Robin Hobb is an excellent author, and I highly recommend any book that she has written. Assassin's Apprentice is the first book in the Farseer Trilogy, which is the first trilogy in a nine book series. The following trilogies are the Liveship Traders Trilogy and the Tawny Man Trilogy. Assassin's Apprentice follows the story of a young boy named Fitzchivalry Farseer and the circumstances that lead him to become a Royal Assassin. Dispite the name of the book, it is not all blood, guts, and gore. On the contrary, this book is full of emotions and character details that truly bring the city of Buckkeep alive. It is a fantasy story, as there is a bit of magic involved, but it is interwoven masterfully into the story in a way that makes the reader more aware of the characters, rather than the magical elements.