Book Review: The Golden Fool

Title: The Golden Fool
Author: Robin Hobb
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Tawny Man #2
Pages: 632
Rating: ★★★★★
Buy on The Book Depository

Synopsis:

Fitz has been persuaded back to court, posing as a servant to the decadent Lord Golden (who is the Fool in disguise). In secret, he will train Prince Dutiful in the magic known as the Skill.

The peace remains fragile, so the diplomatic wedding between Dutiful and the Outislander princess is a crucial alliance. But when Elliania arrives she challenges the prince to undertake an impossible quest before she will accept him.

He must kill Icefyre, one of the last true dragons. And Fitz and the Fool must go with him.

My thoughts:

I haven’t written enough reviews when it comes to Robin Hobb’s books. It’s always been a challenge for me, not because I have nothing to say about the book, but because 1) the book I just read was so good I just jump to the next one and 2) how do you describe feels?! Needless to say, I’ll probably sound like a broken record if I managed to review them all.

Hobb is a great writer. She proves this again and again and just when I think she couldn’t possibly outdo herself, she does.

Hobb’s world is fascinating. There is so much to it that she cultivates yet manages to unwrap with enough information to entice and satisfy at the right time.

While The Golden Fool is still mainly about Fitz’s life back at Buckkeep, it also brings together characters and stories we’ve read about from The Liveship Traders. That was probably my favourite part of this book. It was like getting a surprise visit from a friend you haven’t seen in a long time and hearing about what they’ve been up to.

If there’s one word to describe this book, it would be convergence. People from different lands are coming together for potential alliances, past decisions meet certain consequences, and two trilogies, once thought to be separate yet related, cross over.

This was a very satisfying follow-up from Fool’s Errand. I couldn’t help but pick up Fool’s Fate as soon as I finished this because I just had to know what happens next!