Book #95

Fool's Errand
by Robin Hobb

So I've finally slouched back around toward Bethlehem to read a Robin Hobb series again. Last year, intending it as preparation for reading this series, I re-read the Farseer trilogy, about FitzChivalry Farseer, royal bastard, assassin, and twice-over psychic; and then after a false start on this book, I read the Liveship Traders series, about the dragons that once were and could be again and all of the people around them -- including the wonderfully sociopathic pirate Kennit, the tortured ship Paragon and the irritating Vivacia and her equally irritating family. But by the time I got through 6 epic fantasy tomes of 600 - 800 pages each, I was a little tired of Robin Hobb, so I never got around to reading the series I meant to read: The Tawny Man, the conclusion of FitzChivalry's story, which has now become the Fool's story just as much as Fitz's.

I'm glad to say the writing hasn't diminished any. Hobb is a brilliant novelist, with a great ability to render realistic characters and setting; she has built a world here that is as true to life as any history. One of my favorite things about these books is Hobb's use of unintended consequences: almost everything that occurs to challenge these characters is the result of a prior action -- though not always theirs -- and what comes now is an effect they never expected and never meant to cause. It works extremely well with the character of the White Prophet, the Fool from the first trilogy who became Amber in the Liveship stories, and is now Lord Golden -- but always the Fool to Fitz, and to me. The White Prophet is supposed to move the wheel of time out of its rut before it digs itself down too deep -- a nice depth added to Jordan's metaphor -- by using an unsuspecting and unobtrusive person, the Catalyst, as his tool. Fitz is the Fool's Catalyst, and the Fool is using him to change the path of time. He can only do it in small ways, with small alterations to the futures he sees, but those small alterations, like the butterfly effect, lead to great sweeping changes in the fullness of time.

This first book, Fool's Errand, picks up Fitz's story fifteen years after the end of the Royal Assassin series -- just enough time for the Fool to go to Bingtown and gain some experience of dragons, some color, and a whole lot of money, and for Fitz's two children to grow up. Fitz has spent this time hiding, living simply with his wolf, Nighteyes. I expected Nighteyes to be dead when I opened this book, and I was ready to mourn him, but it was nice to see that Hobb included what I bet is a common ignorance about the lifespan of wild timber wolves; I have no idea how long Nighteyes would normally live, and once you include the fact that sharing a bond with Fitz has affected him mentally and physically, it becomes impossible to predict. He is old in this book, though, and it is sad to read -- it makes Fitz seem a lot older than he is, but he's only my age or so. And I'm not old, my students' comments notwithstanding.

The Fool returns to Fitz's life, in a wonderfully emotional reunion that showed Hobb's flair for dramatic irony: I know the Fool, still completely androgynous (though as he is perceived through Fitz's eyes, he takes on a more masculine aspect in this book), has been in love with Fitz from the beginning, but Fitz has no idea, and so when Fitz opens his arms wide to greet his friend and the Fool leaps into his embrace, it was very sweet to read. It was the same when Fitz asks what he should call the Fool now that the Fool is no longer a court jester, and the Fool says his true name is Beloved, and Fitz should call him either that, or Fool -- but he will call Fitz Beloved. I truly hope these two work it out before the end of the series; at this point, my main motivation for finishing these books is to find out the end of the romance.

The story in this one was fine, though a little thin compared to some of the others; it was a bit too much of a chase book, as the crown prince of the Six Duchies, Prince Dutiful, has vanished and Fitz spends the last three-quarters of the book tracking him down and trying to free him from the clutches of the villains. But the villains were excellent, and I like the overall situation in the kingdom, with the persecution of the Witted ones -- people who, like Fitz, can bond with animals. I'm less intrigued by Fitz's new role, by the end of the book, as the Skillmaster, as I've never been as interested in the Skill as in the Wit, but I like that he will be teaching both to Dutiful -- and, I hope, to Nettle.

I will be reading the next book shortly, and the prospect is exciting.