FitzChivalry Farseer is presumably in his grave, but actually he's living quietly as Tom Badgerlock in the countryside with his beloved Molly. It's just that he misses the Fool. Hobb returns to her popular Fitz and the Fool series, which kicks off a repackaging of her nine backlist titles. Hobb will be guest of honor at the August 2014 World Science Fiction convention in London.

Fitz Chivalry Farseer has been living a happy and anonymously quiet life in Withywoods; a reward for his many years of service to the royal family tree, of which he is a bastard branch. Having finally married Molly, the love of his life, he has every expectation of living out his days as plain Tom Badgerlock. But as the manor celebrates Winterfest, danger arrives in the guise of a pale murdered messenger, with the killers vanishing into the snow. Fitz will do anything to protect his new life, but he can never completely turn his back on the old one. Although this is a long book, the first volume in a new trilogy, and spends much of its time in quiet domesticity, the characterization is so fantastic and the setting so compelling that readers will not begrudge the lack of high action. Hobb broke new ground with Assassin's Apprentice, the first in her Farseer trilogy 20 years ago, and here she effortlessly picks up the character of Fitz, rewarding those who have enjoyed his earlier adventures but easily building him anew for readers just joining in. VERDICT The emotionally rich storytelling is sure to win Hobb new fans who will be anxious to read the next installment as the author leaves us dangling in anticipation. [See Prepub Alert, 2/24/14.]

It's been 10 years since Hobb concluded the Tawny Man series and ostensibly brought to an end the accounts of FitzChivalry Farseer and the Fool in Fool's Fate—but now Fitz is back to star in a new trilogy, and the adventure and intrigue is as electrifying and mesmerizing as ever. Posing as Tom Badgerlock, the humble middle-aged caretaker of an estate for the Farseer crown, Fitz believes himself content with his life. He maintains the unassuming façade of country squire even as a series of unusual events hints that his past as court assassin is behind him. First an old friend pushes Fitz to shelter a couple of Farseer by-blows from harm at his estate. Then Fitz himself becomes a father again, to a miraculous and peculiar child. Though a leisurely beginning slows the plot slightly, the fully realized characters and vivid prose show that Hobb remains a supremely talented author of epic fantasy. Agent: Christopher Lotts, Lotts Agency. (Aug.)