The opening novel of the Farseer Trilogy introduces FitzChivalry Farseer, the illegitimate son of Prince Chivalry, brought to Buckkeep Castle as a child and raised in the stables before being taken on as a royal assassin's apprentice. Hobb establishes her world and its politics with considerable restraint, allowing the Six Duchies and its court to emerge through Fitz's limited and often uninformed perspective. The novel covers Fitz's childhood and early training, his first encounters with the Skill and the Wit, and his complicated relationship with the enigmatic figure known as the Fool. Quieter in pace than much epic fantasy, it rewards patience with a depth of characterisation rarely attempted in the genre.
