Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

284 reviews

katethealmostgreat's review against another edition

adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

5.0

Easily one of my favorite books of all time!!! I couldn’t put it down and was gasping as I read. Don’t be intimidated by the length - it moves really fast. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility

Moderate: Violence and Miscarriage

Minor: Torture, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

cameronreads's review against another edition

5.0

I don’t know how this book managed to surpass my expectations but it did by leaps and bounds. A perfect world, magic system, writing style, structure, and cast of characters. I was convinced I’d be saying it was too long, but if anything it could have been longer - I would spend forever in this incredible world with these life like characters. Loved this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Addiction, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Torture

elissabrady's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

The book reads more like a Netflix series than a fantasy book but it’s trill brilliant. I really enjoyed the visuals it stimulates and the storyline between Sab and Ead is beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Sexism

Moderate: Misogyny, Murder, Death of parent, Miscarriage, and Grief

Minor: Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Torture, and War

moonlitreading_'s review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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

5.0

“No woman should be made to fear that she was not enough.”

THIS BOOK!!!! The size of it intimidated the hell out of me, but I’m so happy I finally picked it up. The world-building and the lore were absolutely wonderful and expansive. Some parts felt slow in the beginning, but Samantha Shannon’s writing kept me interested. As everything started to unravel and connect, I became more and more hooked on the book. 

The characters made me go through different journeys with varying goals; I loved every second of it. Every adventure and every fight had me sitting straight because I never knew what would happen next.

After finishing this, I can say with my whole chest that The Priory of the Orange Tree truly deserves its hype. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Death

Moderate: Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

micaelacccc's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

Absolutely beautiful, I loved it so much!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and War

Moderate: Infertility, Grief, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Blood, Murder, and Death

Minor: Death of parent and Adult/minor relationship

em815ily's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and War

maddiemooney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Classism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Torture, War, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Infertility, and Infidelity

racheyreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.75

This book was a slog! A positive one, but oh boy the content was so much to digest. I've constantly been surprised by the storyline throughout the entirety of this book which is amazing considering how long it is. One chapter could be explaining the scene and within a single paragraph towards the end of it, everything you knew could just unravel and change. The characters are complex and true to their own places in the world, even after revelations literally shake the foundation of an entire empires beliefs. Religion and belief systems are a huge frame of context for this book, and it was great watching characters firmly stick to their beliefs even when others they loved were of an opposing system. I find it too common characters change to fit the narrative and make telling stories easier rather than remaining complex and challenged. My only gripe with the book was with the conclusion. Fantasy books especially, boast so much adventure and character struggles through the meat of their books that a climax which is lacklustre feels like the entire journey to this point was overkill. Especially when the journey is 800 pages long AND there's an equally long prequel. I'm so heavily conflicted with how this book ended that I'm unsure if I want to spend another month trudging through the next book. However, if you want a book with great characters, incredible world building and you don't particularly care how it ends then this book would be perfect for you!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Xenophobia

Minor: Murder, War, Death of parent, Violence, and Miscarriage

artie_reads's review against another edition

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

5.0

It's absolutely brilliant! I read this one a while ago - it was a gift from a neighbour who has a very similar taste in books to me - but I still recommend it whenever I get the chance! The worldbuilding is absolutely gorgeous. You will have to do some flicking back and forth to check the map at the front and the long lists of characters and fantasy words at the back but it's absolutely worth it for how richly detailed the politics, religions and history of the world are. Those themes are explored in interesting ways as well.

The twist bringing together the threads of different religions into the actual people who inspired it was brilliant and a bit mind-blowing.

The story itself is told from the perspectives of 4 very different characters to excellent effect. The plot revolves around the characters separately trying to save the world, featuring dragons, witches and fantasy court intrigue! What more could you want?

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Grief, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry

The xenophobia and religious bigotry are within the context of a fantasy world, rather than aimed at real world groups.

navierreads's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, War, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Pregnancy, and Emotional abuse