Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb (Review)

Royal Assassin is the second book in Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings series and takes off where Assassin's Apprentice ends. We follow FitzChivalry Farseer over a period of some years, when the Red Ship raids are laying waste to the coasts of the Six Duchies and intrigue is endangering the bit of security the realm has left. There's really not much else to be said of the plot, since it is the second book of the series and everything else would contain spoilers. Suffice it to say, that although it is a long and rather slow moving book, I loved it even more than the first book and did not want it to end, despite all the pain it caused me.



The biggest strength of these books are definitely the characters. Hobb creates such an amazing cast of deep characters, they all feel very real and many-faceted. I love how Burrich can be both the always grumpy but still caring and loving father figure, and the irrational, stiff-necked man who can't accept Fitz's differences. This just makes him appear very human, and the same goes for Fitz. In this book we see him as brave, honour bound and loving, but also as young and vulnerable, someone who is growing into his position in the world and who as to come to terms with a wagon- load of difficult situations. Because the characters seem so real and one comes to care so deeply for them, the slowly unfolding story never gets boring. Even though this was my second read of the book, I felt completely invested the whole time.

Hobb sure likes to spend some time on describing small details of Fitz's surroundings. Some might not be a fan of that, but it created the perfect atmosphere for me. It helped draw me into the world and really make me feel for the raided towns and those of the royal family who suffered with their country. And of course this is where we meet Nighteyes, who is one of my favourite characters of the series. The forest surrounding Buckkeep where Fitz and Nighteyes meet to hunt, or the beach he spends a sunny interlude on, really come alive through the detailed writing, and I loved how they became refuges from the political entanglement up at the castle. Royal Assassin is a very political book, but Hobb's attention to detail makes the plot easy to follow as well.


What I also really enjoy about this series as a whole, is how you not only get characters you come to care for as friends, you also get someone to hate with passion. After this book, Regal ended up very close to Umbridge on my mental list of characters I hate most. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating hate here. I just felt that the negative emotions the book evokes, combined with all the positive ones, fully drew me into the story and made me one hundred percent invested. So if anyone is looking for a long fantasy series to get lost in, this is definitely my recommendation. Its strongest point may be the fleshed out characters, but the plot is equally fascinating. We get a very mysterious quest and later dragons, a difficult political situation that is not just black and white but really shows the difficulties of human communication and cooperation. This, plus the private lives each of our friends have to cope with, makes up one of the best series I have ever read. I can't wait to re-read the third book, and I'm looking forward to the goodreads Hobb-A-Long Read-A-Long.  

Thanks for reading and feel free to share opinions on this book! 

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