Product Description

Robin Hobb has emerged as one of today’s foremost fantasy authors. Now she continues the adventures of one of her most popular heroes in the first book of what promises to be her most spectacular trilogy yet.

Fool’s Errand

For fifteen years FitzChivalry Farseer has lived in self-imposed exile, assumed to be dead by almost all who once cared about him. But that is about to change when destiny seeks him once again. Prince Dutiful, the young heir to the Farseer throne, has vanished and FitzChivalry, possessed of magical skills both royal and profane, is the only one who can retrieve him in time for his betrothal ceremony--thus sparing the Six Duchies profound political embarrassment...or worse. But even Fitz does not suspect the web of treachery that awaits him or how his loyalties to his Queen, his partner, and those who share his magic will be tested to the breaking point.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37324 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-26
• Released on: 2002-11-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 688 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780553582444
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Amazon.com Review
This first volume of a new trilogy from one of fantasy's most popular and skilled authors will delight longtime Hobb fans as well as first-time readers of her work.

FitzChivalry, the hero of The Farseer trilogy, now lives an isolated and quiet life with his foster son Hap and his Wit partner wolf, Nighteyes, until he is sought out by his old mentor Chade and the enigmatic, charming Fool. Once again, duty calls: Fitz must find a missing prince and prevent political chaos in the Six Duchies. The mission will test his conflicting loyalty to country and family, his uneasy compromise with his own magic, and all the relationships he values most.

If you're a fantasy fan who hasn't yet explored the Farseer world, this is a fine place to start: Hobb deftly provides new readers with all the needed information. The finely detailed world building and intensive character development rarely slow down the action of the story. Fool's Errand is a complex, beautifully written and sometimes heart-rending examination of the consequences of duty and love. --Roz Genessee

From Publishers Weekly
In this hard-to-put-down follow-up to the Farseer Trilogy, Hobb maintains the high standards of her earlier fantasy series. The Fool and FitzChivalry Farseer band together once more to ride against the foes of the Farseer royal family in the kingdom of the Six Duchies. Last seen in Assassin's Quest, FitzChivalry (aka Tom Badgerlock due to the shock of white in his dark hair) has matured beyond the youth blindly following orders. For the past 15 years, Fitz has quietly led the life of a semi-recluse, trying his hardest to disappear. Believing that his glory days are over, he's surprised when fate (in the form of the Fool) pulls him back into the political intrigues that plague the Six Duchies. Endowed with both royal Skill magic and beast magic, Fitz assumes the task of returning the wayward heir to the throne, Prince Dutiful, to his home before his betrothal ceremony something that should be an easy task. In the event, the easy task proves extremely difficult, both physically and mentally for Fitz. The first half of the novel mostly focuses on Fitz's angst-ridden past. The heart-thumping, sword-clashing action that Hobb is known for emerges only during the second half, bringing Fitz fully to life. This is not to say that the first half is by any means dull. It's not. But the full range of Fitz's capabilities doesn't come to the forefront until later. When the action sequences finally kick in, they're non-stop. What starts as a very good read shifts into a stay-up-until-2:00 a.m.-to-finish type of book. (Jan. 9)Forecast: Stephen Youll's quiet jacket art gives no hint of the novel's intensity, but Hobb fans will know better and not be deterred.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Hobb continues the adventures of FitzChivalry the Wit, the protagonist of her Farseer trilogy, in the first volume of a new triptych, The Tawny Man. Now in his mid-thirties, Fitz enjoys life in a forest cottage with his bond-wolf and a boy he has raised as virtually his son, and he is most reluctant to go questing again. But his old companion the Fool, now the Tawny Man, makes a compelling case that Fitz's help is needed. Prince Dutiful, a local royal, has got into a parlous situation through a romantic entanglement that suggests he was very inaccurately named. The consequences of this misalliance bode far worse things than negative media coverage, so Fitz, who hasn't lost his sense of responsibility or, fortunately, any of his old skills, launches another quest. In the remainder of the book's many pages, he encounters a dazzling array of characters, many of them human, and all of them drawn in exquisite detail, particularly the women. Is Hobb fashioning as world-class a fantasy saga as The Liveship Traders? Seems so. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Customer Reviews

Life Companions
Robin Hobb (Megan Lindholm) has attracted quite a devoted audience with her last two sets of books, the Farseer 'Assassin' trilogy and the Live Ship Trader series, and with good reason, as these are fantasies of quite a different stripe from the normal and told with power, wit, and depth. While not absolutely necessary to enjoying this book, as there are enough explanatory sections here to catch the gist of the action of the prior books, I do recommend that you read the Assassin trilogy first, as it will not only provide the reader with all the past action, it will give you a fine benchmark of the how the characters were at the time of those books, allowing you to easily see the changes that time has wrought.

This book picks up 15 years after the ending of the Farseer set, with FitzChivalry Farseer and his Wit bond-mate wolf Nighteyes leading a quiet life as a farmer trying to raise his adopted son Hap, carefully avoiding any traffic with his former life of intrigue as a royal assassin. This early section of the book is remarkable for how strong the character development is, even though there is almost no action during this portion, showing a much more mature Fitz who has almost come to terms with the sacrifices he was required to make in the earlier books. Of course, this idyllic setting can't last, as first his former mentor Chade arrives for a visit to try and convince Fitz to return to service at Buckkeep Castle, followed by the very enigmatic Fool, now known as Lord Golden, and finally is convinced to return to Buckkeep by a summons from Chade to help find Prince Dutiful, Fitz's son by body, but not by himself as a person, who has either been kidnapped or run away.

Thus the action is enjoined, leading Fitz not just away from his farm, but into consideration of the whys and needs of both his Wit and Skill abilities. A set of considerations that have relevance for everyone, questions on should you lead if you can, can you let a social injustice continue when you have the means and ability to do something about it, about the importance of life and the time to properly allow death to reign, the strength of personal relationships and what is owed to friends, where the responsibilities of a parent begin and end. Throughout, Fitz, Nighteyes, and the Fool continue to grow as characters, till you feel that these are people you know, have lived, ached, lost and triumphed with.

Hobb's descriptive powers are well in evidence here, and her characters are neatly folded into her imagined universe, that includes not just the world of Wit and Skill of the Assassin works but also is explicitly tied to her Live Ship set, though that tie, so far, is only mentioned in passing, not fully developed. This book, unlike so many that are planned as part of a larger group of works, is very complete in itself, with an excellent resolution to all the problems and concerns it starts with. But I have a feeling the next book will make more of the tie to the Liveships and Bingtown traders, and I am looking forward to it.

Beyond fantasy
Robin Hobb is a developing writer in the best sense of the word. In the original Farseer trilogy she gave us a story that was beautifully crafted and pushed the envelope on realism within fantasy. Liveship Traders was perhaps an experiment in the use of multiple viewpoints, with a dull and ponderous outcome to my mind. But in writing it, Hobb's skill has improved in bounds, to culminate finally in the utter perfection that is "Fool's Errand."

I say perfection even though the beginning might be slow for some readers. But once the story gets going, it takes off, plunging the reader into an ever-deepening plot and a world of characters who are among the most complex in the genre.

In particular, Fitz has only gotten better as a character ever since the original trilogy. Age has matured him and given him new dimensions; and yet at the same time, the scars from childhood still remain, surfacing in ways that are beyond his power and even beyond his awareness. It is possible to perceive how Burrich's upbringing and initial abuse have molded Fitz and how his upbringing, together with his subsequent experiences, shape his responses now. Yet through it all he is the same FitzChivalry we know, speaking with the voice of age and experience, but still familiar.

This uncanny gift for psychological depth is unparalleled in the genre, and comparatively rare outside the genre as well. Hobb's characters have a quality of mystery to them. There is more to them beyond the scope of the novel; somewhere they are having thoughts we cannot guess, saying things we shall never know about. Just as people in real life always have hidden depths that are beyond anyone's power to see, Fitz, the Fool, Chade, Nighteyes, Starling and the rest of the cast are not completely revealed to us. Some part of the soul remains backstage, hidden from view, because a depth is there that is so real, it must be infinite.

How the author conveys this I do not know, but it infuses the novel with movement and intoxicating power. Add this to a riveting and unpredictable plot, moral complexity and as skilled prose as you'll find anywhere, and one clearly has a masterpiece in the making.

Robin has done it again: fitz is not dead
I read the description for this book before it came out, and I couldn't think of any other story involving fitz or nighteyes that could eclipse their last adventures in the Farseer trilogy.

I was wrong.

This book picks up 15 years in the future when Fitz (or Tom Badgerlock as he is called in this story) is 35 years old and feeling every year of it. The book starts with Tom complacently tending his farm/cottage in the woods far apart from human civilization and still recovering from the hardships the farseer line (chade specifically) had placed on him in the last series.

A series of visits alters Tom's simple life and he is flung back into the thick of things in a very different buckeep where he is charged in finding the missing Price Dutiful and (again) saving the world from disaster.

Sounds pretty commmon from that explanation, but this book is anything but. Even though this land was thoroughly explored in the previous two trilogies Robin Hobb has managed to add yet more depth and breadth to her land while somewhat bridging the gap between the Farseer and the Liveship traders trilogies. The fool reappears and again plays a central role, but the most amazing character aspect of this novel is fitz himself.

One of the reasons I praised Robin for her last series was the believability and real world harsh situations her characters were forced into, as well as their subsequent growth and maturing throughout the series. I was very surprised with how well Hobb managed the aging of fitz, although in my mind I will probably always think of him as the brash and unrestrained 20 year old I first came to know, Hobb has handled his transition into the middle years in incredible style. You can almost see the age in Fitz's character, and while his old heart and stamina sometimes shine through, at no point through the story did I mistake this fitz for the old one.

The characters have assumed a more mature stance, and I think that this is probably Hobb's strongest writing ability: the skill to create believable and loveable characters, and have them grow and still have them be great characters in their maturity.

This book deserves 5 stars certainly, and I await any more books that Ms. Hobb will write far more than many other authors in the fantasy world.