Farseer Trilogy & Assassin's Quest Liveshow! 

Fitz skilling Regal into loyalty to Kettricken and the Duchies was one last undertaking and a parting gift for the Farseers before he went his own way. Regal's blessing of Kettricken's reign clears the way for a smooth transition of power, especially with Verify off with the Elderlings. It is also the best way to protect Nettle from being dragged into the royal intrigue that he got swept up into.

I loved every single time Verity was in the books! apart from the AQ because there his obsession really took his personality away kind of. But where whould they be without him? He sacrificed everything he was, and he was doing that the whole time being absolutely aware of what he was doing. His devotion was something so admirable! It made him one of my favourite characters from the books. If you look at him you can see how much he lost- he lost his brother (who was supposed to be the king), he lost his dad (who was the king), he never really had time to spend with his wife and we see that he didn't even have time to explore his romantic side. And his father almost always preferred Regal to him. And when in the end Fitz calls him "a friend"-that scene really touched me. I really enjoyed their friendship because that is what it was-a friendship of two people who had no choice but to save the whole kingdom.

If you look at almost every character in the Farseer trilogy, you can see how almost everybody is struggling with loneliness. And I think that is one of the reasons why these books will be forever something so deeply special to me. Fitz is deeply lonely , and as Chade says , Fool is another person in the books who has felt loneliness in a very deep level. Fool's memories of his past and his desire to see his sister again were so touching, especially when you realise that you don't know how old Fool actually is... The devotion was admirable , but it made Verity lonely, it made Shrewd lonely in his struggles. It made Patience and Burrich lonely. And I think when Fitz came in their lives, they all felt a little less lonely. As if Fitz was the savior that they could hold on to. And in some way that was true.

Oooh, always fun to watch people loving Hobb. ❤️

I just started the Tawny Man trilogy and it's so great being back in Fitz's head I didn't realise how deeply I've missed these characters!

Finally was able to watch this as I just finished AQ and loved it 😊 So many conjectures in my mind too.

Johanna thanks for having me on, this was wonderful!

Thanks for having me on for this discussion Johanna! This was such a great time!

Thank for a great discussion. Derris I appreciate your comments around Fitz trauma. In many ways Fitz is a deeply traumatised person, separated from his mother as a child … Sometimes I want to reread the whole series but In the end I resist the desire as I do not want go on that trauma journey. I feel there are two great writers of dragons, Ursula Le Guin and Robin Hobb. I was surprised that the panel felt Kettle was their number one mature woman character in fantasy fiction. My favourite woman character is Tena from Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea books. If you have not read these books I highly recommend you too. The first three books are written in the late 1960’s through to the early 1970’s. Each in their own way tell stories that subvert the fantasy genre. Tena is the main character in the second book The Tombs of Atuan as a child priestess. In 1990 Le Guin revisits Earthsea with the book Tehanu which picks up Tena’s story as a mature woman whose husband has died, her daughter has married and left the family farm and her son has gone off seafaring to make his mark in the world. A women of wisdom and emotional intelligence she navigates through a world where she has no “power”. What unfolds is a wonderful celebration of women’s power and in celebrating women’s power and not male magic Le Guin writes a fantasy series that over turns many fantasy norms, along with the norms of the first three Earthsea books. Brilliant stuff in my view.

I love these deep dive discussions! Would be awesome to continue with these if you keep reading Hobb.

Glad to see you reading Hobb. Hope you continue to Liveship soon :)

Great discussion from everyone! Reading AQ for the first time, I didn't like it as much as the previous two. LOVED everything Nighteyes and Burrich, and the characters and prose are generally brilliant as ever. But the journey really started to drag for me, and it was annoying how EVERY woman except that one threw herself at Fitz. It was almost comedic, like even Ketricken had her little moment of ya know, if I didn't love Verity, wink wink. Ugh. I liked Kettle, but dislike when characters withhold information just because. I didn't care for Starling. Yes, she had trauma, but her motivations for hanging around Fitz were purely self-serving, and it seemed she just devolved into kind of a whiner who wanted to sleep with every guy she met. However, after your group and another said that some things tie into and are clarified in later books, I can appreciate AQ a bit more, and I'll be interested to reread it after I finish the rest of the series.

Sorry I missed this video because of the time difference 😐😐 I’m fan of Robin Hobb books! Happy reading to you!! 😊📝

Hooray, tried again and its much better 👍☺

Burrich doesn't really change, but he does bend for Fitz, especially at the end of RA. Fitz is more important than his disdain for the wit and its taboos and he uses it to help save Fitz. AQ End spoilers... I think the fact that he is so solid, dependable and unchanging, is part of why Molly falls for him. compared to her father, who was one man sober and another drunk, and compared to Fitz, who loved her but kept things from her and often left her with promises he may or may not be able to keep, Burrich always put what was important first. He was simple, in his way, and stalwart, and he was what Molly really needed. Can hardly wait for the Tawny Man discussion, but LST first.

Oh no! I really wanted to watch this one, but unfortunately I am having an issue with playback, it keeps stopping and buffering which is odd because all your other uploads play well, everything else on the internet is fine so I've no idea why I am having a problem with just this video but it's unwatchable, what a shame 😞