Books I Love - Realm of the Elderlings series by Robin Hobb

From the Back of the first book (Assassin’s Apprentice):

A glorious classic fantasy combining the magic of Ursula Le Guin’s The Wizard of Earthsea with the epic mastery of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Fitz is a royal bastard, cast out into the world with only his magical link with animals for solace and companionship.

But when Fitz is adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and learn a new life: weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly. Meanwhile, raiders ravage the coasts, leaving people Forged and soulless. As Fitz grows towards manhood, he will have to face his first terrifying mission, a task that poses as much risk to himself as it does to his target: for Fitz is a threat to the throne… but he may also be the key to the future of the kingdom.

The Realm of the Elderlings series is made up of three trilogies and a quartet of books as well as a novella prequel.

Robin Hobb has created a world that is immersive and amazing. It is a place that I love to go, and I reread these books every couple of years.

The Farseer Trilogy, The Tawny Man and the Fitz and the Fool trilogies are written in first person and follow Fitzchivalry Farseer’s life as he grows from a small boy to an old man. The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy also follow a second character, but I won’t say any more about this as I don’t want to spoil it.

I love Fitz as a character, and I adore following his story with Nighteyes, the wolf. Hobb has created a protagonist in Fitz who is deeply flawed but who you just want to have things work out for, despite how frustrating his decision making can be at times. These flaws and the mistakes he makes as he grows and learns and discovers honour, valour, true love and friendship make his story rich and rewarding and immensely re-readable.

But Fitz would be nothing without the Fool. I would have to say that I love the Fool as much, if not more than Fitz and their relationship makes this tale one that tugs at me on a deeply emotional level and one that I find that I need to immerse myself in often.

The Liveship Traders books and The Rain Wild Chronicles are set in the same world as the books that follow Fitz, and there are many characters that cross over between books, but they are very different to the Fitz trilogies. For one, they are written in third person, also they follow multiple point of view characters rather than just one. Initially this threw me, and I gave up on reading Ship of Magic (the first of The Liveship Traders books) almost as soon as I picked it up. I didn’t read it for a number of years, long after I had read The Tawny Man books. Eventually, after I realised that one of my favourite characters from the Fitz books feature in The Liveship Traders books, I came back to Ship of Magic and quickly read the entire trilogy. I was not disappointed. Once I got used to the different way the book was written, I found myself again immersed in the Realm and I loved learning more about the wider world and meeting the variety of amazing characters in particular Paragon, the Liveship. I have since read this trilogy a few times.

The only books of the series that I didn’t end up feeling a strong connection to are The Rain Wild Chronicles although I did feel they were worth reading for the rounding out of my understanding of the world as well as the opportunity to meet some great characters, particularly the dragons. And I don’t think the final Fitz and the Fool trilogy would have been as satisfying had I not got to know more about the dragons through reading The Rain Wild Chronicles.

The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince was a fantastic little novella that told the legend of the titular characters that is referred to within the Fitz books and for anyone who wants that little bit more, it is a great addition to the series.

I think that everyone who reads this series would have their own favourite book, and there were definitely certain books that were more enchanting than others, but overall, this is an amazing series that I can’t say enough wonderful things about, and I would recommend it to anyone who has even a slight interest in epic fantasy stories.

The Realm of the Elderlings books:

The Farseer Trilogy

Assassin's Apprentice (1995)
Royal Assassin (1996)
Assassin's Quest (1997)

Liveship Traders Trilogy

Ship of Magic (1998)
The Mad Ship (1999)
Ship of Destiny (2000)

The Tawny Man Trilogy

Fool's Errand (2001)
The Golden Fool (2002)
Fool's Fate (2003)

The Rain Wild Chronicles.

Dragon Keeper (2009)
Dragon Haven (2010)
City of Dragons (2011)
Blood of Dragons (2013)

Fitz and the Fool Trilogy

Fool's Assassin (2014) Fool's Quest (2015)
Assassin's Fate (2017)

The Realm of the Elderlings - novella

The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince (Farseer Trilogy's prequel)

You can find the books here.