The Tawny Man Trilogy

Reactions from the Realm: Golden Fool, Chapters 11-15

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Ask and Ye Shall Receive

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 15 of Golden Fool. References to the events of Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders.***

After a book and a half of anticipation, the moment is finally here: the Bingtowners have arrived at Buckkeep. Admittedly, the envoy we received was a bit of the Liveship B-team. When I saw a veiled figure among the crew, I was positively frothing for a Reyn appearance. But hey, Selden is cool too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about what we got. Selden was being weird, we got major dragon talk, and Serilla was also there. I was absolutely thrilled with the whole event.

This section of chapters was loaded, and there is a lot to cover. One of my favorite subtle plotlines as we get deeper into Tawny Man is Fitz developing a sense of himself as a man at the Buckkeep court. We spent two-thirds of the Farseer Trilogy watching Fitz navigate his boyhood on the fringes of court life. His transition to manhood mostly happens away from the royal seat, but now he’s back- redefining his role and relationship to the Farseer crown through the lens of adulthood. It’s been fascinating to watch him reconcile the courtly life he knew as a boy while trying to carve out his place as a man.

Unfortunately for Fitz, adult life at Buckkeep means fighting with practically everyone…

Buckkeep Fight Night

The keep currently has strong “guests who have overstayed their welcome” energy. Add to that the newly arrived Bingtown contingent, and the castle is a veritable pressure cooker.

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Reactions from the Realm: Golden Fool, Chapters 6-10

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Slow Burn

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 10 of Golden Fool.***

I went pretty hard into Fitz’s sexcapades in my last post. But honestly, the real foreplay is everything happening in Golden Fool right now, leading up to whatever shoe is about to drop at Buckkeep.

In this section of chapters, Fitz is settling into this new version of life in Buckkeep. I wouldn’t say things are going particularly smoothly – the teenagers are being very teenager-y – but nothing major is happening yet. Teenage dramatics aside, it feels like we are on the brink of something.

For me, there are two (presumably) looming events I’ve been eagerly anticipating:

  1. A Nettle/Molly/Burrich confrontation
    I noted in my previous post that Nettle nears- she’s making contact in Fitz’s dreams, and Chade (via Thick’s raw skilling) is aware of her and her Skill ability. How long can Fitz remain hidden from those in his past life?

    We also had a near miss with Lady Patience earlier in this book. I feel we are due for some kind of collision soon. (Hell, I’d take Hands recognizing him at this point. Throw me a bone here!)

  2. The Bingtown Brigade appearing
    I am ready for the crossover event. To be up front, I did see the next chapter title: ‘Tidings from Bingtown.‘ So predicting a series collision doesn’t exactly make me Nostradamus. But I have been anticipating the stories to overlap in Tawny Man, and so far, it’s been a very Fitzian tale (no complaints!). We are around the trilogy’s midpoint, so surely the merge can’t be too far off.

Robin certainly has me on tenterhooks waiting for either event. 

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Reactions from the Realm: Golden Fool, Chapters 1-6

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Hurt So Good

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 6 of Golden Fool. References to the events of The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders. Also, warning: this post contains adult content.***

Ahoy Hobb Heads! I’m home. My time away to heal from the pain of Fool’s Errand and stretch my baby blogger wings was fun, but sinking back into the comfort of Golden Fool feels so right. And by “so right,” I of course mean Robin immediately rips open my barely-healed heart and plunges me straight back into despair and suffering. Oh, you thought we were going to leave the pain of losing Nighteyes back in Fool’s Errand? Think again.

When I started the Tawny Man Trilogy after our Robin Hobb-imposed sojourn to the Cursed Shores, I remarked that in picking Fitz’s storyline back up, we get the full Fitz experience. Likewise, in returning from my brief, self-imposed exile in Caten, here at the start of Golden Fool we surely get Fitz at his Fitziest. Which also happens to be what I love the most in the world.

He’s pouting, being the saddest of bois, getting used and abused by his loved ones, finding himself outnumbered in precarious situations, absolutely bumbling his way through romantic interactions, and – perhaps my favorite of all – leaving cryptic passive-aggressive notes in the dust on tables. Seriously, “I was here; you were not,” belongs in the Petulance Hall of Fame. I will love Fitz until the day I die. All we need is for Dutiful to leave Fitz a post-it reply:

Men stay the same, no matter the realm.

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Reactions from the Realm: Fool’s Errand, Chapters 26-Epilogue

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Screaming. Crying. Throwing up.

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through the end of Fool’s Errand . References to the events of Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders***

I am going to need someone to explain to me how Robin Hobb spent an entire book preparing us for what was coming, only for me to be completely blindsided by Nighteyes’ death. A mere two posts ago, I was over here preaching “Constant Vigilance,” reminding myself that we were back in the Six Duchies, which means certain disaster and heartbreak. And yet, I still managed to let my guard down. After the intensity of the Piebald battle, I let myself be lulled into a moment of comfort, only to have the emotional rug viciously pulled out from under me.

Honestly, I am not ok.

Reading Nighteyes’ death felt like watching a slow-motion horror film. It began so beautifully- wolf and man reunited, curled together, slipping into the shared dreamspace. As the hunting dream progressed, there was a slow, dawning realization of what was occurring. At first, it was just an inkling that something was off. By the time we get to Fitz waking up and confirming that these final dream moments were, in fact, Nighteyes saying goodbye, I felt like I wanted to start moving backward and undo what I had just read. No, no, no… But it was too late.

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Reactions from the Realm: Fool’s Errand, Chapters 20-25

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World’s Colliding!

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 25 of Fool’s Errand . References to the events of Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders***

Whew! The plot is thickening and the action is actioning. The titular errand seems to be approaching its conclusion, and with a bit more excitement than my typical errands. (Although a trip to the grocery store with both of my children has its share of battles.)


I have to give it up- Robin Hobb’s masterful storytelling is on full display in these chapters. I found myself particularly appreciative of the minor scene with the Wit-bonded deer from earlier in the book. When Fitz is filling in the Fool (and us) on the details of his time with the Witted folk and his learning of the ways of the Old Blood, we get an interlude where he senses a wrongness in a deer. Rolf explains that the human bond-partner of the deer merged her consciousness into the animal rather than die. This is meant to illustrate for Fitz how Wit magic can be perverted, which lays important groundwork for us to quickly catch on to what’s going on with the Prince’s lady-cat seductress.

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Reactions from the Realm: Fool’s Errand, Chapters 16-20

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Badass Fitz Returns!

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 20 of Fool’s Errand . Heavy references to the events of Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders***

Fire up the Mystery Machine, things are getting pretty spooky in Galekeep! I am really loving the mystery vibes of Fool’s Errand. When it was revealed that we were in cat country, I should have expected things to get weird, and the atmosphere at Galekeep did not disappoint. Everyone is hiding something, Fitz is looking foine in his fancy clothes, and utter disaster lurks around every corner.

In my last post, I noted that it was great to have Fitz and Nighteyes reunite. What I failed to realize is that their time apart was actually a blessed mercy on us: giving us a break from the unrelenting slow march toward Nighteyes’ death. This is fucking brutal. I feel like I am in an emotional guillotine. The blade is going to drop and I am going to be destroyed. I know Nighteyes is prideful, but can we please fashion him a little saddle or something? Watching him push himself to the limit – all while recovering from a cat attack (did I say I liked cats before? Fuck cats!) – is a lot to handle. Fitz, who is very generous with his own life force, does a little more skill healing/life infusion, which Nighteyes flat-out forbids him from doing again.

I’m beginning to fear that the relative lack of emotional destruction in Liveship Traders compared to Farseer Trilogy lulled me into complacency. Time to get my head back in the game. We are in the Six Duchies now. Constant vigilance!!!!

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Reactions from the Realm: Fool’s Errand, Chapters 11-15

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Release the cats!

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 15 of Fool’s Errand. Heavy references to the events of The Farseer Trilogy and mentions of Liveship Traders***

After taking our time settling back in with Fitz and Friends – catching up on things we missed and reorienting ourselves to the slower pace of the Six Duchies – things seem to be taking shape in our story.

We’re back in Buckkeep, and everyone is back on their bullshit. The Fool and Chade concoct a ruse to bring Fitz back into the fold unnoticed, which naturally involves treating him like dogshit around the clock. Oh well- it’s the only way! They can’t risk him having even a single item of comfort in his hidden, windowless sleeping chamber, yet they’re somehow fine relying on an even-Clark-Kent-would-be-unimpressed level of physical disguise. Which is to say, there is no disguise. Just the trust that a servant’s outfit and a few half-hearted mannerisms (which Fitz consistently botches) will suffice. I suppose by now they assume that as long as Fitz is getting the raw end of the deal, things will work out.

The Plot Thickens

We’ve got a missing prince, and Detective Fitz is on the case! I thoroughly enjoyed watching him go full Sherlock Holmes. We get scenes straight out of Law and Order: Six Duchies:

Fitz: “Begin the night before he disappeared…”
“… and tell me all that you know.”

I didn’t quite realize the Venn diagram between assassin training and detective work was practically a circle, but I’m not going to question it.

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Reactions from the Realm: Fool’s Errand, Chapters 6-10

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You spin my head right round, right round

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 10 of Fool’s Errand . Heavy references to the events of Farseer Trilogy and mentions of Liveship Traders***

Friends. We are ten chapters in. Not a damned thing has happened. And I am riveted. I could hang out at The Fitz and Wolf BnB, shooting the shit with whoever wanders up the lane, indefinitely. I don’t know what sorcery Robin Hobb is working, but I am enjoying every minute of it so far. I am especially impressed by her ability to recap past events with the lightest of touches. We never feel like we are getting a clunky info-dump. The reminders of earlier events are delivered so naturally, it just feels like reminiscing.

For a moment, I was extremely concerned that the aforementioned (see previous post) Double Fooling was coming to fruition. When The Fool started talking about another self-proclaimed White Prophet – a “she” who preceded his path – I was quaking. Fortunately (I think?), it became clear that this false prophet lady was not, in fact, Amber, but rather the pale ghost-ship lady from way back in Farseer. I love the setup of a rival evil prophet and catalyst (add Kebal Rawbread to our insane names list), and I am excited to revisit this unsolved mystery. The whole forging business was super gnarly, so I am looking forward to reopening this case.

One of the things I’m loving about the start of Tawny Man is how clearly the connections between the Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders are emerging. At first, Liveship Traders feels like a completely separate story, divorced from the events up in the Six Duchies. Of course, there were little hints and mentions of our friends in the north that became more apparent and pronounced as the story unfolded. But now, the ties feel strong and deliberate. (Fitz even took a little “nothing-to-see-here-just-a-man-and-wolf” vacation to Bingtown while we were away!) The parallels between the Wit and the liveship/dragon-human bonds have been jumping out to me. And with a potential big bad on a ship emerging, so many great possibilities to incorporate our favorite southern seafarers into the mix. (Let it be known: if there is a future with Fitz sailing into a naval battle aboard ShipFitz, I will spontaneously combust.)

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Reactions from the Realm: Fool’s Errand, Chapters 1-5

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Merry Fitzmas!

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 5 of Fool’s Errand . Heavy references to the events of Farseer Trilogy and mentions of Liveship Traders***

We are so back, baby! Reuniting with Fitz and Nighteyes in the Six Duchies feels like slipping on a well-worn shoe. This is pack! I was downright giddy when I opened Fool’s Errand and was thrust back into the headspace of my main ManBoyWolf. Don’t get me wrong – I loved my diversion to the Cursed Shores – but Fitz remains my #1 boy. (We’ve been through a lot together!) If Liveship Traders was like going on vacation – new places, fresh faces, exciting excursions – then Fool’s Errand feels like coming home. Right away, we get the full Fitz experience: he’s lonely, he’s stubborn, everyone wants to fuck him, and he’s even sitting by the hearth at Chade’s feet. Ahhhh… we are in familiar territory, friends.

It shouldn’t have surprised me just how easy it was to sink back into Fitz’s world. By now, his inner monologue feels almost as recognizable as my own. We seemingly haven’t missed too much during our time apart: Fitz is now 35 going on 85, retired from the catalyst game, and living his best cottagecore life with Nighteyes and Hap. But alas, someone clued Sa in to Fitz enjoying a moment’s peace, which means it’s time to shake things up.

In these opening chapters, Fitz gets the Ebenezer Scrooge treatment with his very own “Ghosts of Fitzmas Past” showing up on his doorstep. Let’s break down the highlights:

Chade

Chade drops in unannounced to catch up and resurrect all of Fitz’s past traumas. We get a helpful update on the old Buckkeep gang, along with a totally reasonable ask: come train the children you were forced to abandon in the magic that all but destroyed you. At least he brought brandy!

He also nonchalantly drops emotional bombs. Hey Fitz- your bio daughter Nettle? She’s just like Burrich (cool!), more so even than the five (!) sons he shares with Molly, the woman you loved and were also (practically) forced to abandon. Chade was clearly sick the day they provided sensitivity training during bastard assassin school.

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