Reviews tagging 'War'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

30 reviews

ritzee13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Abandonment, and War

loriley's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

This book is extremely slow.
The development of the political intrigue story, the world building, and the magic in this world are all phenomenal.
Plot movement is a little light

The life story of the main character is oppressively bleak. There is so little love, affection, or joy in the main character’s life, to the point where it gets hard to read.
I feel like this is the set up for a really good story, but on its own, it is not a satisfying, full story. However, since the set up is so good, I do plan on reading the series and I hope to get some satisfying conclusions later.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Grief

Minor: Slavery, Torture, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and War

wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes

3.0

I tried reading this book multiple times and put it down when I was uncertain how I felt about how it was progressing.  I’m glad that this time I persevered because it is a very engaging start to a story that lays a lot of groundwork for a tale that I think I’d like to follow.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

rwinegarden's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This is the first book I’ve read by Robin Hobb, and I am definitely tempted to read more!! 
This book mixes a coming-of-age story with messy court intrigue and the life and responsibilities of an assassin. Many of the characters are not likeable, but this is by design. Fitz, the main character, is written realistically and reliably. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Murder, and War

immovabletype's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Infertility, Misogyny, and War

Minor: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

mysterymom40's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship

ltsang08's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Blood, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

s_nova's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and War

reddeddy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Chronic illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Infertility, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense slow-paced

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

4.5

This may be one of the best fantasy novels I have ever read, and yet I can understand why others have had difficulty with it.

The pace is very, very slow, there is a lot of descriptive language and exposition to wade through, and even then, there isn't a whole lot of plot to be found, at least not at first. All these things considered, I can easily see why someone might get frustrated and give up.

But I found Assassin's Apprentice to be an absorbing, riveting, and immersive read - just what a good fantasy should be.

It also delivers in spades when it comes to political intrigue, which I also very much enjoy reading. The story is told from the POV of Fitz, who for

the first half of the book isn't even given a proper name

, and this was such a masterful move on Hobb's part.  You see him as he

grows from a child into a young man

. He's very observant of people and he has a

strong affinity for animals

. His keen observational skills (and at times judgmental behaviour) could make him unlikeable, but Hobb takes care to show us the other sides of him - his compassion, his kindness, his curiosity, and his thirst for knowledge all made me care about him and root for him as a character.

The other characters are well-developed too (even the villainous ones[

well, mostly</spoiler]), depicted as complex, flawed human beings, with many shades of grey.

The plotting was overall excellent, although did find the ending

rather rushed and not well-explained

, but I am willing to overlook that because of how much I enjoyed the rest of it.

4.5 stars from me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Eating disorder, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Xenophobia, and War