I think Hobb is a terrific writer, and I appreciate the centrality of emotion in the Assassin series, but one of the things that I had a hard time with through reading that first series was how Fitz caught shit from everyone, all the time, for any reason. Like for really petty things, too. He very seldom has any moment of comfort or peace, and it became something really difficult for me to deal with as a reader. Not to mention how his relationships end up, and the fact that by the end he's just numb to everything. It was all extremely well portrayed, but I don't know that I want to continue reading if every book is based on taking a character I like and admire and just putting him through a sausage grinder.

So do the subsequent series ever lift the boot off our necks, or is it just emotional torture the whole way through?

Also fyi it's been over a year since I finished the series so I can't really give any specific examples, but I got pretty glum about it in book 3.