It's been 20 years. Twenty years spanning 15 novels following our friends, Fitz and the Fool, through the Six Duchies. ASSASSIN'S FATE is the final installment in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy and, quite likely, the very last time readers will join this duo on an adventure. Of course, there is always the possibility at some point that Robin Hobb could conjure up a worthwhile story and put pen to paper again within this realm, but it would have to be a seriously impressive story to make her return. After all, ASSASSIN'S FATE is a near-perfect --- if heartbreaking --- finale.

Fitz's daughter, Bee, has been kidnapped by agents of the White Prophet. Believing her to be dead, Fitz, the Fool and a small cadre of companions set out to exact revenge upon those who would bring her harm. The journey will be a brutal and dangerous one, and Fitz ultimately needs to call upon age-old friends whom readers will be thrilled to revisit --- Rain Wilders, Etta, Brashen and Amber, to name just a few.

"Robin Hobb deserves thanks for endless hours of entertainment, and has earned praise for delivering such stellar quality work right up until the trilogy's very end."

It is not a smooth journey as Fitz and his longtime friend, the Fool, find themselves at odds. Fitz is an emotionally broken man, believing his daughter dead, and no longer the youthful assassin of days gone by. Fool is a physically shattered man, blinded and tortured. With each step on their journey, the gulf between them seems to widen, making the chances of success ever more slight.

One of the great successes of ASSASSIN'S FATE is the exquisite way in which Hobb is able to take each mythic string from 20 years of writing and tie them all together in one of the most compelling and striking works of the past decade. It is a complex novel, and is teeming with emotional impact that will make longtime readers of the series choke up, if not shed literal tears at times. Recalling that Fitz was introduced to us as a young boy and seeing his culmination here as an older world-weary man is satisfying and bittersweet.

ASSASSIN'S FATE is much more than the trilogy’s finale, more than just a farewell to these two beloved characters. These pages are the fulfillment of all of the tales of the Realms of the Elderlings --- The Tawny Man, The Farseer, The Liveship Traders, The Rain Wild Chronicles. All are brought together perfectly here, though not always of a happy result. The skill Hobb displays, not just in her storytelling but in the enormous task of tying together decades worth of work in a manner to satisfy countless readers, is masterful. In fact, there is no better fantasy novel available on the shelves at this time in 2017. And trying to best it will be quite a challenge.

Robin Hobb deserves thanks for endless hours of entertainment, and has earned praise for delivering such stellar quality work right up until the trilogy's very end.