Golden Fool is the second book in the Tawny Man trilogy by Robin Hobb. It continues the story of Fitzchivalry Farseer, also known as Tom Badgerlock, as he starts training Prince Dutiful in magic, both Wit and Skill. In doing so he has to face his own continued distaste for the skill magic and his reluctance to use it which hampers his ability to teach it. At the same time he continues to hide his wit magic and his identity as he works to navigate the growing discord between those who don’t and those who do have the wit magic. In the midst of that is the appearance of the Narcheska, who is meant to be betrothed to Prince Dutiful, but seems reluctant to do so for unknown reasons. At the same time Fitz also discovers things about his friend, the Fool, which seems to throw the whole friendship into doubt and causes numerous additional problems in doing so.
One of the things that I find particularly fascinating about this series is how the internal discord of Fitz is reflected in the external discord of the kingdom. For instance, Fitz is torn between the two types of magic and has to come to terms with both in order to correctly teach the prince. At the same time the kingdom is torn between accepting or not accepting those with the wit magic in general. As Kettricken works to convince everyone that those with the wit are just like everyone else, Fitz works on accepting his own magic and accepting what he needs to do in order to correctly teach the prince the skill magic. On top of that, Fitz is torn about what to do when he finds out certain things about the Fool’s past, things that were not necessarily hidden but that had been previously unmentioned. Paralleling that, there is the general uneasiness about how to navigate the outislanders culture in order to secure the betrothal between Prince Dutiful and the Narcheska as certain things about their culture and about her in particular start coming to light. There is also a third set of problems that run in parallel with these two. Fitz’s adopted son, Hap, is getting himself in a bit of trouble and Fitz finds himself wondering how he should handle it. He also wonders if he is a good father because of it. Running alongside this, we see Prince Dutiful and his problem of how to interact with and handle the Narcheska. He also gets himself into trouble and must work on figuring out how to remedy his unintentional mistake. It is fascinating, at least to me, to watch as these parallel problems continue to develop. They don’t necessarily reach a resolution in this book but we do see them reach a denouement, of sorts, towards the end of the book, in preparation for the final book of the trilogy. I am giving this book four out of five stars.
Much like with the first book in the series I would recommend those who are fantasy fans to consider reading this book. It is very well written and has a complex series of plots and storylines with considerable character development throughout. That being said it doesn’t feel complex unless one looks deeper. It is the kind of work that can easily be read and enjoyed to pass an afternoon. I am not sure how well you might enjoy it if you are not already a fan of fantasy works. If you are I would recommend that you try it though as I enjoyed it considerably. Let me know if you decide to try it and what you think of it. I look forward to hearing your thoughts as always.