Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

6 reviews

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

joysmith's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

I very much enjoyed this book, one of the best that I’ve read to be honest. The author writes beautiful descriptions of both settings and relationships between characters. The characters’ flaws feel very real and human, and there is just the right amount of mystery to keep the reader hooked. I took off a quarter of a star because it was slow at times, and difficult to follow at times. But overall, I would strongly recommend this book and I look forward to reading the rest of the trilogy. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Animal death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

lizziaha's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.75

I’m putting my faith in the idea that this book is laying a very strong foundation for the 15 other books. Unfortunately, Fitz is a very lonely child, so the story only really picked up for me in the last quarter of the book, when he began establishing and using his relationships with others. This book has a very straightforward style of writing, which occasionally read as telling instead of showing. It’s a complex book with a lot of moving parts, and you have to explain them sometime, but it did result in somewhat dense chunks of text sometimes. I wasn’t sure at the beginning but I’m definitely curious to see where this goes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Abandonment

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Bullying, Eating disorder, Infertility, Infidelity, Rape, and Death of parent

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Adorable and cruel magic system. Heart wrenching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape

jo_lzr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-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? Yes

4.0

I really liked the prose of the book. I sympathized a lot with Fitz. There is, also, a strong focus on Fitz's mental health. Even though descriptions were a bit exhaustive at times, Robin Hobb's talent in story crafting made up for it.

I think that the fog that Galen put in the mind of Fitz so that he would forget about his ability to Skill, which caused him to hate himself so much that he wanted to commit suicide is an interesting metaphor for real life. I don't know if that was something the author did on purpose, but it is interesting to think that in real life the perspective of oneself can become fogged through abuse and gaslighting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

My history with this book started some ten years ago, when my favourite bookseller pushed it into my hands. He was already my favourite bookseller, but I didn't yet know how grateful I would be to him. Assassin's Apprentice became my favourite book of all time after I first read it (and the following two books in the trilogy, and Hobb's other books in the same universe). There's something in this book I've never found again elsewhere, which makes each re-read like coming home. It's a home where not everything is perfect, some family members I'd rather stay away from, and sometimes I still get lost in some shadowy corridors, but at its heart are endearing, defiant characters I feel I've known for a long time, and places I know will always keep a warm spot for me. I first read the Farseer trilogy in French, proceeded to re-read them in English when I could get my hands on the covers illustrated by John Howe, and now I'm re-reading them with Magali Villeneuve's beautiful, smooth pictures. But it's not exactly my third time reading. Over the years, I've come back to Robin Hobb when I needed comfort, to read a page or a couple of my favourite chapters. A few lines were enough to wisk me back to that home, and although I couldn't place who was whom and what some people were doing there, I always found my warm spot to settle back in.
Something that astounds me is the amount of foreshadowing you can't possibly grasp the first time. But re-reading it when you seize those clues is doubly heart-breaking because you're already aware of the hardships waiting for the characters, you remember them before they even happen, and you can't do anything to prevent them. It may sound like a painful experience, but there's also much beauty and comfort to be found within those pages.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Drug use