Fool’s Fate: Robin Hobb: Book 3 (The Tawny Man Trilogy) - Softcover

Hobb, Robin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007588976 ISBN 13: 9780007588978

Publisher: HarperVoyager, 2014

Synopsis

'Fantasy as it ought to be written' George R.R. Martin The thrilling conclusion to Robin Hobb's Tawny Man trilogy. Kingdoms will stand or fall on the beat of a dragon's wings, or a Fool's heart., Prince Dutiful has been charged with a quest to the Outisland to take the head of the black dragon Icefyre. Only then will his betrothed marry him and cement the alliance between their warring kingdoms. But is Icefyre just a legend? Or does he truly slumber beneath the glaciers? Fitz has prevented his friend the Fool from accompanying them the Fool has foreseen his own death if he ever sets foot on the isle of the black dragon., But as their ship draws in towards Aslevjal a lone figure awaits them...

About this title

Review:

Fool's Fate concludes Robin Hobb's fantasy trilogy "The Tawny Man"--in which Fitz, narrator-hero of the "Farseer" trio beginning with Assassin's Apprentice, plunges into new complexities of politics and magic 15 years later.

The goal is formal peace between Fitz's Six Duchies and the Outislander Raiders, ending a cycle of war fought with weapons that kill the soul, whose horror dominated that first trilogy. A royal marriage is arranged, with the puzzling condition that the Duchies' heir must bring a bride-price of the head of the last male dragon--who's alive but entombed in a glacier. Why?

Fitz's old friend the Fool, a once-albino who believes himself the White Prophet of this age but has mysteriously darkened into the Tawny Man, opposes this dragon-killing. It seems necessary to deceive and betray the Fool for his own good, if only to prevent his self-prophesied death.

Another betrayal: a halfwit master of the psychic "Skill" is needed for this mad quest, and must be lured by Fitz on to ship after ship despite his horror of the sea. Old deceptions return to haunt Fitz, such as the Skilled girl who doesn't know she's his daughter, and others long kept in the dark for what seemed excellent reasons.

Grim surprises, confrontations, a hidden enemy and the old horror of soul-draining ("Forging") all await on the island of the glacier and the dragon. Fitz has more than once been traumatically hauled back from death: now the risks are worse than ever, with an impasse that surely can't be resolved.

Do Fitz and his closest friends win through? That would be telling, but whatever happens, there are high prices to be paid. It's a measure of Robin Hobb's skill with characters and relationships that the final compromises and realistic settlements are so satisfying. Smoothly readable despite great length, laden with charm and terror, Fool's Fate is a fine ending to what is a family as well as a fantasy saga. --David Langford

Review:

'Hobb is one of the great modern fantasy writers'
The Times

'Robin Hobb writes achingly well'
SFX

'Hobb is a remarkable storyteller'
Guardian

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperVoyager
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0007588976
• ISBN 13: 9780007588978
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 816