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)

Somewhat depressing

This book just felt like it invested far too much time on the main protagonist sulking and feeling sorry for himself. He gets dumped on constantly and seems to accept this as his just reward. I can understand a bit of struggles when it's balanced with something good, but this rarely seems to be the case here. The narration was pretty good though.

The narrator ....

Sounds like a high school Shakespeare production. I can’t get passed it... sounds so whiney. Not a character I want to listen to.

In a word: Frustrating

I've listened to the whole trilogy. The most frustrating thing is that this story has all the right pieces to be seriously epic. And I gave the author the benefit of the doubt and was waiting for the story to turn around and for my mind to be completely blown by the artful way in which the reader is led along...except nothing ever happens. The protagonist has access to not one but two powerful magical skills, elite training as an assassin, perfect placement in society to make a huge difference behind the scenes, meaningful relationships to sustain him, a prophet to guide him by the hand, and charisma that makes people want to follow him. And he sucks. He sucks so bad. He chooses the most worst path 99% of the time. And not in an evil way but in a completely incompetent, almost expertly bungled way. Any time you think he is doing anything well, it won't take long before he destroys anything remotely beneficial that is going on. He did one awesome thing in the last book about an hour before the book ends, but it lasts about 60 seconds.

Apart from the protagonist, the story has this truly troll-like ability to take the reader out of the action right as the most climactic and exciting events occur. As soon as it gets really interesting, all the little details disappear and you start getting a really dry news blurb about what is going on.

I feel like anyone who gave this book 5 stars has never read Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, James Islington, or Pierce Brown. You need a richter scale to compare this series to them.

Great book

I'm going to be suffering from withdraw for the next 2 months while I wait for the next book in this series to come out in audio... I've been looking for a good series to start with this author, but the only one audible has had in the past is the Soldier Son series and by all reports it isn't her best work. After reading this I think it likely I will pick that series up anyway, since even this author's sub-par work is still likely to be quite good.

This book is not heavy on fight scenes, and the main character isn't even that good in a face-to-face fight when it happens. Indeed, for an assassin he manages to kill and wound very few people, and is generally quite nice and likable. The thing that makes this story so excellent is it's world-building and attention to detail, and its ability to build and sustain tension. The plot moves from point to point and as one tension eases, another takes up the slack, drawing you constantly onward and never producing a dull moment. The characters are so well done that I can think of real people who have less personality. I can see how the lack of action might deter some people, but if you enjoy detailed world-building and excellent writing, this is a book you are sure to enjoy.

Another person mentioned the "Night Angel" series, which I have personally read and enjoyed - this however, is the EXACT opposite take on a fantasy assassin series in every way I can think of (and is written far better). Also, I don't know what it is about this reader and assassin books, but he is well suited to it.

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 Book

I don't know what to say about this book. It was not fast paced nor very exciting most of the time. The setting was pretty typical of the fantasy genre and the world building wasn't the greatest that I've read. This book feels like a set up to a trilogy where we are learning the background story of a few chars. It's essentially a story about a bastard boy, his mentors, and his dogs.

So why the 5 stars? I just loved this book. I was invested in the chars and cared about what happened to them. The friendships and bonds felt so real. The one downside is the one dimensional aspect of the "evil" characters. I was able to get past this easily, though because the story itself is strong. This is one of the books where you just enjoy the journey the author puts in front of you. I downloaded the second book within seconds of finishing this. Not because of some contrived cliffhanger but because I just couldn't wait to see where the story would take me.

Not a waste of 83 hours...just the 60 I spent.

I am 3/4 of the way through the 3rd book of this series, and can say one thing with certainty.

Fitz Chivalry is an idiot.

Seriously. I just finished a part in the book where, again, I was yelling at the moron protagonist to get his head out of his backside and see what the heck was going on. There have been at least half a dozen points in this story where I was doing the same thing. But this particular time really has me irritated. It's to the point I can't root for this imbecile any longer. I am a full work week and a half into this story, and I don't know if I can finish it.

The story is told from his perspective. So other than the historical information presented at the beginning of each chapter, Fitz knows everything you know. Yet the most simple deductions regarding several situations he encounters are completely lost to him. Some he figures out in a few 'pages.' Others take him a full book before he puts it together. Long or short, you'll be screaming at him like I do to get a freaking clue.

And this character was trained by the master assassin to observe and deduce? The seven duchies are in a heap of hurt, then.

Or is the idiot in this story Robin Hobb, who can't move the story along without turning his protagonist stupid for a short time in order to create a plot device?

I enjoyed the first book enough to spend a credit on the second. And was interested in the story enough to spend a credit on the third book. But if I had never bothered with this trilogy, that would have been fine.

And I am seriously considering giving up on it now. This latest idiotic move by Fitz hasn't even been 'revealed' for certain yet, but it is painfully obvious to the reader. The fact that it isn't obvious to Fitz just makes me want to give up on him.

Save yourself 83 hours and choose a different book.

Kept waiting for something to happen

Any additional comments?

The story ideas and concepts in the book where interesting and fun, and my imagination started going crazy with possibilities when they were introduced. The author never seemed to bring all the pieces together to make the story engaging enough. Many of the main characters were easy to forget and I felt a sense of relief the book was over instead of a longing to know more about what will happen next in their life.

The reading of the book is very well done. I found the voice, accent, energy, and pacing to be very pleasant.

Don't tell my wife

Don't tell my wife, but I have a crush on Robin Hobb. She is by far my favorite fantasy writer. I read this book several years ago and loved it. When Audible put it on sale, I could not resist

This is a coming of age story and a world building book. The book starts when Fitz is only six years old. At the time he has no name. His mother never named the bastard of a royal prince. We are witness to and feel for the main character Fitz, like in most RH books, he is missed understood by almost everyone, but not as misunderstood as he thinks. RH builds characters better then anyone, so if you like character driven stories read any Robin Hobb book. This book also has some good dog characters.

I would suggest though, that you start with the "Liveship Traders" trilogy. It is by far the best, has lots more magic and Dragons. I usually don't care for a whole lot of magic, but no one is as imaginative as RH and the world she builds in Liveship Traders is unmatched.

It would be great if Audible could come out with Robin Hobb's earlier books that she wrote as Megan Lindholm. I would buy all of them Audible.

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.