Reviews with content warning for War - Royal Assassin

A bit slow, but an interesting follow up to the first book. It feels like the end of this one must be the climax of the trilogy, setting up for an interesting continuation of court intrigue in the third. Most of the book is really just set up, and his love story with Molly was perhaps a bit overwrought, but I'm enjoying a "realistic" unideal progression to the challenges of a royal bastard at court, even it's moments of monotony .

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loriley's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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mirandaleighhhh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

I have so many swirling thoughts about this book, I'll need to return to this review later. 4.5 stars might not be enough, this might be a 5 star read... Every moment Hobb spends building these characters and this story, brick by brick, is worth it. You can sink into the story and grasp each character's thought process, even if you wish they weren't doing what they are doing. Hobb is a fantastic writer and I cannot wait to see where all the seeds she has constantly sown will grow and lead to. And the magic system is fascinating and constantly taking unexpected turns.

I am GUTTED for Fitz. Absolutely gutted. Pain pain pain pain pain! Constantly. Except for the brief weeks of love and joy he experienced.

It's enjoyable to read about a male main character written by a woman. The relationships and love stories play out in a much more relatable and layered fashion than many like this I have read by a male author.

Regal makes me FURIOUS. I am a bit surprised that so far, Regal seems to be a straight-up evil character. There is not much room to consider him to be morally grey like some of the other unsavory characters.

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vampires's review against another edition

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4.75

i can't think of what to rate this other than five stars but i'm sure that if i incorporate the beginning and middle parts into my rating more then it wouldn't be five stars but i read this so fast that it's all a blur and the last part was so batshit (/positive) i just .......

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beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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? It's complicated

I can't rate or review this now, this book has left me an emotional wreck. When I'm feeling a bit more rational, I'll come back and do this properly. (02/05/2024)

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brynalexa's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? No

4.0

Slow to start but worth it in the end. I’m unsatisfied by the ending but that just makes me all the more eager to pick up the next book.

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ayealba's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

5.0

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lizziaha's review against another edition

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3.75

One thing that Robin Hobb has gotten right with these first two books is the way she writes the last quarter of the book. I was reading this sort of concurrently with another book (If We Were Villains) that had tension that coiled tighter and tighter. This book has tension but it builds, getting bigger and bigger until everything near the end of the book feels larger than life. Everything falls apart for Fitz in a way that I didn’t expect. It felt much more complex than most other fantasy books, and I appreciate that Robin Hobb continually makes me think I know where it’s going, but the characters make it go somewhere completely different. Maybe that’s the genius of being so deeply entrenched in one character’s brain for the entire book. All this being said, the building portion, the slow burn, can feel boring at the time. Which makes it hard to enjoy the book as a whole. I also want to read more about the women in the series. Fitz’s world is a man’s world, and while the women are equally as complex, we don’t get to see that as much in this book.

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