Reviews tagging 'Kidnapping'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

10 reviews

_marycappiello3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

indigo_fox's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.75

 I didn't expect to like this story as much as I did in the end. At first I found the writing boring but at some point I was captivated. Hobb built a fascinating world and I loved learning about it as I read. I loved seeing the bonds between the characters and how those changed over time. I still have some questions but maybe those will be answered in the next book?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Infertility and Infidelity

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

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

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

plantbaybe's review against another edition

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

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Addiction, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

nexelle's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.75

The prose was nice. Found the world-building a bit boring in a way that it's a very box set medieval European fantasy. Nothing much happens except for like last 50 pages, we're just following main characters growing up.
I'm also pretty sure this book fails the Bechdel test (I only started actively looking for examples halfway through but yeah... It's visible it was written a while ago). There are hints at a queer character and a character with nonconfirmed gender. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Death, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Kidnapping

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Classism

Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Excrement, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury

Corporal punishment/whipping. Poisoning and aftermath. Near drowning.

eileenp59's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing sad slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Death of parent, Abandonment, War, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, and Colonisation

Minor: Biphobia, Body shaming, Child death, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Slavery, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Stalking