The concluding volume of the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy and the final novel of the Realm of the Elderlings is among the longest and most ambitious in the sequence, bringing together threads from across all five trilogies in a conclusion that demanded and rewarded the full investment of the sequence. The journey to Clerres and its resolution draw on the mythology established across twenty years of the Elderlings universe, and the fates of Fitz, the Fool, and Bee are resolved in ways that have generated sustained discussion since publication. Hobb subjects her characters to some of the most extreme treatment in the sequence before reaching a conclusion that is simultaneously devastating and, for many readers, exactly right. Assassin's Fate is the most debated ending in the Elderlings universe and one of the most discussed conclusions in contemporary fantasy fiction.