Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb

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Summary Three wonderful books, three wonderful series, three cheers for Robin Hobb!

The triumphant conclusion to the tale of the Farseers, in which kingdoms must stand or fall on the beat of a dragon’s wings, or a Fool’s heart. A small and sadly untried coterie – the old assassin Chade, the serving-boy Thick, Prince Dutiful, and his reluctant Skillmaster, Fitz – sail towards the distant island of Aslevjal. There they must fulfil the Narcheska’s challenge: to lay the head of the dragon Icefyre, whom legends tell is buried there deep beneath the ice, upon her hearth. Only then can their marriage proceed, and put an end to war between the two kingdoms. Having abandoned the Fool in Buckkeep, Fitz is guilt-stricken; but determined to keep the fate of his beloved friend at bay, since prophecy foretells the Fool’s death if he ever sets foot on the isle of the black dragon. But as their ship draws in towards Aslevjal a lone figure awaits them…

It was with both anticipation and regret that I began the final book of The Tawny Man series. This is the ninth book set in Robin Hobb’s immaculately built world of The Six Duchies and it has been a staggering achievement to maintain such a level of literary excellence through so many books. Not one of the nine is weak; each is as lovingly created as the last. This is epic fantasy at its very best; the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of the White Prophet and his Catalyst. The Fool’s Fate hangs over the entire book – will the prophecy come true and see his death or can destiny be changed without risking the future of the world?

Fitz, Prince Dutiful, Thick and Chade are the main characters in Fool’s Fate. Fitz is a character that we now know almost as well as ourselves, Prince Dutiful is now fifteen years old and maturing into the King he is set to become while Chade, as ever, is the stubborn and intelligent weaver of events and news. Thick is a revelation; from a very small role in The Golden Fool he often steals the show with his stubborn and simplistic outlook on life. Fitz and Dutiful become very protective of the half-wit and you, as the reader, also want to protect him from the looks and comments that he receives for just being how nature made him. Characterisation is one of the many strengths of Robin Hobb; these really are old friends.

It was not until the ninth book that I realised that one of the things that made Hobb’s fantasy tales so realistic, and that helps avoid the absurdity of some offerings, is the use of well thought-out and sensible names. Names like Chade, Molly, Fitz, Althea, and Burrich – these are not names that you will come across every day but are names of people that you could conceivably meet in the “real” world.

Fool’s Fate is written in the first person, the tale is seen through the eyes of Fitz, and we know everything about him by now, his every thought, his every need and his every desire. Only the first-person narrative can give this and only an author as talented as Robin Hobb can deliver it.  The settings were also impressive, the Out Islands and Aslevjal breath new life into the trilogy as we move away from Buckkeep and visit new lands, meet new people and experience new adventures. Oh, and there are dragons as well, of course. Fool’s Fate is pure and simply a pleasure to read, extremely profound with more substance in a single chapter than in some other author’s entire book.

In the Tawny Man series Robin Hobb successfully manages to tie up all the loose ends and, even more impressively, show that The Liveship Traders books have as just much bearing on the events as the Farseer trilogy. The experience of reading of a Robin Hobb book is one to be cherished; there are no safer hands that you could place your leisure time in. From the first page to the very last you are treated like royalty with a tale that will last with you for a long time. I could not recommend Robin Hobb’s books highly enough – the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies are a must for every fantasy enthusiast. As a body of work, the nine books are arguably the finest fantasy series ever written.

Fool's Fate: Book Three of the Tawny Man (Tawny Man 3) (Amazon.co.uk)

Author: Robin Hobb
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 805
Publication date: 2004-09-06
Publisher: HarperVoyager

RRP: £7.99
Lowest new price: £3.52
Lowest used price: £2.14

Fool's Fate concludes Robin Hobb's fantasy trilogy "The Tawny Man"--in which Fitz, narrator-hero of the "Farseer" trio beginning with Assassin's Apprentice, plunges into new complexities of politics and magic 15 years later.

The goal is formal peace between Fitz's Six Duchies and the Outislander Raiders, ending a cycle of war fought with weapons that kill the soul, whose horror dominated that first trilogy. A royal marriage is arranged, with the puzzling condition that the Duchies' heir must bring a bride-price of the head of the last male dragon--who's alive but entombed in a glacier. Why?

Fitz's old friend the Fool, a once-albino who believes himself the White Prophet of this age but has mysteriously darkened into the Tawny Man, opposes this dragon-killing. It seems necessary to deceive and betray the Fool for his own good, if only to prevent his self-prophesied death.

Another betrayal: a halfwit master of the psychic "Skill" is needed for this mad quest, and must be lured by Fitz on to ship after ship despite his horror of the sea. Old deceptions return to haunt Fitz, such as the Skilled girl who doesn't know she's his daughter, and others long kept in the dark for what seemed excellent reasons.

Grim surprises, confrontations, a hidden enemy and the old horror of soul-draining ("Forging") all await on the island of the glacier and the dragon. Fitz has more than once been traumatically hauled back from death: now the risks are worse than ever, with an impasse that surely can't be resolved.

Do Fitz and his closest friends win through? That would be telling, but whatever happens, there are high prices to be paid. It's a measure of Robin Hobb's skill with characters and relationships that the final compromises and realistic settlements are so satisfying. Smoothly readable despite great length, laden with charm and terror, Fool's Fate is a fine ending to what is a family as well as a fantasy saga. --David Langford
Amazon.co.uk Review

Fool's Fate: Book Three of the Tawny Man (Tawny Man 3) (Amazon.com)

Author: Robin Hobb
Binding: Paperback
Number of pages: 805
Publication date: 2004-09-06
Publisher: HarperVoyager

RRP: $16.50
Lowest new price: $10.28
Lowest used price: $5.00

The triumphant conclusion to our three thrilling fantasy series, from the author of the bestselling Farseer and Liveship traders trilogies. The moving end to the tale of the Farseers, in which kingdoms must stand or fall on the beat of a dragon's wings, or a Fool's heart. A small and sadly untried coterie -- the old assassin Chade, the serving-boy Thick, Prince Dutiful, and his reluctant Skillmaster, Fitz -- sail towards the distant island of Aslevjal. There they must fulfil the Narcheska's challenge to her betrothed: to lay the head of the dragon Icefyre, whom legends tell is buried there deep beneath the ice, upon her hearth. Only with the completion of this quest can the marriage proceed, and the resulting alliance signal an end to war between the two kingdoms. It is not a happy ship: tensions between the folk of the Six Duchies and their traditional enemies, the Outislanders, lie just beneath the surface. Thick is constantly ill, and his random but powerful Skilling has taken on a dark and menacing tone, while Chade's fascination with the Skill is growing to the point of obsession. Having ensured that his beloved friend the Fool is safely left behind in Buckkeep, Fitz is guilt-stricken; but he is determined to keep his fate at bay, since prophecy foretells the Fool's death if he ever sets foot on the isle of the black dragon. But as their ship draws in towards Aslevjal a lone figure awaits them!
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