I realised in the last chapters of this book that it was the first time I re-read it since being emotionally destroyed by the following trilogy, Fitz & the Fool. And I realised how much of it was hinted in this book, though it was published years before and Hobb wrote a whole quadrilogy in the meantime. I won't spoil any of these books, but I want to highlight the fact that yes, Hobb's novels are a delight to read (though you're at a risk of being emotionally destroyed), but they're also a delight to re-read. Even though they're not packed with action (the first half of Fool's Fate is agonisingly slow), they're masterpieces of character writing. In the last pages of Fool's Fate, which ends the Tawny Man Trilogy, I started mourning the characters. And now that I've finished it, I'm both relieved their hardships are over and have found a measure of solace (though I'm still a bit angry at that ending), and relieved that I'm done with their pain. So. Much. Pain. And yet, so much beauty.