Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Dragon Keeper

Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

14 reviews

kaziaroo's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm never sure how I feel about multiple-POV books but this is one of the best examples I've seen of it done right. One minute I would be swayed by one POV's rose-tinted impression of another character, only to have that impression blown out of the water by seeing that character's own perspective in the next chapter. The characters' duplicitousness and reactions to each other made the story thrilling and tense, even when plotwise things were progressing slowly. I loved every second.

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talonsontypewriters's review

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adventurous tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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pinup_and_pages's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was mostly setup for these chronicles and was slow paced but still very enjoyable. Hobbs character work is of top quality as always and the slow build of this journey type story led to a bit of a thrilling cliffhanger. The only qualm I had with this first book of the series is the focus on the romantic relationships throughout. Two of the protagonists flits between attraction for one character to the other which I just did not care about. I wanted to experience more world building and plot rather than romantic interests. Having said that, with one of the protagonists written this way (a teenager), Hobb created a realistic, fickle teen which I could also appreciate.
There were a couple of scenes that were difficult to read at times (see trigger warnings)

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kirstym25's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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theaceofpages's review against another edition

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challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Dragons are a dying breed. Alise has spent her whole life studying them from afar and can't wait to finally see them in person one day. Stuck in a loveless marriage of convenience, she can't wait t escape and join the dragons in their long journey to a hopefully better future of safety and no prosecution.

Okay. So I wanted to love this book. I love dragons and I've heard great things about Hobb. This however... Well. I usually don't mid slow paced books but I don't think very much happened? Looking at other reviews, this doesn't seem to be her best book and mainly just sets things up for later on. Although it could also just be because I stopped to read other thins in between as I wanted something a bit more exciting at times.

That being said, I loved the dragons and the concept of the dragon keepers. I would love to be one of them and just be able to study dragons. Although there are definitely some rather shady members amongst them. Although that's always to be expected when there's money to be made. I loved reading from their perspectives as well as what the dragon keepers viewed them as. I enjoyed the more scientific minded ones the most. The biologist in me could definitely relate to the desire to understand them and learn everything they could about them. I also loved the world building. Learning about other worlds has always been one of my favourite parts of fantasy novels.

I'm not sure if I'll go and read the next book. I'd love to see more of this world, but I would like something with a little more plot. Will I give the author another chance? Yes. But I think I'll go read some other books first.

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gracecrandall's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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magis1105's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

So if anyone decides to pick up this book without actually researching this will spoil the liveship traders trilogy heavily. If you plan on reading those after this one, well you know the big reveal, not sure if others series. So be aware, this is the first book in a series but it takes place in the timeline of other series.
I already completed it and the following discoveries were spoiled:
-The dragons, where they come from.
-What's the purpose of the sea serpents
-The secret of the live ships
-The mysterious people who live up the river and that have the only wood that makes liveships. They are no longer a secret and even have a place in the council, a big reveal no idea how that came to be.
-A big war, which war no idea, but now I know how they were saved and what the heroes won after saving everyone.

I will still read the Liveship traders but I already know the big reveals and probably it will lose the impact but oh well.

The story is gripping. The dragons are back in the world. But it's not as magical as they were expected. Mainly due to the fact that the right environmental and physical requirement and the wait time was completely disregarded. So the hatched dragons were deemed a complete disappointment.
The people know nothing about dragons and the beings suck at communication as well.

The love interests are awful so far. Bad communication, abusive marriages, women are treated as a property you belong to your father, then to your husband- that irks me greatly. I hate that and is very popular. Also, the only same-sex relationship is a bad bad representation, both participants are awful human beings.

I hate several characters and some are just ok.

Moving on from the romance and social norm for women and men- is a huge joke.
I am intrigued to find out what will happen to the dragons, will they find the city?
Will they get over their pompus ego and actually make a meaningful relationship with the humans that are trying to help them?
This is the first book in the series and it just gives you questions and it builds up the interest- that was well done. I need to continue the series.

The setback, this is personal. I need to go back and find out the correct order of the series and read the previous ones so I don't spoil them any worse than I already did.

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singalana's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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ilereads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

3.5 stelline. Ormai qualsiasi cosa che scriva Robin Hobb è arte per me ma questo è stato sicuramente il libro che ho preferito meno tra i suoi, nonostante mi sia piaciuto comunque molto. Il principale difetto è che si tratta di un libro molto introduttivo in cui non succede molto, anzi si interrompe proprio quando la trama inizia a prendere forma. Robin Hobb si conferma comunque imbattibile nella creazione dei personaggi sia buoni che cattivi. Per quanto Hest sia una persona orribile e il ritratto perfetto del narcisista manipolatore, è un personaggio molto interessante e costruito alla perfezione, così come Alise, con cui si riesce ad empatizzare fin da subito. Ho apprezzato anche come sta gestendo la questione dei draghi e i loro custodi, anche se ho la sensazione che finirà tutto in tragedia. Tornare a Borgomago e rivedere i vecchi personaggi poi è stato molto emozionante.
P.S. Fitz spero ti stia godendo la tua vita di campagna ma manchi.

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kabrahams's review against another edition

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4.5

Surprisingly, this was a Robin Hobb book that did not make me cry. Probably because many knew characters were introduced and I'm still getting to know them. That being said, I will definitely cry if something bad happens to Alise or Thymara in the next books in the series.

Returning to the Rain Wilds was amazing as its my favorite part of the Elderlings world. We also get way more dragons in this book than in any of the previous ones. Sadly, they are very weak and sickly, thus unable to fly or be very dragonish. We follow the humans who are helping take care of them and study them as well as some humans who want to use them for their own gain. Also, we get a few scenes with Althea and Brashen on the Paragon that made me very happy! The ending seemed a bit abrupt and I'm excited to keep reading.

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