Robin Hobb
1 universe5 series17 books
Life Events
| Date | Event | Details |
|---|---|---|
5 March 1952 | Birth | Born Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden in California, raised in Alaska and Washington State. She began publishing science fiction and fantasy as Megan Lindholm in the early 1980s, building a modest but respected career in short fiction and novels before adopting the Robin Hobb pen name for the Farseer Trilogy in 1995. The decision to publish under a new name reflected the distinct character of the Elderlings work relative to her earlier fiction rather than any attempt to obscure her identity - the two names have coexisted openly throughout her career. |
Birth5 March 1952
Born Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden in California, raised in Alaska and Washington State. She began publishing science fiction and fantasy as Megan Lindholm in the early 1980s, building a modest but respected career in short fiction and novels before adopting the Robin Hobb pen name for the Farseer Trilogy in 1995. The decision to publish under a new name reflected the distinct character of the Elderlings work relative to her earlier fiction rather than any attempt to obscure her identity - the two names have coexisted openly throughout her career.
Universes (1)
Series (5)
The Farseer Trilogy
Realm of the Elderlings
The opening trilogy of the Realm of the Elderlings follows FitzChivalry Farseer, the illegitimate son of a prince who never took the throne, from his childhood in the stables of Buckkeep Castle through his training as a royal assassin and his role in the Red Ship Wars that threaten the Six Duchies. Hobb establishes the universe's central concerns from the first pages - the cost of duty, the pain of isolation, and the particular cruelty of a world that uses people without acknowledging what it takes from them. The Fool appears here for the first time, beginning one of the most celebrated relationships in contemporary fantasy fiction.
Fitz and the Fool
Realm of the Elderlings
The concluding trilogy of the Fitz and Fool strand, bringing together threads from across the full sequence in a story that demands familiarity with both the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies to land with full force. Hobb subjects her characters to some of the most sustained and unsparing treatment in the sequence before reaching a conclusion that has divided readers between those who found it earned and those who found it too costly. Assassin's Fate, the final volume, is one of the longest and most emotionally demanding novels in the universe.
Books (17)
Assassin's Apprentice
The Farseer Trilogy
1995
The opening novel of the Farseer Trilogy introduces FitzChivalry Farseer, the illegitimate son of Prince Chivalry, brought to Buckkeep Castle as a child and raised in the stables before being taken on as a royal assassin's apprentice. Hobb establishes her world and its politics with considerable restraint, allowing the Six Duchies and its court to emerge through Fitz's limited and often uninformed perspective. The novel covers Fitz's childhood and early training, his first encounters with the Skill and the Wit, and his complicated relationship with the enigmatic figure known as the Fool. Quieter in pace than much epic fantasy, it rewards patience with a depth of characterisation rarely attempted in the genre.
Royal Assassin
The Farseer Trilogy
1996
The second Farseer novel deepens the political crisis of the Six Duchies as the Red Ship Raiders continue their devastating attacks on the coastal villages, leaving behind Forged victims stripped of their humanity. Fitz is drawn further into the court's politics and its dangers, his relationships with the Fool, with Molly, and with the increasingly unstable King Shrewd all developing under mounting pressure. Royal Assassin is where Hobb's willingness to deny her protagonist relief becomes fully apparent - the novel is relentless in the demands it makes of Fitz and of the reader, and its conclusion is among the most devastating in contemporary fantasy fiction.
