Hobb tells the story of Fitz, the bastard son of a prince who is trained to become a professional assassin. The story takes place in an imaginary world that endures its own version of the Middle Ages and revolves mainly about Buckkeep town, where Fitz lives since he was six, when he was abandoned by his family. Nothing much happens in the story; Fitz is not a hero, he is just a boy that seldom does anything surprising.
This book lacks something I really appreciate in books: verisimilitude. Very interesting things could have happened in our universe, in our world; there is no need to add unnatural features. This book not only describes an unreal universe, but also does so unnecessarily. There exists what they call the Skill (always written with capital S), which is a mental ability that allows an individual to interfere with other people’s minds. Fitz possesses the Skill, but he is also able to use it with animals—which seems to trouble Burrich, the stableman who raised Fitz in Buckkeep town. Maybe the Skill plays a more important role in the sequels, but in this particular book it is superfluous. The “forging” that the Outislanders inflict on the poor villagers may also turn out to be another unrealistic element in the other books of the series, but not many details about it were given in this one.
This book may have been a worthwhile reading, but I am not willing to read other such “fantasy” books any time soon.
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