- Book: Assassin’s Apprentice
- Author: Robin Hobb
- Publisher: HarperVoyager
- Published: 1995
I’ve seen a sort of mini-renaissance for the Realm Of The Elderlings recently among fantasy booktubers. On the one hand that is great but on the other I can’t help but feel like they are almost must-reads for anyone wishing to truly offer any insight into the genre. Hobb is one of the few female writer’s who has been consistently on lists of the greatest fantasy books of all time. But that’ not the only reason, or indeed necessarily the main reason for her standing as a key component of a rounded fantasy education. She was also a pioneer in putting character work at the fore of her fantasy novels. It is the relationships in this, and subsequent books, that make Assassin’s Apprentice for me
FitzChivalry Farseer is a royal bastard thrust into the behind the throne politics of the Six Duchies. From the get-go he is being used against his will, because he has no other choice. He is to be trained as an Assassin by the mysterious Chade, trained in Skill (the hereditary magic of the Farseer line) by Galen an odious man if ever there was one, and raised in all other ways by a surrogate father in the gruff Burrich.
It’s in his relationships with the castle’s children (particular Molly), it’s animals (particularly a puppy he names Nosy) and it’s Fool though which cements this book as a classic for me. Oh, man is the friendship with the Fool something special.
Do yourself a favour and read these books.
- Beer: Eternal Waves
- Brewery: @northernmonk
- Style: Session IPA
- Strength: 4%
What you want from a session #beer of any kind is by definition something you’d be happy #drink copious amounts of. Right? That’s what I take it to mean anyway and this beer fills that need to a tee. Drinking 4,5,8 of these on a hot summer’s evening would be a pleasure.
Hoppy beer, happy James as the saying goes. Refreshingly light and a deceptively strong mouth feel for a relatively weaker beer.
The artwork on the can is really cool too. I love the wind farm in the background.
Burch's Books and Beers 