Golden Fool - Hardcover

Hobb, Robin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0553801511 ISBN 13: 9780553801514

Publisher: Spectra, 2003

Synopsis

With Prince Dutiful safely restored to the Farseer fold, FitzChivalry returns to his former career as a spy at Buckkeep, navigating the complex loyalties, politics, and intrigues of the court as he seeks to unravel the secrets of Prince Dutiful's betrothed, uncover the truth about the Outislander delegation, teach the Prince his hereditary Skill magic, and sort out his own chaotic personal life.

About this title

Review:

The Golden Fool, the second volume of Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy, is explicitly a sequel to both the Farseer and Liveship trilogies. The palace intrigues, which Fitz has found himself dragged back into, have as much to do with the politics of trade and conquest--the war between the Bingtown traders and their living ships and the theocratic bullies of Chalced--as with the oppression of the beast-speaking Witted by the majority and the terrorism of the Piebald faction among the Witted. Fitz has always been a deeply flawed hero--growing up as a royal bastard trained in assassination has not been good for his character--and his inability to understand how deeply he is loved upsets all the people around him.

One of Robin Hobb's strengths is her capacity to set up an interesting dialogue between metaphor and the literal; at both levels, The Golden Fool is a novel about moving through estrangement to reconciliation, about finding out the truth and then finding a way of living with it. This thoughtfulness means that, as always with Hobb, Fitz's role as tutor of a magically gifted prince, is as exciting as the book's occasional explosions of violence. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

'Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers... what makes her novels as addictive as morphine is not just their imaginative brilliance but the way her characters are compromised and manipulated by politics.'
The Times

Assassin's Apprentice:
'A gleaming debut'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Assassin's Quest:
'Assassin's Quest achieves a bittersweet, powerful complexity rare in fantasy' LOCUS

'Robin Hobb writes achingly well'
SFX

Praise for The Liveship Traders series:
'Even better than the Assassin books. I didn't think that was possible'
George R R Martin

'Hobb is a remarkable storyteller.'
Guardian

About this edition

• Publisher: Spectra
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0553801511
• ISBN 13: 9780553801514
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 520