Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

74 reviews

immovabletype's review against another edition

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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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tracysbookbalderdash's review against another edition

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halefa's review against another edition

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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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baobaebye's review against another edition

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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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towanda81's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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

5.0


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scurvotron's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad slow-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? Yes

5.0


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bookishfaye's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

Robin Hobb you will answer for this…….. 

Positives: 
- I adored the medieval fairytale-esque writing style, it truly felt like I was being told a fable at times… like yes I’ll take your finest mead with a bread roll, some dried meat and a barrel of cheese if I may……..
- fitz …. 🫶😢 my little man deserves so much love 
- I’m an absolute sucker for the “oh no! I’ve become a parent!” Trope with a traumatized hermit like man accumulating a traumatized child and the found family that entails. 
- I’m so excited to see more of the dynamic between Fitz & the Fool & in general just more of the fool
- the game of thrones: specifically Stark/Jon Snow vibes were a slay 
- the magic system is literally so cool and interesting 
- Nosy is the goodest boy

Negatives:
- in the last 150 pages the pacing kinda fumbled a little bit at times, and I felt like chunks could have been cut from that section.
- I’m still very confused as to why there’s an issue with Fitz’s animal magic?? Maybe I just missed something but I don’t get why it’s an issue…?

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mazzreads86's review against another edition

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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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reddeddy's review against another edition

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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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kristinrdub's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

Absolutely delicious classic fantasy! I cannot believe I’ve never read this series before but I can’t wait to continue. The story is a bit slow to develop but the world building is so well done that I was never bored. 

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