Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Mad Ship by Robin Hobb

9 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

mvanhaas's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Slavery, Murder, Violence, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Addiction, Classism, Sexual violence, Gaslighting, Death, Murder, Slavery, and Adult/minor relationship

poisonenvy's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

Robin Hobb has very quickly become one of my favourite authors. Her prose is beautiful and engaging, her characters complex and nuanced, and her plotting is so layered and complicated that it's difficult to predict what will happen next, and yet every little piece falls into place perfectly. 

Some of her characters I love, some of them infuriate me and make me want to slap them. One of my least favourite from last book developed in such a wonderful way in this book that she might be one of my favourites now.  

The world building is brilliant: I want to learn everything I can about this Realm of the long passed Elderlings, and I cannot wait to read the rest of the books in this series. 

I listened to a large chunk of this book on audio, and Anne Flosnik is an excellent narrator, who brings a lot of character and flavour to her narration. I could listen to her read a shopping list. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Violence

Moderate: Drug abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

Minor: Sexism and Slavery

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.

kabrahams's review

adventurous dark emotional

5.0

Robin Hobb does it again! Rich characters, fantastic world-building, political intrigue, ancient magic in danger of being lost--in short, everything you want from a fantasy book and more. Malta's character growth was amazing, I loved the tree-house city in the rain wilds and

learning more about the link between dragons and sea serpents. I love Althea and Wintrow so much, so of course neither of them get to be happy.

The liveships are also such interesting characters themselves. Excited to keep reading and enjoying!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Rape

Minor: Suicide and Drug abuse

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

achingallover's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Hobb is incredible, and I love this trilogy for all of it's characters but the women really make it. So much here that you gain on a reread and so much slots into place and is set up for the final book. (more detail to follow when I have time)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence