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lalu's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
This was recommended to me after I mentioned that I hated the lack of women in LOTR. It even says on the cover "[A] feminist Lord of the Rings". And I have to disagree. It is high fantasy in a big world with lots of lore and different cultures. But that's were the similarities end (imo).
Priory puts so much more focus on its characters, their role in society, their hopes and dreams, growth and their relationships. And none of the characters is perfect, it's not black and white, and for that I loved (most of) them even more. And there are stakes! Characters actually die and it's heartbreaking but also it made me a lot more emotionally invested in the story. I even had moments when I thought thatthere wouldn't be a happy ending and the Nameless One would win and kill everyone .
Priory puts so much more focus on its characters, their role in society, their hopes and dreams, growth and their relationships. And none of the characters is perfect, it's not black and white, and for that I loved (most of) them even more. And there are stakes! Characters actually die and it's heartbreaking but also it made me a lot more emotionally invested in the story. I even had moments when I thought that
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Pandemic/Epidemic, Murder, War, Blood, Death, and Injury/Injury detail
tashawallace95's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma
iammmartina_'s review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Pregnancy, Confinement, Murder, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, and Abortion
Minor: Infidelity, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
toreadforpleasure's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-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
I finally found a fantasy novel to pull me back into this genre! I've been searching for an epic fantasy, and this one gripped me in the first few pages. With exciting and diverse characters, a plotline sprinkled with destiny and dazzling landscapes depicted, I felt that life became such a distraction from devouring this novel.
It is a hefty read, reaching 848 pages, and I think it would have felt more palatable if it had been broken into a series instead of sections. There wasn't any parts that felt like a chore to get through though, and I felt I had reached a satisfying achievement to have finished it.
I recommend this read to those who enjoy themes of LGBTQ+ representation, slowburn romance without the explicit sex scenes and who love mystery and adventure!
It is a hefty read, reaching 848 pages, and I think it would have felt more palatable if it had been broken into a series instead of sections. There wasn't any parts that felt like a chore to get through though, and I felt I had reached a satisfying achievement to have finished it.
I recommend this read to those who enjoy themes of LGBTQ+ representation, slowburn romance without the explicit sex scenes and who love mystery and adventure!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Miscarriage
chimichannika's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.75
three stars is generous tbh and I ended up changing it to 2.5 to be more honest about it đ« I have so many thoughts on this book (a few good, quite a few nuanced, and many critiques) and maybe will try to condense them to an appropriate review length; if I do so successfully I may come back and lengthen this review later but tldr⊠priory I yearn for the book you have the potential to be đ„Č
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Gore, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Child death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Violence
Moderate: Incest, Cultural appropriation, Gun violence, Animal cruelty, Vomit, Xenophobia, Miscarriage, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Excrement and Infidelity
addssubract's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Death, War, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Cursing
meghan_w's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
What a perfect book to finish as Pride month begins! I did not plan this, but it is just perfect. At a whopping 848 pages/26 hours in audio this book is not for the faint of heart. I previously DNFâd it because I didnât have the attention span for its length. So glad I came back to it because I loved it! Sabran and Ead are my two favorite characters with so much character growth. Thereâs magic, adventure, love, heartbreak, and best of all DRAGONS. đ
My struggle with high fantasy is keeping track of characters, but the author is amazing and has a glossary of characters and definitions in the back. đđ»
My struggle with high fantasy is keeping track of characters, but the author is amazing and has a glossary of characters and definitions in the back. đđ»
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Violence, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, and War
Minor: Sexual content
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 âit has dragons!!â 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 doesnât 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 wasnât an issue it was merely regional (it wouldnât be so regional if the plague didnât 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 didnât find myself WANTING to pick it up. I wanted to READ and thatâs a huge difference for me. I didnât give up because I felt like it had to be worth it in the end. I donât think it was. The entire book mounted to this huge end battle and it wasnât 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 wasnât an issue it was merely regional (it wouldnât be so regional if the plague didnât 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 didnât find myself WANTING to pick it up. I wanted to READ and thatâs a huge difference for me. I didnât give up because I felt like it had to be worth it in the end. I donât think it was. The entire book mounted to this huge end battle and it wasnât 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
berrytart's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.0
i really like this book, the mix of western and eastern dragons was an amazing idea!
Sabran did annoy me for quite a while but she grew on me!
i will be getting the prequel, i absolutely love the world-building in this book
Sabran did annoy me for quite a while but she grew on me!
i will be getting the prequel, i absolutely love the world-building in this book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Miscarriage, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infertility, and Violence
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Torture, and Death of parent