Reviews
Long and detailed but continued to intrigue me with what it all would lead to.
it was refreshing to read a fantasy book not catered to 2020s tik tok….. it was a little slow sometimes but the main character was a literal child so i get it. interested to see how he grows and develops
incredible
Crazy. I couldn't pull myself away. I grew so attached to the protagonist I spbbed for him a third of the way through. Ugh. I'm so, so in love with this book I'm scared to read the sequel for fear of not loving it as much.
Wow! Estamos aqui num mundo de fantasia em que a mágia é um dom raro e apenas corre no sangue da realeza. Fitz - o filho bastardo, acaba por parar à corte e, para não ser um desperdício total (pois, não apresenta afinidades desenvolvidas de um nobre) acaba por ser ensinado a ser um assassino do rei. No entanto o povo não está contente, nem com o futuro rei nem com as misteriosos Barcos Vermelhos que andam a envadir a costa do Reino de Seis Ducados. É uma aventura intrigante e entusiasmante! A Hobb tem imenso jeito para a criação de um mundo mágico super realista. Gostei muito das personagens, da sua profundidade e dos seus morais e crenças. Recomendo para quem gosta de Senhor dos Anéis ou Guerra dos Tronos!
Absolutely loved this. Can see why it's one of the top-rated fantasy books/series of all time! Read my full review on www.lukeharkness.com
oh my God it takes a lot for a book to make me cry but oh my God
A friend of mine compared this whole world to Harry Potter. She said it was the only fantasy series she loved as dearly. This is a very thoughtful and very clearly an introduction into this great series. I enjoyed it a lot and look forward to the rest.
oh my goodnesssssss
A solid first book to the trilogy. I loved reading how Fitz grow up and his journey to adolescent. This one was strong in characterization, which was awesome. Plus there was minimal blood and no excessive gory stuff! The killings were mostly done with the help of poison.
Really good!
“Utter loneliness was planted in me then, and sent its deep roots down into me.” yeah man, this was way better than I had expected going in. My first Hobb book and I wasn't disappointed, looking forward to reading the rest of this series. A little hard to get into at first but as I read more it definitely got better and the magic system was also really fun
A little slow in the beginning, but really picks up into quite an adventure. I really enjoyed this universe and it set me off on reading the next books in this series.
I love how this book sets up Fitz as a typical hero, but in reality he is show to be a flawed character who is destined to succeed at the cost of his own happiness and health. When I think "Ohh! This is where the book is going" I am aways wrong, and I love it.
i have never, ever felt so emotionally connected to a main character. some people might dislike this book because it's slow but that's why I liked it so much. it felt like I was growing up with fitz and therefore connected with him much better. the ending was great.
While the magical system/universe here is not unique, neither is the as-i-grow-up narrative of the protagonist (Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind), this book did catch my interest. It mixes politics, emotions, and aristocracy in correct proportions. What Jessica Jones is for superheroes, this book is for high fantasy.
Very well written with some amazing character profiles! Is a very in depth and detailed story that I can already tell will continue to build. Is one of those series everyone should read at least once :)
This series is a combination of every style of prose i adore - introspective, first-person, verbose, and poetic - all in a fantasy setting. I'm in love with it, despite it also being a hard read due to the harsh conditions the main character has to survive in.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I knew that this was a trilogy and that other series were connected to this one. However, I did not know that the Realm of the Elderlings consisted of 16 books. I'm not even upset about it. I really enjoyed this story and I love Fitz! I also really loved Burrich. This story starts out as a slow burn, which is expected for world building and such of a high, epic fantasy. I really loved getting to know about Fitz's childhood and his development as a character. Fitz is a fantastic character and I really got attached to him by the end of the book and wanted to know what was next. I also enjoyed the world that Robin Hobb created. I enjoyed Fitz's connection to animals, being an animal lover myself. I enjoyed the political intrigue of the kingdom and the whole assassin aspect. I didn't fly through this book; I wanted to take my time with it and pay attention to as much detail as possible. That could have been because of the writing style; it was a little different than what I was used to but it didn't take long to adapt to it. Once I adjusted to Robin Hobb's writing style I was hooked; I really love her writing, especially for fantasy. This story was definitely more character driven than plot driven, which, ironically, I still enjoyed. I didn't mind the slower pace/plot of the book because I loved the world and the characters. I was very pleased with this story but I can see how it was building up for the rest of the story in the later books. It was a great fantasy book to read. This was such a great introductory book to this series and this world. I am so glad that I picked this up and I definitely plan on continuing with the rest of Robin Hobb's work. I already bought the Rain Wilds series but I have a little while before I get to those. I will be buying all of her books. She is a new favorite fantasy author of mine, for sure.
This is what Patrick Rothfuss's Name of the Wind was supposed to be. Alas he failed, Robin Hobb succeeded. Of course you can see the bad guy from a mile away, BUT oh the twisty plot renders that flaw obsolete.
This is one of the best fantasy novels I've read. The problem with a lot of fantasy is a lack of multifaceted characters; the protagonist of this series is quite complex, and goes through many transitions in this first volume. For anyone interested in the fantasy genre, I'd recommend this.
read
I stopped reading at about page 150. I cannot for the life of me understand why this book has such high ratings.
Hello, 2016! What begins slowly but meticulously, is quick to spiral out of contemporary fantasy, mixing court and kingdom politics with a potential zombie apocalypse. Hobb's characters are often defined by their names, but the uncertainty in their actions make the plot move towards a thrilling climax. Bastards have rarely been this fascinating.
** spoiler alert ** For the first few chapters I was not sure if I was going to enjoy this novel. It felt slow, I didn’t like many of the characters and I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to continue it, but as the chapters went on a began to enjoy it more and more. For every character I loved (Fool, Chade, Patience), there was another I hated (Galen and Regal) so I have to give the author credit for their character work. I have not read many fantasy novels, especially not many written in this manner, and I have to say I am really looking forward to continuing this trilogy and more. A solid 4.5, rounded down to 4!
Highlights
There is something I have observed about skinny men. Some, like Chase, seem so preoccupied with their lives that they either forget to eat, or burn every bit of sustenance they take in the fires or their passionate fascination with life. But there is another type, one who goes about the world cadaverously, cheeks sunken, bones jutting, and one senses that he disapproves of the whole of the world that he begrudges every bit that he takes inside of himself.
Imagine water with no weight or wetness. That is how those folk were to me. Stripped of what made them not only human, but alive.
And so I came to Buckkeep, sole child and bastard of a man I’d never know. Prince Verity became King-in-Waiting and Prince Regal moved up a n otch in the line of succession. If all I had ever done was to be born and discovered, I would have left a mark across all the land for all time. I grew up fatherless and motherless in a court where all recognized me as a catalyst. And a catalyst I became.
Is the detail the result of a six-year-old’s open absorption of all that goes on around him? Or could the completeness of the memory be the bright overlay of the Skill, and the later drugs a man takes to control his addiction to it, the drugs that bring on pains and cravings of their own? The last is most possible. Perhaps it is even probable. One hopes it is not the case.