A fond farewell to some much-loved characters (Fool's Fate - Robin Hobb)

Member Name: sparkymarky1973

Product:	Fool's Fate - Robin Hobb
Date:	05/12/08 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A great final swan song that encompasses Fitz's greatest adventure yet...

Disadvantages: The ending does begin to drag a tad longer than it needed to

Fools fate is the final novel in the Golden Fool trilogy that encompasses a story arc that began in Assassin's Apprentice and which has continued through a series of nine novels. Royal advisor Fitz Chivalry, in the guise of Tom Badgerlock, and his former mentor Chade are due to accompany Prince Dutiful to the Outislands to finalise his betrothal with their Narcheska, Ellianna. But first Dutiful must uphold to the bargain that he has made and to the obligation to which he has sworn to. Dutiful and his companions must travel to the ice glacier in which the dragon, Icefyre, lies buried and remove his head. Only then can the marriage between these two cultures be acknowledged and the proposed peace between their lands be accepted. It is a dangerous mission, fraught with peril, and one that will see Fitz's loyalty to the throne and to the bonds he has formed with his closest of friends strained to the limit as he tries to prevent The Fools dire prophecy that his Beloved will die from coming true whilst preserving the fate of all Dragonkind. Characters from Fitz's past too will come back to haunt him and there will be many difficult choices to make before the book reaches it's conclusion.

This is a novel that resonates throughout with the theme of closure. Hobb has said that this is the last time we will see Fitz and though she intends to return to the realm of Dragons with her next book, it will be set almost entirely in the Rainwilds and only feature previous characters briefly and in cameo roles. Certainly here, Hobb attempts to tie up all loose ends, sometimes a tad too much, and only a few questions are left unanswered. The magic of the Skill-Pillars for example remains a mystery and there is still much to be learnt about why the Elderling race, who existed in the age before, regarded them with much fear and respect. This is how it should be because it gives Robin Hobb further scope to expand on the world she has created in future books to come, whilst leaving much up to the imagination and speculation of her fans. One thing is sure, this is the book that fans have been anticipating for some time to come and resolves many of the issues that have been left hanging from previous instalments.

My only complaint is that perhaps the end chapters go on a bit TOO long; even after all the adventure and excitement is over and the survivors have returned from their perilous quest, Hobb feels the need to really hammer home the point that this is Fitz's final swan song. It is the only disappointing factor in an otherwise excellent novel and a totally awesome fantasy series that should go down as one of the greatest ever written. Though her Soldier Son trilogy, set in a different world, was every bit as good as anything she wrote here, still the thought that the story of the Dragons' Fate is not yet over, feels me with a little excitement and I long for 2009 to arrive so that I can begin the next chapter whose working title is "Dragon-keeper."

If you have loved her work up until now, then this final Fitz novel is compulsive reading. It contains all the best elements of her other fantasy series up until now and finishes with a fairly happy and poignant ending which I will not spoil here. Suffice to say, this is a book for the fans and if you have not read any of the previous novels, you may feel a bit left behind and out of the loop.

A stunning climax to a timeless fantasy series.........

Summary: An assassin, a simpleton, a mentor and a Fool set off to decide the fate of a world....