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Assassin's Quest

Assassin's Quest

AdventureEpic Fantasy
Pages
880
Published
1997
Language
English

Synopsis

The Six Duchies lie in ruin. King Shrewd is dead, Prince Regal has seized control and stripped the kingdom of its wealth before retreating inland to Tradeford, and FitzChivalry has been pushed to the edge of death in Regal's dungeons. Slowly recovering and learning to be a man again after living half-wild, Fitz sets out driven by grief and fury on a single purpose: to kill Regal. But his path soon widens into a far greater quest. Verity has vanished into the mountains seeking the legendary Elderlings, the only power that might turn back the Red-Ship Raiders, and Molly, Kettricken, and the Fool have scattered. As Fitz journeys across a broken land, he discovers wild and dangerous currents of magic rising within himself, powers that could either destroy him or remake him into something more. This final Farseer novel is an arduous road story of survival, loss, and reckoning, carrying its characters toward the fate of the kingdom. The retrospective first-person narration sustains the trilogy's intimate, melancholic tone as the threads of war, magic, and sacrifice converge.

Prose complexity
7/10

Collected in

Book cover of The Complete Farseer Trilogy
The Complete Farseer Trilogy

Vibe

DarkMelancholicAdventurousAtmosphericEmotional
QuestRevengeSurvivalSacrificeBetrayalFound FamilyReluctant HeroRoad Trip

Genres

Adventure Epic Fantasy Fantasy High Fantasy

About the author

R
Robin Hobb

Robin Hobb is the principal pen name of American fantasy author Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, born in 1952 in California. She spent her childhood from around age ten in Fairbanks, Alaska, and that rural Pacific Northwest and Alaskan upbringing informs much of her work. She published her first novel at thirty while working as a waitress and raising four children, her husband often away at sea as a commercial fisherman. From the early 1980s she wrote as Megan Lindholm, producing more grounded, o...

Characters

FitzChivalry FarseerProtagonist

The assassin, recovering from near-death, who sets out for revenge and is drawn into a larger quest as new magic awakens in him.

Prince RegalAntagonist

Now in control of the Six Duchies, he has plundered the realm and retreated inland; Fitz's chief target.

NighteyesSupporting

Fitz's Wit-bonded wolf, his closest companion on the long road across the ruined kingdom.

Prince VeritySupporting

The vanished king-in-waiting, gone into the mountains in search of the legendary Elderlings.

KettrickenSupporting

Verity's queen, separated from Fitz amid the kingdom's collapse, central to the Farseer line's survival.

All characters in Assassin's Quest

Frequently asked questions

  • What is Assassin's Quest about?

    Assassin's Quest follows FitzChivalry after he nearly dies in Regal's dungeons, setting out at first to take revenge on the usurper Regal. His quest broadens into a search for the vanished Verity and the legendary Elderlings who might save the kingdom. It is the third and final book of the Farseer Trilogy.

  • Is Assassin's Quest the last book of the Farseer Trilogy?

    Yes. Published in 1997, it concludes the trilogy that began with Assassin's Apprentice and Royal Assassin. The Farseer Trilogy is complete in three volumes.

  • Where has Prince Regal gone in Assassin's Quest?

    Regal has seized control of the Six Duchies, stripped the kingdom of its riches, and retreated to the inland city of Tradeford. His usurpation and abandonment of the coast set Fitz on his path of revenge.

  • Who are the Elderlings that Verity seeks?

    The Elderlings are a legendary power that the Farseers hope can turn back the Red-Ship Raiders. Verity has vanished into the mountains in search of them, and finding him or that power becomes central to the kingdom's hope.

  • Why does Fitz set out at the start of the book?

    Having been pushed to the brink of death in Regal's dungeons, Fitz begins his journey driven by grief and a single purpose: to kill Regal. That motive gives the final novel its quest structure.

  • What can save the Six Duchies according to the book?

    The novel frames the kingdom's survival as hinging on Verity's return or on the heir that Queen Kettricken carries. Both threads drive Fitz's long journey across the ruined land.

  • Do I need to read the first two books before Assassin's Quest?

    Yes. As the trilogy's conclusion, it resolves storylines and relationships built across Assassin's Apprentice and Royal Assassin and assumes full knowledge of them. It is not meant to be read as a standalone.

  • What is the tone and pacing of Assassin's Quest?

    It is a long, often somber road-and-survival story carrying the trilogy's intimate first-person narration to its end. Readers should expect a slow, character-focused journey rather than constant action.

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