Scan barcode
lizziaha's review against another edition
3.5
One of the things i really valued about the second book was the way that not everything went to plan for Fitz. It made the plot hard to predict and enjoyable to follow along with. This book took that a step too far i think. Fitz’s plans failed so often that it circled back into predictability. It was hard to root for any of his plans when i knew that he would be thwarted. It was realistic, but the romantic in me wants the underdog to catch a break. I love the way that Robin Hobb writes women and i wish we could’ve seen more of that in this book. We get glimpses of women being cool and incredible and brave but Fitz is so focused on his own woes (of which he has plenty) that the women and other side characters fall to the background. This is (somewhat surprisingly) remedied a bit by Nighteyes and his building of a pack. (I particularly loved the audiobook narrator’s tone whenever the wolf talked about pack). This momentum is, of course, dashed upon the rocks when the found family separates at the end of the book. I’m excited to see how it plays out in the later series, but disappointed in the meantime. One last thing on the ending—I hate list epilogues. The monotonous listing of events that occur after the final action leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I have high hopes that future books may expound on these events, but just in the context of this book, i was annoyed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Abortion, Hate crime, Torture, Miscarriage, Rape, Animal death, Blood, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and War
Minor: Drug use and Infertility
More...