Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Mad Ship by Robin Hobb

7 reviews

errie's review against another edition

tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Murder, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, Torture, Violence, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Addiction, Alcohol, Physical abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, War, Rape, Toxic friendship, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Misogyny, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

atalea's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

The Liveship Traders is slowly becoming one of my all-time favourite series. Robin Hobb's character work is some of the best out there and this series really highlights that. All the characters undergo interesting developments in a natural way and you've got to love/hate her villains. I don't know how she does it,  but I loved (almost) all the characters in the book and wasn't interested in all of the POV's.

Between the two, I do prefer Ship of Magic over Mad Ship because I felt more was happening in that book. In Mad Ship we take a slower pace. Mysteries of the world are slowly being unraveled. Most of the book felt like set-up for the conclusion of the story and focused instead in character development. I don't mind a slow burn (I mean that's Hobb in a nutshell), but it was only 3/4 into the book that things started going down, so it dragged a bit.

I am very interesting to see how Hobb will bring everything together in the end and can't wait to start the final book in this trilogy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Slavery

Moderate: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

Minor: Confinement, Animal death, Infidelity, Addiction, Child abuse, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Drug use, Slavery, Trafficking, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Medical content, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Body horror, War, Abandonment, Grief, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Animal death, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: Vomit, Classism, Ableism, Excrement, Death of parent, Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Xenophobia

Sexual coercion, abuse of power; victim blaming/rape culture (challenged), complicity in assault and abuse. Descriptions of sexual abuse and rape in captivity as well as the aftermath thereof, but no graphic scene; attempted rape and discussion thereof in one scene. Withdrawal. Illness, epidemic. Earthquakes. Relationships between adult men and pre-teen/teenage girls, as well as allusions to relationships between adult women and teenage boys.

bluejay21's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Blood, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Confinement, and Misogyny

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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? Yes

4.75

Power dynamics shift and collapse in the second volume of the Liveship Traders trilogy. New characters are introduced, others disappear only to reveal worse dangers than the ones they embodied. 
Robin Hobb's character writing shines particularly brightly in the sequel to Ship of Magic. I'm thinking of one in particular, whom I can't stand in book 1 but start to tolerate i' book 2 (and will end up loving in book 3). I can't even imagine the effort it must have taken to orchestrate such a masterful chorus of voices, but it works. Now that we are more familiar with names and characters, the deeper currents of the story start to move closer to the surface and big mysteries are glimpsed through the moving tide. 
CW: closed spaces, sexual assault, slavery, rape.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Rape, Sexual assault, and Violence

genny's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Guhhh.This was just excellent. The full truth about the dragons was slowly unveiled throughout the story; I already understood some of the links from the last book but everything came to light here (The Ringsgold chapter was masterful!). A+ character development, as expected...

• Malta. Never have I felt the urge to slap a child as strongly as when I read her POV - but that somehow changed and now all I want is to protect her. I actually feel bad for wishing she would learn a lesson. What?! 😆 I suspect I'll grow infinitely more fond of her in the next book.
• Out of all the "people" to be mad at, I found myself annoyed at Vivacia. And then eventually at Wintrow as well, because I hate that they're
  siding with Kennit. I understand why, but I still hate it.
  Props to Hobb for making me accept a character's motivations even though I disagree with them.
• I love all of the Vestrits, but I especially love Keffria and Ronica's brand of quiet yet unwavering resolve. This, after being so irritated by Keffria's naivety in Ship of Magic. Haha.

There's more but I don't want to turn this into an essay on every character. Suffice to say that I love reading about them all (though I can't get over the ickiness of Reyn and Malta's age gap). I'm already sad that there's just one book left - these characters have imprinted themselves onto my heart. And they're not the only good thing about the book! There's worldbuilding, atmosphere, plot threads sewn together flawlessly. 🥰 It's a long read, but not one page was wasted IMO!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Murder, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Fire/Fire injury

geekmom's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

How long has it been since I have read a trilogy where the second book is this good?! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Rape, Drug abuse, Confinement, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Animal death