Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

78 reviews

maeverose's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

                         TL;DR:

Not a lot happens in the first half, mostly an introduction to everything and following Fitz as he grows up and trains to be an assassin. Second half tried to do too many different things back to back. I assume setting stuff up for future books but it felt a bit jumbled. Maybe if the beginning had been condensed it could’ve been spread out better. I really like the writing style and world building. I don’t know if I would say the book itself is too long or more so that big books just can’t keep my attention. I was only mildly interested for a lot of this book.

                       Characters

So far I’m not that connected to Fitz. To me he felt a little void of personality outside of having a strong moral code, liking animals, and being a teenager. Some of the side characters were much more interesting to me. Mainly Chade, Burrich and the Fool. My favorite character so far is the Fool.

‘The gender of the Fool has been disputed. When directly questioned on this matter by a younger and more forward person than I am now, the Fool replied that it was no one's business but his own.’ — You tell ‘em. (I say, as I’ve decided that he’s transmasc non binary..)

                          A Note

For people who haven’t read the book yet: I feel like chapter 15 deserves a bit of a warning. Specifically for telepathic mind rape and suicidal thoughts/attempt. There’s some build up to what happens within that chapter, but it’s much more intense than most of the book leading up to it.

I was gonna include a whole rant about the never corrected ableism but decided I was being over dramatic so I’ll spare you. I just find it annoying that people only ever seem to care about ‘time period accuracy’ (being as this is clearly based on medieval times) when it allows them to treat their marginalized characters poorly. I know this was written 30 years ago but still. It irked me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, Animal death, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Confinement, Excrement, Vomit, Gaslighting, and Misogyny

Minor: Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Rape, Slavery, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

Graphic: poisoning, telepathic mind rape, mental loss of self (becoming zombie-like), drowning, in one scene a dog is in a lot of pain and distress due to a bone stuck in its throat. Fitz removes it and the dog is fine, but the scene is very graphic. Moderate: self hatred, suicide baiting, eugenics

thoseoldcrows23's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

      I've been meaning to read this for a long time, and I'm so mad at myself for having put it off. I suspected that I would enjoy Robin Hobb's work, and I had hoped that The Realm of the Elderlings would someday come to be one of my favorite series. This first book has convinced me that my hope was not in vain. 

     I can understand why this book may not be for everyone. It's slow, and much more character focused then plot driven. However, it gives me the same vibes as Tamora Peirce gave me when I was a kid just dipping her toes into fantasy. I was a little nervous going in because I had heard several people say that this book was dense, and I was concerned I would be too stupid to get it, but reading this book felt like sinking into a warm bath. I didn't find it difficult at all, only rich and layered. The character work is excellent, and I found myself caring deeply for Fitz before the first chapter was done, and the writing is beautiful. I'm so excited to continue this trilogy and The Realm of the Elderlings over all.
     If you, like me, have been putting this book off for whatever reason I encourage you to bite the bullet. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Animal death, Child abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pregnancy, Bullying, War, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, and Blood

Minor: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Ableism, Drug use, and Infidelity

itsmjn's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Abandonment

hwright93's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

Really enjoyed this. Considering it's the first in a trilogy (that's also part of a 16 book series) the ending was great. It can't all be tied up with a bow in one book.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, and Murder

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Death of parent, Alcoholism, and Animal cruelty

plume_de_renarde's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Drug use

Minor: Injury/Injury detail and Gaslighting

angstifies's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

i have a personal dislike for fantasy books written in first person narration but this book is absolutely the sole exception. i’ve heard tons of praise for Robin Hobb’s writing and man were they right, her characters are brilliant i loved reading about them.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Animal death, Emotional abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Gaslighting, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Blood, Death, Drug use, and Abandonment

Minor: Cursing, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Death of parent, Infertility, Misogyny, and Infidelity

cynicalraven's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

3.0

It's very slow. Things start happening in the last 20% of the book.

also too many dead dogs

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Animal death

Moderate: Misogyny

mokka's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Grief, and Infidelity

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Drug use, Animal death, Murder, Cursing, Violence, War, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment

michellej146's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Murder

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, and Gore

kabrahams's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I had been warned that this book would give me emotional damage, and for most of it I felt it, but had honestly expected it to be worse. And then the last chapter, no, last paragraph. AHHH. Pain, pain, pain. I'm still crying. And yet I loved it.

Lots of fun tropes (no, not animal death, not fun, PAIN) like learning to use magic (although that involves pain), a presumably unrequited childhood love, and court intrigue. Also

  I cannot overstate how much I appreciated the fact that Fitz didn't excel at everything, wasn't the best of the best, and openly failed multiple times, remaining alive because there were others to help him.

The last hundred pages or so were super fast passed and epic after a relatively slow paced (but not in a bad way) story. I love Robin Hobb's attention to detail. Such a rich, immersive world. Perhaps a too bit like our own at times, but I still can't wait to return.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Animal death