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The Topic of the Day is: Sunday, August 19, 2007 | |
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 Book Review: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb Plot Summary: The bastard child of the King-in-Waiting throws a wrench in the workings of the royal court when his father decides to abdicate because of his existence. Raised on the edges of the very court he has thrown in disarray, skilled in both the Skill and the Wit (antithetical ways of communicating with humans and with animals), Fitz teeters between being useful and being used. When he swears his loyalty to the current king, he finds that he is to be trained in the ways of an assassin. This novel follows the ripples made by his entrance into the world and his own struggles to come to terms with who, and what, he has become. Plot: This is a fairly standard court-life-and-intrigue novel. There is also a hint of an overarching save-the-world sort've plot in the background. There might even be a third level, scarcely implied in no more than two paragraphs, but perhaps I was looking too closely. I suspect this novel serves as a set up for the rest of the series. I like the use of the role of a bastard (the main character), and how that changes everything in the court. I also found it (fairly) realistic. There are plenty of failures and triumphs, and only perhaps one small occurrence or two that I felt might have been a little forced or contrived (and then only in a subtle way). Setting: A nice, dirty fantasy world. There are grand important things going on but the protagonist is nicely on the outskirts of such a thing, and all the dirty and hard work that goes on in the background is visible. I approve. The location is also realistic. I loved the mountain kingdom that they ended up visiting: a powerfully unique foreign land. If there was anything generic about it when it originated, it is lost in the details of the real, vital world in the novel. Characters: For a while I disliked what I saw as the typical fantasy novel misogyny: just because it takes place in a world that has similar technology to the middle ages, the beliefs and social constructions have to also be similar (and thusly misogynistic). However, after a while I realized that we were viewing the women through the eyes of a bastard boy raised by stablehands and guards, and that these were his coloring opinions. The protagonist is very realistic. He, and I think all the other characters so far, come with sufficient flaws to make them powerful, and none of those stupid flaws that are clearly author-forced. The characters are human and weak, and they have their failures almost more often than their triumphs. Overall: Those of you who know me probably know me as a very happy person. This is probably why so many of you (three!) told me that I wouldn't like Assassin's Apprentice. I'm not going to take the time here to tell you the hows and whys of my dark side. I really enjoyed Assassin's Apprentice and I can't wait to find the box that I packed the sequel in. Labels: Book Review |
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Stories I'm currently working on. | |
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***Tbook1 (Time and Chaos, needs a new name, needs to be edited) ***Book of Sun (Just needs to be edited. Tis a Nano novel) ***Book of Whispers part 1 (Does not jive at all with part 2; needs to be rewritten to fit and to have less suckage) ***Book of Whispers part 2 (Needs some rehaul editing, needs some loose ends tied up, needs to fit) ***Book of Whispers part 3 (Needs to be finished... then needs to die o.o Not sure if I need a third part in the series) ***Dium's Story (Needs a point, progress, anything... needs to be integrated into Tbook1, since that is what it is a part of, mainly) ***Trio Story with Jackie and Louise (Maybe we should get together and work on this, guys) ***Demon Story (This is working out pretty good so far. I like the plot, it's a bit convoluted, and the characters are interesting) ***New Witch Story (It's only 30 pages long, dang) ***Dragon's Voices (This has SO much potential! wee!) | |
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1 Comments:
Oh man. The ending of that series is... wow. Good luck, let me know what you think once you finish them all...
Gretchen
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