The release date for the English version of 'Golden Fool' by
Robin Hobb is Dec 2003. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
One of the most brilliantly inventive authors of fantasy literature today is Robin Hobb, thanks to the critically acclaimed Farseer and Liveship Traders trilogies.
Now, Hobb continues the heartbreaking story of FitzChivalry Farseer in Book 2 of her most beautiful trilogy to date. Golden Fool is an epic of sacrifice, redemption, and hidden betrayal that draws the hesitant explorer further into the conflict with its vivid characters, amazing magic, and wide-ranging action.
Fool with a Golden Heart
Now that Prince Dutiful has been freed from his Piebald captors, the court is operating normally again. For FitzChivalry Farseer, however, solitude is unachievable. Fitz, who is devastated by the death of his wolf companion Nighteyes, must go inside Buckkeep and continue working as Chade's apprentice assassin. FitzChivalry assumes the role of Lord Golden's bodyguard, Tom Badgerlock, and becomes the eyes and ears behind the walls. Fitz is also obliged to shoulder more responsibilities as he strives to steer a kingdom that is rapidly heading toward public unrest in the wake of his old mentor's seeming failure.
There are several issues. Tension abounds in Prince Dutiful's betrothal to the Narcheska Elliania of the Out Islands, and it seems like the Narcheska is concealing a lot of information. FitzChivalry then has to make sure that no one divulges the Prince's secret—that he, like Fitz, has the terrifying "beast magic"—which has the potential to overthrow the Farseer throne—amid Piebald's threats and the Witted's growing persecution.
FitzChivalry, in the meanwhile, has to teach the Prince what little he knows about the Skill—the inherited and compulsive magic of the Farseers. During the process, they find that Buckkeep has a wild and tremendous gift for it, and that Fitz's hatred might have terrible effects on everyone.
Fitz finds consolation only in his long relationship with the Fool. However, even that is destroyed when unannounced Bingtown guests divulge terrible facts about the Fool's history. Now that he is without assistance and adrift in mystery, Fitz's greatest struggle may just be to endure the terrible and unavoidable route that destiny has set for him.
taken from the hardback copy.