Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

15 reviews

beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition

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

Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Eating disorder, Blood, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, and Death of parent

Minor: Fatphobia, War, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Xenophobia

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. 

---

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

micallab's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, and Infidelity

Minor: Death of parent

i_write_on_occasion's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Solid book, however, at times it seemed like it was struggling to find its identity

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Violence

Minor: Infidelity

poison_frogs's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Animal death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Vomit, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Death of parent

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, Emotional abuse, Death, and Animal death

Moderate: Abandonment, War, Gaslighting, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Confinement, Animal cruelty, Classism, Ableism, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Medical content

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, Infertility, Sexism, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Alcoholism, and Infidelity

Corporal punishment/whipping. Poisoning and aftermath. Near drowning.

erebus53's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

I'm pleased that this was only the first book in a lengthy series. Being high fantasy it had a familiar format that made it an easy read, despite the story unfolding slowly. Conflicts of interest and clear training montages weren't actually boring! It was amusing to see the story of a child who comes from nothing and the internal logic of the court machinations he was subjected to.

Not everything was a problem to be resolved in this story, which leaves a lot of scope for the future. Clearly, some things are left as origin story and will be threads that can be woven into upcoming chapters. I think the only thing that could seriously turn someone off a story like this is if you hate magic and dogs. I did find it hard to invest energy in the relationships that Fitz has with his dogs, because I could see them being used against me (he reader) to twist some kind of John Wick narrative. I do like that things were internally consistent, and that each character had their own knowledge and motivations.

I LOVE it when I am presented with a simple puzzle, with hints along the way. There are many little revelations that unfold through this story as it is one of espionage, power plays, and secrets.. but also of arcane knowledge, misunderstandings and true affection between people. The relationships carry the story and make it feel less clunky; less a war game and more like a conversation.

I'm looking forward to exploring the world building and the people we meet along the way.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Violence, Blood, Child abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Infidelity and Pregnancy

Minor: Vomit, War, Animal cruelty, and Excrement

revolution666's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Animal death, Classism, Grief, Physical abuse, Violence, War, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Bullying, Confinement, and Death

Minor: Infidelity, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Sexism, Blood, and Medical content

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.

---

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. 

---

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