Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Assassin's Apprentice

This book was incredible. It is very slow paced. Hobb takes great care to coax out the story unfolding before you and is not in a rush to do so. She also incorporates a lot of flowery prose that slows down the reading even further. But this story is incredible. And painful. We experience the story through the eyes of Fitz who is the bastard son of the prince-in-waiting Chivalry. We watch him grow from 6 years old into young adulthood as he learns to navigate this world that he was thrust into. He experiences so much and Hobb does not hold back any punches. Fitz goes through it in this installment and it just makes you want to wrap him in a hug and protect him. This will be a series I recommend to everyone.

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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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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capgambit's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad fast-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

4.5

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vampires's review against another edition

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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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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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beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging 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

4.5

This may be one of the best fantasy novels I have ever read, and yet I can understand why others have had difficulty with it.

The pace is very, very slow, there is a lot of descriptive language and exposition to wade through, and even then, there isn't a whole lot of plot to be found, at least not at first. All these things considered, I can easily see why someone might get frustrated and give up.

But I found Assassin's Apprentice to be an absorbing, riveting, and immersive read - just what a good fantasy should be.

It also delivers in spades when it comes to political intrigue, which I also very much enjoy reading. The story is told from the POV of Fitz, who for

the first half of the book isn't even given a proper name

, and this was such a masterful move on Hobb's part. You see him as he

grows from a child into a young man

. He's very observant of people and he has a

strong affinity for animals

. His keen observational skills (and at times judgmental behaviour) could make him unlikeable, but Hobb takes care to show us the other sides of him - his compassion, his kindness, his curiosity, and his thirst for knowledge all made me care about him and root for him as a character.

The other characters are well-developed too (even the villainous ones[

well, mostly</spoiler]), depicted as complex, flawed human beings, with many shades of grey.

The plotting was overall excellent, although did find the ending

rather rushed and not well-explained

, but I am willing to overlook that because of how much I enjoyed the rest of it.

4.5 stars from me.

Content Warnings

bookishgoblin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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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clarabooksit's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

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

3.0

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