Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

38 reviews

bluejay21's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Fitz is really going through it, huh

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug use, Grief, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

anaguana's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug use, Miscarriage, and Sexual content

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Slavery, and Suicidal thoughts

ellipalmer's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.5

I'm still really enjoying this series overall but this book really dragged for me. Partly I just haven't had as much energy for reading which has nothing to do with this book. But also it felt like this book could have been shorter or something. It's not that there isn't a lot that happens but somehow it still feels like it didn't need almost 700 pages to do it. There's a lot of Fitz whining and being moody, I think we could have gotten much of the point with less repitition of plot points. <Spoiler> Yes Regal is conniving, yes Shrewd is dying, yes the raiders are mysterious and bad. </Spoiler> I think the impact of those plot points is almost lessened by how much time we spend returning to them without much development.  The ending happened really fast, but was good and has fully left me hungry for the third book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture and Suicide

Moderate: Violence, War, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Gaslighting, Death, Blood, and Ableism

Minor: Alcoholism

emsavors's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Murder, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Rape, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, and War

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

"Here we are, and here is always the place we must start from."
Each time I read this book, and it's been 4 or 5 times, I wonder why I make myself go through all that pain again. Robin Hobb isn't gentle with her characters. She pushes them to their limits, and then beyond, while keeping a firm grip on her story. But she's also a master storyteller, and a queen of character writing. I go back to her books because there are no others I can immerse myself as much into. I know Fitz, and I know the Fool, by some deeper knowledge than just words. I live for the conversations they have in this particular volume. Yes, there's one the characters I hate the most in all literature, but there's also fabulous friendships between people of all genders. It's a truth universally acknowledged that found family is my favourite trope, and I have an inkling that I first experienced its thrill with this series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Child death, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, and Violence

emmeline's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, and Drug use

Moderate: Excrement, Miscarriage, and Terminal illness

elliekg's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Confinement

Minor: Grief, Miscarriage, Rape, and Slavery

aseaoftomes's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

For those of you who don't know me, the Realm of the Elderlings (RotE) is a series that means everything to me. It's impossible to review something I love and adore as much as I do. Anything I say about this book won't encapsulate the overall feeling and story, so I'm not going to do my normal routine (fully).

This is the second book in the Farseer trilogy and the second book in the overall RotE series and it picks up right where the first book left off. Fitz is in the Mountains recovering from the events from the prior book and when he finally returns to Buckkeep he's met with all kinds of political intrigue and turmoil and the continuing war. But there's so much more than that. 

Every element I normally do in my breakdowns (writing, plot, characters and world building) is just phenomenal. Hobb's characters and world building in particular are some of the best I've read. It's not a simple act of reading these books, you live them. 

This series is not for those faint of heart, but it's worth everything if you can manage it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, Torture, Violence, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Ableism, and Physical abuse