Match Book

Assassin's Quest

Robin Hobb

1997 · 757 pages · Fantasy

adventurous moodmoderate paceheavy and literary tonebittersweet ending

How it reads

Assassin's Quest is fantasy (epic fantasy, specifically), and its dominant mood is adventurous. It's driven by momentum, discovery and getting into trouble. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.

It's set in an invented world, in no single period, told in the third person across several viewpoints. Its central concerns are power and politics and identity. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.

It's a later book in a series — you'll usually want to start earlier. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. At 757 pages it's a real commitment. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.

Pick it up if…

  • you're in the mood for something adventurous
  • you want something to chew on
  • you like disappearing into an invented world

Maybe not if…

  • you need something cosy or melancholy
  • you want something you can finish this weekend

All 15 dimensions

Genre
fantasy
Author gender
female
Author experience
established
Setting: place
fictional world
Setting: time
timeless or multiple
Mood / feeling
adventurous
Pace
moderate
Tone / weight
heavy and literary
Length
long
Narrative style
third person, several viewpoints
Publication era
modern classic
Popularity
well known
Series vs standalone
later in a series
Ending style
bittersweet

What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.

Books with a similar reading

The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.

Appears in

Find a copy

Reviews on Goodreads ↗

Match Book earns a commission on purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, Match Book earns from qualifying purchases.

Want matches for your own taste?

Match Book for iPhone reads the books you gave five stars on Goodreads, works out what they have in common across these fifteen dimensions, and finds more books that share it. Free, no account, no subscription.