Has anyone else read this book yet? What’d you think of it? Personally, I was disappointed, not in the writing itself, which was wonderful as always, but in how it ended. It was just SO wrong. Fitz and Molly? Who cares about Molly? The relationship between Fitz and the Fool was the epitome of true love, and Fitz pretty much forgot about him after he returned to Buckkeep. It felt odd, fake and rushed.
I think the reason the Fool left him was because he knew that Fitz loved him more than he loved even Molly, and he’d never be able to give his whole heart to her or her children if the Fool were around. Fitz as much as hinted that he’d be willing to leave everything and travel with the Fool if he just said so.
I keep hoping there’ll be another book and they’ll be reunited forever, as they should be.
Wow, Amazon says this book won’t be available till February 2004! Did you get an advance copy to read or something (nothing wrong with that, I get them from my S.O. sometimes.)
I’m still waiting for the second volume of this trilogy to come out in paperback/ebook version.
I certainly expected more to happen regarding who the Fool really was, and what his future would be - indeed I was certain he would continue to have adventures and take Fitz along.
But I’m happy that Fitz ended up with Molly, because that’s always been my hope.
I agree that it did seem rushed, but I think that was because the first part of the series covered about 18 months, and the last two chapters covered about 3 years.
Also, the existence of Hap and his subplot seemed aimless and unnecessary for the plot.
I suspect Hap’s subplot was in there just to give the book a greater sense of reality outside Fitz’s world. Verisimilitude, if you will.
I found Molly dull, and Burrich’s death to be too expedient. Sure, he was 20-30 years her senior, so it only makes sense he’d die before her, but I think Fitz should’ve realized that the love of his childhood was not the same woman as the 35-year-old Molly. The Fool was the only person who truly understood him and accepted him for who he was. Someone on Robin Hobb’s (I can’t think of her real name off the top of my head) message board brought up the idea that Fitz was still trapped in the Skill Stream, because everything that happened after he got out made his life easier.
Example: What about the King Fitz thing, where he essentially became King Regent until Dutiful was of age? Or his apparent apathy over the Fool’s leaving? And he was of the Skill-coterie, a trained assassin, and a Farseer. Why’d Dutiful, Chade and Kettricken let him go so easily?
Maybe it’s just all wishful thinking, because it should’ve been Fitz and the Fool.
Hmm. I don’t think he was let go as an Assassin or Skill-Master, I believe that he still was, just that now that the Fool’s prophesying was ended, that the Six Duchies now had little likelihood for Great Adventure anymore.
But everything else you say does make a certain amount of sense…
What’s the story about that she wrote for the recent Legends II Anthology? Does it shed any light on anything?
I think I heard that it took place around Bingtown or the Rain Wilds and was more in line with the Liveship Traders trilogy than the Farseer or Tawny Man trilogies. But don’t quote me on that.
Please tell me that Nettle’s girlfriend isn’t Jek. I don’t know if I could take that. ANYONE but her. The most smugly self-righteous character from a trilogy that had far more than it’s fair share of smug self-righteousness.
I wouldn’t worry too much about Fitz and the Fool breaking up, though. My impression was that Hobb was going to do another trilogy in another part of the same world, presumably starring Nettle, and then finish up with a final (now old) Fitz series.
I mean, that’s basically what that fortune teller told him would happen with his ‘true love,’ right?
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Did Fool ever fess up about his gender? Both? Neither?
Is that certain, GuanoLad, that she doesn’t intend to write any more books in that world?
Even though the Fool never admits it, I’m pretty sure he’s male (at least partly). There are times in the last book when it seems kind of obvious that Fitz would’ve seen enough of him to know.
There’s one stage where Fitz is trying to heal the Fool, after he is in the fight with Civil Bresinga, and Fitz can sense all of The Fool’s body for the first time. The Fool looks at him and says “You see it, don’t you?” and Fitz nods, stunned. But The Fool is talking of something else, and it is never resolved what Fitz was nodding to.
I think it’s that he finally saw that The Fool was a woman after all. But it’s never touched on again, so I may be way off.
As for there ever being another story set in this world, I quote from Robin Hobb herself:
Just finished the book yesterday. Wasn’t disappointed at all with the ending. The Fool had to leave Fitz, most importantly, to not screw up the future. Being beyond the end of his prophecies he could no longer know the possible consequences of using his Catalyst. I was also pleased to see the book end with Fitz in a much happier situation than at the end of the first trilogy.
I also found the book very satisfying… and I was crying tears of happiness when Fitz and Molly finally got together. I always thought that the love story of Fitz and Molly was one of the most affecting that I’ve ever read.