Fool's Quest (Fitz and the Fool #2) - Robin Hobb

⭐ 7.5/10

Look at this embarrassing cover art.  How am I supposed to champion these books when they look like this?

This is the second book in the final trilogy of The Realm of the Elderlings. I thought last book was the worst of all of them, and this is a close second, which is painful. I love this world, and I love a lot of things about these 2 books, but they are both so long!  They could have easily been combined.  We spend so much time in the thoughts of the main character, who I have basically 8 books of first person experience with. The ending of the last book was explosive and unexpected and set the stage well for this one, but then this book twiddles its thumbs for 400 pages before embarking on the mission.  Crazy stuff, considering how brisk the book is once our protagonist is out doing stuff.  But until then its managing emotions, caring for all the sick old people in his life that we have known forever, and deciding whether or not to break the rules.  Spoiler alert, he always breaks the rules.

There were a couple standout moments that are huge in the context of the whole series, and again, the last 100 pages finally united the two major storylines that these trilogies follow. It was an exciting moment, seeing these massive characters sharing words, almost like in Thrones when Daenerys and Jon meet for the first time.  Completely different characters than that story, but it was impactful and felt like a long time coming.

There is a very clear goal heading into the final book, and I really hope it can just get right to it.  I will be sad to leave this world, and I think this series will go down as one of my favourites. Praying it can leave me with a triumphant entry, and not the drawn out sad whimpers of these last 2.  I feel bad saying that, since both books have a lot of merit and moments I will remember, we are just really far from the first 2 trilogies, which I would put up there with an fantasy.