Assassin's Quest: The Farseer (Mass Market Paperback)

First off like many have stated before the book easily is 100-200 pages to long. The search for Verity really dragged along for longer than it should have. But despite the length of this final book it was'nt completely bad. My biggest complaint was the way the story was wrapped up. The outcome of Regal, Verity, the mystery of the Red ships and a few other areas were really poorly done in my opinion. In fact in regards to the ending the only thing that wrapped the way that it should have been is Fitz and Molly's relationship. Outside of that the ending appeared to rushed with not a lot of thought put into it. I almost gagged on those last couple of chapters.

However I still would recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the first 2 books (which were remarkable). Since Hobb is still essentially a new writer its understandable how perhaps the conclusion of her first series could be a bit awkward. I just hope George RR Martin does'nt follow the same path when eventually concludes his series.

Fitz has to recover, or else there will not be much of a story. When he does, he decides to seek his revenge on Regal and Regal's coterie of Skill users who helped to kill Shrewd and sabotage Buck against the Red Ship Raiders. The title of "Assassin's Quest" is especially apt for this book. Fitz is the titled Assassin, and this novel truly has a quest feel to it, especially as the story progresses. Every since Verity first started out to find the Elderlings, I have wondered what will become of this quest, and Fitz also seeks to answer this question as well.

The Farseer Trilogy is excellent fantasy. Being told in the first person point of view, it is a change from the typical fantasy novel, and Hobb does not hold anything back. We know what Fitz can know, so this cannot be a broad sweeping saga. And yet, this series is not lacking for any depth of storytelling. Hobb also does not protect her protagonist any. Horrible, horrible things happen to Fitz throughout the series and that is a part of the raw power here. The series may be slower moving at times, but that is not for any lack of quality writing on Hobb's part. Quite the opposite. The story moves slowly by necessity, but it never fails to be interesting. "Assassin's Quest" only serves to make me want more Hobb, and to move on to the "Liveship Traders" and then onto "The Tawny Man" series.

-Joe Sherry