Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

37 reviews

cstein's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted relaxing medium-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

Could benefit from additional and repeat explanations of various imagined words, a large cast of characters and their connections to one another, and the histories and geographies of several fictional countries. Some relationships and events (specifically, what should have been the climatic battle) were more or less convincingly fleshed out. Nonetheless, an engrossing escapist read that kept my interest for weeks.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Cursing and Alcohol

alibookedup's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

adventurous emotional

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Dementia, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

sarahbw2's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring tense medium-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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, and Murder

misterwisp's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful relaxing medium-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

4.0

 Yes. It's long and epic in scope, but it all happens in one book so you won't have to feel obliged to commit to a series or wait for the next one to be written. It looks like a prequel is coming out, but this one is complete unto itself. It's long but keeps up the pace and there were no particularly slow or dry sections. 
For me strengths include how the plot twists unexpectedly at times and doesn't feel like it follows a standard formula. Characters having to see past their religion to meet the needs of the moment was also done in a compelling way. There are familiar aspects to the world building but it's still done thoroughly and well and helps the escapism aspect of it all. It feel like a world. 
Characters change and end at a different place then they started. The ending is satisfying. There are cool dragons. It's good! If you like fantasy you'll find something to enjoy. 
There is a bit of a romance subplot that felt genuine. If that's not of interest know that it doesn't take over the story or become the main focus at any point. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and War

the sexual content part is fairly graphic, but just a little over a page in length.

the animal cruelty is that a dragon has a tooth, some scales and blood forcibly removed against it's will while it's chained up. It's mentioned as being about to occur but happens "off page" and is not specifically described

liaandersson's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

Where to begin?..

This could quite well be the best fantasy that I have ever read. There are tons of aspects which I adored and it is easier, for both you and I, if I take it in order.

Religion: Virtudom and the South have religions stemming from the same historical people, the differences being how these people are portrayed and what their acknowledged accomplishments were.  These religious differences put a strain to the fragile relationship between the South and Virtudom. I think this is a terrific analogy of how for example, the real world has countries fighting over which is the one true religion, when the truth is there is no single right one. All of them are right, if they are right for a certain individual. I hope you will understand my sentiment once you have read it, I have a hard time conveying the message through writing.

Mislabeling: There are several instances where foreigners (in relation to the ethnic group discussed) call certain groups by derogatory terms or even slurs. It is, in my opinion, a well-executed representation of modern slurs as well as the misgendering of queer people. The reoccurring scenario where one 'foreign' individual calls another by a negative slur/term, which is then corrected as if someone was misgendered. 

Queer: There is plenty of LGB representation among the main cast, as well as scattered information about historical figures and secondary characters. Still, there are no canon trans characters, even though I imagine some of them to be such. Other than the L, G AND B there is not much representation to see in regards of ace/aro, polyamory, intersex, trans and so on. 

History: I loved how the history of the fictional world was incorporated as storytellings between characters, and other creative solutions. It took me a hundred pages or so to connect the dots between all the historical people and their relevance, but a bit of switching from the index back to the story here and there eventually solved all of those problems. It was all very much worth it before I even got halfway through the book. 

Worldbuildning: Shannon managed to incorporate western, eastern and African fantasy. I loved to see how they all interacted with each other and enhanced one another. I don't believe I can have much to say about whether it was well represented or not, but I do hope it was done as best as could be. 

A fair warning that this book, at least in my opinion, is more driven by the characters than by the plot. Due to this, I have heard the common opinion that the ending of the book is quite abrupt, while I think it is quite satisfactory, from the perspective of the character's developmental arcs. 

Have a fun read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry

sulinde's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and War

Moderate: Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma

Minor: Torture and Suicide attempt

dariusmortee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

5.0

I have enjoyed every minute of reading this book. The flow of the story had a great pacing, the characters where lovable and interesting and the plot had the right amount of mystery. Some questions I had remain unanswered, but that’s okay. It shows that after the story is over, their story isn’t. They live on. 

I did miss more bonding time with certain characters. I presume that bonding has been cut in editing the book, which I get because it’s a unit as it is and I understand Samantha didn’t want it to become a drag. To me however this meant that I clearly bonded more with Ead than with Loth and Tané, with whom there could’ve been a better bond. Nicalys did have the right amount of bonding time in my opinion. 

I’d love to know more about why Kalyba did what she did and about Naporo. Why did Tané’s story end like it did and I have some questions about the world The Priory of the Orange Tree is set in. I’d gladly read more of this story and I will cherish every page I did get to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and War

futureofmydays's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

I finished this book weeks ago and I still don’t even know what to say because I loved it so much. <i>The Priory of the Orange Tree</i> is rich high fantasy and uses so many tropes and ideas common to the genre and yet somehow still feels totally unique. The worldbuilding is intricate, but because it is based in real European, Middle Eastern, and Asian folklore (and because the writing is amazing), it was never confusing (Frank Herbert, take notes!). The combination of sweeping worldbuilding, legends and folklore, and the slowest of slow burn romances pretty much hit all my favorite things to read about. I loved every single character (except Roos. He was annoying) and wanted the best for them (yeah, even Roos. He still sucks though).

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):

Happy! Though I did feel that a few things were left unresolved—here’s hoping Shannon writes a sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Confinement, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, Vomit, and Alcohol