This is a great series, and well worth reading if you are in the mood for epic fantasy. Great character development and an engaging story.

After following these characters, specifically Fitz, for six books, I feel like the wrap-up at the end was a little dissapointing. I became seriously invested in the characters and I wanted more of a peek into the future, and more than the year she gave us. There was 15 years between the first and second trilogy, and I wanted a chapter at the end capturing another 15 years later… Oh well. ( )

Volume 3 in the Tawny Man trilogy, this continues where the second volume left off. After a slow buildup, during which Fitz remains at odds with the Fool and feels guilty about his scheming with Chade to leave the Fool behind - because he doesn't want the Fool's prediction to come true that if he goes on the quest to kill the dragon in the ice, he will suffer an awful death - Fitz embarks with Prince Dutiful's fleet. Again, this part of the story is slowly developed with emphasis on Thick's seasickness. Eventually they reach the island where the dragon is entombed in a glacier, and the ensuing conflict works itself out. The main characters persist in being annoyingly obtuse about what has clearly been going on since volume 2, bearing in mind the spying on the narcheska by Fitz where it was obvious that she and her uncle were acting under duress - the absence of certain family members and other anomalies when the travellers arrive at her settlement in this book makes it clear that a hostage situation is certainly going on. It is an annoying feature of both Farseer trilogies that characters whom we are told repeatedly are smart actually appear to be as thick as two short planks.

To avoid spoilers, I won't say any more about the plot. The tension was maintained well after the expedition reached the island. The story is a culmination not only of the whole Red Ship War plotline from the first trilogy, but also of the return of the dragons from the Liveship Trader trilogy. The Fool accepts that his sacrifice is necessary to bring about a future in which humans are forced to coexist with huge intelligent predators and will therefore not be the dominant force over the natural world that they are in the real world. All interesting ideas. But the development of Fitz from the arrested position he has remained in since sinking the emotions from his most painful memories into Girl on a Dragon in book 3 of the earlier trilogy, to a fully present individual who faces up to his responsibilities requires several plot contrivances I could not quite accept.

All right, perhaps he is a man who has a deep need for a stable home life with a wife and children, but after 16 years apart, it seems unlikely that his finally getting together with Molly can really work out. It was a bit too saccharine and, in the crass way he approaches her in front of her children, rather cringe worthy. Plus we lose Burrich just as he might be about to accept his Wit and be reconciled with his son, Swift - in a development analogous to the similarly convenient disposal of Kyle at the end of the Liveship Traders. Also, after Fitz's being so indispensable to the royal family that they are treating him with their usual cavalier attitude, and his singularly failing to protect his daughter from the same exploitation, he asserts himself, is called King Fitz by them - and is then allowed to retire to a bucolic existence in the country? I found all this unconvincing.

After the main emotional climax which left me rather detached in contrast to the loss Fitz experienced in the first volume of the trilogy, there is a rather dragged out conclusion in which just about every loose end is tied up including the ones I have trouble with, and we get the 'some of them lived happily ever after' ending. However, in view of the fact that there is now an ongoing trilogy that returns to the story of Fitz and the Fool, maybe it isn't as anodyne as it appears here. ( )

Absolutely nothing new to add to reviews I made of the first two books in this series. It was okay - not great and I was happy to finally be done reading it and getting on with the Rain Wild Chronicles! ( )

Such an amazing end to such an amazing story. ( )

I disliked the ending because to me Molly and Fitz’s relationship absolutely does not hold up since they are so fundamentally different but also it pales in comparison to Fitz and the Fool’s relationship.

That said I absolutely loved this book because of Fitz and the Fool’s relationship. The transcendental depth of their bond and love for each other is so heart wrenchingly moving. They are one of my most beloved pairings in fiction and I cannot wait for their reunion. ( )