Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Golden Fool by Robin Hobb

17 reviews

briely's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.25

In which Fitz learns the trials of parenting teenagers the hard way. Also I want to shake him. 

Why’d you have to make me wait til the very last chapter loser. Lost one star for how much he annoyed me this book but gave a little of it back for the ending.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia, Ableism, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Murder and Bullying

ismendes's review against another edition

emotional hopeful slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Ableism, Animal death, and Homophobia

kendoll_renea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Ableism, and Violence

aseel_reads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-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

4.75

Excellent as always

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Ableism

Moderate: Death, Murder, Violence, Grief, Animal death, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Rape

smokingchagga's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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

Not gonna lie, the second half of this book was absolutely amazing. I'm pretty much speechless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Bullying, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Animal death, Ableism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Rape

ijustreallyliketrees's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.25

Would have given it a higher rating but it was very very slow to get going, and a lot of Fitz's behaviour was frustrating for a large portion of the book. Still, looking forward to seeing what happens in the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Homophobia, and Animal death

Moderate: Violence and Gore

Minor: Sexual content, Drug use, Addiction, and Rape

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Violence, Animal death, Grief, Death, Ableism, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Dementia, Self harm, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Abandonment, Sexual content, Gore, and Xenophobia

Minor: Drug use, Sexism, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Infertility, War, Slavery, Vomit, Alcohol, Addiction, Child abuse, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, Child death, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Animal cruelty

kirstym25's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Ableism, and Homophobia

Moderate: Gore and Violence

kaziaroo's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective 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

3.25

Sadly, this was my least favourite Fitz book so far. I can forgive that not much happened even by Robin Hobb's standards, or that what did happen was punctuated by endless conversations with Chade, such that I was almost excited when another character appeared for Fitz to talk to. I can forgive that this book is mostly set-up for the next one. But the unchecked homophobia and ableism? Much, much harder to forgive. It's tricky to discuss the homophobia without spoilers, and I hold out hope that things will develop in a positive direction in later books. 

So, the ableism. As a warning, this section contains ableist language that is all quoted from the book. In this book there is a prominent autistic-coded character, named Thick (yes, and this is only the beginning), who is repeatedly and matter-of-factly referred to as stupid, simpleton, halfwit, dimwit, and idiot. Fitz even considers that perhaps he shouldn't call Thick halfwit where he can hear in case it upsets him, yet continues to use ableist language throughout his internal narrative (because apparently slurs are only bad if the target can't hear you). There are glimpses of good intentions in Thick's presentation and treatment; the characters begin to think maybe he's not so "simple" after all, and his Skill is so strong that they don't care. So, the disabled character has a superpower that makes him useful – where have I heard that before? Oh yes, it's a common ableist trope used to make disability palatable. Still, the characters do eventually seem to accept Thick for who he is, so at least the author tried. A bit. 

I loved the books up until this one and I want to continue the series. And I understand that when writing from the first-person perspective of a homophobic and ableist character in a homophobic and ableist world, it's difficult to show sensitivity in these areas and not appear to be endorsing that behaviour. But then why do it at all?  Maybe things were worse than I thought when this was published in 2002. But as a reader in 2023, certain parts of this book made for a very uncomfortable and at times sickening read, and I'll be much more wary approaching this author's books in future. I really hope this was just a bump in the road. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Grief, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Outing, Sexual content, Cursing, Gore, Hate crime, Alcohol, Homophobia, Infidelity, Animal death, Confinement, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Fire/Fire injury, and Suicide

Minor: Vomit, Miscarriage, Rape, Transphobia, Animal cruelty, and War

Ableist language and slurs repeatedly used to describe and refer to an autistic-coded character throughout

poisonenvy's review against another edition

emotional 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

4.0

Page six of this book hits you with this punch in the face: "To recognize you are the source of your own loneliness is not a cure for it. But it is a step toward seeing that it is not inevitable, and that such a choice is not irrevocable."

What follows is some of the most frustrating reading I've had in this series for some time. It picks up exactly where Fool's Errand left off, the same evening, the same setting. And what follows is Fitz making some of the most idiotic and pigheaded decisions I've ever seen, which is impressive because he's never been a very level-headed character. The amount of times I wanted to strangle him was... A lot. 

But there's a lot of good, solid character work in this book too. Fitz grows *a lot,* and a lot of it is very satisfying to see.There's also a huge heaping of homophobia and ableism in this book, which is probably why I docked a star (this does not mean the AUTHOR is homophobic or ableist, but the characters are certainly).  There's also not a whole lot of interaction between Fitz and the Fool, and I think this book suffers for it, but I'm hoping to see more in the next book! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Ableism

Moderate: Animal death

Minor: Rape

The characters are homophobic and ableist, but that doesn't mean the author is.