Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

11 reviews

alexiconic's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious relaxing slow-paced

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

4.25

This book is basically what would happen if you would take “no plot, just vibes” and made it fantasy. 

Which isn’t to say there was no plot. There was, the story was moving; things were absolutely happening, slowly but surely. But at the same time, the characters, their musings, and their relations to one another moved the book along most. And that was really cool! 

It made the book slow down and still ensured every page was gripping. It also made for a diverse group of characters about whom there was always more to learn, and we as the reader kept learning. 

There were a few times where the writing style didn’t entirely work for me. A times, the direct style can feel like it’s telling the reader too directly what a character is feeling, thinking, implying. Most of the time it worked, sometimes it didn’t. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, and Sexism

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

4.25

I always find it jarring to go from the six duchies to the rain wilds/bingtown, but as always, after a while, I'm sucked into this world. Definitely want to book some characters on the head but overall, I like them all and can't wait to see what happens. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

pulleamurmeli's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective 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? N/A

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

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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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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

totallyshelfaware's review against another edition

emotional tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gore, Rape, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Blood and Gaslighting

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

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Content Warnings

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

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

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

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) 

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Content Warnings

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

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

ilereads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting

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