This book was phenomenal and I'm glad my love of it as a teen was rightly placed. Fitz as a character is fantastic, and while at times I raise my eyebrow at how every single character just hates him purely as if half the cast lack any semblance of empathy, the narrator's perspective could be unreliable in that matter entirely.

The world building is simple still, nothing fantastic quite painted but the tools are there. This is character driven fantasy done right, though. The cast is rich and I love this book to death.

I also wonder now if there are canon gay undertones with some of the characters. I cannot prove anything, obviously, but there are some things that make me wonder if Robin Hobb was aware of that when writing. I'm sure an answer lies somewhere, but I don't want to look it up for fear of spoiling other things.