Assassin's Quest

Reviews of the previous two books in this trilogy can be accessed by clicking these links...
The Assassin's Apprentice
The Royal Assassin

Assassin's Quest is the third and final book in the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. At the time of it's release it had the very big task of wrapping up an increasingly popular series (which has now become a modern classic of the fantasy genre) and the fact that Robin Hobb managed to do so in such a masterful fashion is testament to her talent and the endurance of the series overall.

We open up after the very downbeat and vaguely cathartic ending of The Royal Assassin. Fitz is very much alone and detached from his previous life in the castle, all he has for his company is his wolf, Nighteyes, and Prince Verity's constant voice in his mind. Fitz has very little ambition to begin with... it's all he can do to wrestle himself away from living an animal-like existence. He travels throughout the six duchies and begins to learn more about the Wit, the illegal and bestial magic that allows him to communicate with Nighteyes. He yearns to exact revenge upon Prince Regal (now King) but Prince Verity, situated somewhere deep off the traditional map of the six duchies, has other plans for his nephew. Meanwhile the war with the Red Ship Raiders continues, and the coast of the Farseers' realms are all but overrun by the enemy.

Compared to the previous two novels in the trilogy, this is a whole other book. Fitz is taken out of the castle environment and - much like him - we don't feel 'safe' anymore. We're less sure of where we're going and what's going to happen. Hobb offsets this unpredictable edge by finally giving us some answers regarding the Wit... answers that open up a whole other level of ideas in the story. We're also introduced to a few new important characters and the quest of the title takes us beyond even the details of the map found at the beginning of each book.

The quest section of the book is great stuff, and the answers Hobb gives us regarding the Elderlings were completely different to what I was expecting. It's telling that we don't get any full explanations either - leaving the larger background-story open enough for her to develop in other books. The supporting characters are all great too, and the continuing development of the Fool kept me reading with great interest and frequency.

I'd have to say though that if I'd read this way back when it first came out I'd be a bit annoyed about some aspects of the ending - the Red Ship Raiders barely feature and seem more like a subplot than they deserve to be. Thankfully, when I read this I knew there was a follow-up trilogy, so I held on through Hobb's next six books to get some further details and all the stuff I wanted to hear more about. I guess this is part of Hobb's genius though, she manages to always leave you wanting more, and does it in a way that doesn't really cheat the story.

Fitz's personal journey is, of course, the crux of the novels and in this respect I don't think anything can be faulted. The ending is a beautifully melancholic and memorable piece of work, completely in tune with the feel of the trilogy and more realistic than most endings in fantasy fiction. It breaks your heart, but you really love Fitz by the end of the book and you'll miss all the characters when it ends.