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Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb


This is book two of the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb.  I used to have the original run back in the early 00s but they got lost with a lot of my things when I moved from California to Georgia.  When I saw she had a new trilogy coming out, I decided to revisit them.

FitzChivalry Farseer, a royal by-blow, has been trained as an assassin and spy but is so much more than that.  He is gifted with two strains of magic, the Skill -a mental discipline that allows for telepathy and far-seeing- and the Wit -a more empathic magic that allows bonding and communication with animals, but is also considered low, dirty, and indecent.  Fitz survives an assassination attempt by his uncle, Prince Regal, the second in line for the throne, and successfully delivers the Mountain princess, Kettricken, to his uncle Verity, the King-in-Waiting, to be wed.  Kettricken brings the strong timbers of the mountains to build warships for Verity, in the hopes that the people can begin defending themselves from raids by the OutIsland red ships that devastate the coastal cities.  With Regal continuing to plot and scheme, Verity faces threats from within and without and grows to rely more and more on Fitz.

The first book, Assassin's Apprentice, was amazing and heartbreaking.  It also felt like a self-contained story.  Royal Assassin is my least favorite of the trilogy because it seems so much like it only exists to get to the third book.  The action is still there and a deeper exploration of the characters but it lacks the emotional punch of the first entry.
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