Fool's Errand (Tawny Man) (Hardcover)

This book picks up 15 years after the ending of the Farseer set, with FitzChivalry Farseer and his Wit bond-mate wolf Nighteyes leading a quiet life as a farmer trying to raise his adopted son Hap, carefully avoiding any traffic with his former life of intrigue as a royal assassin. This early section of the book is remarkable for how strong the character development is, even though there is almost no action during this portion, showing a much more mature Fitz who has almost come to terms with the sacrifices he was required to make in the earlier books. Of course, this idyllic setting can't last, as first his former mentor Chade arrives for a visit to try and convince Fitz to return to service at Buckkeep Castle, followed by the very enigmatic Fool, now known as Lord Golden, and finally is convinced to return to Buckkeep by a summons from Chade to help find Prince Dutiful, Fitz's son by body, but not by himself as a person, who has either been kidnapped or run away.

Thus the action is enjoined, leading Fitz not just away from his farm, but into consideration of the whys and needs of both his Wit and Skill abilities. A set of considerations that have relevance for everyone, questions on should you lead if you can, can you let a social injustice continue when you have the means and ability to do something about it, about the importance of life and the time to properly allow death to reign, the strength of personal relationships and what is owed to friends, where the responsibilities of a parent begin and end. Throughout, Fitz, Nighteyes, and the Fool continue to grow as characters, till you feel that these are people you know, have lived, ached, lost and triumphed with.

Hobb's descriptive powers are well in evidence here, and her characters are neatly folded into her imagined universe, that includes not just the world of Wit and Skill of the Assassin works but also is explicitly tied to her Live Ship set, though that tie, so far, is only mentioned in passing, not fully developed. This book, unlike so many that are planned as part of a larger group of works, is very complete in itself, with an excellent resolution to all the problems and concerns it starts with. But I have a feeling the next book will make more of the tie to the Liveships and Bingtown traders, and I am looking forward to it.

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Though some may say it is a little long until it gets back into Fitz' court life, it is still captivating and i cannot wait until the next installment. It is definitly a great read, so long as you understand what occured in the first series.

The book very clevely covers the passage of fifteen years since the Red Ship wars (1st series), she does not just blurt out what happened in those years and leav it, she tells it succinctly but references do crop up throughout the book, she makes it important thet people have changed, especially the Fool, who has changed dramatically but beneath it all he is still the Fool, an enigmatic but terribly likeable character.

Though not as fast paced as the first series, it is still a captivating read. And it is important to have read the first series first, it explains a lot about all the characters.

Altogether a well deserved five stars, and we can but hope that this trend continues throughout her work. I wonder if she'll add to the Liveship Traders series next (though not quite as brilliant, still well worth reading)

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Hobb's stories have to be enjoyed with a certain taste for people and characters. Her storylines and plots range in the interesting and captivating, but not too unusual (no offense meant) areas of high fantasy. Her geography and history of The Land are developed just enough to support what's going on - and to just subtly hint at a bit more outside of the story. But her real strengths are characters, their development, and their interactions.

In "Fool's Errand", we encounter quite a few of acquaintances from both (!) her former two trilogies, though in some cases you have to have read those books in order to get some of the finer points. But they have developed - both in age and relationship to their world and to each other, both in a good and a not so good way. And their developments are credible ones. For instance, there is no doubt that Fitz of "The Farseer Trilogy" is the same individual as Fitz of "Fool's Errand"; but the fifteen years that have passed have left traces we can identify and accept and believe in. You can feel, too, that Hobb took great pains to make every single character singular and very believable - even those that at first sight appear to be minor ones. So, one of the main delights in reading this book is watching her characters interact with one another and go on in their development while the story unfolds.

The story itself "suffers" from a few of the usual problems of being the first in a trilogy. There are some changes of pace here - there is a rather long period of exposition, of setting up the main character pieces (which isn't so bad as, as I pointed out, characters and their interactions are the main focus anyway), while the later hunt and subsequent story parts appear rather rushed to me. The end of the book is not quite the dramatic cliffhanger, but you feel it well open-ended enough to eagerly wait for the next installment. You may well speculate, but taking into account the way Hobb handled her other storylines, we may very well be in for quite a few surprises.

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