The Gimli has made himself useful and sent me the third volume of the trilogy. w00t!
I bought the first two when I was in Toronto...in december 2003. Imagine waiting a year to find out what happens next...
...and then discovering you have to read the first two volumes over. Because you want to enjoy the third to its fullest, with the knowledge of what happened before fresh in your mind.
When I first started reading 'Fool's Errand' I remember I was impressed by how clean and original the language was. There wasn't a single sentence that I felt I'd read elsewhere before. (and I learned a great deal many new words from that book!)
Hobb takes her time, and gives the character time to introduce himself to us. She doesn't start the action immediately, making us feel that outside of the brief adventure of the book, the characters are useless. On the contrary. Fitz's long years of solitude are there, they're not just an interlude that we don't notice. He notices them, he lived them, and so must we. I'm 160 pages into the book, chapter eight, and the setting is still the same. This might seem boring, but it's actually very good, because while Fitz's past is brought back to him, we learn about it. (I haven't read the Farseer books yet. I'm looking forward to them being a sort of 'prequel' for me. ) And we don't have the nagging feeling that he must leave soon. We know he has some sort of task to fulfil before this book is over (else, why write about him?) but we don't feel rushed into its beginning.
I also like how carefully she places the information in the book. We don't learn everything straight away, and sometimes we just have to trust her. Sometimes a character is mentioned in passing, and we don't expect them to appear- but they do. Clues aren't revealed when convenient, but when their time comes.
Finally, it doesn't feel as though the events are organised around the characters for purpose of exposure. What happens to Fitz happens because such is the story, coincidence, fate, his life- not because the author needed an event to reveal a weakness or trait of his.
I'm really really impressed by this book. It's not just quality fantasy-the magic doesn't justify it. If you set it in a realistic environment and made changes to suit, it would still be an excellent book.
Now you talk.
But if you must talk about Fool's Fate, mark it clearly! I don't want it spoiled for me.