Fool's Errand: Book One of the Tawny Man (Tawny Man 1) (Paperback)

This book picks up 15 years after the ending of the Farseer set, with FitzChivalry Farseer and his Wit bond-mate wolf Nighteyes leading a quiet life as a farmer trying to raise his adopted son Hap, carefully avoiding any traffic with his former life of intrigue as a royal assassin. This early section of the book is remarkable for how strong the character development is, even though there is almost no action during this portion, showing a much more mature Fitz who has almost come to terms with the sacrifices he was required to make in the earlier books. Of course, this idyllic setting can't last, as first his former mentor Chade arrives for a visit to try and convince Fitz to return to service at Buckkeep Castle, followed by the very enigmatic Fool, now known as Lord Golden, and finally is convinced to return to Buckkeep by a summons from Chade to help find Prince Dutiful, Fitz's son by body, but not by himself as a person, who has either been kidnapped or run away.

Thus the action is enjoined, leading Fitz not just away from his farm, but into consideration of the whys and needs of both his Wit and Skill abilities. A set of considerations that have relevance for everyone, questions on should you lead if you can, can you let a social injustice continue when you have the means and ability to do something about it, about the importance of life and the time to properly allow death to reign, the strength of personal relationships and what is owed to friends, where the responsibilities of a parent begin and end. Throughout, Fitz, Nighteyes, and the Fool continue to grow as characters, till you feel that these are people you know, have lived, ached, lost and triumphed with.

Hobb's descriptive powers are well in evidence here, and her characters are neatly folded into her imagined universe, that includes not just the world of Wit and Skill of the Assassin works but also is explicitly tied to her Live Ship set, though that tie, so far, is only mentioned in passing, not fully developed. This book, unlike so many that are planned as part of a larger group of works, is very complete in itself, with an excellent resolution to all the problems and concerns it starts with. But I have a feeling the next book will make more of the tie to the Liveships and Bingtown traders, and I am looking forward to it.

I say perfection even though the beginning might be slow for some readers. But once the story gets going, it takes off, plunging the reader into an ever-deepening plot and a world of characters who are among the most complex in the genre.

In particular, Fitz has only gotten better as a character ever since the original trilogy. Age has matured him and given him new dimensions; and yet at the same time, the scars from childhood still remain, surfacing in ways that are beyond his power and even beyond his awareness. It is possible to perceive how Burrich's upbringing and initial abuse have molded Fitz and how his upbringing, together with his subsequent experiences, shape his responses now. Yet through it all he is the same FitzChivalry we know, speaking with the voice of age and experience, but still familiar.

This uncanny gift for psychological depth is unparalleled in the genre, and comparatively rare outside the genre as well. Hobb's characters have a quality of mystery to them. There is more to them beyond the scope of the novel; somewhere they are having thoughts we cannot guess, saying things we shall never know about. Just as people in real life always have hidden depths that are beyond anyone's power to see, Fitz, the Fool, Chade, Nighteyes, Starling and the rest of the cast are not completely revealed to us. Some part of the soul remains backstage, hidden from view, because a depth is there that is so real, it must be infinite.

How the author conveys this I do not know, but it infuses the novel with movement and intoxicating power. Add this to a riveting and unpredictable plot, moral complexity and as skilled prose as you'll find anywhere, and one clearly has a masterpiece in the making.

I was wrong.

This book picks up 15 years in the future when Fitz (or Tom Badgerlock as he is called in this story) is 35 years old and feeling every year of it. The book starts with Tom complacently tending his farm/cottage in the woods far apart from human civilization and still recovering from the hardships the farseer line (chade specifically) had placed on him in the last series.

A series of visits alters Tom's simple life and he is flung back into the thick of things in a very different buckeep where he is charged in finding the missing Price Dutiful and (again) saving the world from disaster.

Sounds pretty commmon from that explanation, but this book is anything but. Even though this land was thoroughly explored in the previous two trilogies Robin Hobb has managed to add yet more depth and breadth to her land while somewhat bridging the gap between the Farseer and the Liveship traders trilogies. The fool reappears and again plays a central role, but the most amazing character aspect of this novel is fitz himself.

One of the reasons I praised Robin for her last series was the believability and real world harsh situations her characters were forced into, as well as their subsequent growth and maturing throughout the series. I was very surprised with how well Hobb managed the aging of fitz, although in my mind I will probably always think of him as the brash and unrestrained 20 year old I first came to know, Hobb has handled his transition into the middle years in incredible style. You can almost see the age in Fitz's character, and while his old heart and stamina sometimes shine through, at no point through the story did I mistake this fitz for the old one.

The characters have assumed a more mature stance, and I think that this is probably Hobb's strongest writing ability: the skill to create believable and loveable characters, and have them grow and still have them be great characters in their maturity.

This book deserves 5 stars certainly, and I await any more books that Ms. Hobb will write far more than many other authors in the fantasy world.