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Fritz Agency
Christian Dittus
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FOOL'S ASSASSIN

Robin Hobb

Book 1 of the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy

The return to the story of Fitz and his dearest companion is something Hobb fans have been waiting a decade for, and they will not be disappointed.
The return to the story of Fitz and his dearest companion is something Hobb fans have been waiting a decade for, and they will not be disappointed.

It has been nearly eighteen years since ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE first turned up in book shops, a modest trade paperback original from an "unknown author" that went on to sell hundreds of thousands of copies. And it has been ten years since the first legion of Robin Hobb fans read the final pages of FOOL'S FATE, closed the book, and began to dream of what was yet to come for FitzChivalry Farseer and his enigmatic soul mate, The Fool. Through the years, other tantalizing aspects of the Enderling Saga have been explored, and the world has gained in complexity and richness. But all roads lead back to the Six Duchies, Hobb's first and greatest creation.

FOOL'S ASSASSIN opens quietly with Fitz living a new life of hard-won peace and harmony. But this is not to last. While Fitz' body remains youthful and his mind remains sharp due to the rejuvenating magical powers of the Skill, the same is not true of his beloved Molly. Molly is not only aging, but she seems to be losing her mind. Well beyond her child-bearing years, she nevertheless insists a baby – Fitz and her first - is on the way. Meanwhile strangers are wandering the Six Duchies searching for youths that might bear a resemblance to The Fool. These foreigners disappear as mysteriously as they arrive, and news of their quest reaches Fitz too late for him to pursue them. Fitz has not seen the Fool in ten years, and is desperate for any sign or clue as to his whereabouts. Molly's “mysterious child” and the strangers' quest dovetail in an unexpected way, bringing first joy, and then tragedy into Fitz's life. And when The Fool does appear, his sudden and utterly surprising arrival sets the stage for a grand adventure that will take Fitz beyond the Six Duchies, on a mission to protect the well-spring of magic that animates his world.

Harper UK and Bantam in the U.S will re-package and re-promote the two other Fitz & Fool trilogies - the Farseer trilogy and the Tawny Man trilogy - as a promotional lead-up to their publication of FOOL'S ASSASSIN. Major new deals to launch Hobb in Brazil and Latin America, and to re-launch her in Spain, are in place.

DIE TOCHTER DES DRACHEN
Deutsch von Maike Claussnitzer
[PB Penhaligon 08/19]
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Published 2014-08-01 by Bantam

Comments

As the best writers do, Hobb shows us ourselves in her characters. Their longings and failings are our own, and we find our view of the world indelibly changed by their experiences. The novelists in any genre are rare who achieve it with Hobb's combination of accessibility and moral authority.”

UK: HarperVoyager; NL: Luitingh; France: Pygmalion/J'ai lu; Israel: Opus;

Electrifying and mesmerizing . . . The fully realized characters and vivid prose show that [Robin] Hobb remains a supremely talented author of epic fantasy. (starred review)

Fantastic . . . compelling . . . [Hobb] effortlessly picks up the character of Fitz, rewarding those who have enjoyed his earlier adventures but easily building him anew for readers just joining in. The emotionally rich storytelling is sure to win Hobb new fans. (starred review)

It's a book meant to be inhabited rather than run through.

Hobb's brand of fantasy is notably gentle, especially compared to the fashion for high-action “grimdark” fantasies in recent years, but for much of its length FOOL'S ASSASSIN reads like a domestic drama, thanks to its focus on the daily life of Tom Badgerlock and his family. George RR Martin calls Hobb's work “fantasy as it ought to be written”, but in truth this latest volume is markedly more sophisticated than much epic fantasy; a slow-paced character study that takes us deep into the life of its hero. When the epic story does explode into life, it is all the more shocking and unexpected for it.