Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

16 reviews

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

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Content Warnings

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

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

adventurous reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Despite reading a lot of fantasy, I haven't been that attracted to dragon stories because the creatures have always felt a little too perfect and fantastical for my taste. But that's not the cause with Robin Hobb's dragons. These are sick, pitiful creatures who, yes, may gulp down a human in a heartbeat, but also need their help to survive. Yet the humans don't see kindly to them. When the dragons don't fill the roles they'd been ascribed by legends and folk tales, when they keep to the ground and only consume precious resources, the Rain Wild Traders decide to drive them away. A group of misfits is hired to accompany them, just as undesirable as the dragons. 
Dragon Keeper opens the Rain Wild Chronicles and shows another facet of Robin Hobb's Realm of the Elderlings. Where Fitz's books are about identity and Liveships about freedom, I find this series to be about ableism & free will. Dragon Keeper is more like Liveships than Farseer because of the wide array of narrators we get, but here they're all traveling together and so I find it easier, upon first reading it, to get one's bearings and dive in the story. While it's not my favourite of Robin Hobb's stories, I love how her characters interact and how she makes us love some of them and absolutely hate others. My favourite may be the quiet dragon scholar lady... 
Rep: one of the MCs is gay, but the atmosphere of the book feels quite queer in general. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Sexual assault and Alcohol

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

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood

kabrahams's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Blood

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Sexual violence

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.

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Content Warnings

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

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

Minor: Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, and Slavery

readsonthedownlo's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, and Rape