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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780553565690
ISBN number: 0553565699
Label: Spectra
Manufacturer: Spectra
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 757
Printing Date: January 05, 1998
Publishing house: Spectra
Release Date: January 05, 1998
Sale Popularity Level: 11494
Studio: Spectra
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Product Description:
From an extraordinary new voice in fantasy comes the stunning conclusion to the Farseer trilogy, as FitzChivalry confronts his destiny as the catalyst who holds the fate of the kingdom of the Six Duchies...and the world itself.
King Shrewd is dead at the hands of his son Regal. As is Fitz--or so his enemies and friends believe. But with the help of his allies and his beast magic, he emerges from the grave, deeply scarred in body and soul. The kingdom also teeters toward ruin: Regal has plundered and abandoned the capital, while the rightful heir, Prince Verity, is lost to his mad quest--perhaps to death. Only Verity's return--or the heir his princess carries--can save the Six Duchies.
But Fitz will not wait. Driven by loss and bitter memories, he undertakes a quest: to kill Regal. The journey casts him into deep waters, as he discovers wild currents of magic within him--currents that will either drown him or make him something more than he was....
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Rated by buyers 
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Great book. Robin Hobb is a gifted writer, rich style and an amazing sensitivity in describing emotions.
Rated by buyers 
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While I like to think that my opinion of this work could be useful to others (a claim further boosted by Amazon's new reviewer ranking system), it is with great difficulty that I set out to critique this, the final installment of the Farseer trilogy. I suppose I should start by admitting that I came into this trilogy quite late (nearly fourteen years to be exact) thanks to a strange but consistent string of published compliments passing between Robin Hobb and George RR Martin. I was immediately enamored with Hobb's wonderfully rich characters, realistic world, and political dynamic. I was able to immediately dismiss fears that fantasy told through first-person perspective could not possibly work and found myself glued to the seat until both the very first and second books in the series were read, often forsaking appointments, sleep, and nourishment in the process. The second to third book transition is such that I recommend having this, the third on hand to anyone who attempts to read the second. This is one story spread across three installments and Hobb wastes no time recapping. Close one; open the subsequent as if you traversed only a standard chapter break.
But I digress; since you are reading this review, it's safe to assume you've likely already read the very first or second or are considering the series as a whole. To that I have to rate the series as follows:
Book One (Assassin's Apprentice) 5 Stars
Book Two (Royal Assassin) 4 Stars
Book Three (Assassin's Quest) 3.5 Stars
The pattern here, in case you haven't noticed, is that the series begins about as strong as any fantasy work out there and with an unrivaled emotional tie to boot. The problem is that as the story progresses, two things happen that, in my opinion anyway, degrade some of the brilliance shown early on. First, Hobb is not afraid to drag her readers through the proverbial mud. Sure most authors will allow things for the lead character(s) to get ugly along the way but they usually counter the trend with a plateau of resolve. It isn't uncommon for Robin Hobb to pull her protagonist into a miserable downward spiral that takes the full three books to level out (and in some cases- to never fully recover from at all). Yes it is realistic writing and yes it mimics reality in that real life doesn't always end happily ever after, but I must confess that there is an underlying feeling of depression and frustration that accommodates such an epic torture-fest.
Secondly, the structure of the story itself takes a radical shift in this, the third installment. It is still told in first-person as the lead character recaps his trials and tribulations as a scribe documenting the history of the Six Duchies, but the once grand scheme of the world around him is reduced to a day-by-day journey of survival. Gone are the grand battles being waged on the coast, gone are the family betrayals and political intrigue, gone is the lifestyle of Buck Keep and the cozy scenes with the enigmatic assassin Chade, the stable master Burrich, or the good king Shrewd. Instead we are dragged along on what basically boils down to a hiking expedition with some of the lesser-developed cast members.
I suppose in all honesty, Hobb set herself up with a struggle so perfectly overwhelming that nothing shy of a completely unforeseen solution would suffice and in that regard she delivers. I'm not big on spoilers, so I won't get into specifics here but let's just say that the resolution to the struggles beautifully built up in the very first two installments is a bit too "fantasy" in nature and not nearly as fulfilling as I had hoped. Worse still is that Hobb has managed to prove to me that we are all hopeless romantics under our hard shells- in other words deep down we all want our hero to get the girl in the end. Sure we complain about the lack of realism in it and whine that there's nothing original out there but this novel is an example of what happens when we don't get a fairy tale ending we love to complain about. It turns out that this stings too but for an entirely different set of feelings: Frustration and melancholy mostly.
I'm left feeling like this series is truly one of the finest in the entire genre and manages to accomplish the same sense of richness that rivals George RR Marin's Song of Ice and Fire saga through a single viewpoint (where Martin tells his tale by bouncing around a cast of hundreds).
I've noticed similar complaints of depressing tone in Hobb's later works and will likely revisit her world after a tour of some more lighthearted fantasy to numb a bit of the residual emotional attachment the Farseer trilogy left behind.
Rated by buyers 
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I must agree with what a lot of the other people have said about this book. The author victimizes the main character way too much, makes Regal way too evil. They make everything go wrong for him, I seriously think it would've been a happier book if the main character died. *SPOILERS AHEAD* Then at least his heart wouldn't have been broken. The kings and princes demand too much from him, the characters become suddenly stupid after the very first book. In the 3rd especially everyone is stupid, everyone is willing to believe the propaganda, even the stupidest lies. Fitz himself turns into a blundering idiot who falls into traps too often. *SPOILERS OVER* I already got the very first book of another of her series (I got it before reading the 3rd book) but I am wary to read it because I don't wish to be so disappointed by later books in the series. IF YOU LIKE A TRAGEDY THIS BOOK IS PERFECT FOR YOU.
Rated by buyers -
If the Farseer trilogy had any flaws up to this point, they are certainly gone now. This is the absolutely stunning end to a trilogy where the fantasy and emotion reach unbelievable and stunning heights of perfection.
I do not read a lot of high fantasy, but it's not common to see something that can blend such purely human emotion and such flights of the imagination into such a delicious blend as this.
Hobb writes simply, but intensely, with just the right amount of description to help carry emotion and excitement that can easily stand on their own without Hobb's skilled pen.
One of the best trilogies I have ever read.
Rated by buyers 
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Why oh why! I had people tell me this book was awful, but I thought well if it's worse then the very first 2 then it will still be good because I loved the very first 2 books. If you have read the very first 2... stop there and imagine your own ending for Fitz because this one sucks!
If you would have told me when I finished book 2 that I would not read the Tawny Man series because Assassin's Quest was "that bad" I would have told you you were crazy.
If she would re-write this book I would buy it. Seriously, you think the book will get better and it keeps getting worse right up until the ending. I have read fantasy series where 1 book in the series might be "bad" but this is the very first one that was so ludicrous that it ruined the whole series for me.
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