Read History
2025 | Score: 10
Easily one of the best books I have ever read. Constant action, realistic character development and growth. An understanding of loss, a happy ending. May be the perfect book. A fantastic trilogy.The middle book is the “weak point” but even that one is exceptional outside of a few slow points. Just so many emotions, all the time, and especially at the end. If I didn’t know there were 13 more books I would be upset it was over.
Format: Book
Days: 16
Date: 11/27/2025 -> 12/13/2025
Summary
Assassin’s Quest
Robin Hobb
The Farseer Trilogy #3
FitzChivalry comes back from the dead. He used his wit bond with Nighteyes to hide his soul away in the wolf’s body and live with him for a few days. Because of his royal blood he was buried unmolested, and Patience was allowed to clean and tend his wounds. Burrich and Chade dig him up and are the only ones who know the truth of him living. For the first months he is still more wolf than man and does not remember much, but Burrich lives in a far off shepherds hut with him while he recovers and remembers himself. Regal has retreated with the court to Tradesford and the coastal duchies are more alone than ever.
As he becomes more human Verity skills to him one night saying that he is alive, sending Chade to start a quest in the name of the true king and save the sic duchies. Burrich eventually leaves Fitz to himself and goes to take care of “a friend”. Fitz almost reverts to animalistic ways but snaps out of it. Gets attacked by forged ones and kills one then has to flee. Much later he comes back to get supplies because he has decided to kill Regal as a personal vendetta (He clearly has PTSD from the dungeon and Regal’s men beating him). He finds the dead body of one of the forged ones he killed still outside the hut, but Burrich had been there and left clothes for him inside. Fitz does not realize but Burrich assumed the corpse was Fitz and thinks he is truly dead now. We later learn he is taking care of Molly who is pregnant with Fitz’ child.
Nighteyes and Fitz head inland to Tradesford to kill Regal, and Fitz tries to remember how to be a person. Along the way they meet a blind minstrel and his daughters, who attach themselves to him temporarily and he kills forged ones to save them. Later he helps a man who turns out to be “Old-Blood” (witted) and is bonded to a bear. He takes them to his hut and gives them some warnings and more info about their bond. Nighteyes leaves temporarily to join a pack of wolves. Fitz continue to Tradesford and Fitz infiltrates Regal’s manor and plans to kill him. Regal’s coterie learns he is there after he has to kill a guard and Will uses Skill tricks to lure Fitz into a trap, but Verity saves him with a mind-blast and imprints upon Fitz “Come To Me”.
Fitz flees to a nearby town and plans to head to the mountains then on to Verity. His desciprtipon has been circulated by Regal and he is now a wanted man. He finds work in a caravan with some others and a minstrel named Starling. Eventually some guards find them and realize Fitz is himself, but he has already poisoned them so on the ride back they all die. The caravan has left without him so he makes his own way to Blue Lake. While there Starling recognizes him but instead of turning him in helps him since she wants to write a song about him. Fitz is going to kill Regal but a ferret bonded to another old-bloood warns him it is a trap so he manages to escape. They connect with some smugglers because Regal has shutdown all travel to the mountains. Fitz drives the wagon of an old woman named Kettle. Halfway there the smugglers betray them to Regal’s men, who were in disguise and Fitz is taken hostage but Nighteyes returns to try to help. They break 2 of starlings fingers but then everyone except Fitz escapes. They take him to a nearby town, the place his mother was from and he was born. He is in prison but then a huge fire starts amd Starling shows up and them and Kettle flee. Fitz leaves the two women to try to save them and heads off on his own. He is pursued the whole way and finally, even by another old-blood. Nighteyes does much to save huim but Fitz takes an arrow to the center of his back. Luckily they are near Jhaampe and a local saves Fitz.
Turns out it was the fool, who has aged and is now more ivory than white. Fitz spends a long time healing but eventualyl Chade and Kettricken learn he is there and he has to tell them everything. A party is supposed to head into the mountains to search for Verity, but Regal offers to not attack the mountain in return for Fitz, so they must flee with just Kettricken, Starling ,Fitz, Kettle, and the Fool. Fitz is also very mad at Chade and Kettricken since because she had a stillbirth, they want to use his daughter as the next Farseer heir. The road they find Kettle says is “Skill-Wrought” and plays tricks with Fitz’ head, weakening him.
They find a black stone that can teleport those with the Skill and Fitz explores an old city, the one he saw Verity at earlier via the Skill. They continue on, except they know a party of guards and Regal’s coterie is close behind. Fitz and Kettle go back and kill the guards and destroy their supplies. They continue on and find a Stone Garden with beautiful carvings of dragons beasts that seem to have life in them accordion to the Wit-sense. Burl, a member of the coterie, shows up and attacks who he thinks is Fitz but is actually the Fool. He was tricked since Fitz and the Fool have developed a skill-bond. Later The Fool asks Fitz where Molly is and he tells him then collapses. They continue on trying to find Verity and reach a Quarry. Verity understands the coterie was using the fool when he asked that and they will try to kill Molly. FItz skills and sees her, Burrich, and the child escape. Verity also killed Corrum, the third coterie member. He has been carvbing a dragon like the ones in the gaarden and appears very old and weary. He has poured his life and memories into creating this beast. We learn Kettle is 260 years old and used to be in a coterie until she killed her twin sister over jealousy and was exiled. Fitz frees Kettle’s Skill and Kettle works with Verity on the dragon. Kettricken is very upset since Verity does not seem to possess much humanity left. Fitz returns to the garden via a stone and sees a ton of guards. They are almost out of time, but one guard recognizes Verity and pledges his allegiance to the true king. Back at the Quarry they skill and Fitz sees Molly and Burrich (Who both believe he is dead) profess love for each other and adopt his child Nettle as their own. He is heartbroken but moves on. Verity takes over his body and sleeps with Kettircked, and tells her she will have a child. Fitz gets his body back and feels betrayed and sleeps with Starling in a healing way. Kettle and Verity fulls surrender themselves and fade into the dragon, one of the mythical elderlings, who comes alives and flies off. The Fool is attacked bu Burl but Burl’s is killed by Nighteyes wich awakens another elderling and Fitz and the Fool and Nighteyes kill a ton of gaurds and awaken all the statues in the stone garden, and hurt will. At the end of the fight theFOol leads all the elderligns to the coast to kill the red ship raiders. Fitz worms his way through Will’s mind to Regal, and instead of killing him imparts a lot of commands upon him. Fitz and Nighteys set off alone to explore. We learn the Kettricken, with the help of patience, retakes Buck and unites the duchies again, and the dragons kill all the red ships and stop the raids. Regal returns all the money, fights to save the kingdom, and pronounces Kettricken the true queen. He is later killed by ferrets. Fitz and Nighteyes live alone in isolation outside Buck, and only Starling knows where they are. She brings him a young boy who he takes care hom.