Golden Fool

Robin Hobb

Robin Hobb's first three trilogies weaved a wonderful spell, set in a world full of strife, political malice, and the kinds of wonders little found in our quotidian existence. Now I grant you, most fantasy novels do this, but Hobb has a particularly deft touch with such things; now that I've finished the eighth book in the series (for, though published as three separate trilogies, these books are actually one massive nine-volume series spanning close to four thousand pages), I'm starting to anticipate a greater sorrow than usual at leaving such a wonderful, richly-detailed world.

Fitz, the Fool, and Price Dutiful have returned from their task (as set before them in *Fool's Errand*), and now everyone's got to balance Dutiful's betrothal to a Narcheska of the Outislands, about which Dutiful himself isn't all that thrilled, with all the day-to-day basics of running a castle. Of course, a number of monkeywrenches are thrown into the works at the worst possible junctures, as well, all of which are left for the reader to uncover while picking through the complex, tangled threads of the tale. (One wonders how Hobb wraps all this up in just six and a half hundred pages.)

The major point of criticism to be had with the book (as with its predecessor, and the series' first trilogy) is that Fitz, and many of those around him, would probably not get into nearly as much mischief if everyone would learn to talk to one another instead of trying to keep secrets or deciding that things just aren't important enough to say. Still, as artificial a plot point as that often is (and as much as the fabric wears thin enough in places that it becomes obvious), this is still a cracking good read, as are all the rest in the series, and quite highly recommended here at Goat Central.