Rating: 
Summary: Outstanding book, ranks with the best in Fantasy
Review: I rank this just under Tolkien and George RR Martin. If you like Martin's in-your-face style of no-holds barred politics, brawling and hard edged conflict you'll love Hobb. I think of Hobb as a first person point-of-view Martin. His Song of Fire and Ice is more epic with more characters, but you really get inside young Fritz's mind and feel every punch, arrow or Skill blast he takes.Great story, great use of first person narration, good literary style and lots of emotional character development. Oh, and great style describing the action sequences, both the physical and mental/magic ones. I am very surprised she hasn't earned more accolades and awards for this series.
Rating: 
Summary: Nothing new
Review: Well, since everyone has been praising this little work of Robin Hobb i felt complied to read it and see whether it measures up to it's 5 star average.
Well, I must say, it doesn't.
First off, the story is completely conventional, predictable, with very little plot twists.
Secondly, though some characters are real, vivid & interesting, some have such stupid and unexplainable reactions which can only be explained by the authors inability to put them in a more appropriate/ralistic context.
And also, the ending. Very little happens in the entire book, until the ending which feels rushed and is all jumbled up together. I am not a reader who is only interested in action-packed, adrenaline-pumping books, so that is not the case here why I am giving the book only 2 stars. The book simply contains a basic plot, very linear, and Robin Hobb is not a very talented writer.
I thought I could forgive her for this book, since it being her debut and all, but I found out this was actually no debut, and the author had written more fantasy novels before,under a different alias. All in all, not worth the look for a more eager, more well read fantasy reader, but will do for a beginner in the genre. And definitely not upto the hype.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent series! Definitely buying more Robin Hobb novels!
Review: It is difficult to review this book as a single entity, for the series as a whole is a fine work of fiction. The story is basically a self contained first person narrative by the character who in most other novels is a bad guy: the royal bastard who does a king's dirty work without ever a hope for the throne. It is a coming of age tale without peer. The author gets down inside a lonely boy's psyche and has you walk a mile in the shoes of a very unlikely protagonist. Yet, through her craft, his dreams and goals become ours. Hobb has a variety of points to make, not the least of which is the relationship between humans and animals, and of the responsibilities leaders have to the led. This book is enjoyable even if you do not normally read fantasy of SF. It is simply a rich and engrossing tale.
Rating: 
Summary: One promising beginning.
Review: First of all, anyone who compares this book to Tolkien clearly has not read it. Sure, it has some Tolkienesque elements in them, but it seems more compareable to something like King Arthur, or the like. But it really is extremely original, and definately deserves what it's gotten.
First of all, the characters are amazing. Each has some interesting kind of quirk, and a specific purpose. They aren't just dashed into the book to fill up more pages. They can be hateable, loveable, or utterly mysterious.
Also, the training of Fitz in the art of an assassin is amazingly interesting. What he learns, his responses, his missions.
Then, he does magic as well as Terry Brooks. It has the same effect, though not used in the same way.
Best of all, at the end, you're left wondering what will happen next, how the Elderlings will come in, if he'll meet Molly again, etc.
Anyway, it's one darn good book, so I definately suggest you read it.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the best
Review: Simply the best fantasy writer in existance today. Great character developement, great plot, one of those series you take a week off of work to read. George R.R. Martin needs to make room on the top pedestal for Mz. Hobb. Plus, the books are put out timely, they actually move along the timeline very well and are not buried in masses of detail that means nothing. (Robert Jordan should be reading these and maybe take a few pointers). The Mad Ship series is wonderful, very inventive.!
Rating:
Summary: Truely remarkable
Review: Fitz is, in my opinion, one of the truest characters I have encountered in any novel so far. His brief moments of happiness, his losses and failures, triumphs and sacrifices, his loyalty and his friendships touch onto something that seems lost in our world - even in the fictional realm of novels and movies today. Deeply touching and enganging, Assassins Apprentice is simply brilliant. I highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Very good...deserves 4 stars but...
Review: First let me say this is a good, solid fantasy story. The author creates excellent characters, a very good (though slightly predictable at times) story, and has a gift for stirring raw emotion (goosebumps, tears, frustration, exhiliration, blah blah). So why only three stars? TO WARN YOU!!! If at times when reading this story you felt is was a bit predictable, a little too "touchy feely" with its spoon-fed, heavy-handed, black-and-white high moral delivery, but you forgave it due to the great characters and (long-awaited) plot twists, then STOP HERE - DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200 - THANK YOU ROBIN HOBB, GREAT BOOK, NOW MOVE ON TO SOMETHING ELSE. Moving on to the second book will only serve to frustrate you and demean the good memories of this book (not to mention waste you money).
Rating:
Summary: just read it
Review: as someone who has read all of robin hobb's books (including all the tawny man, yes, even the third), i have to say (=write) that this book was probably my favoutite one.
most of the people had problams to get into this book. i didn't. this amazing book swallowed me from the begining, and what can i say? i LOVED it.
Rating:
Summary: NO!!!!! TEN stars!!!!
Review: Without a doubt the best series i ever read.
and although ill agree with the opinions given about, the lack of happy endings or closure there are reasons for it.
the endings just arnt all that final..
the series didnt realy end at the end of the three books, but picked up ten years later with the tawney man series, containing all the same characters (those that lived thru the assasin series that is) and in between was the liveship series, which although it seemed completely unrelated, becomes mingled together when you read the third series, they even contain a main character (although you wouldnt know it till waaaaay later, and i better not say it coz i wouldnt wanna spoil it for you)
its more about love and devotion then magic, and about a boys struggle with his priorities (king, friend, lover, mentor)
The fool is by far the most fantastic character i ever read in a book.
Ive never been moved by a book before and this is the only series that brought me to tears, and it done it often.
Rating:
Summary: what a debut!
Review: Book 1 of the Farseer Trilogy Assassin's Apprentice is the story of Fitz, the illegitimate son of Prince Chivalry. At age six, he is put into the care of the Prince's man, Burrich. Fitz does not speak much and he has no memory of his mother or father. It is because Fitz was born that Chivalry left court and abdicated all of his rights to the throne. This has caused some resentment (and potential problems) towards Fitz, but he doesn't know anything about that. As Fitz grows older, he is noticed by King Shrewd. Shrewd decides that Fitz should be educated, and he is put under the tutelage of various teachers in the castle. He is also put in the care of Chade, a man who is to teach Fitz how to be an assassin for King Shrewd. This is really just the beginning for Fitz. We see as he grows and learns more about himself and about what his role may be for King Shrewd. Unlike many other fantasy novels, it is a little difficult to tell exactly where Robin Hobb is going with this story. For one thing, there isn't really a quest that Fitz must go on and perhaps save the world. Fitz is training to be an assassin, a rather different skill for the hero of a fantasy novel. Another thing that is different about this book is that it is told in the first person. We know only what Fitz knows and we do not get to see action that Fitz does not have first hand knowledge of. I was a little skeptical of this at first, but it works exceptionally well in this book. The book is told as a kind of journal that Fitz is writing years later, telling the story of his youth. This is a dark novel, and with the exception of perhaps a scene or two, it stays that way. There are no rousing heroic victories and there is little fast-paced, light-hearted witty banter. What we have is a very well told story, one that took perhaps a chapter or two for me to get into, but one that ultimately hooked me and has me looking for more. This is a fantastic beginning to the Farseer Trilogy, and should be a must-read for fans of fantasy.
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