King Shrewd is dead at the hands of his son Regal. As is Fitz or so his enemies and friends believe. But with the help of his allies and his beast magic, he emerges from the grave, deeply scarred in body and soul.
I really enjoyed seeing Fitz’s evolution over the course of the plot. At the start he is still more wolf than human and watching him struggle to retain his humanity was highly entertaining to read. The scenes between Fitz and Burrich during this time were incredibly poignant and touching. Burrich really displayed how much he loves Fitz and we see him step up and save Fitz time and time again. I can’t say I appreciated the way Fitz spoke to him and pushed him away but I’m glad we see him eventually move on.
I found Fitz to be a little petulant and childish for most of the book. At the start when he starts on his journey to kill Regal with no plan just his ego and his wit leading him into a trap. The fact that he even thought to himself what if Will was using the skill to coax him to Tradeford and then walk right into the trap was frustrating. He was so hell bent on killing Regal for his own gain that all of his assassin skills just went right out the window.
Nighteyes was one constant in the story that I loved. His relationship with Fitz and his simple way of life was a breath of fresh air in the plot. His dedication to Fitz and steadfast logic I think really prolonged Fitz’s survival.
Starling wasn’t a favourite character of mine. I found her to be a bit of an opportunist and didn’t really care for Fitz or his wellbeing, just wanting to us him for her own personal gain. I think the fact that she followed him so far and her song didn’t even end up being about him was ironic. Selling out Nettle to the Farseer throne was really the last straw for me with her. She never even really apologised to Fitz about it either which really grated me.
The story as a whole just really dragged and got very repetitive. I understand the book is really centered around this quest that Fitz has to undertake to find King Verity but I think a solid 400-500 pages was just Fitz travelling and making and breaking up camps. There wasn’t enough action or a real sense of adventure for me. By the end when we started finally finding out answers to all the questions that have been posed throughout the series I wasn’t really interested or invested anymore.
I story is very immersive, epic and I can respect the way Robin Hobb wove the plot in a way that makes you really delve deep into these characters, it just wasn’t the story for me.
⭐️2/5 stars Not enough happened for me to justify the length…
Winterwood
