Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

19 reviews

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

nziam's review

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

I had read other books in this world as a child, but somehow never the very first. This book grew on me slowly, but was incredibly rewarding, and I loved seeing the characters I loved in my childhood in their younger days. I'm very glad I picked it up in 2020!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Addiction

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

maggieslibrarycard'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

grets_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Animal death, Death, Grief, Infertility, Rape, Addiction, Animal cruelty, and Child abuse

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

hardbackednooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 On my second read, this is definitely still a 5-star book, but I did have a few things to point out that I didn't notice/didn't make a note of the first time around.

Good things

- This is a debut? Holy crap.
- The characters are all unique and distinct; while some have similar personalities

(Regal and his entourage basically all being super vile and sadistic villains)

, their descriptions, mannerisms, and dialogue make them easy to tell apart.
- Hobb's worldbuilding is absolutely incredible. She's done more in ~400 pages than some authors do with twice that amount. The richness of culture, history, conflict, environment, all of it is amazing. It perfectly sets up the next books and ties in well with the "side stories" (Rain Wilds and Liveship Traders).
- This book is quotable as heck. I mostly read the print version so I didn't make as many notes as I'd have wanted to, but a few things stuck with me that I went back and highlighted on my kindle.
- The storytelling style is a little difficult to get into at first, but this is still a good thing. It's a departure from the typical and once I'd read a chapter or two, I really enjoyed it. Instead of being told as a traditional first-person, "as it happens" type of story, it's a first-person recollection from an ambiguously older Fitz, who's sat down to write out his childhood. He references this in a few instances, saying things like "I wish I could remember the rest of this conversation" or "I can't recall the exact details" which helps you feel immersed in the retelling.

Not as good things

- The timeline is fuzzy for me. We know the book starts with Fitz around 6 years old, with very little memory of what came before. The story progresses slowly from there, giving Hobb time to introduce us to the world and the cast of characters, but after the 1/3 mark or so, we start having sudden jumps. They're usually ill-defined as "some years passed" or "after some time," which makes it difficult to gauge A) how long Fitz has been

training with Chade)

or how much he's aged, how long certain castle intrigue plots have taken, and other relatively minor things.
- Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe the fuzzy timeline is because it's being told as Fitz's retelling rather than a current happening. Hmmmm.
- There is a monumental amount of abuse in this story, which isn't a knock against the book, but it did take a lot out of me when I was reading. You definitely need to be in a good headspace to make it through.

All in all, a very excellent and good book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Addiction, and Drug use

chloereadds's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, and Misogyny

Minor: Infertility, Bullying, and Addiction

emmeline's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing

Minor: Infertility and Miscarriage