During those short days, FitzChivalry Farseer is in the dark about the matters taking place in his new home Withywoods, and his life as one of the best-kept secrets of the royal family of Buckkeep is turned upside down. The sequel to Fool's Assassin begins almost immediately from where the 1st book of the trilogy ended. Fitz and the Fool have arrived at Buckkeep, but Fitz is well unaware of the fact that his young daughter Bee has just been captured during a violent attack on his home.
The following chapters contain spoilers, so skip them if you prefer reading the book. It's well recommended, as Fool's Quest doesn't disappoint as a sequel.
As it becomes evident Fool is too weak to be cured with Skill, Fitz decides to keep himself occupied by shopping presents for Bee and giving a helping hand to his mentor Chade in spying on the nobles who have come to Buckkeep for Winterfest. Fitz's self-loathing as a bad father comes to a sudden halt when he finds out that her older daughter Nettle is pregnant. This leads Queen Elliania to publically announce Nettle as the daughter of FitzChivalry and her future child as part of the royal family. Then, to everyone's surprise, Chade calls Fitz forward and the party of nobles hears that the bastard son of Prince Chivalry is still alive and well. And so, Fitz's long exile is finally over, no more hiding behind his own fabricated death and Buckkeep gets two new official members to the royal family.
Fitz doesn't get to bask in his newfound identity for long when the news finally arrives and he races back home through the stone pillars, only to find his house wrecked and the servants dumbfounded by a strong Skill command telling them to not see the damage or even remember anyone who died. He has difficulties in using his own Skill as well thanks to the overwhelming fog left by the attackers. Chade soon arrives after him and together they manage to clear the minds of people. Still, the kidnapped Bee and Shun are already days away, desperately trying to hide the fact that Bee is actually a girl, not the boy they think she is.
Chade and Fitz return to Buckkeep, where his fears are confirmed: the attackers were Servants, who once served the White Prophets, but now have seized control from them and bred them in order to create more prophecies of every possible future, a future which Fiz and Fool changed when they let Icefyre alive and allowed dragons to return. Now the royal family casts a wider net and news of a hidden ship finally arrives. Fitz leaves, against the wishes of his king, to meet the captors, but manages to get only Shun back as Bee has been taken through a portal stone.
Now believing that Bee is dead, gone forever in the Skill stream because of takers untrained in Skill, there's nothing more left for Fitz but revenge. He abides by his time and plans to leave alone, but his new position prevents the secrecy as a prince needs a reason to leave. Still, after gathering clues, Fitz departs Buckkeep to the portal stone Bee was taken through. Just as he is about to go through it, two people tackle along with him, his young cousin Lant, son of Chade, and Per, his young servant who wants to help avenge Bee whom he had sworn loyalty. An even bigger surprise happens when they find out that Fool, despite being blind, has followed them with his companion, a young girl named Spark.
So, with his motley crew in tow, Fitz ends up in the city of Kelsingra, where the cliffhanger ending happens. He is looking to avenge Bee, but he is burnt out by Skill. But, not all is lost. Somewhere else, Bee finally comes out from the portal, some of her captures driven mad by the Skill stream some dead. The wolf father living in her mind tells her to run and run she does, with the screams of her captors ringing in her ears.
Spoilers end here
As far as the middle parts of bigger narratives go, I can say I like Fool's Quest far more than I liked the second book of the Tawny Man trilogy, Golden Fool, which to me felt like lavish, yet well-written, groundwork for the inevitable finale. There's some of the same in Fool's Quest as well, but Fool's Quest keeps together better perhaps because it is such a deeply personal story for Fitz. This is about him desperately trying to rescue his daughter from an enemy he doesn't fully understand.
Fool's Assassin was more evenly divided into two narratives, Bee's and Fitz's. That decision alone helps quite a bit in Fool's Quest, as now we care about Bee even more, and we get a deeper insight into her, what kind of a person she is, and what she was going through as well. Fool's Quest has less of it, so now we can feel Fitz's anguish over Bee's fate.
Fool's Quest is a great sequel. It greatly nudges the story forward toward its conclusion, but it also nudges the world and its characters forward. As Fitz and the Fool is the final part of the Farseer saga, I can say I'm delighted that the ending of Fitz's tale is happening on such a high note.
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