In the last couple of years I read pretty much everything by Robin Hobb. They’re all related, but tangentially in some ways. My favorites were the ones which dealt with Fitz. Not surprising since I tend to like the single star protagonist of a book as much as I like a giant ensemble cast. Anyway, this is about the Farseer trilogy, which is the series which kicked off the entire universe.
What are the books about?
Set in the medieval fantasy land of the Six Duchies, the Farseer Trilogy follows the life of FitzChivalry Farseer. Yes, that’s his name, although he’s known as Fitz. As an illegitimate son of a prince, he becomes an apprentice to the king (King Shrewd, because the weakest point of these books is the names), and learns how to be an assassin.
Throughout the stories Fitz is sent on various missions and then takes on his own tasks as political intrigue and dark secrets surround him. As usual he tries to uncover his own destiny while stopping an impending war and protecting the kingdom from threats.
If all this sounds standard and familiar for a fantasy novel, you might be right. As always it’s in the execution where the author succeeds, and as I noted I tore through these books very quickly. They are well-written, exciting, paced just so you can’t put them down at night. I have become a big fan.
I was certainly intrigued to see how she wrote, with five separate trilogies in this world. Instead of some giant books which might never be finished (see all my other favorites), she broke them down into trilogies, which completes a set of stories before she moves on to the next. Not open-ended like some where you never know when the author will stop. Not enormous books which take years to complete (although these are each fairly long stories). Definitely an interesting idea, and perhaps might be the way my own Nine Kingdoms series evolve over time.
And I haven’t even mentioned The Fool, who just might be the best character I’ve ever read in any fantasy story.
The Themes of the Farseer Trilogy
The Complexity of Identity
This seems to be one of those themes I like to read about, a person who has two or more sides. In this case we see Fitz, a young man trying to wend his way through the world as a royal bastard, knowing he’s not going to get very far and how many people look down on him. Then, he’s secretly training as an assassin for the king, carrying out missions while questioning his own role in the world. He doesn’t really know what identity he wants to have in the world, or indeed what the world will let him have.
The Shades of Morality
As has become the case in so many good books in the last couple of decades, we see a blurring of the lines between good and evil. For many of us the question is becoming more and more about making the difficult choices with incomplete information, and not knowing what the outcome will be. One person’s good is someone else’s evil, after all, and these books make us think about it so many times.
Political Intricacy
There are a few books which delve into politics in a big way, but these do it more than most. Perhaps only the Game of Thrones books deal with the intricate power struggles more than the Farseer books do. It seems like every decision will show both short and long-term effects and consequences on both individuals and the realm as a whole. This is very much as the real world works, and we get various lessons on it.
A Character of Great Interest
I struggle to find a character similar to one of my characters in the Kingsmoot series. I wanted to talk more about The Fool, but really there’s no character like him anywhere. It would do both me and Robin Hobb an injustice to pretend I could write anyone that well.
I think I will in fact write about Prince Verity. Fritz’s uncle, he is good and decent and honorable. He is dedicated and honorable and loyal to the kingdom. He takes his role seriously and has great dedication to his people.
The character I’d like to compare him to is Robert, Lassen’s older brother. He only appears briefly in Lassen’s Assumption, and we don’t get to see much of him. In fact, the little we see is him being mean to his younger brother, and if we take this as his personality, we might think he’s a bit of a jerk.
The rest of this section contains very mild spoilers for the series which will follow the Kingsmoot series.
I’ve planned some of the first book in the next trilogy, and Robert will have a larger role than he did in Lassen. Without my thinking about it until now, he will take some of the same steps Verity did in the Farseer trilogy. By that I am thinking of Verity coming to the conclusion he can’t fight the enemy by himself, and he needs to get help. This is the path he took, which is one Robert is likely to take.
So, even though I haven’t written any of this other than plot notes, you can see why I would think the two of them are quite similar in their outlook and the way they act in life. And how my feelings for Robert—and several other characters you haven’t thought of since you saw them for a few seconds—are likely quite different to yours.
Other series to read
As I was thinking about this, I realized you should follow my path. I read Farseer and immediately went on to the next trilogy Robin Hobb wrote. The only thing is it’s really quite different. Still very good, but didn’t feature Fitz at all. If you want to get back to Fitz, you’ll have to keep reading through the entire world.
The Liveship Traders trilogy by Robin Hobb: Set in the same world as the Farseer trilogy, but a completely different part of it, this series offers a fresh perspective on the lives of traders and their sentient ships, delving deeper into the realm's magic and political landscape.
The Broken Empire trilogy by Mark Lawrence: This dark and gritty trilogy follows the story of Jorg Ancrath, a ruthless anti-hero driven by revenge in a post-apocalyptic world. It explores themes of power, redemption, and the consequences of one's actions. Dark, and not for everyone, but surprisingly similar in some ways to Farseer.
The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss: Of course I’m going to recommend this. A similar tale in that there’s a star male character who can do virtually anything he wants.
In Conclusion
The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb is a captivating fantasy series that leaves you spellbound with its intricate plot and characters. From the exploration of identity to the power of relationships and the consequences of sacrifice, this trilogy offers a compelling narrative that I have thought about many times over the years. Another series where I feel I’d be lucky to have just a little bit of the quality and the success Robin Hobb has had.