Royal Assassin

The second book in the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. Kept me up until half two in the morning night before last, and I still hadn't finished it. Only finished it late in the afternoon. Hardly surprising, looking at it, it's 750 pages. It has firmly cemented Robin Hobb as one of my all time favourite authors, it's so amazing. You really have to read it. It carries on from the first (obviously...), and it's great to see how FitzChivalry is growing up and learning and taking command of himself. He's really growing up, and he's making mistakes. The book is riddled with court intrigue and all manner of incredible things, and I absolutely love it. Definitely one of the best books I've ever read. So, I just hope that the third book is as good, because to my mind, the third book of the trilogy is the one that really tests how good the writer is, because it's how they finish the thing off and wrap it up. I reckon trilogies are a different way of writing to series, even though they may seem similar. Because with a trilogy, the third book has to wrap the whole thing up in a satisfying way, leaving the reader with no pressing, annoying questions, and it has to be complete of itself, it can't just be long strings of explanation. With a series, it's easier. You have no set point for the book to finish, if you leave any unanswered questions, people just assume it's going to be revealed in the next book, and when you get asked about things, you can put them into the next book, you don't have the finality of a trilogy. That's just me though.