I have to say I never got the feeling this was a trilogy. It reads like one big story broken down into three for the sake of convenience of readers. There's no specific plot threads in any of the books. None that I could grasp anyway. I was reading the Omnibus edition and was genuinely shocked when the the epilogue popped up in Assassin's Apprentice. I honestly thought I was about half way through the book at that point
The writing was superb. Had me hooked right from the off. Fitz's development was brilliant from start to finish was superb. He's a bit thick at times gets kicked all over the place by literally everyone but it doesn't feel like an overkill at any point. I liked the irony of how every single Farseer warned him about how he might be used by their enemies and yet the only one's to use him for their purposes were the Farseers. The best thing about the way he's written though is how it's allowed Robin Hobb to flesh out all the other characters without the need for separate PoV's (Though that might have made the story even better imo). One flaw/plot hole I thought was how the Rurisk death was handled. It was swept under the carpet way too easily. Because of the first person format of the books there were a few other characters I'd liked to have read more about. Patience wasn't in the 3rd book at all which was disappointing. Chade was another one who we didn't see much off.
Fitz's relationship with animals is astoundingly well written. Honestly, the Fitz-Nighteyes combo is perhaps the best thing about the series. The relationship between them is so wonderfully written and I swear Nigheyes is the funniest character in the series (Between him and fool anyway). Comes up with some hilarious one liners! Another relationship I liked in the series was the Fitz-Verity. A nice mixture of genuine affection for each other mixed with a great deal of loyalty.
The scene in the 2nd book where two forged one's are fighting over a baby and rip it apart
Had to put the book down for a bit after that. Brutal stuff. The deaths of Nosy and Smithy were almost as bad. Was fearing the worst for Nighteyes while reading the 3rd book but that ended well!
The 3rd book is probably the worst of the lot. Really enjoyed reading it but I thought it could have been a wee bit shorter without losing anything plot wise. I liked the ending. Can't say I cared too much about Molly but was glad for Burrich. If anyone in the books deserved that, he was the one. The scene where he confronts Molly with the King's pin genuinely believing that Fitzi is dead was really sad.
The magic was nice. It looked very basic in how it was laid out in the first book but that's until we find out Galen was pretty much a fraud. This is the kind of magic I like best. Not very quantifiable (i.e x happens if you do y), mysterious and still powerful. Most of all, it was very well used in the books. A lot like ASOIAF I might add.
The plot was nothing special imo but did it's job. The dragons in the end was a nice touch and I liked how they went back to being stone after it was all done until the next time. A nice cyclical touch to the story re- Forging was initially done by the Elderlings albeit unintentionally. Verity disappearing into the dragon and Kettricken crying was a nice scene was well. Verity fecking Kettricken using Fitz's body on the other hand was creepy.
The politics is done very well. Only behind ASOIAF in that respect. The politics in most books is laughably crap i.e Mistborn or even WoT.
I love the naming system of Duchies
Hmm...that's all I can think off right now. Excellent series!
