FitzChivalry Farseer, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry Farseer, has been living isolated life far away from the city of Buckkeep after the events chronicled in the Farseer Trilogy (1995-1997). For 15 years, he has kept himself away from the politics and schemes of his family, content in living a small life with his wolf companion Nighteyes and his adopted son Hap.
As Tom Badgerlock, Fitz has tried to heal himself of the mental and physical wounds he received during the war against the Red Ships. It has been a small and peaceful existence, but it finally comes to its end, when his friend, a wandering minstrel Starling, takes Hap to a summer fair at Buckkeep. At first, Fitz is visited by his old mentor Chade, who asks him to come and train the son of Queen Kettricken, Prince Dutiful. Fitz is now the only person he knows who can use Skill and as it is the hereditary magic running in the Farseer family, he wants him to teach it to Dutiful
Fitz declines. Later that summer, after Hap has gone to look for work in order to pay his apprenticeship, a hedge wizard Jinna visits Fitz. With this encounter, he learns his future is not yet done and that changes are coming. And then it finally arrives, when his old friend Fool, visits him. The former court jester is now known as Lord Golden, a rich foreign noble. This encounter finally ends with Fitz leaving his life to again enter into the politics of the Six Duchies.
Prince Dutiful has gone missing. Not wanting to alarm the nobles, Kettricken and Chade want Fitz to use his Skill and frown upon animal magic Wit to do anything it takes to find him. Fitz soon begins to suspect, that Dutiful is also Witted and that where ever he is, his new hunting cat and who gifted it to him are the keys.
As Ftiz digs deeper, he soon realizes, that he hasn't been as excluded from the royal family as he has thought. For years, he has shared some dreams with the young prince caused by their blood relationship and the ability to use Skill and Wit. He uses this bond to track him down and masquerading as the servant of Lord Golden, they go to free Dutiful from his captors, a rebellious group of Wit users, who are determined to revenge all the bad things that regular people have done to those who know Wit during decades of oppression.
In the end, Fitz now finds himself again in the service of the royal family. He full well knows, that dutiful needs to be trained in both Wit and Skill and there's no one else to do it but him. And so, he finds himself again living the life he thought he left behind. But this time around, he's not in the castle as Fitz, the bastard of the family, but as a humble servant Tom Badgerlock. He will do his teaching in secret, a situation that suits him just fine.
So, while Fitz has returned to Buckkeep, this time around things are a bit different. As he is no longer officially a royal, his life in the castle is shrouded even more in smoke and mirrors. This position also gives him more freedom, as he's not bound by the more visible royal chains, albeit he is now bound by his duty and loyalty to the Queen and the Prince. He, and Fool, also need to keep up the appearance of a lord and his servant.
This is where the book one ends. The story here is given a satisfying conclusion, but future plot threads are left open and Fitz is given some respite to recover from his most recent ordeal that pushed him harder than anything he had done for the past 15 years.
The Farseer Trilogy is something of a modern fantasy masterpiece. The Tawny Man continues along this path, providing a well-written and interesting first part for the new trilogy. It does feel a tad overly padded at times and some of the resolutions do come out a bit too coincidental, but overall, there are far more pros than cons and Hobb does make the story flow with ease.
if you are a fan of the Farseer trilogy, you should find Fool's Erran a pleasant read. If you haven't read the Farseer, I'd recommend starting from there, as it does make the setting clearer, as, despite the time gap, this story is a direct continuation of it. Of course, you can always read it just as it is, but I do think you might get more out of it if you are familiar with the setting and the returning characters.
As a side note, some of the adventures Fool speaks of take place in the Liveship Traders trilogy. As I haven't read that series, I can't comment much further on it, but some aspects of his history will probably make even more sense for those who have read it.
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