For March's book club, we read The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb. Here's what I thought!
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| pub 3/1996 by Voyager |
I think a few things contributed to this:
• I prefer protagonists to be somewhat older and when I say that, I mean 16 and older. (The MC is very young here!)
• I’ve been reading a lot of fantasy books closely together and I definitely need to space them out more.
• I’ve been in the mood to read contemporaries lately.
That said, I do think the world Robin Hobb created is interesting. The main character, Fitz, is only a boy when he discovers he’s the bastard son of one of the princes in line to be king. He’s taken into the royal household but he is far from accepted as one of them. It’s during this time that he discovers he has a magical link with animals and it’s a potentially dangerous ability to have. Some want him to suppress it while others would like to see him use his powers, although the reasons why are unclear. There are multiple people in life who seem to have their own agenda for him but it’s never certain if anyone genuinely has his best interests at heart. At least during the parts I read.
I got halfway through the book and I struggled a lot with the pacing and the writing. I saw a lot of potential in Fitz as a strong hero type but given his age (and lack of curiosity?), he seemed to blindly follow the adults in his life. It just felt like nothing was really happening and I had no sense of where things were going. Plus neither Fitz nor the adults felt very fleshed out. I really wanted to like this book but in the end, I had to set it (and therefore, the rest of the series) aside.
Book Club Questions
For every series we read, we'll be answering the same three questions at the end of our mini-reviews.Favorite book | Can't answer this :(
Favorite character | If I had to choose, probably Fitz because I did want him to find purpose and belonging.
Would you read more from this author? | Despite how I felt about this book, I wouldn't rule out the rest of Hobb's books entirely. If something really caught my interest, I'd give it a shot!
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For those of you who read the series with us,
what did you think?
Also, make sure to check out Alexa's thoughts on the series!
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