Fool's Errand (Tawny Man #1)

by Robin Hobb

Book Overview

"Hobb's fans won't be disappointed with this latest installment. Fool's Errand lives up to the legacy of the Farseer trilogy."--Monroe News-Star Fitz and the Fool are reunited in the first book in the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553582445
• Release Date: November 2002
• Publisher: Spectra
• Length: 672 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.8" x 1.1" x 4.1"

Customer Reviews

Beyond fantasy

Robin Hobb is a developing writer in the best sense of the word. In the original Farseer trilogy she gave us a story that was beautifully crafted and pushed the envelope on realism within fantasy. Liveship Traders was perhaps an experiment in the use of multiple viewpoints, with a dull and ponderous outcome to my mind. But in writing it, Hobb's skill has improved in bounds, to culminate finally in the utter perfection that is "Fool's Errand." 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.

A Hobb book with an ending!

Robin Hobb (Megan Lindholm) is one of my favorite authors. I love reading the details in Hobb's works, but have gotten frustrated at some endings, or lack thereof. Previous mid-trilogy books were often cliffhangers, obliging me to wait 18 months for what was the next day in the story. While I am eager to read the next book, apparently done (Hobb is already at work on the third), I am not left wondering if Fitz will live to see tomorrow. The groundwork has been laid for possible threads of future conflict, but the focal plot/action point of this volume, a search and rescue mission, has been concluded. A year could pass between books without [disrupting]the timeline.We revisit Fitz, the youthful protagonist of the Farseer series, as a 30-something man, now a father-figure and mentor himself. He watches the younger generation make all the same mistakes he made, but without the passionate regret of a 20 year old looking back on his teens. He plays many of the roles he so resented in his youth, and appreciates that the world is shades of gray, not the black and white view of his charges. Avid Hobb fans will quickly pick up that this new trilogy continues both previous trilogies, although the references continue to be oblique and could still just be coincidence. Familiarity with the Liveship series is unnecessary to enjoying this volume of the new trilogy, although it does add a richness to the details of the story.

two thumbs up

Okay, here's the dish. This is one GOOD book.I started out reading Robin Hobb's second trilogy, The live ship traders. After being thoroughly blown away, I read the Farseer trilogy. I found it to be completely unlike anything else I had ever read. She creates a world that isn't based on the great balance for good and evil, with the hero having no faults what so ever (He's an assasin for lord sake). Instead she brings upon a world where people are human. They make human mistakes and they feel human pains. I've cried far too many times reading these books yet I keep coming back for more with doubled enthusiasm. The Tawny man opened a door I didn't think could be opened at this point. One can see Robin Hobb has only gained knowledge and expirience after writting the Farseer and Liveship trilogies. That knowledge is expressed through this book. It has all of the pain, love, sense of duty and realism as the original Fitz books, but it adds a greater sense of mystery and intrigue that we see with the liveship traders. All in all this is an awesome book that keeps you itching for more. It's beautifully written keeping all of it's secrets till the end, and some have still yet to be revealed. Bottom line: I can't wait for the next book.I recomend this book for just about anyone, serious fantasy readers, and anyone else who wants to envelop themselves in another world for a time.

Robin has done it again: fitz is not dead

I read the description for this book before it came out, and I couldn't think of any other story involving fitz or nighteyes that could eclipse their last adventures in the Farseer trilogy. 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.

Fitz returns.

Robin Hobb returns to the first person in this novel, continuing the compelling narrative of FitzChivalry, farseer of the Six Duchies, whose coming of age was told in the Assasins Apprentice series. This book is extraordinary. It has been years since I read the the Assassin's Apprentice yet the intimate first person account of Fitz's journey plunged me back into the Six Duchies like I had never left. I was eager for more after recently finishing the Liveship Traders Series and could not have been more pleased with this personal story. This is a heart engrossing tale and a wonderfull display of character writing. Robin Hobb's writing is beautiful but no matter the mood of the reader is never laboured. Any retelling is not awkward but suits the introspection of the main character. I think I have a weakness for first person but I yearn for the next in this series and hope not to lose Fitz's narrative on the people I love in the Six Duchies. Robin Hobb keeps the often strampled realm of fantasy blooming for me. If you enjoy credibility in your fantasy don't miss this book.