Farseer Fannishness
Having finished Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy last night and not having the next trilogy to go on with, I'm on the internet looking at whatever Fitz/Fool stuff I can find. (I'm spoiled for what happens in The Tawny Man trilogy, but that's OK.) There's hardly any fanfiction, since the author is vehemently against it, but I've found some good discussions and some interesting vids and artwork. I like this picture especially, though the clothes might be a bit too dressy! I've had a tedious couple of days due to a handover with my replacement at Old Job yesterday and an alpaca association meeting today, and am having so much fun right now in comparison that I just ran up and down my hallway giggling to myself and thinking, "This is the life!"
Internet, I love you so, that I can be sitting here alone in this isolated corner of the world and find the exact discussion I want to be having with a few clicks of the mouse.
A few thought on Assassin's Quest:
I wish there was some discussion in the book about the apparently almost total heterosexuality of the Six Duchies universe, particularly when the author goes to a lot of trouble to keep the Fool's gender/sexuality a bit ambiguous. When Starling says to Fitz, "The Fool is a woman, and she is in love with you," I wondered why she hadn't considered the even more interesting possibility that the Fool was in fact a man (or something else again) and in love with Fitz. She's a minstrel, so surely she's about as worldly-wise as can be and would have come across this before? I find her very limited view of the possibilities more confusing than Fitz's, given her profession. The Fool says that Starling has decided he's a woman to salvage her own pride that he doesn't want her, but that doesn't seem a good enough explanation.
Random things I really liked:
* The Fitz-Fool reunion in the Fool's hut in Jhaampe, especially the Fool's "When I recall how beautiful you were" and "Were I myself, I would never have spoken such words aloud" and "I am glad, glad that you are alive. ... If there must be another my fate is twined around, I am glad it is you." (p. 387)
* "I love you, and all that is a part of you" versus "I'll grudgingly admit I love you, but only as a man loves a male friend" (p. 574)
* Meeting the Old Blood couple and their bond animals (p. 121)
* Verity taking Fitz's anger and putting it into the dragon (p. 699)
* Fitz seeking to regain the Fool with Skill: "Oh, he was passing strange, and surpassing strange. He darted and eluded me, like a bright gold carp in a weedy pool, like the motes that dance before one's eyes after being dazzled by the sun. As well to clutch at the moon's reflection in a still midnight pond as to seek a grip on that bright mind. I knew his beauty and his power in the briefest flashes of insight. In a moment I understood and marveled at all that he was, and in the next I had forgotten that understanding." (p. 599)
* "For an instant I knew him in his entirety, complete and magical, and then he was pulling apart from me, laughing, a bubble inside me, separate and unknowable, yet joined to me." (p. 663)
* The Fool's and Regal's different impressions of Nighteyes, when viewed through a Skill-bond: "This is Nighteyes? This mighty warrior, this great heart?" (p. 663) versus "It was unclean and disgusting, a dirty doggy thing..." (p. 746)
* "He ... shocked me when he kissed my mouth." (p. 740) You'd had plenty of warning by then, Fitz!
The only characters I didn't feel were very well drawn were Regal and Molly, both of whom seemed one-dimensional. Regal's actions seemed way out of proportion with what we learned of his childhood jealousy, but I suppose there have been real-life kings who have been as bad. I also skipped over a lot of the non-dialogue parts, but that's probably a flaw with my reading rather than the writing.
Anybody else like/dislike the series? (I'm fine with squee harshing.)
Internet, I love you so, that I can be sitting here alone in this isolated corner of the world and find the exact discussion I want to be having with a few clicks of the mouse.
A few thought on Assassin's Quest:
I wish there was some discussion in the book about the apparently almost total heterosexuality of the Six Duchies universe, particularly when the author goes to a lot of trouble to keep the Fool's gender/sexuality a bit ambiguous. When Starling says to Fitz, "The Fool is a woman, and she is in love with you," I wondered why she hadn't considered the even more interesting possibility that the Fool was in fact a man (or something else again) and in love with Fitz. She's a minstrel, so surely she's about as worldly-wise as can be and would have come across this before? I find her very limited view of the possibilities more confusing than Fitz's, given her profession. The Fool says that Starling has decided he's a woman to salvage her own pride that he doesn't want her, but that doesn't seem a good enough explanation.
Random things I really liked:
* The Fitz-Fool reunion in the Fool's hut in Jhaampe, especially the Fool's "When I recall how beautiful you were" and "Were I myself, I would never have spoken such words aloud" and "I am glad, glad that you are alive. ... If there must be another my fate is twined around, I am glad it is you." (p. 387)
* "I love you, and all that is a part of you" versus "I'll grudgingly admit I love you, but only as a man loves a male friend" (p. 574)
* Meeting the Old Blood couple and their bond animals (p. 121)
* Verity taking Fitz's anger and putting it into the dragon (p. 699)
* Fitz seeking to regain the Fool with Skill: "Oh, he was passing strange, and surpassing strange. He darted and eluded me, like a bright gold carp in a weedy pool, like the motes that dance before one's eyes after being dazzled by the sun. As well to clutch at the moon's reflection in a still midnight pond as to seek a grip on that bright mind. I knew his beauty and his power in the briefest flashes of insight. In a moment I understood and marveled at all that he was, and in the next I had forgotten that understanding." (p. 599)
* "For an instant I knew him in his entirety, complete and magical, and then he was pulling apart from me, laughing, a bubble inside me, separate and unknowable, yet joined to me." (p. 663)
* The Fool's and Regal's different impressions of Nighteyes, when viewed through a Skill-bond: "This is Nighteyes? This mighty warrior, this great heart?" (p. 663) versus "It was unclean and disgusting, a dirty doggy thing..." (p. 746)
* "He ... shocked me when he kissed my mouth." (p. 740) You'd had plenty of warning by then, Fitz!
The only characters I didn't feel were very well drawn were Regal and Molly, both of whom seemed one-dimensional. Regal's actions seemed way out of proportion with what we learned of his childhood jealousy, but I suppose there have been real-life kings who have been as bad. I also skipped over a lot of the non-dialogue parts, but that's probably a flaw with my reading rather than the writing.
Anybody else like/dislike the series? (I'm fine with squee harshing.)