Assassin's Apprentice
core novel 1995 Realm of the Elderlings
Record
| First published | 1995 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.20 (445,469 ratings, collected 2026-09-11) |
| Page count | 435 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780553573398 |
Synopsis
FitzChivalry, the illegitimate son of King-in-Waiting Chivalry Farseer, is brought to Buckkeep Castle at age six and raised as a stable boy under the gruff horsemaster Burrich after his existence forces his father to abdicate. Despite his low status, Fitz is taken under the wing of the aging King Shrewd, who has him secretly trained in combat and apprenticed to the royal assassin Chade to be used as a hidden tool of the throne. As he grows, Fitz must help defend the Six Duchies against the raids of the mysterious Red-Ship Raiders while navigating the ambitions of his uncle, Prince Regal, who sees the bastard boy as both an embarrassment and a threat to his own claim on the succession.
Where it sits
- Universe: Realm of the Elderlings
- Series: Farseer Trilogy core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Robin Hobb
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series Farseer Trilogy: position 1 of 3: next Royal Assassin (1996)
Sources
← Realm of the Elderlings dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.