Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

41 reviews

kirkwallsquad's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

I haven‘t read a western fantasy novel set in a world completely new to me in some time, and this novel was perfect to ease me back into it and remind me of how good fantasy is when written with competence and care. I developed attachment to the characters, including some complicated feelings and changing opinions as the story progressed, and I was right there with Fitz as he tried to understand the weight of his orders and the intrigues of the world he‘d been given to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

angeee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexism, Death, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Animal death, and Abandonment

bookishgoblin's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Abandonment, Alcoholism, War, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Grief, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Infertility, Suicide, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

lizziaha's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.75

I’m putting my faith in the idea that this book is laying a very strong foundation for the 15 other books. Unfortunately, Fitz is a very lonely child, so the story only really picked up for me in the last quarter of the book, when he began establishing and using his relationships with others. This book has a very straightforward style of writing, which occasionally read as telling instead of showing. It’s a complex book with a lot of moving parts, and you have to explain them sometime, but it did result in somewhat dense chunks of text sometimes. I wasn’t sure at the beginning but I’m definitely curious to see where this goes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Emotional abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Grief, Ableism, Misogyny, Alcohol, Child abuse, and Physical abuse

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, Infertility, Rape, Death of parent, and Eating disorder

clarabooksit's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Bullying, Grief, Violence, Murder, Child abuse, and Abandonment

Moderate: Physical abuse, Ableism, War, Death, Animal death, Gaslighting, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Addiction, and Drug abuse

grimdark_dad's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Alcohol, Animal death, Death of parent, Blood, Death, Violence, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, and Physical abuse

brynalexa's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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? No

4.0

Adorable and cruel magic system. Heart wrenching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Grief, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Mental illness, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Drug use, Misogyny, Death of parent, Violence, Physical abuse, Addiction, and Infertility

Minor: Rape

lauramcc7's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Abandonment, Grief, Violence, Alcohol, Child abuse, Death, Murder, and Suicidal thoughts

jo_lzr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I really liked the prose of the book. I sympathized a lot with Fitz. There is, also, a strong focus on Fitz's mental health. Even though descriptions were a bit exhaustive at times, Robin Hobb's talent in story crafting made up for it.

I think that the fog that Galen put in the mind of Fitz so that he would forget about his ability to Skill, which caused him to hate himself so much that he wanted to commit suicide is an interesting metaphor for real life. I don't know if that was something the author did on purpose, but it is interesting to think that in real life the perspective of oneself can become fogged through abuse and gaslighting.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Animal death, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

bea_reads_books's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, Drug use, Cursing, War, Alcoholism, Grief, Sexism, Bullying, Death, Toxic relationship, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, and Gaslighting

Minor: Drug abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Blood, and Adult/minor relationship