Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

80 reviews

reddeddy's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Violence, Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Animal death, Confinement, Death, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Dysphoria, Addiction, Medical content, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gore, Kidnapping, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Infertility, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Colonisation, and Drug abuse

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , War, Body horror, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Rape, Slavery, Torture, Suicide, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Vomit, Ableism, Excrement, and Toxic relationship

lastlostgirl's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

The first half of this book was a bit of a drag but when I hit that halfway mark, I couldn’t put it down! The last 100 pages made it all worth it. I had no idea where this adventure was going to take me and I’m so glad I stuck it out to see. Hoping the next book has more of the Fool, I need to know more about him and his room full of trinkets. 

If you’re looking for an action packed fantasy with romance, this first book won’t be it for you. This was all political/war building, magic system building, and relationship building.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Suicidal thoughts

kirkwallsquad's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

I haven‘t read a western fantasy novel set in a world completely new to me in some time, and this novel was perfect to ease me back into it and remind me of how good fantasy is when written with competence and care. I developed attachment to the characters, including some complicated feelings and changing opinions as the story progressed, and I was right there with Fitz as he tried to understand the weight of his orders and the intrigues of the world he‘d been given to.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Pedophilia, and Sexual violence

crispr_breadboard's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

4.5

Ugh! I loved it so much. Was at Emerald City Comic Con a day prior to Robin Hobb being there to sign books. I was midway through the book then— finished it on the plane ride back. The last line made me cry SO DANG HARD. 

I won’t lie, I thought the riddle by the Fool was implying Regal was the face (mutt, aka bastard)! I was so sure of it! But I’m glad it was Galen— it made so much sense and still was a surprise satisfying enough that I couldn’t guess it correctly 😁

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Murder, and Animal cruelty

onthesamepage's review against another edition

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

I reread this on audio as a refresher, because I'd like to continue with the Realm of the Elderlings at some point, and it's been over 15 years since I first read this.

People often talk about how nothing happens in books, and how that's a bad thing. And I can agree with that sometimes. But this is a prime example of a book where nothing happened, and I still cared about it anyway. We're seeing Fitz grow slowly from a young boy into a teenager. Most of this consists of training montages, or Fitz performing tasks for someone. But I can't help but be invested in him as a character. The magic system continues to be intriguing, and I loved Fitz's bonds with animals.

The last 20% or so progresses a lot faster than the first part, and I may need to reread the very last part physically to make sure I remember what happened (audiobooks do make me zone out every once in a while). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Suicide attempt, and Child abuse

Moderate: Ableism and Animal death

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

paperbacktiger's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Violence

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

niknakreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring tense slow-paced

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

5.0

If you've not read any Robin Hobb, please start soon because you are missing out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, and Abandonment

Moderate: Death of parent and Animal cruelty

Minor: Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Child death, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood

drlark's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional slow-paced

3.75

Finally giving this series a go, and I'm not sure how to feel other than, I need to know what happens next. If the last book I read was all plot, very little character, this is the exact reverse. Hobb takes her time introducing Fitz, the illegitimate son of the King-in-Waiting, and the characters who surround him as he grows up, trained and used by the king as a spy and assassin. 

This is high fantasy in the classic sense -- a huge body of work (16 books!) immersing the reader in a new world with its own magic and history, so the reader has to be ready and patient to let that unfold at a gradual pace. I think Hobb does this quite well. Her writing is beautiful, and her development of the relationships between Fitz, Burrich, the Fool, Lady Patience, Chade, Verity, and others is expert. The relationships are what hooked me into this story because:

Oh my GOODNESS, the cruelty and ugliness of the villains in this book. And moreover, the blindness of the other characters to just how evil these people are, and the inability/unwillingness to stop them in their cruelty and ugliness -- it was upsetting, to say the least. Personally, I prefer villains with a bit more nuance. Villains who think they're doing the right thing. I prefer a kinder world. Of course bad things happen, and there's conflict, but... a little more kindness, please. And enough with the animal cruelty, ffs.

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Content Warnings

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