Reviews with content warning for Drug use - Assassin's Apprentice

Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

43 reviews

kell_xavi's review against another edition

3.0

This tale follows Fitz, the illegitimate son of a prince, who is left to the royal family at the age of six. The book follows the boy from his young life as a stable hand and street kid to his teenage years, through his education in sword arts and writing, and to his teenage years training in the art of espionage, poisons, and the Skill. Fitz possesses both the Skill, the in-world name for a form of mind connection and control with people, and the Wit, a similar ability with animals. The Wit, Fitz' use of it with dogs he befriends, and the stigma that surrounds it, was one of my favourite elements of the novel. Sadly, this aspect of the character stays in the background except for its influence on relationships with other characters, and as a handy deus ex machina.

King Shrewd reigns over Buckkeep and its six duchies along a coastline, where there is growing trouble from Red Ship Raiders, who have an unusual method of terrorizing the people of the kingdom. This appears to be the main conflict of the series, though this initial book is largely putting all the pieces on the board. I came to realize through this book that the reason I've seldom sought out epics is the long timeline they cover, and my preference for relatively short, well-explored periods as opposed to broad swaths across ten years (which we have here). While there are strong emotions around education, the Skill, the Raiders, assignments as an assassin, and the royal house, a great many are navigated with more speed and less depth than was needed for me to care about the unfolding plot and setting. There is a trauma here, for inhabitants of the dutchies losing their people and homes, for the prince attempting to fight a war he hasn't the strength for, for Fitz when he is abused by a teacher; I was looking for a lot more sensitivity, concern, and attention on these aspects.

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ienbdri's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.25

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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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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tmw1122's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

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

5.0

Lower magic system than I’m used to. Reads like a historical fiction with lots of court politics.

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vampires's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot

5.0

What the fuck

it definitely starts slow, which is not a bad thing, but i did not expect it to be 5 stars until everything begins snowballing and it feels like everything is wildly out of control but from an author perspective you can tell that robin hobb had everything so tightly under control and plotted to the minute. her handling of the plot and all the infrastructure supporting it was so good. also, she never pulls a single punch. there were like 2 things that i think she softened that could have been worse, but even then, she only transformed something bad into a different bad thing rather than hesitating on the trigger. like she just aimed the gun slightly to the left instead but still shot it anyway. WILD. i love the complexity of the web connecting the different characters that is gradually spun into place. also i love that the women are real characters and feel like real people, even when their position in the narrative would make it very easy to write them as more archetype (i don't want to include spoilers in this review so i won't name names but there are a couple of characters that applies to). there is the story unfolding in front of us, and then the story unfolding simultaneously off page, and then the story that already unfolded in the past that is dogging the narrative and you can feel its presence and every so often you are thrown a few crumbs to piece together. INSANE

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