Master crafted

I'm sure I've said this before, probably even here within these four virtual walls (I'm getting a sense of deja vu, anyway), but size isn't everything. I've read plenty of books that are too long or could have used some more judicious editing, but few that I would genuinely wish were longer. They can be small and perfectly formed, without wasting words or ideas. Many classics can be this way, though I wonder sometimes if today short books aren't taken seriously. Certainly, if you want to publish sci-fi, fantasy, or seemingly increasingly crime, for example, anything less than 500 pages is not enough.

Robin Hobb's first novel (under that name, anyway – apparently it's a pen name) Assassin's Apprentice falls just shy of the 500 page mark. Fortunately, however, she knows what she's doing, it isn't that big for the sake of it. All of the key ingredients are there – strong narration, character development, mystery, suspense, change and growth. When all of these are there in abundance, the length matters a lot less – you don't notice that you keep turning the page because the narrative has gripped you. And in this case it definitely did. Throw in a suitably interesting setting, some new twists on conventional ideas (the wit and the skill), the naming system, and you have all of the ingredients for a successful recipe.

All of the classic elements are there, along, most importantly, with a storyteller's gift that keeps everything together and me coming back for more. She was always an author who had been somewhere on my radar (even if I mistakenly laboured under the misapprehension that she was a man) as someone worth checking out. Turns out it was well worth it and I will certainly be back for more at a later date. It wrapped things up neatly enough for a self-contained story, whilst leaving enough doors open for the next instalment. Which, incidentally, is 50% percent bigger... The more the merrier, I say.

Book number: 60
Title: Assassin's Apprentice
Author: Robin Hobb
Category: Charlotte's choice