Review: Royal Assassin (Farseer #2) by Robin Hobb

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

*Note: This is the second book in the series and this review may contain some spoilers although really not that many. You should read my review of the first book Assassin's Apprentice*

Summary
The Raiders continue to raid the shores of the Six Duchies while Fitz recovers from being poisoned. Fitz also admits to falling in love with Molly who is now at Buckkeep as a servant. As the situation in the Six Duchies gets worse and worse. Fitz scrambles to keep his word to the King and to help keep Regal from destroying everything precious to him.

Commentary
The biggest thing you will notice about this book is how incredibly long it is. I often felt like things were happening at a crawling pace. I believe this is deliberate since it mirrors Fitz's mounting frustration throughout the novel, but it made the book really hard to get through.

Despite the pacing, I did enjoy the story itself as it is unapologetic about reality's harshness for someone in Fitz's position as a bastard assassin, and the depth with which Hobb writes is very much appreciated. The choices characters have to make are all tough, which made for interesting situations.

While I want to know what happens to Fitz, I'm dreading the slow pace of events that has been prevalent through the first two books of this trilogy. Also, the tone of this series is very much bleak so that also contributed to the slow pace feeling.

Star Rating: 3.0/5.0

For an explanation of the Star Rating go here.

This is one of the books I've read and reviewed for the fantasy mini-challenge. Progress 12/13 books.

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