Author: Robin Hobb
Series: The Farseers
Books:
1. Assassin's Apprentice
2. Royal Assassin
3. Assassin's Quest
An illegitimate son of the first-born prince is suffered to live, as
long as he pledges loyalty and obedience to his grandfather, the king.
He is tutored as a noble's child should be in all the proper things,
after spending a major portion of his childhood in the stables. His
loyalty and obedience is tested, as he is told to begin training as
a king's assassin. Ferrets first appear in the series in the form of
Slink, the pet kept by the king's bastard brother, who teaches the boy
the art of an assassin.
In the time and place of the book series, there is a feared talent
of men joining their minds with those of beasts called the witt. The
prince's illegitimate son has this talent, as well as one to link his
mind with other human minds. The witt allows humans to converse with
one or more types of animals and form friendships based on truth,
honor, and loyalty, rather than mastery. The boy eventually bonds with
a wolf cub in this way.
Slink is glimpsed throughout books one and two and is mentioned at the
beginning of book three. I am in the middle of the third volume. The
boy assassin, now a man, is attempting to find and remove the largest
threat to the kingdom. He is upon the roof of an inn, where it is
rumored the dangerous person is residing. As he lowers himself from the
roof's edge, feeling for the window ledge with his feet, a ferret jumps
on his legs and runs up his body telepathically sending, "Trap! Trap!
Run! Run!" After getting the assassin to understand the fullness of the
trap that was laid for him, the ferret, formally bonded to a witted
human since dead, climbs into his shirt and thinks, "Warm... Warm..."
The ferret thinks a few other things as well, but that would be telling
and ruin the plot.
Though reading about an assassin didn't seem like a wonderful way to
spend my time, the books were highly recommended from a source I trust,
in addition to being mentioned on a ferret literary webpage accessed
from ferretcentral.org. I don't think I made it passed a few pages,
before I was hooked. The writing style is easy to read, and the plot is
paced, so that there are few slow points. The books are action-packed
in the way that only literature of medieval setting can be -- castles,
swords, herbal medicine, court ladies, pomp and ceremony, loyalties and
alliances,...
This book series is listed on ferretcentral.org for Slink, as well as a
few other books mentioning ferrets. However, the site listing ferrets
in literature has not been updated in some time. I invite you FMLers to
post where you've found ferrets in books, not just a passing mention,
but a serious mention/sighting. In that spirit, let me also add that
though Andre Norton's four-volume Beastmaster series uses meerkats
(unlike the three movies), it is still worth reading for a ferret fan.
Come to think of it, all my ferrets have names from books. It was
pointed out to me recently that Ayla, even if not intended by her
previous owner, has a name from Jane Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear (no
ferrets in the book). Codo, well, there are a million Codos and Podos
spawned by the Beastmaster books and movies. Rhys and Frost... Well,
again, that would be telling, and I truly hope someone in the FML
crowd knows what series those two names came from (New York Times
Bestsellers; Author begins with "H"). Think of it as a mystery to
solve. Need more hints? Well, only if you promise to email me when you
figure it out and share other book series you've enjoyed. The character
Rhys was a Keltic god of death, once upon a time. The ferret Rhys was
named so by me, because 1( Oscar just didn't work well, as it sounded
alot like his bond-ferret's name of Casper, and 2) he was found by his
previous owner in the crawl-space of the neighbor's home, obviously an
escaped pet that had been killing for his supper. Did I mention Rhys is
at least five-pounds of ferret? You ought to see the paws and fangs of
my big godzilla-ferret! Now, Frost is a simple renaming of Casper, the
above mentioned bond-ferret, an albino. The character Frost was once
the elemental being Jack Frost. No more hints now!
With friendliness, humor, and cheek,
Lori in Ohio
Ferrets: Rhys, Frost, Ayla, & Codo
Cats: Reaganne & Little Miss
[Posted in FML 6340]
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