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Erik's Reviews > Royal Assassin
Royal Assassin (Farseer Trilogy, #2)
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Didn't finish this one.
In my original review of book one, I had three main criticisms: inorganic romance that felt forced and undeveloped, too much interiority that led to glacial pacing, and a corrupt and ineffectual monarchy that led to Fitz being best understood as a gestapo-in-grooming.
But I pushed on to this one until I encountered all three issues back-to-back-to-back. And that was all she wrote.
This is one of those books that simply fails for people who strongly skew non-conformist. It really only works if you buy into the sympathetic perspective the author pushes for Fitz. But I'm a non-conformist, and I don't. It's not enough to claim there's a romance. It's not enough to claim Fitz is largely virtuous. I need it shown and proven. I need to be able, with my own cognizance, to decide that Fitz is virtuous. But he isn't. He's a spineless lapdog of a corrupt monarchy.
In my original review of book one, I had three main criticisms: inorganic romance that felt forced and undeveloped, too much interiority that led to glacial pacing, and a corrupt and ineffectual monarchy that led to Fitz being best understood as a gestapo-in-grooming.
But I pushed on to this one until I encountered all three issues back-to-back-to-back. And that was all she wrote.
This is one of those books that simply fails for people who strongly skew non-conformist. It really only works if you buy into the sympathetic perspective the author pushes for Fitz. But I'm a non-conformist, and I don't. It's not enough to claim there's a romance. It's not enough to claim Fitz is largely virtuous. I need it shown and proven. I need to be able, with my own cognizance, to decide that Fitz is virtuous. But he isn't. He's a spineless lapdog of a corrupt monarchy.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
July 29, 2021
– Shelved
July 29, 2021
– Shelved as:
bottom-shelf
July 29, 2021
– Shelved as:
scififantasy
July 29, 2021
–
Finished Reading
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Chels
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rated it 1 star
May 23, 2022 04:31AM
What's funny is an assassin is by definition not virtuous. Being a paid serial killer and all.
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Don't think I'd call a governmental assassin a paid serial killer, though. Kinda like a soldier isn't a murderer.But there's a big moral difference between a Russian soldier and a Ukrainian soldier. Likewise, I found it a problem that Fitz' assassinations seem largely motivated by simply maintaining the power of the current monarchy. Which is corrupt and ineffective.
I mean... Yeah. He is. As are all monarchies unjust and corrupt as arbitrary systems of power. I don't take that as a slight against the book, though I do feel the tone leans a bit too into the crown more often than I'd have liked. The pacing is quite egregious, bit I felt the confessional, day-to-day nature of it added to the intrigue and suspense in a way that made the book hard to put down for me.
I enjoyed the romance aspects of the book though and felt them earnest.
Glad you were able to enjoy it!
