Fool's Fate: The Tawny Man Trilogy Book III

I've discovered something about Robin Hobb, something that has recoloured my view of Golden Fool. Hobb writes slow-paced character studies that emphasize that character over the action. She writes about relationships, and she writes them very effectively. I still found Golden Fool to be too slow with the character interaction not as interesting as she has shown she is capable of. However, I now have a bit more of an understanding of it. That is because I read the third book in the series, Fool's Fate. This book is more of the same, but I found it much more interesting. Fitzchivalry Farseer is still going through rough times, but it seems to have more of a point to it than it did in the second book. Fool's Fate seems very unusual in that the "climax" of the book takes place almost two-thirds of the way through the book, with the rest of it dealing with all the scattered pieces of Fitz's life that Hobb has left and how Fitz attempts to put them back together. This is where I realized what the point of this series was. It wasn't just the story of a dragon-quest and a political alliance. It was the story of how far Fitz has come since the events in the first Assassin series, a story of relationships. The dragon is important, but only in relation to Fitz and Dutiful and the past that Fitz has to face. The pace of the book is extremely slow, but Hobb's strong writing makes it interesting (unlike the second book, which I think just came across as too depressing to be interesting). The text is dense and you won't plow through it in a day or two. That could be a fault if you don't like that sort of thing. I do, when it's done well, so I loved it. Another strength that Fool's Fate had that Golden Fool didn't have was that it didn't seem as contrived. Many times in the previous book, Fitz had to be spying a lot so that the reader could understand what was going on. He was constantly sneaking through the secret passages in the castle so that he could watch, for example, the Bingtown Traders come for an audience with the Queen. That's a hazard of writing in the first person, and I thought it let Hobb down in the second. Not this time. There is a little bit of spying, but not a lot. Exposition isn't quite as necessary in Fool's Fate, it being much more immediate to Fitz. He's also directly involved a lot more, so what exposition there is comes more from a character relating the story to Fitz. In large doses this would be tiresome too, but Hobb minimizes it. All of the characters are extremely interesting and three-dimensional. The only one who gets short shrift is the villain of the piece. I realize that's because she isn't that important in the grand scheme of things, but considering how evil she is and some of the things she does, I found the cursory way she was dealt with disappointing. Her influence is felt more in the surroundings than it is directly by her actions, and this is actually quite effective. Consider her even, wi

While I enjoyed each of these books individually, taken as a whole they are one of my favorite series of all time. Throughout each trilogy I would find myself yelling out loud at Fitz because he would make such a frustrating decision and, yet, I often could not imagine making a different decision myself. He is just so human. And I always wanted better for him than he got.I have read several reviews of this final installment that found the story to be too neatly wrapped up. I disagree. Admittedly, there is a tidiness to the conclusion but, while I loved the frustration throughout the story, I really WANTED Fitz to be happy in the end. Conversely, it really isn't all that 'neat' of an ending. There are still complications. I thought it was a perfect finale.There were so many times in this book when I was moved to tears by a touching moment between Fitz and one of the many people in his life - Burrich, Patience, the Fool, Chade, and...well...read the book. The book was especially powerful as it reached its climax which, of course, is about FitzChivalry, not Dutiful and his struggles with the dragon, Icefyre.Hobb's characterization is almost unparalleled in today's market. Each character is rich, vivid and distinct. I cannot remember a recent book where so many characters were so well developed. Of course, Hobb continues with the excellent characters created in other books. I feel like I know Chade and Kettricken and Patience. But in these last two books she gently creates another brilliant addition, Thick, to the cast. Thick makes the story even more human than it already was, which I would have thought impossible.Well done. A must read.

Every now and again you encounter a character so profoundly moving and real that you have a hard time believing he's fictional; one who shakes you up and alters your world to the point where it makes you feel silly for getting so involved in a book, and then you reread your favorite scenes and it happens all over again, and eventually you have to stop feeling silly in order to just focus on feeling.This book gutted me. The Fool is incomparable.But don't just pick up Fool's Fate without having read the rest of the series. Start with the Assassin books, skip the Liveship Traders if you're in a hurry (I was), then read the Tawny Man series in order. If you read Fool's Fate on its own, you may still be struck with Hobb's fabulous storytelling and the intricate nature of her world. But you'll miss the opportunity to slowly fall in love with her characters as they grow and develop. Do not deprive yourself of getting to know the Fool through Fitz's eyes.I think I'm in the minority; I hope that Hobb will never write another book in this series. Fool's Fate left me with such a bittersweet sense of completion that I don't see how a new tale could compare. I love the Fool, and I miss him, but I won't let my "reader's greed" for a sequel interfere with the Fool's powerful final sacrifices, and the beauty of untouched, lingering possibility.

First off, the entire series (the Farseer and Tawney Man trilogies) that this book concludes is wonderful. As every other review so far has mentioned, if you have not read any of the books yet it is best to start with Assassin's Apprentice, not Fool's Fate. This book has a lot to live up to. It follows five books with very complex plot developements and amazingly deep characters. It not only does so, but in my humble opinion is the best of the series. It is easily my favorite book of 2003 (I have the UK edition, which was released in '03), and one of my all-time favorites.Fool's Fate follows Fitz to Aslevjal, where Prince Dutiful is expected to kill the dragon Icefyre. Of course, this is Robin Hobb; things aren't that simple. Fitz has to face his past, which is no small undertaking, as well as his future. I won't give anything away; that's what the book is for. But do know that this book is absolutely enthralling. I spent an entire weekend attached to it. The story is heartrending and elating, depressing and endearing. Hobb is a master of twisting emotions.Fool's Fate completely messed with my mind, and I absolutely loved it. It's the kind of story that sticks with a reader for a long time. It is very worth reading.

This book is a jumble of words that takes all the messy things in life and swirls them into a storm all about you, and never sets them down again. All loose threads are tied off and yet life continues on, messy as ever, because that's just life. I do not want to recount the plot because those that stuck with the series through it's last eight books will know where it must go - Buckkeep, Icefire's icy island, Tintaglia's blue skies and back again. Knowing this was the last book in the story, the very last, I treasured each page. And such is Robin Hobb's writing, that I could have accepted a dozen moments in the story as the conclusion. There are so many moments of homecoming, looming gulfs of intrigue, hopelessness and bubbling hope, that a lesser writer could have accepted any one of them as the conclusion of this book. Then, they could go on and write another book, and then another, from any of the plot twists here. Not Robin Hobb. This is a heart pouring out, not a milking cow of a book. The pacing is just what it should be. In every place where she could have gone faster, and summarized instead of showing every detail, and left me wondering forever what that scene could have been like had it been more complete - she went all out, holding nothing back. That's a gift and it is given in this book more times than I could count. It's like the moments in your favorite books that you go back to over and over and reread every year. Here, you can reread the whole book or any part of it and you'll never have enough, I think. Her talent awes me and makes me green with envy. I could think of no more perfect conclusion to not just one, but three trilogies. It is, in every way, a satisfying and crowning achievement, not least for the fact that it leaves a door open for unexpected futures to intrude.