Assassin's Apprentice

Though I am not a huge fan of fantasy, I enjoyed reading this book. Hobb's writing style and her character development are both quite good and that is what kept me turning pages. Even the silly character names, (King Shrewd, Prince Chivalry, Prince Regal, etc), didn't bother me as much as I had expected they might, (I think I actually rolled my eyes when I first saw the name 'Prince Chivalry' O_o).

Probably my biggest complaint about your typical fantasy novel is the lack of development of the 'bad guy' characters. They are often simple caricatures of bad people with a distinct lack of grey areas. To an extent, this holds true for this novel as well. However, the group of characters that are more central to the story, (Fitz, Chade, Burrich, etc), do exhibit actual human traits and inner conflicts and that saved the book and will get me to pick up the next volume soon.