Nancy B. reviewed on 6/24/2005 + 22 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 12

As a royal bastard in the household of King Shrewd, a boy called "Fitz" spends his early years in the king's stables. When the magic in his blood marks him for destiny, he begins receiving secret instruction, by order of the king, in the art of assassination, a calling that places him in the midst of a nest of intrigue and arcane maneuverings. Firmly grounded in the trappings of high fantasy, Hobb's first novel features a protagonist whose coming of age revolves around the discovery of the meaning of loyalty and trust. - Synopsis by Reed Business Information, Inc.

The usual stock fantasy characters are here, but the main one has a bit of a twist: He learns how to become an assassin for the king.

This story does get a bit gruesome in parts, so if you're particularly squeamish, this isn't for you. Portions of that didn't bother me, but what did bother me (and maybe it shouldn't have) was Fitz's dog. Yes, he has a dog who is quite loyal and protective of him. I won't get into details, but as the dog is introduced fairly early into the story, I nearly stopped reading the book after reading about the dog...

Now, I attach a lot to what happens to a dog in a story, simply because I have 2 dogs and no kids. But certain things with the dog (I won't get into detail) made me want to stop reading fairly early on in the book. But it's rare for me not to finish a book, so I continued.

It moves a pretty good pace, the character of Fitz is interesting enough, so it's not that the story itself is bad. Don't let my prejudice make you think it wasn't an interesting tale (the 1st book of the Farseer Trilogy) because it was.

Oh, and the cover art is beautiful.

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