• Assassin’s Apprentice

  • The Farseer Trilogy, Book 1
  • By: Robin Hobb
  • Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
  • Length: 17 hrs and 18 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (1,064 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
Assassin’s Apprentice  By  cover art

Assassin’s Apprentice

By: Robin Hobb
Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $29.03

Buy for $29.03

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

The first volume in Robin Hobb’s internationally bestselling Farseer series.

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

©2012 Robin Hobb (P)2012 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

“Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers … what makes her novels as addictive as morphine is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics.” (The Times)

“In today’s crowded fantasy market Robin Hobb’s books are like diamonds in a sea of zircons” (George R. R. Martin)

What listeners say about Assassin’s Apprentice

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    614
  • 4 Stars
    326
  • 3 Stars
    83
  • 2 Stars
    30
  • 1 Stars
    11
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    535
  • 4 Stars
    280
  • 3 Stars
    104
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    11
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    578
  • 4 Stars
    266
  • 3 Stars
    69
  • 2 Stars
    21
  • 1 Stars
    14

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Robin hobb did u pick this narrator?

Read a hard copy some years ago-wonderful rich enchanting. But I really hope robin hobb rethinks the narrator....grating, classist and way to refined and constricted to create the variation in voices this story deserved😢

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

No silver lining

If you like 'one man beats all' type of stories, this is not for you.
There's misery and no silver lining behind the clouds. Only more misery.
This book was recommended on a Reddit thread for people who like 'The name of the Wind' and 'The Lies of Locke Lamora'.
Now these 2 books are simply brilliant. These stories have depth and wit.
For this book though, it feels like the whole book is an intro to some climax that never comes.
Perhaps in the following books but I'm out.

For the narrator: it is like every last word of every sentence is faded out.
The intonation feels often off.

I don't understand why this book is so highly recommended.
I miss locke lamora which made me laugh out loud, stopped my heart from beating, had me full of wonder.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Superb story, excelent narration

This book has everything: adventures, captivating storyline, rich personalities, no white and black separation, just grayzones everythere. Almost always you are left to judge if something is moral or not, mostly you are left only wondering if you could make decision in those many unpleasant circumstances.
I like the book when i can believe in the story. Almost in every book ilike i find some spot which i think was to naive/silly etc. But in this book those are very few (nose story for example was too stretched).
I found in comments that narration was bad. But in my opinion it was very good, as non-native english 'listener' i found narrator very easy to follow and enjoyed my time. in some other audiobooks i have to adapt to narrator very long time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story, disappointing performance.

It actually took me a while to be brave enough to purchase this book. Many friends have recommended me Robin Hobb's work but when I listened to the samples I just didn't think I could bear the narration.
I normally prefer books narrated with a British presenter, but as this book is written in a first person style the performance is spoken in a horrible upper-class English accent. H's are dropped ehverywhhere (!). Which is a shame because most of the other characters in this book are performed quite well and that's actually what makes the book ok to listen to.
The story is solid. A growing-up up story for the most part about a boy making his way in court as a royal bastard. And a few little adventures with a bit of court intrigue at the end. You can tell the author is just setting the scene for what's to come.
It's well written and the characters are multi-dimensional and interesting. Overall I enjoyed it - yes would have been better with a different narrator but it didn't completely ruin it for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

dident finnish

just cant seem care about it and didnt finish it. I think the style of dialog put me of

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Intriguing

The first installment of the Farseer series does not disappoint. It sucks you right in with memorable characters and moments that makes you insists to yourself that you will only listen 5 more minutes.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping story, very slow reader

Excellent book, loved the story and characters. Some heartbreaking twists. Beautiful vocabulary. Believable dialogues and motivations. World building is a bit sparce. VERY... SLOW... NARRATOR... Had to listen on 1.5 speed, otherwise was put to sleep in 10 minutes :)

Will get the rest of the books by this author.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A fun fantasy romp, but don't expect too much

What made the experience of listening to Assassin’s Apprentice the most enjoyable?

Good story, you care about the character

Any additional comments?

I did like the story overall, I liked and cared about the character and liked that he wasn't perfect and made mistakes on occasion. While its all very well to find out you're actually a prince (you find this out in the first paragraph, so its not a spoiler) its another to find that being a prince, and especially a bastard prince, is not all its cracked up to be. Everyone wants to use the hero for something, or dislikes him for reasons that have nothing to do with his own actions.

The narrator's accent on some words jerked me out of the story on occasion. It's also written in the first person, which I don't usually like but as there is a lot of head stuff (both emotional, and magical/mind powers) happening I can see why it was chosen. The style is a bit dated, I think these days it would be edited so it was a tighter story and moved along a little quicker. As it is there are some slow parts that don't need to be slow and just drag the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

If only I liked the "old guy writing his youth"

I have such a hard time with a book opening with an old version of the protagonist telling you about their life.
that being said I liked this book. just not enough to give it any more than 3 stars. Truly the prologue doomed this book series for me. And it shouldn't be such a big issue, but I'm just human.

Greatly written, Robin Hobb knows how to write 100%. The plot is a bit dragging as we have to read the decade it takes for the plot to start imo. It's not a bad thing per se, just not to my taste. It also ends spectacularly well. I could pick up the next book tomorrow or leave it and still have a satisfactory ending I could be happy with, which is such a great thing we don't always get with series.

If this book hadnt been told from old fitz/tom/boys perspective I'd probably given this book closer to 4 stars

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I did not get into this world

Fits is absolutely… meh. The villains are… meh. The plot is… you guessed it. I can see the seeds for what became a GREAT book here, I’d reread it instead (Name of the Wind).

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!