What's on my bookshelf? (wip)

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

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Short Synopsis

The story follows FitzChivalry Farseer, a bastard son of a prince from the royal Farseer family. At a young age he is given to the royal family by his grandfather. He is taken in, but is despised by most within the castle walls. He is raised in the stables by the stable master until he is deemd old enough to be of use to the royal family. Fitz is then trained to be an assassin for the royal family.

This series is full of mystery, court ingrigue, and magic. But not the usual magic you see in fantasy books. In the Farseer trilogy Fitz soon learns he has the power of the 'Wit'. A skill that lets him telepathically understand and communicate with animals, as well as essentially 'soul bond' with one he comes especially close to. However this skill is condemned by society and he must keep it a secret.

Along with this Wit, he also has a skill that has been passed down from his royal blood. The 'Skill'. The Skill is a power with which is another kind of telepathy. It can be used to talk to other telepathically over huge distances as well as influence people and nudge their actions in particular ways. This skill is trained in Fitz, but he struggled to be able to control it.

The Six Dutchies are being threatened by a fleet of raiders who attack coastal towns and kidnap their citizens, and 'Forge' them. No one knows exactly what they do, but when they return the citizens, they no longer have any emotions. They become husks of people, looking out only for themselves, wandering the land, attackaing people, stealing and even killing in order to get what they need. Their families forgotten, they will turn and attack their own spouses or children.

My Thoughts (possible spoilers below)

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Quotes

“I think myself cured of all spite, but when I touch pen to paper, the hurt of a boy bleeds out with sea-spawned ink, until I suspect each carefully formed black letter scabs over some ancient scarlet wound.”

“When you spring to an idea, and decide it is truth, without evidence, you blind yourself to other possibilities.”

"We left. Walking uphill and into the wind. That suddenly seemed a metaphor for my whole life."

“If a man hits you once, he’ll hit you again, they say. And the same is true for lying. But I stayed, and I listened and I believed. What a fool I’ve been!”

“Had they been dogs they would have sniffed me over and then drawn back. But humans have no such inbred courtesies.”

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

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Short Synopsis

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Quotes

“He shook his head pityingly. “This, more than anything else, is what I have never understood about your people. You can roll dice, and understand that the whole game may hinge on one turn of a die. You deal out cards, and say that all a man's fortune for the night may turn upon one hand. But a man's whole life, you sniff at, and say, what, this naught of a human, this fisherman, this carpenter, this thief, this cook, why, what can they do in the great wide world? And so you putter and sputter your lives away, like candles burning in a draft.” “Not all men are destined for greatness,” I reminded him. “Are you sure, Fitz? Are you sure? What good is a life lived as if it made no difference at all to the great life of the world? A sadder thing I cannot imagine. Why should not a mother say to herself, if I raise this child aright, if I love and care for her, she shall live a life that brings joy to those about her, and thus I have changed the world? Why should not the farmer that plants a seed say to his neighbor, this seed I plant today will feed someone, and that is how I change the world today?” “This is philosophy, Fool. I have never had time to study such things.” “No, Fitz, this is life. And no one has time not to think of such things. Each creature in the world should consider this thing, every moment of the heart's beating. Otherwise, what is the point of arising each day?”

”Sometimes,” Chade observed, “It would be much easier to die for one’s king than to give one’s life to him.”

“Come, hunt with me, the invitation whispers in my heart. Leave the pain behind and let your life be your own again. There is a place where all time is now, and the choices are simple and always your own. Wolves have no kings.”

My Thoughts (possible spoilers below)

I really loved this one, especially Fitz's relationship with his wolf companion, Nighteyes. I was never really one to be super into animal and human bonds in media, but this book made me realize how much I love this kind of relationship. Two different creatures who have completely different outlooks on life who teach each other about what it means to be alive. In the next book this relationship really grows into something special.

I also really grew to love the Fool in this one, he became one of my favorite characters in this book.

Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb

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Short Synopsis

Synopsis here

My Thoughts (possible spoilers below)

I both love and dislike this book. The first half is great, and I really love it. It had me gripped! I loved the whole walking part with Fitz and Nighteyes a lot and seeing they grow and come to understand each other even better was lovely.

However it all went downhill after the halfway point and it became a pain to get though simply because of how annoyed all the characters made me. I felt a lot for the injustice Fitz was going through, but at the same time was greatly annoyed by every single characters except Nighteyes by the end of the book. The ending was quite unsatisfying to me, it left too many questions unanswered and I hope the Fitz and the Fool series manages to tie up all those loose ends once I get to it.

It was very sad to me becuase the rest of this series was so good and made me genuinly feel something with every single chapter. It's rare that I find a book that makes me feel so many emotions and I felt them so heavily that I actually had to put it down and go for a walk multiple times becuase of how the books were making me feel. This book series was what got me back into reading after high school made me grow to hate reading and I hold all three of these books very closely in my heart.

Quotes

“Someday is someday, and maybe it will be or maybe it won't. This is a human thing, to worry about things that may or may not come to be. You can't eat meat until you've killed it.”

"Why do you chop your life into bits and give the bits names? Hours, days. It is like a rabbit. If I kill a rabit, I eat a rabbit. When you have a rabbit, you chop it up and call it bones and meat and fur and guts. And so you never have enough."

“That is one thing that in all my years among your folk I have never become accustomed to. The great importance that you attach to what gender one is.”

“I think I made a better boy than I do a man, I admitted ruefully to the wolf. Why not wait until you've been at it a bit longer and then decide? he suggested.”

“If you want the game, you must stalk it. That is all. You cannot say, To stalk this takes too long, I wish to simply eat. It is all one. The stalking is the beginning of the eating.”

“Sometimes all the choices are poor ones, Fool, and still a man must choose.”

Ship of Magic

On Hold

Short Synopsis

(Copied from Goodreads)

Bingtown is a hub of exotic trade and home to a merchant nobility famed for its liveships--rare vessels carved from wizardwood, which ripens magically into sentient awareness. The fortunes of one of Bingtown's oldest families rest on the newly awakened liveship Vivacia.

For Althea Vestrit, the ship is her rightful legacy unjustly denied her--a legacy she will risk anything to reclaim. For Althea's young nephew Wintrow, wrenched from his religious studies and forced to serve aboard ship, Vivacia is a life sentence.

But the fate of the Vestrit family--and the ship--may ultimately lie in the hands of an outsider. The ruthless pirate Kennit seeks a way to seize power over all the denizens of the Pirate Isles...and the first step of his plan requires him to capture his own liveship and bend it to his will....

My Thoughts (possible spoilers below)

I got 80% of the way through this book, put it down for a week as I got busy, then never picked it up again- It's been almost 2 years since I last picked it up... I don't know why because I was loving it. But I will be picking it up again hopefully, I just need to finish the other books I am reading first.

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Mad Ship by Robin Hobb

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Short Synopsis

Under construction

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Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb

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Short Synopsis

under construction

My Thoughts (possible spoilers below)

will add something here soon~

Quotes

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