Rating: 
Summary: Robin Hobb's Best Book So Far
Review: "Assassin's Quest" has provoked a great deal of debate among Robin Hobb's fans. Some believe that it's the most vivid and imaginative novel that she's written so far, while others view it as weak and disappointing. I place myself squarely in the first camp. I find this book to be a triumph. It successfully resolves the stories of every character, major and minor, from the first two volumes of the series, while also boldly jumping into a new scope and a new location, and providing some major new people and concepts. Overall, it's a magnificent conclusion to what will surely be remembered as the best fantasy trilogy of the current generation.The first fifty pages are dedicated to showing Fitz's recovery from the events at the end of the last book. After restoring his sanity, he sets out with a mission: to kill Regal. I don't want to give away any more of the plot than that, but I can promise you this much: the third volume of the Farseer Trilogy is much more than just a simple revenge fantasy. Many people have commented on the originality of Hobb's magic system. In "Assassin's Quest", Fitz is constantly dueling with the surviving members of Regal's coterie. A much larger segment of the book is dedicated to the Skill magic and its ramifications than in the first two volumes. She thoroughly explores the question of what it would mean to not even be safe within your own mind. The answer is frightening at times, and the integration of this facet of the story makes "Assassin's Quest" even more suspenseful than "Assassin's Apprentice" and "Royal Assassin". The Wit magic makes another appearance as well, of course, and we garner quite a bit of new information about how it works and who can use it. Another thing I liked about this book was the way that storylines from the distant past were worked into the plot without interrupting it. There are no history lectures. Instead, Hobb actually devises convincing ways to make past events work together with what's happening in the present. Her storytelling shows quite clearly that she planned this entire trilogy out right from the beginning. Little details from the first two books resurface to prove their significance here. I can't quit without mentioning her amazing writing talent, of course. In this book even more than in the first two, she shows a unique (among fantasy authors at least) gift for picking the right word at the right time. Despite the vastly changing scenery, she provides moving and convincing descriptions for every location. Her dialogue is very carefully laid out, and she brings all of the characters to life with believable emotions and reactions to events.
Rating: 
Summary: Worst Ending Ever
Review: The first book of the trilogy is very good with characters that are well developed and scenery that is well described leaving a person with a scense of being part of the story. The second book of the trilogy starts the decline and is not as enthralling as the first. As for the third book of the trilogy, the first half was slow and the last half was awful. I almost stopped reading during the last fifty pages, but I trudged on. I have Never read an ending as truly gut wrenching as the end of this trilogy. Much of it didn't even flow with the story.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not as good
Review: This is a very well-written, emotionally complex book. It really does [draw] you in, and I think the character development is beautifully done. However, I must admit that I enjoyed the first two books better. I really liked reading about all the court intrigue around Buckkeep and assasinations and such, so when "Assassin's Quest" took a more mythical turn with all the dragons, I was caught a bit off guard. That said, it is still a great book.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating despite a frustrating ending !
Review: I spent a most enjoyable week reading the Farseer Trilogy. The ending however has much to be desired. Surely Fitz deserves a much better ending after all his sacrifices and struggles. And there are loose ends which I find irritating. The only reason I am ignoring the frustrating ending and still rate the trilogy 5 stars is because I hope that Hobb will redeem herself with the follow-up trilogy, "The Tawny Man". Except for the ending, which is the spoiler, the Farseer Trilogy is a beautifully written and spell binding series. Hobb is a luminous and gifted writer. Thus it is a very rewarding experience to read The Farseer Trilogy from the first person perspective. It is easy to feel deeply for Fitz, be captivated by his colourful adventures and be sadden by his struggles through his young and painful life. As I hate to be left "hanging" in any series, I will start the Tawny Man after the whole trilogy is published. I do hope "The Tawny Man" will not end in a sour note for Fitz.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After the first two great installments in the Farseer Trilogy, Hobb bungles the closing piece. Read some George R.R. Martin or Steven Erikson and stay away from this drivel.
Rating: 
Summary: Well developed but prepare for an anticlimax
Review: The characters of Nighteyes and Fitzchivalry continue to develop realistically throughout the book and the introduction of new characters is expertly done. Throughout, the character of the fool remains both enigmatic and charismatic and is masterfully worked. The plot sustains itself well and makes it a 2am finish kind of story - unfortunately when one has finished the book after reading all day and all night the end is confusing, hurried and depressing. Throughout the series readers share Fitzchivalry's desires, angers and loyalties and wish to see his ambitions fulfilled. However the readers' desires go as unrequited as the main character's and explanations as to why this happens strike me as rather unsatisfying. Basically it seems all the characters I liked disappeared, became characters I didn't like or died! I hope the Tawny Man follow up series helps curb my sense of disappointment...
Rating:
Summary: Poor Fitz
Review: Poor Fitz. Of any character of any fantasy novel I've read, I've never sympathized with anyone more than FitzChivalry. He wants so desperately to love and be loved, but due to traumatic events in his youth, he can never trust anyone completely. In both the Farseer and the Tawny Man series, he strives to find a way out of the vicious intrigues that make up court life in Buckeep. Ironically, however, the same courtiers who have used and manipulated him are the closest he has to family, to acceptance. It seems to Fitz that the only way he can be valued at all is as an assassin, yet every time he kills for his king he feels slightly less honorable, less worthy of love. Because of his deeply rooted moral standards, he manages to keep going. But he can never seem to find happiness.
Rarely in Science Fiction or Fantasy can one find a character this well drawn. Rather than taking the "bad guys attack, good guys get together, kill bad guys" path often taken in the genre, Robin Hobb focuses on internal conflicts, letting Fitz tell his own story through his own unique voice, letting us see through his eyes. This technique does not allow for the expansiveness of other SciFi/Fantasy novels, and Fitz's narrative occasionally gets stuck in the mundane. Overall, though, Hobb manages to maintain the momentum and create heart-stopping drama that always leaves you wanting more. You find yourself thinking about Fitz's story even after you put the book down. You know that the "good guys" will win, but, you cannot help wondering, will Fitz?
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Finale
Review: There's lots of great reviews here, so I'll be brief. This is one of my favorite Fantasy books. Read this whole series and ejoy! It is quite a bit different from other books in this genre (Goodkind, Jordan, et. al.)
Rating:
Summary: Highly Mediocre
Review: Hobb is at best a mediocre writer, and it really shows in this book. The language she uses is clipped and frequently jumps out at the reader as somewhat akward or out of place and in that respect takes away from the story. The one thing I will say that she does very well is develop the world in which the book takes place. It is fascinating and clearly it has a lot of potential for future stories. I did read the first couple books in this series and enjoyed them, because the author for all her faults does frequently come up with a good plot and interesting storylines, but the third book brought the previous storylines to an unsatisfactory conclusion. One of the joys of the first 2 novels was wondering how all the issues that were raised would be resolved. However at the end of this book it becomes clear that the main character's life was hollow and unrewarding, that he was used and used up, and that he will never resolve any of his character issues except perhaps for resignation to his fate. Thus the novel left me with a bad taste in my mouth, and really failed to live up to the modest expectations I set for this work of a rather pedestrian author.
Rating:
Summary: After a long, LONG time, I finally have a favourite author
Review: I wrote a review of this series right after I read it, and, I must admit, I did find the ending to be very... REAL. No happy-go-lucky, it's-all-perfect-and-we'll-never-have-any-more-problems type ending that really rubs wrong because of its fakeness. OK, sometimes that kind of ending does fit in, but not in this story; no matter how much we love Fitz and wish the best for him, Hobb writes his story too realistically for us to truly expect anything like that.
However, after reading a few reviews, I found that many people were complaining that the ending didn't seem right, that too many questions were left unanswered.
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