Cbr18bingo Success because with this review I have achieved a bingo blackout and for the first time, I have done so without using the “free” space!
Book 2 of The Fitz and The Fool Trilogy is 700+ pages of action and heartache. I know there are a few Cannonballers out there who love Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series as much as I do, and I am going to try my best to review Fool’s Quest without spoiling the plot. As ever, there are wild twists, turns, and revelations.
The story opens with the traumatic reunion of Fitz and the Fool. It has been decades since they saw one another, and Fool has changed almost beyond recognition. We and Fitz eventually learn the trauma and torture he has endured at the hands of the community that raised him, the Servants of Clerres. This trilogy leans in on the whole “White Prophet” storyline. We have known since the first trilogy that the Fool is a White Prophet. These people appear “once in a generation” and have the ability to foresee the future, or rather all possible futures. White Prophets are meant to find their “catalyst,” the person who acts as a changer in the world. When the White Prophet and catalyst work together, they can nudge the world in a new direction, hopefully for the better, but that really depends on the kind of people they are themselves. The Fool is/was a White Prophet who recognized Fitz as his catalyst when he was just a boy at Buckkeep Castle. Fitz and the Fool have endured trauma and hardship together, and both feel some guilt about how they treat the other. Both feel as if they have not been a good friend but these two share a friendship that is beyond anything one can imagine. They are bonded in a way that is beyond normal friendship, and that is due to choices they each made in The Tawny Man trilogy. They have changed the world in a way that has angered the “rulers” of the land of the White Prophets, called Clerres. These people, who live on a remote island where they try to raise as many White Prophets as possible in a truly sick system, have decided that the Fool has fathered a son, another Prophet who is going to be very powerful, and their goal is to find that child and make him their own. The Fool lives in terror of being abducted by the Servants of Clerres, and he needs Fitz not just to protect him but to help him destroy the Servants once and for all.
Fitz, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to raise his little daughter Bee at his Withywoods estate. Bee is a strange child, very pale and quiet, once thought to be “simple” or slow witted, but in fact she possesses some interesting abilities and has unusual dreams. For Fitz, raising Bee right is almost an atonement for past mistakes. One thing we know about Fitz is that he is prone to depression and feels that he only ever lets down the people who count on him. With Bee, he intends to make things right, but of course, fate intervenes. Trigger warning: there are some brutally violent scenes in this novel involving rape, animal cruelty, and murder.
There are a couple of plot points in this volume that I found both interesting and worthy of note. One would be the fate of bastards in this world that Hobb has created. It has been evident from book one of the entire series that being a royal bastard is dangerous to your health — see Fitz, THE royal bastard. Plenty of people wanted him dead from the moment he arrived at Buckkeep as a child. He was never completely brought into the Farseer family, but the King, his grandfather, saw that he could be a useful tool as an assassin. Hence Fitz’s training by master assassin Chade, the bastard brother of King Shrewd. Chade lived in the shadows for most of his life, but that changed once Dutiful became king and Chade was brought in as his advisor. In Fool’s Quest, more bastards are revealed and it looks like some big changes are on the horizon for these folks.
The other plot point has to do with the magic known as the Skill and what is known as the Skill stream. The Farseers are known for possessing this magical ability known as the Skill. It allows them to communicate telepathically and even influence the thoughts and dreams of others. It is a powerful magic that one must learn to control and use. It is possible, and quite dangerous, for those who have the Skill to mentally enter what is called the “skill stream,” a state of consciousness where they are connected to everything in the universe. It produces a kind of euphoria and if not controlled, the skill user who slips into the stream might never emerge again; s/he will turn into a drooling idiot in the physical world while they are mentally soaring. Fitz, in his darker moments, considers surrendering to the skill stream. Related to the skill stream are the stone portals that skill users can use to teleport from one location to another. The stone pillars have existed seemingly forever, but their uses — once common knowledge amongst skill users —are still being figured out by the skill users at Buckkeep. We know from past volumes that using the portals too often can lead to mental and physical damage, and there is also the risk of entering a portal and never emerging from it.
Fool’s Quest focuses on this responsible use of the Skill. Fitz has powerful Skill abilities but he has to be reminded frequently to control it. Given the traumatic events that he must face in this book, his ability is put to the test while he also must make a choice about who he wants/needs to be — for his child, his King, for the people who know and love him. I am looking forward to reading the final volume, even though I suspect there will be a lot of sadness. Hobb is not shy about killing off characters. In Fool’s Quest, the dragons and Kelsingra make an appearance, and I am hoping that means we might also see the Liveships return in book three. I need Fitz and Paragon to meet. If you know, you know!
