Assassin’s Apprentice volume 3 by Robin Hobb, Jody Houser

Book Review

Eloise

Well into the Red Ship War, King Shrewd and his son, Prince Verity, are in desperate need of magic users. Their ancestors foolishly allowed the Skill coteries to fall into disuse, and now they are reliant on Skillmaster Galen to find and train those open to the Skill to help protect the kingdom. But Galen is not like the Skillmasters of old, and he is no friend to Prince Chivalry’s bastard.

Fitz nears the end of his skill training. Facing Galen’s final task, he will be blindfolded, taken to a location somewhere within Buck’s borders, and using the Skill will be guided back to Buckkeep by his tutor. Already emotionally wrought by the loss of his puppy, and Burrich’s great disappointment in his insistence in using his Wit magic, Fitz knows his patchy abilities in the Skill may fail him, adding Shrewd and Verity to the list of those he has let down.

As his guides drive away, and Fitz starts to take in his surroundings, he is horrified to discover that he has been left close to Forge, where those attacked by the Red Ship Raiders are left as mindless, feral predators. And even worse, those who have been Forged are undetectable to Fitz’s Wit. Hearing no hint of Skill direction, Fitz has no choice but to make his way back to Buckkeep alone, and hope he can make it before the Forged find him.

Assassin’s Apprentice is re-told in graphic novel format in this richly drawn series. This third volume follows Fitz from his Skill trial to finding himself serving Prince Verity as a ‘King’s Man’, and his journey to the Mountain Kingdom as Verity’s brother, Prince Regal, works to secure a bride and an alliance for his brother. But as we know, Regal has his own interests, and those will have disastrous consequences for Fitz and the Farseers. 

In these volumes, we can truly see the amount of time and effort that has been dedicated to capturing every high, every low, and every emotion in between from the original novels, both in terms of the writing and the illustrations. Hobb and Houser have abridged the depth and complexity of the story without compromising on the core desires and difficulties the Farseers face, and the characters retain their strength, and their flaws in perfect balance.

The end of this volume gives insight into the illustration process, and like the writing, every nuanced expression and the core of every character has been perfectly captured on the page by the illustrators Each panel has purpose and is excruciatingly finished, setting tone, painting in detail, and bringing the harshness of the trilogy’s conclusion to life. An exceptional adaptation, and a set to be treasured.