Comment by zargon
I revisited Assassin's Apprentice recently, as an audiobook, having read the series 20 years ago. Personally, I will not be continuing. The best term I came across to describe it is "injustice porn" or "misery porn." Fitz and the other protagonists are stymied and beaten at every turn, through the entire series (I checked summaries to see if there would ever be any payoff in continuing). If you're in the mood for an extremely depressing read with no positive outcomes, this is the series for you. I have been in that place before, but I have no tolerance for that at this stage of my life.
Yeah, second and third book in Farseer trilogy can be hard to consume, but at the same time in comparison Robin Hobb just damn can write good. It's little-bit in comparison if you read some more amateur writers, coming back to this.. Can't say it's wholly perfect, but it is well written -- Nighteyes for one. Fitz can be emo, but Nighteyes just delivers.
There sure are positive outcomes in Elderling series. In the long run. The characters and their life. It's not easy laid back reading, but in the end it is one of the best series. (Minus the four books of "Dragon ...", these are slop, not sure why Hobb wrote those).