Fool's Assassin
'Fantasy as it ought to be written' George R.R. Martin
A secret is only yours so long as you don't share it. Tell it to one person, and it's a secret no more.
To most travellers, Withywoods seems like a normal, well-run country estate in the backwaters of the Six Duchies. Tom Badgerlock has been living peaceably in the manor house with his beloved wife Molly for many years, the estate a reward to his family for loyal service to the crown.
But behind the façade of respectable middle-age lies a turbulent and violent past. For Tom Badgerlock is actually FitzChivalry, a royal bastard of the Farseer line, a user of forbidden magic, and an assassin. A man who risked much for his king and lost more...
In his study, there is a reminder of his past: a memory stone carving of himself, his wolf and The Fool. Bonded by magic, they once moved as one. But the wolf is long dead, and the Fool has vanished. The contenment Fitz feels in his current life cannot erase that void.
Then one Winterfest night a messenger arrives to seek out Fitz, but mysteriously disappears, leaving nothing but a blood-trail. What was the message? And what has happened to the messenger?
Suddenly Fitz's violent old life erupts into the peace of his new world, and nothing and no one is safe.
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Robin Hobb
Robin Hobb's stories are woven from the fabric of dreams, doubt, and destiny. Within the pages of her books, readers don’t just meet characters—they walk alongside them through kingdoms of intrigue, forests of magic, and oceans of inner turmoil. Known for crafting intricate worlds that feel as real as our own, Hobb's works capture the essence of what it means to be human, even when the characters are far from it.
Born Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden in 1952, Hobb’s childhood began in Berkeley, California, before she moved to the remote wilderness of Fairbanks, Alaska, where her deep connection to nature and isolation shaped much of her future storytelling. While her early years in Alaska filled her with a sense of rugged independence, it wasn’t until her teenage years in Colorado that she found her true calling. A communications major at Denver University, she honed her writing skills and went on to work as a journalist, weaving tales of human experience with the same depth and empathy that would later define her novels.
Fitz and the Fool
Fitz and the Fool consists of three books — considered a complete series. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
Main series The Realm of the Elderlings
