I am fighting an awful cold so my review will be brief.
"Assassin's Apprentice" by Robin Hobb was a book I have mixed feelings about.
Fitz is the bastard son of the King-in-waiting, Chivalry. When Fitz's maternal grandfather abandons him on the doorstep of Chivalry's brother, Verity, he is forced to find his way in a world of cold politics, relatives who don't know what to do with a royal bastard,and a country under attack from a frightening enemy. Fitz does find a place, of sorts, but every time he believes he has found a family, it is taken from him.
The book is told from the first person POV, which can be tricky because the easiest way to tell the story; and indeed the only way to tell the story, is by telling instead of showing. Authors skilled with this POV can make the telling seem like showing and can craft scenes that are immediate and suspenceful.
This story is far more telling than showing, although done in a way that often times makes you feel as if you are being shown. I liked the style for the most part, but did get annoyed when there were things I felt should have been shown rather than told to me.
I don't mind protagonists being hurt, or put through horrible things in stories, but I do have a tendency to dislike it when I can pretty much expect anything good that has happened to the protagonist to either be stripped from him brutally or end up being a liability.
In the end the story picked up significantly and had a good, strong pace that almost makes me want to read the other two books in the series.
Almost.
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