Reviews tagging 'Torture'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

133 reviews

sofiefarmer's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

This book is an incredibly memorable work. The worldbuilding absolutely blew me away. It was so delicately and believably crafted. I thought the characters were super interesting and I loved the way they were flawed and developed throughout. The plot itself was super engaging. I was really drawn into and immersed in the story in ways I am not typically. It was a really phenomenal story.

My biggest issue was pacing. I thought the first half was well-paced, but the ending felt rushed. There were several times where I wished Shannon would have gone more into depth with a plot point. I found myself saying "Okay, I guess," when things became a little too convenient or a character blacked out for a whole section.

Also, I occasionally felt like the distribution of POVs left me wanting more from certain characters. There were times when I felt like we had completely abandoned a character only to find things neatly wrapped up as time had passed and we returned to them a few chapters later.

My last issue was how this book was marketed to me. I was told it was about lesbians that ride dragons. That is not what this story is about. I am not disappointed because the story was excellent, but I definitely came in with a much different picture of what this book than the reality. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide, Miscarriage, and Torture

Minor: Death of parent

fatherprozac's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

I really enjoyed this book's female characters and the lack of homophobia, racism in relation to skin color, and blatant misogyny (other than that toward Sabran) in the world. It feels very socially modern and so it managed to capture me in a way that many other fantasy books haven't. Overall, a great story. I do wish that

Tane's part of the story had been bigger, I found myself frustrated at the clear focus on the West's side of the narrative. I also wish we had seen more of Nayimathun--even the book itself points out how often she and Tane are separated.  I also despised the long chapters surrounding Niclays as I personally found him extremely unlikeable--which may have been the point, but they were a chore nonetheless. Finally, the climax of actually fighting the Nameless One was a bit disappointing for me, pretty anticlimactic.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Murder, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, and Kidnapping

muriel_r's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Infertility, and Torture

rensreading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

i have no idea where to start!! my brain feels like its scattered all over but one thing i can say with full certainty is that: this is one of the best high fantasy stories out there, hands down.

the plot? exquisite! the characters? phenomenal! the progression of relationships? flawless! all the twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat!

i think my favorite character would have to be tané. we didn’t get as much of her story as we did the others, true. but she spoke to my soul. a hidden past, seemingly abandoned by her birth parents and taken in by the temple (i’m like 80% sure it was a temple anyway) to learn and train to one day become a rider, having a dragon choose her and call her kin, claiming she has the heart of a dragon all while battling an insurmountable amount of guilt for lives she’s put in danger due to her own ambition. ughhhh i just loved her. i can’t explain it right. just know she’s marvelous and i wish only happy things for her from here on out.

i also love that all the queerness was so casual. the only issue anybody had with queer couples were due to blood heirs and classism. that’s it. so refreshing for two people of the same gender to be together and no one has an issue with it for the mere sake of it. especially in fantasy! you would assume since its all made-up, homophobia wouldn’t be a thing many fantasy stories subscribe to but you would be wrong. i also love that ace and aro also had rep in this. lost of people call this a sapphic fantasy, but that feels like a discredit to all the other queer identities represented in this book.

this is a tome, plain and simple. don’t let its size intimidate you though! once the story has you, its not gonna let go until you’ve read all 800+ pages it has for you. you’ll love it. but if you have trouble reading longer books, divide the book up by parts! it helped me immensely!

and when people say the story really starts to pick up at page 250, they truly were not lying.

5 stars (:

[edited 6/29]

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Religious bigotry, Torture, War, Confinement, Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Cursing, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Pregnancy, Gun violence, Infertility, and Incest

Minor: Colonisation, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

concerning the incest: a character raises a child as her own then ends up falling in love with the child once they are grown. they are, fortunately, not blood related.

abbyschalupa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Torture, Infertility, Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Miscarriage, War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Blood, Murder, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Addiction, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

wreathedinviolets's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

This book is unbelievably complex and I’m so impressed despite all the different interwoven histories, storylines, and religions, everything made complete sense and was easy to follow (not always the case in giant high fantasy novels). I appreciated that all the details had a hint of connection to the real world, especially the old language that was similar to Middle English! Every narrator had interesting storylines (another big win) but I particularly enjoyed Ead and Tane. And of course the wlw storyline is everything!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Xenophobia, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage

Minor: Child death, Torture, and Incest

beeboofighter'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
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I enjoyed the part about Tané's and her dragon the most. It remained consistently good over the course of narration.
Just feels ridiculous to me that the book power couple doesn't get almost any of the impact throughout the story compared to the struggles of other characters. I enjoyed their romance nonetheless ofc. But like. Leave my girl Tané and the dragon aloooone 😭😭😭

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, War, Mental illness, Violence, and Torture

Minor: Pregnancy and Suicidal thoughts

toffishay's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? No

4.25

This was such an awesome sweeping fantasy epic and I loved it! I am not normally a big fantasy reader, but I had heard awesome things and I am not disappointed. You get to read from the perspectives of four different character and it helps you get a sense of the world and get to know the people really well. The stakes also feel very real and I was on the edge of my seat more than once. It doesn't feel too long either, like I thought a book of this length might. It was very well-written and just felt very real. I could even see myself reading it again; maybe not too soon but it is a great time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Infertility, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Death, War, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Sexism, Xenophobia, Torture, and Incest

ging090803's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I started this book during my finals. Wasnt a great idea. It took more than a month to read... I am now broken. This book is incredible. The worldbuilding around it is insane. At some point, it seemed a little bit too long but i still appreciated it. Well, I freaking loved it. I recommand it for everyone who is into high fantasy. 
It might seem complicated to understand (and it is), but the story is worth to read. The characters are amazing. The past is well written which explained everything during the present. 
Anyway, 5 freaking stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Miscarriage, and Blood

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Infertility, Murder, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry

rtaire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Violence, Xenophobia, War, Child death, Gore, Pregnancy, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Miscarriage, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Mental illness