REVIEW: Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

**** (4) out of 5 stars!

This book is phenomenal!  I had never read anything of Robin Hobb's before receiving this book for free from a Goodreads Giveaway, and apparently I have been missing out.  Her writing was just amazing!  It flowed so smoothly that it just drew you along in the story, even when there wasn't much going on, which actually was for quite a bit of the book.

The story begins when the title character is about 6 years old, and continues throughout his youth until he is about 14 years of age.  One aspect that really bothered me was the fact that this boy, especially later in the story, is basically left to fend for himself, with hardly anyone that he can turn to for help or protection or even advice.  It was worse than Harry Potter even, in that regard; because at least Harry had his faithful friends.  Fitz throughout most of the book has absolutely no one.  Even the people who do care for him aren't generally accessible or very helpful.

I did feel a kinship with Fitz, however; and was truly emotionally touched by the story.  There was one really dark, dreary section in the middle of the book that greatly affected me that just seemed to go on and on forever, that made me want to pull my hair out or hit someone or something, anything to make that part be over already!  And yet I kept reading because I had already been drawn so far into the story that I really needed to find out what eventually became of the characters, especially Fitz; and the eloquent writing style at least made it (barely) tolerable for me to continue long enough to get past that section and get on with the story. 

The near ending was very emotional and way too sad, but also bittersweet, and at least somewhat hopeful.  It made me able to contemplate reading the next book in the series, with at least some expectation of a satisfactory resolution.  But at least, even in the rough parts, there was the author's wonderful writing style to enjoy!

I won a free copy of this book in a Giveaway on Goodreads sponsored by Del Rey / Spectra Books.