Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

82 reviews

_juriireads_'s review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Suicidal thoughts, and Physical abuse

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, and Miscarriage

skylarkindareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

theforgottenstoryteller's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

Did this book take me three months to finish...yes. And yet, I think it is going on my favorite shelf. I can see why Hobb has such a strong and loyal following. It is very, very heavy on the politics which makes sense owing to the fact that Fitz was the illegitimate son of a king trained up to be the "King's Man". The complexities of the relationships and characters in this book were quite well done. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Emotional abuse and Physical abuse

mandkips's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark reflective 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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

m_________'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

4.0

This was so emotionally traumatic and there are fifteen more in this universe to go ...

I really enjoyed this book and am certainly looking forward to continuing the series.  I liked how Fitz's role as an assassin isn't quite what I've seen from other fantasy assassins, he's trained to be a lot more political and subtle. The book definitely has some hard hitting themes about loneliness, trauma, and living with trauma and I am also intrigued by certain side characters, and I already really love Fitz, of course.

Major CW for animal deaths.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abandonment, and Grief

Moderate: War, Vomit, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Gore, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, Death, Confinement, Child death, Child abuse, Bullying, Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Addiction

kirstym25's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Violence, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

prairieraven's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-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

3.75

Adventure fantasy right from the start. A full cast of interesting characters and a plot that twists into the next books. I would not say that the characters are not overly diverse but easily could have been. I love that dogs have been given depth in this book as their own characters. I haven't found too many fantasy novels as enjoyable to read lately as this series.  It has been a fun escape getting into this set of books. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, War, Injury/Injury detail, Emotional abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Bullying, Animal death, and Addiction

booksthatburn's review against another edition

emotional

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

5.0

ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE follows Fitz through his childhood and adolescence, as he learns to be an assassin for the king, and what he’s actually willing to kill for.

The worldbuilding is layered, with things explained as Fitz is told them, supplemented by insights from his older self. This leads to a gradually filled-in impression of a complex setting where details are conveyed as they are necessary, and even more is implied through the narrative. This style lends clarity. He discusses both how he felt at the time, as a child and then a teenager, and what he thinks about those events now that he’s an adult. This becomes especially important during sections such as his time under Galen, as the dissonance intensifies between events as they happened and how he was being conditioned to perceive them. There are several moments where something he does as he’s telling the story is juxtaposed with some assertion made by his younger self, showing how something must have changed in the meantime (presumably to be covered somewhere in the trilogy). 

One of my favorite things is his complex relationship with Burrich. How they are to and with each other changes throughout the story. Even when it's changing for the worse, it makes sense, and it's nice to see Fitz's growing understanding of Burrich as a person with his own internal world separate from Fitz. How Fitz views Burrich is often a great proxy for how Fitz is growing and changing, flavored by the dissonance between how Fitz is and how Burrich wants him to be.

There’s a lot of care in the narration, partly due to the balance between Fitz’s memories and his older self’s reactions to and commentaries on the memories, and partly due to what I can best describe as a lack of voyeuristic interest. One of the background plots involves raiders pillaging the coast, and, other than a few scenes where Fitz has to directly fight someone as a result of the raids, there are few descriptions of the kind of violence which accompanies such raids. Said violence is canonically happening, and Fitz frequently discusses the effects he’s observing on the people and the Kingdom which stem from the raids, but in a way that makes sense for his character. This is just one example of how the narration gives the impression of the complexity (and sometimes violence) of Fitz’s world, but does not unnaturally bend his character to direct the story towards it, nor does it shy away when appropriate. 

A great start to the series, I'm ready to read the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Blood, Violence, and Medical content

Moderate: Cursing, Pregnancy, Ableism, Sexism, Misogyny, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Excrement, Drug use, Child abuse, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child death, and Death

Minor: Miscarriage and Rape

bluejay21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Drug use, Infidelity, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

ellipalmer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

I can't believe I hadn't heard of this series/Robin Hobb before. The first book in series always feels like one big exposition to me. But still I found the story and the characters engaging. The world feels rich and well imagined. The characters whether likeable or not feel real and alive. There's lots of questions still to be answered. I found Fitz to be likeable. <Spoiler> I'm really curious about the Wit and the way Burrich reacts about it. It almost felt allegorical for sexuality or something. This way of connecting that is seen as shameful and to be suppressed/hidden. I hope we learn more about that in future books. </Spoiler> I'm very excited to read the next book and see where we go from here! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, and Emotional abuse