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This is the third book in a trilogy, which is also the culmination of two previous related trilogies. If you haven't read any of those yet, this review will mean little or nothing to you.
I am relieved to report that unlike the previous two trilogies, FOOL'S FATE does not land with a hideous splat. It's a solid conclusion to the entire nine-book epic, wrapping up a number of loose ends in logical and satisfying ways and not using too many obnoxious retcons. It's a long book but a quick read, and a page-turning one.
Okay, now that I've said what I liked about it, let me get into the problems. Of which there are many, most of them spoilerific.
The book is too long. Approximately fifty pages are devoted to one character being sea-sick. A major plot point does turn upon this, but the seasickness itself does not deserve the extreme attention devoted to it. Similarly, the ending goes on and on and on. Much like LORD OF THE RINGS. I think it was a mistake there, and I think it's a mistake here, compounded by there being nothing with the drama of "The Scouring of the Shire" or the pathos of "The Grey Havens."
Compared with the sudden turns of ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE, the plot of FOOL'S FATE is extremely predictable. I'll get into that more below.
Also, I spoil the middle of Lois McMaster Bujold's KOMARR.
Miscellaneous spoilers and irritations:
The best thing I can say about Web is that he's not as annoying as Kettle. But he still bugged me. The guy was always right, about everything, and exuded a smarmy New Age self-righteousness. I wanted to throw him overboard.
The Fool's prophecies always come true. So when he says he'll die, we know he'll die. But when he dies offstage, we know he can't really be dead, because he's too important a character not to get a moving death scene. Then when he does turn up really dead, we know he'll be resurrected, for the same reason. I could see exactly where this was going, and it robbed the scene of much of its pathos.
Similarly, we know Tintaglia is out there, so it's inevitable that Icefire will be dug up and she'll fly in before he's killed so they can mate and dragons will be restored to the world. It's a great scene, but again, I saw it coming miles away.
And once it became clear that Fitz was going to end up with Molly rather than the Fool, it was inevitable that Burrich would die. This ties into the main problem I had with the end. It was all too easy. None of the characters had to make truly difficult choices, except for the Fool, and he'd already made up his mind to die before the book even started. Only Burrich died permanently, of the major characters, and he was already at the end of good long life and needed to get out of Fitz's way. (Even the Forged people got better.)
The only time an author has set up a situation where characters are in love but one of them is married and then resolved it with the convenient death of a spouse where it hasn't seemed like a huge cop-out is Bujold's KOMARR, because in that case Ekaterin has already left him, so she does get to make the hard decision and face the horrible scene it causes, and then his death causes as many obstacles as it solves. Not so in FOOL'S FATE.
The entire ending seemed way too happy and traditionally bourgeoise. Everyone settles down into placid heterosexual contentment. I would have rather had Fitz meet Molly with the intention of declaring his love which lasted lo, all these years, and having both of them realize that they're now totally different people with nothing in common, and go their separate ways.
I would have been happier if Fitz had looked around, seen that the Farseers were doing just fine without him and had for years, and then gone off with the Fool to find a fate that was not foreseen.
I am relieved to report that unlike the previous two trilogies, FOOL'S FATE does not land with a hideous splat. It's a solid conclusion to the entire nine-book epic, wrapping up a number of loose ends in logical and satisfying ways and not using too many obnoxious retcons. It's a long book but a quick read, and a page-turning one.
Okay, now that I've said what I liked about it, let me get into the problems. Of which there are many, most of them spoilerific.
The book is too long. Approximately fifty pages are devoted to one character being sea-sick. A major plot point does turn upon this, but the seasickness itself does not deserve the extreme attention devoted to it. Similarly, the ending goes on and on and on. Much like LORD OF THE RINGS. I think it was a mistake there, and I think it's a mistake here, compounded by there being nothing with the drama of "The Scouring of the Shire" or the pathos of "The Grey Havens."
Compared with the sudden turns of ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE, the plot of FOOL'S FATE is extremely predictable. I'll get into that more below.
Also, I spoil the middle of Lois McMaster Bujold's KOMARR.
Miscellaneous spoilers and irritations:
The best thing I can say about Web is that he's not as annoying as Kettle. But he still bugged me. The guy was always right, about everything, and exuded a smarmy New Age self-righteousness. I wanted to throw him overboard.
The Fool's prophecies always come true. So when he says he'll die, we know he'll die. But when he dies offstage, we know he can't really be dead, because he's too important a character not to get a moving death scene. Then when he does turn up really dead, we know he'll be resurrected, for the same reason. I could see exactly where this was going, and it robbed the scene of much of its pathos.
Similarly, we know Tintaglia is out there, so it's inevitable that Icefire will be dug up and she'll fly in before he's killed so they can mate and dragons will be restored to the world. It's a great scene, but again, I saw it coming miles away.
And once it became clear that Fitz was going to end up with Molly rather than the Fool, it was inevitable that Burrich would die. This ties into the main problem I had with the end. It was all too easy. None of the characters had to make truly difficult choices, except for the Fool, and he'd already made up his mind to die before the book even started. Only Burrich died permanently, of the major characters, and he was already at the end of good long life and needed to get out of Fitz's way. (Even the Forged people got better.)
The only time an author has set up a situation where characters are in love but one of them is married and then resolved it with the convenient death of a spouse where it hasn't seemed like a huge cop-out is Bujold's KOMARR, because in that case Ekaterin has already left him, so she does get to make the hard decision and face the horrible scene it causes, and then his death causes as many obstacles as it solves. Not so in FOOL'S FATE.
The entire ending seemed way too happy and traditionally bourgeoise. Everyone settles down into placid heterosexual contentment. I would have rather had Fitz meet Molly with the intention of declaring his love which lasted lo, all these years, and having both of them realize that they're now totally different people with nothing in common, and go their separate ways.
I would have been happier if Fitz had looked around, seen that the Farseers were doing just fine without him and had for years, and then gone off with the Fool to find a fate that was not foreseen.