Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

10 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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Alcohol, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Death, and Homophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Vomit, and Rape

Several detailed descriptions of handling and eating meat (both fresh and cooked).

talonsontypewriters's review

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Ableism, Gaslighting, and Rape

Moderate: Body shaming, Cannibalism, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Body horror, Grief, and Sexism

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic, War, Alcohol, Child death, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Slavery, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, and Homophobia

gwcam's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Emotional abuse

sophia_lechner's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense

• 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

4.25

Only half a book; the publisher split a book into two parts and pretended they were two separate books. Read this with Dragon Haven or you'll find that the book just ends with no plotlines resolved. 

The dragons in this book make me sad because they're not very impressive dragons, but I know it's just to make me happy later so I'll allow it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse and Rape

Moderate: Infidelity

pinup_and_pages's review against another edition

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) 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Rape, Animal cruelty, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Sexual assault

joelcharig's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

Probably one of the slowest novels I've read, nearly up there with J.R.R. Tolkien's work. Honestly, this first book of the quadrilogy felt like its sole purpose was to introduce the characters, as not much happened in terms of plot or events.
If the next three books pick up the pace, I can forgive the above. If all four books are akin to this one, I may struggle.

But that being said, a lot of consideration was put into the writing; it's very thorough in terms of character development and description. You genuinely feel as if you're inside the characters' heads as the perspective shifts from one to another. Hobb is superb at achieving that.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Toxic relationship

Minor: Emotional abuse and Blood

gracecrandall's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Sexual violence, Homophobia, Excrement, Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Animal death, Ableism, Abandonment, Bullying, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Cannibalism

magis1105's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Classism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Toxic relationship, and Emotional abuse

singalana's review against another edition

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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Rape, Abandonment, Body shaming, Bullying, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Emotional abuse, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Blood, and Animal cruelty

mustnotblink's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Dragonkeeper feels very much like it’s missing half of its content. While the book does a great job introducing us to the world and its people, the plot seems to drag. The main characters have all come together by the end, but the end of the book feels arbitrarily picked - not plotted.

I normally do not have a problem reading story lines featuring abusive and manipulative men, but

I absolutely despise Hest.

He rubbed me so wrong that I was initially unsure if I wanted to read the next book. Ultimately I decided to continue the series because the setting is brilliant and I do want to see how the characters end up.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Sexism, Classism, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, Xenophobia, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, and Infidelity

Minor: Miscarriage, Slavery, and Domestic abuse