Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

50 reviews

tmw1122's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

reinynights's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Classism

Moderate: Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Death of parent

vampires's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug use, and Grief

Minor: Infertility

halefa's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.25

The first part - maybe the first 60-70% - I would give a rating of 2,5/2,75.
The second part of the book I would give a rating of 3,75/4.

The beginning of the book is an incredible slow burn.
I don't particularly enjoy stories written from children's perspective, and that might be the reason for me disliking that part so much. Unfortunately for me, the main character is a child (6-12 years old) for most of the book.
Most of the book is also focused only on that child and various things that happen to him. There is no general thread or story arc yet, and the main character is rather passive and unopioniated (I mean - he's a child!).

The second half of the book luckily picksup pace. Now a teenager, the main character makes more decisions and takes actions. Also, a general plot develops giving the world more authenticity and relevance. A generic evil shows up and different characters' agendas to deal with it are revealed.
This part was far more engaging and interesting to read.

And then there are the last couple of chapters happen where the pace quadruples and everything explodes.

Apart from being of the opinion that the book stays in the childage era for far too long, I am sad we didn't get to know more about the aspect of the story that is actually in the title: "Assassin's Apprentice". 
We only get vague hints and weak side sentences once in a while about what the assassin education included and I would have wished for more details and creativity here.
(Also I don't get Chade. Really weird mentor vibe.)

I noticed that the book contained barely any positive descriptions of women and the language used to describe female characters is often heavily inspired by the idea of stereotypical medieval terms.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Infertility, Grief, and Death of parent

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

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

mazzreads86's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Abandonment

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Bullying, Child abuse, Drug use, Infertility, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

gabrieldorian's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Infertility, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, 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

kirkwallsquad's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

I haven‘t read a western fantasy novel set in a world completely new to me in some time, and this novel was perfect to ease me back into it and remind me of how good fantasy is when written with competence and care. I developed attachment to the characters, including some complicated feelings and changing opinions as the story progressed, and I was right there with Fitz as he tried to understand the weight of his orders and the intrigues of the world he‘d been given to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, and Sexual violence