Search

Search only in certain items:

Assassin's Apprentice
Assassin's Apprentice
Robin Hobb | 1995 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.9 (11 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is about 20 years in the reading. I first started reading Assassin's Apprentice in 2001 when on holiday with my parents. But for whatever reason I only got a few chapters in. Since then this book, asking with its various sequels has become one of the corner stones of Fantasy. It's just one of those books that any self respecting Fantasy fan has to have read or at least had on their TBR for forever and a day. Obviously it's been on my TBR (to at least try again) for 20 years, and I've finally got around to it!

Am I disappointed? Did the wait diminish my enjoyment? Does it live up to the hype? To the first two of these questions, the answer is an easy, Heck No! To the last one, the answer is a assured Heck Yes!

This book feels like it spans the gap between traditional fantasy and some of the modern fantasy we see published today, while at in your faux-medieval civilization, it brings different things to the table then what you might expect. It doesn't say away from putting your protagonist through hell, and I think its only a shame that the tension is slightly lessened because you know he might survive, as there are at least two future books featuring the character. Whether he keeps all his senses by book three however is highly debatable!
  
40x40

Charlotte (184 KP) rated Orestin's Own in Books

Oct 21, 2020  
Orestin's Own
Orestin's Own
L. Alyssa Austin | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Knight, a Priestess and a Necromancer set off on a quest......

What could go wrong? Enough to break my heart to be fair. Not bad to say I wasn't sure I'd be able to read Orestin's Own at all. I'm not normally a reader of things written in a medieval time period but I'm so glad I read this.

I love the way the characters grow, how they each become more than you'd expect.
    Caelesta, the Priestess, is by all accounts still a child in her mid-teens, full of hope and naivety. She's the one I think I feel for the most. She is sent out into a world that even an experienced adult would be hard pushed to find their way through......She does what is needed but the cost is high.
    Solarys, the Knight, is a wary warrior. He's seen and done things that nobody should have to but still he does his duty to protect his people and honour his God.
    Melèbrand, the Necromancer, for all the evil he has done, has a weakness where caelesta is concerned.....it's almost bittersweet.

I would love an epilogue to help fully close the book so to speak......unless L. Alyssa Austin is going to treat us to a follow up?

Orestin's Own is a solid 4 out of 5 for me. The right level of detail, good characters and good continuity, no random jumps that make you wonder what's happening.