. I have read this series multiple times and look forward to hearing it many more.