Scan barcode
seastheday's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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
3.5
This book is NOT for the feint of heart. You must be willing to wade through almost 200 pages of world-building since there are 4 main characters. There are 2 maps, a glossary of terms & a glossary of people from the east/west/south. This may be a popular BookTok book, but make no mistake- it is HIGH fantasy with romance dappled in here and there. And since this is a standalone as well, most of the things you learn only will apply to ONE book. A tome of a book, yes, but still just one. Also, I have beef with everyone who was like “it has dragons!!” The dragons are barely in it until almost page 740. There is a lot of politicking, speaking of, and debating dragons. But for the actual dragons I expected… barely anything. The idea of them spurred different plot lines on here and there. But was the dragon present and being bad ass? NO. I was really disappointed on that front. You mostly spend your time with a mopey queen, a jerk of a fake grandfather, a mage clouded by love to actually do what she should & a ghost of a dragon rider who doesn’t have a dragon most of the time.
I think it was a cool concept. I definitely enjoyed that it was normalized in the society for queens to rule, the line of succession was only based on eldest & not gender, race wasn’t an issue it was merely regional (it wouldn’t be so regional if the plague didn’t exist), & there were sapphic storylines.
All in all, I liked this book. It was interesting. Near the 650pg mark, I did wish it was over. I didn’t find myself WANTING to pick it up. I wanted to READ and that’s a huge difference for me. I didn’t give up because I felt like it had to be worth it in the end. I don’t think it was. The entire book mounted to this huge end battle and it wasn’t amazing or unbelievable. It was predictable and nothing shocking occurred.
I think it was a cool concept. I definitely enjoyed that it was normalized in the society for queens to rule, the line of succession was only based on eldest & not gender, race wasn’t an issue it was merely regional (it wouldn’t be so regional if the plague didn’t exist), & there were sapphic storylines.
All in all, I liked this book. It was interesting. Near the 650pg mark, I did wish it was over. I didn’t find myself WANTING to pick it up. I wanted to READ and that’s a huge difference for me. I didn’t give up because I felt like it had to be worth it in the end. I don’t think it was. The entire book mounted to this huge end battle and it wasn’t amazing or unbelievable. It was predictable and nothing shocking occurred.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Grief, Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Trafficking, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Lesbophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping
Minor: Death of parent and Incest
nutsacktragedy's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? It's complicated
2.75
I want to like this book, but it honestly disappointed me. The worldbuilding didn't engage me, and some of the main characters are utterly insufferable. The plot is hard to be interested in because it's chock-full of MacGuffin quests.
It's strange to have Niclays as one of the main characters because of how pointless he is. He's so disconnected from everything else that it's difficult to justify why he is even given screentime. He would work well as a side character.
Tané is also disappointing. Actually, everything in the East is, except for the dragons (and they didn't get much screentime!). She is pretty unlikeable too because of the shit she did towards Niclays. Her POV got lazy somewhere halfway into the book especially whenthe book speedran her learning her jewel powers . We could have gotten to know her better if only she took over Niclays' chapters lol.
The other two is fine. Ead is especially the most interesting because of her background. What's frustrating is the wait between POVs until I get to the Ead chapters.
My biggest problem is the final confrontation. I can't believe thatThe Nameless One got defeated so quickly after all that build-up. It was so anticlimactic that I was pretty sure that was just a 'first phase' boss scene and not the actual end lmao. I felt cheated, overall.
The dragons are cool, though. I also like how religious differences as one of the major conflicts is handled. Inys being a queendom gets plus points from me because I don't see that often. And the fact that the typical -isms in medieval fantasy settings just don't exist? It's awesome. Points for having queer people as well, as always.
It's strange to have Niclays as one of the main characters because of how pointless he is. He's so disconnected from everything else that it's difficult to justify why he is even given screentime. He would work well as a side character.
Tané is also disappointing. Actually, everything in the East is, except for the dragons (and they didn't get much screentime!). She is pretty unlikeable too because of the shit she did towards Niclays. Her POV got lazy somewhere halfway into the book especially when
The other two is fine. Ead is especially the most interesting because of her background. What's frustrating is the wait between POVs until I get to the Ead chapters.
My biggest problem is the final confrontation. I can't believe that
The dragons are cool, though. I also like how religious differences as one of the major conflicts is handled. Inys being a queendom gets plus points from me because I don't see that often. And the fact that the typical -isms in medieval fantasy settings just don't exist? It's awesome. Points for having queer people as well, as always.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Miscarriage, and Murder
Moderate: Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
Minor: Incest
sarah_bookshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? It's complicated
4.0
A re-read, but it's been around 5 years I think. Really loved diving back into this world and still being delighted getting to know the setting and the characters, as well as being surprised all over again by the directions the plot takes! There is a little too much book (esp when you're stuck between pages 500 and 700) but the world building is so rich that I can forgive. Can't wait to read A Day of Fallen Night!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, War, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Xenophobia, Torture, and Pregnancy
Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic
electrachet's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
4.75
I loved this story and would definitely recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in high fantasy. The length may seem daunting at first, but I read the first half of the book in less than a day and I'm usually a slower reader. There's so much world building to really keep you engaged! However, there were a few details that keep me from giving the book 5 stars. I wish we had a tiny bit more in the way of an epilogue. Niclays Roos was also an unnecessary character in some ways and The Nameless One had very little overall participation in the book. I felt the overall "villain" (or villains) driving the plot were underdeveloped. I also wish we got to experience more of Tané's story. I felt her POV was abandoned in the middle in favor of Ead, Sabran, & Loth's stories but she was still a compelling character I wanted to get to know better. I ultimately think the confinement of the story to a single book does weaken the overall narrative. This would have been better as a duology or even a trilogy, but maybe I just wanted to spend more time with the characters in the beautifully rich world that they live in. :')
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Moderate: Miscarriage, Grief, War, Infertility, Sexual content, Classism, Pregnancy, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Death of parent
torturedreadersdept's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Body horror, Bullying, Xenophobia, Confinement, Dementia, Genocide, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Death, Torture, Violence, War, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Miscarriage, Animal death, Dysphoria, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
nineinchnails's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.75
i will definitely be rereading this at some point! partly because there was a lot of stuff i didn't fully understand but mostly because i enjoyed it so much. i don't think i've ever read such a rich, sprawling epic fantasy contained within one novel. the characters were complex and interesting but i wish we got a little more focus on tané and loth. they both felt less fleshed out to me than ead and roos. the only other thing that kinda bugged me was how rushed the ending felt in comparison to the rest of the book. i expected the final battle to be drawn out longer than it was so it felt almost anticlimactic but it was still tied up pretty neatly. my main priorities in fantasy are character development and worldbuilding and those elements were near perfect!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: War, Pregnancy, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Classism, and Grief
Minor: Abandonment, Incest, and Death of parent
Pseudo incest_ao_'s review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.75
My criteria for a 5 star book means it moves me to tears, so I can't give 5 stars to Priory of the Orange Tree. But it's sweeping and lore-rich, with a ton of bad-ass women leading and supporting the story. Give yourself some time to read this baby, and you'll find something to love about it.
Also, I would have liked a tiny bit more in the way of an epilogue.
Also, I would have liked a tiny bit more in the way of an epilogue.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Xenophobia, Miscarriage, and Death
Minor: Infidelity, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Infertility, Vomit, Animal death, and Pregnancy
rainydaycookies's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? It's complicated
3.5
There was a slow start as the reader got to know the world and characters. I didn’t know how all the pieces fit together but once I started seeing the whole story I really enjoyed this book. Very heavy on descriptions of death, blood and guts.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Blood, Murder, Death, Violence, Torture, War, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Miscarriage
srobs24's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Violence, War, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy
a_novel_craving's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Death, War, Addiction, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Infertility, Gore, Pregnancy, Blood, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder