Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

30 reviews

ltsang08's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Bullying, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abandonment, Addiction, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Drug abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, and War

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.

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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

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

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

emilywc's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Animal death, and Murder

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

lanna_aud's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, and Child abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism and Abandonment

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Infertility

briely's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Alcohol, Murder, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, and Physical abuse

bookishchef's review against another edition

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? Yes

3.25

Nobody told me this book had zombies.

I mean... the forged ones are basically zombies, no?

Unfortunately, this was incredibly boring until the last third. I listened to it in audio form and it became a stream of consciousness at some point. It didn't feel like the story had a clear direction (or any at all) until the last 30%. It's a shame because the writing is very good and some of the character relationships were intriguing.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, and Animal death

Moderate: Drug use, Alcoholism, and War

bea_reads_books's review

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