The Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

Book 1 of The Farseer Trilogy

Rating: 4 out of 5

Bastard sons of kings. How many times have we read fantasy stories about them? Well, Fitzchivalry isn't exactly a bastard son of a king, he is a bastard son of the king's heir. Sent away by his maternal grandfather, he finds himself being taken by the royal household who can't really afford to totally acknowledge him, since his mother was lowborn. He is taken under the care of the heir's stablemaster and is taught to tend to the horses.

That by itself should have been the end of the story. But Fitzchivalry's (or more commonly "Fitz") seemingly harmless arrival into the castle sets in motion a chain of events that shakes the foundation of the succession and unknowingly puts his life in danger. He discovers he inherited strange powers from his father's lineage, is secretly sent under the tutelage of one of the royal advisors, Chade, and is taught to become an assassin in order to become a pawn of the king. Meanwhile, the realm itself is threatened by foreign raiders and in their wake they leave a horror more horrible than any wanton destruction they could possibly leave behind, of which no answer has yet been found.

It is difficult to pinpoint why this book captures the attention of the reader as soon as they open the first page. It may be the writing of the author, Robin Hobb; or it maybe the boy, Fitz, whose story draws people in. Hobb in some way attracts sympathy towards the main character and keeps readers coming back to the story. Which is amazing because her style is simply... simple. It isn't articulate like Tolkien, or lyrical like Herbert. Her story isn't mind-boggling like Mielville, or doesn't have the gritty realism of Martin, or the vast overwhelming scope of Erikson.

Her characters, if one looks closely, with a few exceptions, are just like any other character from any other fantasy book. Yet they stand out. There isn't a great warrior, or that cool sneaky dude. It isn't even action-filled. For all intents and purposes, this book should have been boring. Yet still, Robin Hobb draws us in. Maybe because she also breaks a lot of standards that have come before her that the story comes out interesting. Maybe it's the uniqueness of the plot and the setting (even though the world-building hasn't really been extensive).

Whatever it is, it says a lot about Robin Hobb. The Assassin's Apprentice (and its series) has been a favorite for many for years now, and its not because of the usual things fans love about speculative fiction. This book is liked mainly for its story, and the way it has charmingly wormed its way into the hearts and minds of its readers, proving once and for all that all a story needs, really, is simply good story-telling. And, thankfully, this is just the first Robin Hobb has to offer. Lucky for us, there's more.

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Book 2 of the Kingkiller Chronicles

Rating: 4 out of 5

When people began to criticize old school fantasy as unimaginative, they weren’t talking about the genre itself. What was wrong with old school wasn’t the style; it was the various authors that recycled the same old concepts almost to the point of direct substitution. And so newer, brighter writers began a new trend in fantasy and made it grittier and edgier. And while the new trend undoubtedly propelled fantasy to new heights and made the genre recover its creativity, it seemed something was being left behind. Fantasy seemed to have lost what brought readers into it in the first place: its sense of wonder - the sense that you were in a realm that is magical, a place of dreams.

Sometime in the late 90s, one J.K. Rowling introduced readers to the world of Harry Potter, and proved that fantasy can still go back to its roots and still capture that old magic and captivate the heart and minds of readers with enchantment. All that was needed was a little bit of creativity and heart, even though some of the concepts weren’t quite that original anymore. While the Harry Potter series was aimed for young adults, it didn’t take long until old school magic recaptured the more mature readers.

The enigmatic Kvothe captured the imagination of readers when Patrick Rothfuss unleashed upon an unsuspecting world his first novel, The Name of the Wind. The orphan who clawed his way out a personal tragedy to exasperate the masters of the local University of magic with his silly antics, unwittingly save a town from a fire-breathing dragon-like reptile, and have his heart broken numerous times by the woman of his dreams, has claimed a spot in the pantheon of great fantasy characters in only his first outing (whether this is permanent remains to be seen), in spite of the fact that his story is incomplete and readers have just only seen hints of the person he is to become. Amazingly, Rothfuss has seemingly made Kvothe into some legendary figure even though his accomplishments have yet to be printed in his books. This is probably the first time that a fictional character has gained a reputation before his story has even been completely read. Quite remarkable, considering that the character for most of the story is still struggling to get out of his teens. Also, this only puts much pressure for the author to deliver according to the high expectations he set himself.

So would he live up to it in the second book? The Wise Man’s Fear opens the very next day as the one that ended the first book. Kvothe is back in the University, now promoted in status, with access to materials once forbidden to him, still clawing to find money to support his day-to-day living, still haunted by his thoughts of a particular girl, still determined to chase figures that supposedly only exist in legend, still playing his lute and his music. The book would soon take him to fend off enemies within the university, be sent off to a distant town and fight bandits, perform services for a noble, encounter a beautiful seductress, learn of the ways between sexes, become a fighting machine and rescue fair maidens in the hands of vile men. And before one starts to think that one might have heard of this story before… stop. It isn’t exactly the same one you think you read about. And therein lies the talent of Patrick Rothfuss. He took old school ideas, wove some creativity, and recaptured the magic and the imagination that made old school fantasy so… well… magical.

In The Wise Man’s Fear, readers begin to see more of the world Rothfuss has created, in quite a way unique to the series: by storytelling within storytelling. It is one of its integral themes. Rothfuss while telling his story takes us, at the same time, into the mind of a storyteller. Into the magic of weaving stories to entertain, whether through song, through music or through poetry. And by doing so giving the saga its heart and its passion. And Kvothe’s story is nothing if not passionate – and so is Rothfuss’ storytelling.

There are improvements that come about as Rothfuss having tasted success before. For example, his supporting characters, while mostly almost identical in the first book, are more fleshed out now and have bigger roles. But at the same time there are lingering problems from the first book. It does seem that this book could have benefitted from removing a number of pages. There were parts that it did seem that there was a lot of nothing really going on. Rothfuss also does have some trouble transitioning the story from one story thread to another sometimes making the transition seemed quite forced.

But are these enough to take away from the beauty of the book? Not really. No. The story of Kvothe remains as enigmatic, funny, witty, outrageous, foreboding, grim and marvelous as before. And by the end of the book, readers get a glimpse of the dark larger-than-life personality that Kvothe is stated to become. Not quite there yet, but one could almost taste it in the wind (pun intended). And it’s exasperatingly maddening. But it only makes one sit in exciting anticipation for the coming out of the next part of the story of the man who is reputed to battle an angel for the sake of the woman he loves. And whether this indeed happened remains to be seen.

Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Book 3 of The Shadows of the Apt

Rating: 4 out of 5

How does one follow up on a action-packed grand war epic? Well, Adrian Tchaikovsky did it by making things a little bit mellow in his third book, Blood of the Mantis. After three bloody battles that leveled one city, almost destroyed one, and put another in a practical state of siege, one shouldn’t wonder that the characters of the Shadows of the Apt series are practically exhausted. And, probably, so would the readers, too.

Tchaikovsky quiets things down by making Blood of the Mantis a story of subterfuge and espionage and political wrangling - which doesn’t mean things slow down to a crawl. The Wasp Empire is still on the march, although a little bit jarred on their tracks. While they have taken the industrial city of Helleron and razed the Ant-city of Tark, they lost an Army to an ambush by Mantis warriors, and almost got another destroyed by the Ants of Sarn, if not for the timely arrival of a new powerful weapon, the snapbow, forcing the army of Sarn into retreat in disarray into their city. Now, the Wasps are regrouping and preparing to make the final investment of Sarn all the while keeping an eye on their main prize of Collegium and also towards the exotic Spiderlands.

Meanwhile, in the capital city, plans are set into motion for the recovery of an ancient artifact that may just give to whoever happens to hold it, the power to destroy nations. Magic, it seems, contrary to what people have come to believe is not dead in this world and is preparing to make a huge comeback. Already in this book, the characters indeed find themselves battling shadow-forms that are clearly magical in source.

In order to counter the Wasps, Stenwold Maker, the Beetle-kinden who has now been fighting his own personal war against the Wasps for decades now sends his allies into two directions. He sends Cheerwell and Nero towards the Spider-city of Solarno, while the Achaeos leads Tisamon, Tynisia into a frontier town searching for the missing ancient artifact before it can get to the hands of the enemy, taking with them for assistance two renegade Wasps, the hunter Gaved and one very notorious Major Thalric, formerly of the Rekef. Moreover, Stenwold himself, who through a strange twist of fate came into possession of the plans of the dreaded snapbow, has to decide whether to proliferate it to his “allies” in the Lowlands, who could just as easily use the weapon on one another.

Tchaikovsky ably weaves the plot that is becoming more and more complex as the series moves on without missing a beat. And as before, his strong point remains his characters, as unique as they are; his characters breathe life that complements his plot. More and more, his series is becoming an exploration of man's worst activities: the desire of one society to dominate others for national interests, man's fascination with war as a social means, and the arms race - the desire of man to create more and more complex ways do destroy his own society without ever realizing it.

But with the ever-increasing size and complexity of the plot, the number of significant characters also increases. This means that some of the characters don’t get focused on the current storyline. For this book in particular, it is rather disappointing that Thalric, who was probably the most enigmatic and charismatic character of the previous two books (and an antagonist, at that) is relegated to a background role for this book.

The world-building remains on the surface, too - as it was in the first two books. Sure, there are new and interesting kindens, we get a glimpse of interesting races ready to make major impact on succeeding books, but the readers, as your typical epic fantasy followers, would find themselves wishing there was more background stories concerning these peoples, this cities and cultures, because from what you read, they sure are interesting. One just wishes there is more.

Still, at the end of the day, Tchaikovsky has delivered yet another good installment on the series and a fine contrast to the slam-bang action one went through in Dragonfly Falling. Certainly, he delivers a book where the story, the characters and the world built becomes more and more interesting as the plot progresses. For most of the readers the final chapters will for sure make them wish they had their hands on the next chapter of this wonderful story.