Book Review: Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb
Genre: Fantasy
This being the second book in a series and all, I will not be shying away from any spoilers. Any major plot points from the first OR second book are fair game at this point. Just a heads up.
Fitz returns to Buckkeep after being poisoned and nearly beaten to death. He struggles to function normally and is worried about Regal and what he might be plotting. The Red-Ship Raiders and Forged people continue to attack surrounding towns more and more, and the kingdom struggles to keep up. Fitz becomes Verity’s right-hand-man, killing Forged people and acting as his eyes and ears out in the war zone.
I enjoyed this book even more than the first one, even though everything in Fitz’s life went from bad to worse. Poor Fitz can’t catch a break. The first book set the stage, while this one went full speed ahead and was filled to the brim with treachery and intrigue.
Before I continue, let us start with some wise words from Burrich:
“She was looking for a man. So don’t go sulking about like a thwarted child. Be a man…The same way you’ve shown yourself a man elsewhere. Accept the discipline, live up to the task. So you cannot see her. If I know anything of women, it does not mean she does not see you. Keep that in mind. Look at yourself. Your hair looks like a pony’s winter coat, I’ll wager you’ve worn that shirt a week straight, and you’re thin as a winter foal. I doubt you’ll regain her respect that way. Feed yourself up, groom yourself daily, and in Eda’s name, get some exercise instead of moping about the guardroom. Set yourself some tasks and get onto them…In the long run, my boy, it is not about you and Patience. It is about you and Molly.”
You can always count on Burrich to be there to tell Fitz to get his act together. This is solid advice. Eat well, keep clean and neat, exercise, and do something. Take care of yourself and other people will see your merits.
One of the main themes in the book is about living in the present moment. Fitz’s connection with his wolf, Nighteyes, teaches him how life is when you don’t worry about the past or the future. Nighteyes lives in “a place where all time is now, and the choices are simple and always [his] own. Wolves have no Kings.” This is a huge contrast to how Fitz lives his life. Fitz has a lot of worries and all of his choices are decided based on his responsibility to King Shrewd and Verity. He lives this way to a fault and it ends up jeopardizing and ultimately ruining his relationship with Molly.
Nighteyes “lived in the present…his mind clean of the clustering detail of memories. From day to day, he carried only that necessary to his survival.” He knew “[savage] joys and surprises. Snatch up a mouse, fling it up, eat it down with a snap…Chase a doe over pond ice, knowing we cannot make such a kill, but rejoicing in the hunt.” Compare that calm pace of life to the world Fitz was born into. His uncle tried to kill him and won’t hesitate to try again, his King is dying, he’s not allowed to marry his love, and the kingdom is crumbling around him. The responsibility of trying to control the outcome of everything around him weighs heavy on his shoulders. Even if he wanted to live in the present like Nighteyes, I’m not sure how feasible it would be unless he left town like Molly suggested.
With everything going wrong in Fitz’s life, he at least has peace when he’s with the wolf. It’s “a whole realm where not Verity nor any Skilled one could follow…a world bereft of court intrigues or plotting, of worries and plans.” Not having to explain things to Nighteyes was Fitz’s “greatest comfort.” He never had to “recount the last day’s events to him, did not have to find words to describe how it felt to watch Molly walk away...The human events would have made small sense to [Nighteyes]. He acted on the strength of what [he] felt, not why. He simply…sat beside [him].” I love that description of the solace he feels just sitting in Nighteyes presence. It shows the bond between man and man’s best friend and how there’s an understanding, love, and connection without even sharing a language.
Royal Assassin also heavily discusses learning to step into your responsibility and who you are meant to be. This theme is explored through both Fitz and Kettricken. When Fitz returns to Buckkeep, his life is completely different. He no longer works for Burrich, but rather for Verity. Any scrap of simplicity in his life is gone. “It was as it had to be. [He] had moved on to another life. [He] could not expect the old one to be held ajar…forever.”
Kettricken’s arrival to Buckkeep mirrored Fitz’s own return. Kettricken had to learn how she fit into this new place and culture she found herself in. Back at her home in the mountains, the kings and queens were called Sacrifice and they worked and fought alongside their people. She struggles with knowing how to be a proper Queen, a proper Sacrifice, for her people. After a day of fighting Forged Ones, Kettricken takes control and sets the tone. While the Forged Ones were no longer themselves, they were still the people of the kingdom. She organizes a solemn funeral for them and gains the respect of many in the kingdom. They stop viewing her warily as a foreigner and start viewing her as their Queen. “One can only walk so far from one’s true self before the bond either snaps, or pulls one back. [She is] fortunate. [She has] been pulled back. [She walks] once more in trueness to [herself].”
The Fool has known all along the potential Fitz had. He sees the potential to change the world in every person. He’s very philosophical that way. He tells Fitz, “You create possibilities. While you exist, the future can be steered. I came here for you, Fitz. You are the thread I tweak.” I think it’s kind of funny how many times Fitz won’t acknowledge how important he is to the kingdom while simultaneously doing everything in his power to hold it together.
It isn’t until people in his town are viciously slaughtered that he realizes for the first time what his role is meant to be. He finally understands that he has to protect his people saying, “I must have their blood in return, I must drive them from my coast. It is as simple now as eating or breathing. It is a thing I must do…I suddenly knew it as a physical fact. Ugly, demeaning work, but it was mine, and I had done it well. For my people.”
I used to really like Chade, he reminded me of Gaius from the TV series Merlin. But, he really started to grate on my nerves in this book. Fitz knows that Chade knows that the king is being drugged and is dying and yet Chade does nothing about it. I know that later on we find out that the intense drugs are to help ease his intense pain, but I have no clue why he never let Fitz know. He just let him go on worrying about how no one was stopping him being drugged.
Chade is loyal to a fault. He goes on and on about how “Oh no, we can’t stop Regal, we can’t do anything about Regal, cause that’s treason!” Um, I’m pretty sure Regal trying to kill the Queen-in-Waiting’s baby, and having his little spies suck the life force from the king is even worse treason. Do something about Regal! Please!
Unfortunately, Fitz follows very much in the footsteps of Chade and also does nothing about everything going on. The King was completely out of it, I don’t think he would’ve known one way or another if he had married Molly. But alas, just like Chade, Fitz’s love for his kingdom took control of his life and he lost Molly.
If you’ve read the first book and are intimidated by the page count of this book, or worried about the potential for more dog deaths, fear not. No dog dies in this book, and the pages of this book completely capture your attention and fly by. Royal Assassin builds upon the characters introduced in Assassin’s Apprentice and makes you love them more and more. I gasped several times reading this book, and I view that as a really good sign. I rarely (if ever) outwardly react to what I’m reading, so it just goes to show how much Robin Hobb got me to care about these characters and this story. I can’t wait to continue reading this series. Please read these books. I’m begging you.
Star Rating: 5/5