 Hey guys it's Leigh Ann and I'm here today to talk about Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb. I've mentioned a few times about like the whole, it might be me and Mara's fault that 2021 to shit and it will be our fault that 2021 goes to shit. Let me explain if you haven't heard. So in 2020 Mara and I started the year, started January with Buddy reading the first book in the Farsier trilogy, Assassin's Apprentice. And when we were talking about Buddy reading now the next book in January, we were like, that's what we did last January. So we know if this year goes to shit that it might have been our fault. And then, you know, things started going a little crazy in the first week of January. We were like, is it our fault? So I decided to really tempt fate and completely repeat history because last January, having Buddy read Royal Assassin with Mara, I then reviewed, sorry, no, having Buddy read Assassin's Apprentice with Mara, I filmed a review for it wearing a made well plaid shirt that my mom got me for Christmas. So here I am in January 2021 reviewing Royal Assassin, having Buddy read it with Mara, wearing a made well shirt that my mom got me this last Christmas. And just like, come on, let's completely maybe by doing the exact same thing, we can break the curse. That's the goal. So the book, even better than Assassin's Apprentice. I think I gave Assassin's Apprentice four stars. And it was a very positive, very like four plus four with potential, like mega excited, super enthused for Royal Assassin five out of five, like no question, didn't have to think about it. As soon as I finished it, I was like, five stars of feelings, even when I was halfway through it, I was like, I was low key wanting to put this in my best books of the year lat for 2020, but hadn't finished it yet. So I technically couldn't. And so I put a Assassin's Apprentice on instead as kind of like a placeholder. Robin Hobb has quickly becoming a favorite author of mine. And I think I'm not, I don't know if my book haul has gone up before this video, but I've got a bunch of Robin Hobb books. I just like went ham and bought like the in these editions of like every Robin Hobb book that there is. So I'm all set to read all the hob. I don't really like binging series. So like, I will not be reading them back to back, but I just like knowing that I've got them there. It's the promise of much joy to come just sitting there, a stack of happiness. Robin Hobb's writing is it's so it's so good. This is a really long book and a lot happens and you're just following fits just this one character. And even so, it doesn't feel monotonous, it doesn't feel boring, it doesn't feel like there's any like dragging or info dumping ever, ever. I felt really sorry, I keep saying in Assassin's Apprentice because Fitz is a kid in the beginning. I felt it dragged a little bit the intro to it when you're kind of like, where is any of this going? That's kind of why I give it four stars because the intro was a bit slow to kind of get you into the story, into the world that invested in Fitz's life. But once I was invested in it, it got a lot more interesting and by the end of Assassin's Apprentice, I was like, whoa, what's happening here? Royal Assassin is like the end of Assassin's Apprentice throughout, like that level of interest and excitement and things happening. And the characters in it, me and Mara talked about this quite a bit that while Abercrombie, Joe Abercrombie has like, you know, frequently by me as well, lauded for his character work. Robin Hobb is kind of the wholesome answer to that because I would say her character work is equally good. It's just not grimdark. And that said, there are very grim and very dark things that happen in these books, but the tone of the storytelling is not a grimdark fantasy. But so like she writes very three dimensional characters, a great variety of characters, a multitude of characters. And you really feel like they're all fully fleshed out characters and not just kind of cardboard cut out plot devices. They all feel like people, even the really minor characters, and a lot of things in it, this is not so much an Abercrombie like comparison, but a lot of things in it that I would think would be stupid. Or if they were handled by another author, I think they would be handled badly and they would be stupid. Hobb handles them in a way that they work completely. So there's like elements to character choices, character relationships, the way the magic sometimes works, the way that politics shake out that it could be so bad. Handled by another author and has been similar things have been done by other authors very badly. So like on paper, if I just saw the things that are in this book listed, I'd be like, I don't know. But she handles it with such a nuance and care and authenticity that she could pretty much write anything and I'd go with it, which is one of the reasons why I'm excited to read the Live Ship Traders series. Because when I learned that the Live Ship Traders series is about live ships, meaning the ship is sentient, like again, if it wasn't Robin Hobb, I'd be like, that sounds like it's going to be stupid. But having read two books by Robin Hobb, where there are elements in it, that if I had just heard about it, I'd be like, that sounds stupid. But she wrote it so well to where it utterly captivates and breaks my heart, I have absolute faith that she will tell me about living ships and I will love it. I believe in you, Robin Hobb. But yeah, so the character work is a lot like Abercrombie in so far as it feels authentic throughout. It's just not like in an Abercrombie book, pretty much everyone you follow is kind of horrible. Here, there are a lot of horrible characters and that's kind of why I was like, it's actually surprisingly dark. Like it's the events of this book aren't that much lighter than an Abercrombie book, but it's like through the perspective of somebody who is trying to do good things and is, you know, so morally just. And I mean, he's not perfect. He's very flawed, which is why he's interesting to follow. But because you're not following, you know, a torturer and like a berserker, like you're following a kid who's like doing his best. So that like colors everything else, because like the perspective through which you're viewing this world is shaped by sort of like more naive and rose colored glasses. But the world itself has a lot of dark shit going on that is not like it could kind of go toe to toe with Abercrombie. It's just that you're not seeing these kind of like lengthy descriptions of moral depravity from the perspective of the morally depraved. But the morally depraved are in it. They're just not the lens to which you're viewing this world. So like there was a few characters in this book that me and my agreed that like if this story was told by Abercrombie, the story probably wouldn't be all too different. It's just that it would be told from these other perspectives that are in it. And those would be our like eyes on the world. And that's what would make it grimdark because those characters would have that kind of Abercrombie-esque grimdark attitude. So it's really more just a matter of perspective that makes this a wholesome read and Abercrombie very much not a wholesome read. But yeah, so, oh my God, like it was such an emotional roller coaster. I felt emotionally exhausted after reading this, but in the best way. Like I didn't I mean, I feel like if I say exhausted, that sounds like, oh, my God, it was a slog and I don't mean that. I just mean like she just like keeps tearing your heart and just keeps like like twisting that knife and you keep reading because it's good. The story is good and you want to know what happens next. And I never feel manipulated really. Like there's some books where like, well, here we have the chapter ending and a cliffhanger so that I'll read the next one. And like, I'll read the next one because I do want to know. It never feels gimmicky like that. It never feels it always like when when the mysteries finally begin to kind of unravel themselves and when villains finally begin to reveal themselves and when pieces are being put together at long last that have been kind of a long time coming. It doesn't feel like it took too long. It doesn't feel out of nowhere. It all feels entirely earned, paced exactly right. And and you're I feel like every single gift I've seen of like feelings. I don't know what my feelings are doing. I feel like we're all reading this because I feel many feelings reading this, both, I mean, mainly for and about fits, but just kind of generally and like there's a lot of things about the politics that once again, in comparison to Abercrombie, I have often said that reading Abercrombie books I find so satisfying, especially in the present day during these present political times, because the kind of reflection of corrupt politics in Abercrombie books feels so it resonates so well with me as a modern reader, having seen what goes on currently in our political climate that it just it feels like relevant. I'm like, yeah, that's that's how the world be. And there was an element of that in here as well, where the political situation was familiarly frustrating. Is that I say that right? I feel like that came out weird, but there was the frustrations here and the anger and the injustices felt all too familiar. And for that reason, hit home, I think all the more not that they wouldn't if we were living in a utopia because it's well written. But because of current events, all the more so, you feel like, oh, I feel you. I know exactly what you're going through right now. So just just well done. Just well, well done. Chef's kiss. Love it. Love it. Love it. So excited to read Assassin's Quest, because I just everything I hear about House of Writing is that like it only gets better and better and better and better. And I'm only two books in and I'm already a Gog. So bring it on. That's why I felt no qualms about, like, purchasing an entire stack of Hob books, because I was like, I at the worst case scenario, all not all of these books will I love exactly as much as I loved Royal Assassin. But I if I like them even a little bit as much as I liked this, I'm in for an absolute treat. So I'm so excited to trade more Hob, so excited to see more of the realm of the Elderlings, so excited to see more like once I finish. I mean, I excited to have another whole another book about Fitz, but I'm also excited to see more characters in this world. I've heard there's a lot of representation of great female characters in live to traders, and that's something I haven't talked about here at all yet. And I should I'm remiss and not doing that Royal Assassin, even though it's told from the perspective of Fitz and he's a he's a man. And there are probably, I would say, the majority of characters that are that are prominent main named characters are are men. There is a very solid representation of females and in a way that doesn't feel like it's soap boxing. It doesn't feel hamfisted. It doesn't feel like it has an agenda. I feel like a lot of books that have females female representation or strong females in it. It feels so much like the author is being like, see girl power strong, do it. OK, like I don't like being preached at, even if it's something I agree with, I don't like being preached at. This just feels like all the writing is just so solid that you're like, yeah, like, of course, the females are also solid, nuanced, complex, layered individuals, just like everybody else, because that's how it'd be. And there's there's some really bad ass females in it. There are there are really great moments of strength, of subtle strength, of overt strength. They're just they're nuanced in a way that that is what's so often missing in especially adult fantasy. We don't want a bunch of Xena warrior princesses just running around in every book. I mean, sure, give us a few Xena warrior princesses. Xena the warrior princesses, we will not object, but it's not just that. Like, we just want more females of a variety of females, females from different walks of life, different perspectives, different approaches to how to exist in a man's world. Like, give us all the ladies and all their flavors and forms. And Hobbes given us all the ladies and their flavors and forms. And even though it's being told from Fitz's perspective, like, we, the reader can understand a lot of things that completely flies over the head of Fitz. And it's frustrating to see just as a female reader, you're like, yeah, like I've known guys like Fitz and like I, the female reader seeing the female that Fitz is seeing, it's like kind of like, like psychically writing in his mind and seeing what he's seeing, but like he can't hear me. And I want to be like, Fitz, like, do not get what she just said. And he doesn't get it. But like, I, the reader get it. And I'm like, Fitz, Fitz, this is what they're trying to say to you. This is what they mean. Fitz is just like like, OK, OK. So it's just it's well done. So well done. So well done. Chef's kiss all around great time. Highly recommend. Well done, Robin Hob. Well done. So let me know in the comments down below if you've read any Robin Hob books, if you now plan to read any Robin Hob books, if you have read them and you did not feel the way that I did, in which case you're a monster. Whatever you want to let me know. I post videos on Saturdays, other random times as well, but definitely Saturdays. So like and subscribe. And I'll see you when I see you. Bye.