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rubybastille's review against another edition
- 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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Gore, Death, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Pregnancy, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Religious bigotry
ssmylie's review against another edition
- 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? No
5.0
Graphic: Violence, Gore, Xenophobia, Suicide, and War
Moderate: Blood, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage
ka_cam's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Xenophobia, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Gore, War, Violence, Blood, and Animal death
rachelditty's review against another edition
- 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
I wish the final battle had dragged on for a while longer--it seemed way too short in my opinion. I also really wish Sabran had gotten to deliver the final blow with Ascalon. Don't get me wrong, Tane and Ead tag-teaming the Nameless One was cool, but I wanted Sabran to get her own sort of liberation from this beast that had been haunting her childhood and her childbed since she could remember. I wish it had been Tane and Ead with the stones and Sabran with Ascalon.
I also want to know SO MUCH MORE about Cleolind and Galian--I know the next book is about the Grief of Ages, but I hope the third installment is just about Cleolind and Galian and Kalyba. I want to know so much more about them. I couldn't help but feel bad for Galian when we got to know more about his history, how the woman who raised him had tricked him in such an awful way. I also felt bad for Kalyba when she was killed, because she did treat Sabran with this strange, saccrine kindness, and did seem almost remorseful about what she was doing. I want more of these three. And about the three trees!!
I'll be honest, I wasn't as hooked on Sabran and Ead's relationship as I wanted to be. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I know my friend REALLY loves them; I don't know why they didn't get me the same way.
The endings for all the characters felt very fitting. I'm glad Tane and Niamythun are still riding, and that she's getting to hunt down the Golden Empress. I thought Niclays was going to die at the end of the book, but I'm really glad I was wrong. Loth being implied to be in cahoots with the now-queen Marosa was unexpected, but I liked it. And Ead getting to be Prioress? Yes.
Overall a very enticing read that was just fast enough to keep me interested but still detailed enough that I was able to put pieces together alongside the characters. Really cool. Excited to read the sequel!
Some quotes I liked:
"'All stories grow from a seed of truth,' Tryude said. 'They are knowledge after figuration,'" (p. 21).
"Her heart was a trapped butterfly. The water in you is cold, her teacher had once told her. When you hold a weapon, you become a faceless ghost. You give nothing away," (p. 121).
"'You have not seen death, my lord. You have only seen the mask we put on it," (p. 127).
"'You wear so much armor by daylight that, by night, you can carry it no longer. By night, you are only flesh. And even the flesh of a queen is prone to fear,'" (p. 203).
"'Can we not both agree that no more of her friends should be cut from her side?'" (p. 205).
"'Damn you to the womb of fire.'
Sigoso smiled. 'I am there,' he said, 'and it is paradise,'" (p. 218).
"The roar of the crowd grew so loud, so fast, that it seemed to Ead to transcend sound and attain a physicality," (p. 293).
"'The threat comes from beneath, not from afar,'" (p. 309).
"'You have let me unburden myself, even though my fears are selfish. The Damsel has granted me the child I begged of her, and all I can do is... quake,'" (p. 330).
"'...the love of your life was an abject coward even as a boy. I fear death too much to seek it.'
'Well, I can only be grateful for the softness of your spine. I confess to fearing your death, too.'
'I remind you that you are two years my senior, and that the arithmetic of death is against you.'
Jannart smiled. 'Let us not speak of death when there is still so much life to be lived,'" (p. 346).
"'If I had convinced myself I was no sinner, I would never have kissed the lips I long to kiss,'' (p. 347).
"'I don't want to carry on! Do you not understand? Does nobody in this world understand, damn you? Is no one else haunted?'" (p. 434).
"'The one who wears the chains is a thousand times greater than the one who wields them,'" (p. 451).
"'This part, small as it appeared at first, was forged in the fire of her own strength, and resisted her cage. And I understood... that this part was made of steel,'" (p. 499).
"...spilling guts like a cutpurse spilling gold. Death came for them like a desert wind," (p. 527).
"'Margaret,' he said, 'you are my child. I forgave you all your sins on the first day of your life,'" (p. 580).
"'During my... adventure, I learned what it was to be a heretic. It felt as though my very existence were under assault. If Inys can be the first to cease using the word, I think it would have done this world a very fine service,'" (p. 604).
"Each day, each step, each tick of the clock took him closer to that golden possibility. He was tired of having half a soul," (p. 653).
"In death, its branches reached for the stars, as if they might hold out silver hands and help it stand again," (p. 656).
"How to paint a portrait of Sabran, who had been in his life since he was six. Since a time when all they had worried about was how many adventures they could fit into a day," (p. 740).
"Seek not the midnight sun on earth/ but look for it within," (p. 789).
"'I will teach my heart to beat again.'
It hurt to leave him in the dark. Still, leave he did. Those bones had long since let him go," (p. 790).
"'Some truths,' he said, 'are safest buried. Some castles best kept in the sky. There's promise in tales that are yet to be spoken. In the shadow realm, known only to a few,'" (p. 804).
Graphic: Miscarriage, Gore, Pregnancy, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Death, Grief, Infertility, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Sexual content, War, Blood, and Child death
asipofcozy's review against another edition
- 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
Shannon wove a master piece of fantasy and feminism. Priory of the Orange Tree is brimming with details, ideas, themes, characters, legend, and magic. I know many shy away from the In-depth detail of fantasy but even with the fine combed details lain throughout the pages, Shannon never loses sight of the plot and character development. She never strays from her woven story and how intricately she created each piece to fit like a perfect puzzle.
This was what really captured and won me over within the first 100 pages. Even with all the moving parts, we are never lost.
We are immersed in culture, languages, and religions. We are taught and educated along with the characters. How Shannon touches on heavy and "taboo" topics and creates teaching moments makes the story come to life, like that of the discourse in religions amongst humanity or being closed minded to other cultures around us
And just as the plot is rich and diverse, so are the characters. We are given so many diverse voices and perspectives. The characters - Sabaran, Ead, Tane, Loth, Niclays, and all the side characters - are what drove this master piece as they each learn and grow together to face The Nameless One. They enriched the story even further and were the stars. How they interacted and learned together, how they each grew individually, it gave me some hope for our own world.
Finally I will say, I 100% plan on reaching the prequel to this master piece A Day of Fallen Night. I can only imagine it will be just as glorious as its predecessor.
Priory of the Orange Tree has booted the #1 book in my top 5 books of all time list down to #2 and has taken that spot of no. 1 and it is well deserved. It's beautiful, poetic, and full of strong woman. It may be a chunk but every page was worth it. 🖤
Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Torture, Pregnancy, Death, Child death, Murder, Vomit, Blood, Classism, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Infertility, and War
eh1736's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Miscarriage and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail
joensign's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Violence, War, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Infertility, Religious bigotry, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Incest, Infidelity, Torture, Pregnancy, Confinement, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Classism and Blood
dragonaion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have heard many say that is is an "epic fantasy" that is better if not similar to Game of Thrones or Tolkein, but I was sorely disappointed. The story was pleasant, although riddled with clichés like a magical dragon-slaying sword (even sounding like Excalibur), evil witch doing witchy things (including making the previously mentioned sword), Western winged dragons are bad, and Eastern serpant dragons are good. The tone of the book was also too formal for it to be engaging; it felt as if the "court parlance" of hiding ones emotions were how everyone talked normally, so I felt a lot of emotional and tender moments were lackluster and fell flat. With certain scenes in mind... I feel the author is straight, could not really empathize or relate to the characters, and/or was too timid to write them with more than "casual interest". I've read romance trash that had more engaging and written intimacy scenes.
Then comes the tempo of events; I've read books recently that brilliantly show how plots are suddenly revealed from loose threads, and this story felt as though a series of "random" events fell on each page one after another without laying seeds for the reader to follow and "suddenly" connect. The villain of the story was only mentioned in a story between characters halfway through the book, it appeared that she came out of nowhere to suddenly be important, so I had very little connection or empathy. It also felt that key bits of the story were done for in-the-moment drama and even if there was a plot explanation later, it seems to fall on its face. It almost reads as though the author had writer's block and suddenly found a way to loop things together once she let the story sit for a bit.
Lastly, the novel is very female-centric with a greater female cast of characters than male. While otherwise fine, they failed to make themselves special; the main characters seemed to "fall into" their roll and did not leave any lasting impressions, so it felt they were "quantity over quality" characters. Even having finished the book, I'm starting to forget some of their names.
Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Gore
Minor: Medical content, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Torture, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and War
This is a fantasy, but the premise is a war against an evil dragon and warring religions.alxbryn's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Miscarriage and Gore
frenchvanillapowdercreamer's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, and Miscarriage
Moderate: Child death, Classism, and Death of parent
Minor: Incest