Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

30 reviews

willontheinternet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The world-building, the character development, the imagery and the detail were all phenomenal in this book. Sure, sometimes it's slow and I question if it had to be 800 pages, but I enjoyed reading this in three days.

Looking forward to the next book in the series whenever it comes out. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Torture, Body horror, Classism, Death, Abandonment, Blood, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Religious bigotry, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Infidelity, and Domestic abuse

lifeinsilver's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Death, Alcoholism, Infertility, Death of parent, Miscarriage, Homophobia, Pregnancy, Outing, War, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Sexual content, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Dementia

smithreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Animal death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Blood, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Homophobia, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Gun violence, Torture, and Infidelity

khylababyla's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

A world with a rich history, political intrigue, religious war, and of course the sapphic characters that brought me to this story in the first place. Oh and did I mention dragons? 

This is by far one of the best books I’ve read in awhile. If you are trying to break into more adult fantasy rather then YA fantasy this is a great starting point.

Also do not let the size of this book intimidate you. It’s a much quicker read then I anticipated and is broken up into sections that make it easier to manage. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Religious bigotry and Homophobia

faythfarrar's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Miscarriage, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Suicidal thoughts and Incest

selfbybee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

cw: miscarriage, war, religious bigotry, xenophobia, violence, infertility, homophobia, gore, death of a parent, death of a child, suicidal ideation, --please check CW there are a LOT!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I am so glad I got over my initial fear of the size and how much world building happened!

Samantha Shannon has a way of building a robust world with language and concepts that feel approachable. If I am going to have to read through 200+ pages of building the world I need to come out of the other side with a clear understanding of the characters. I enjoyed how it felt like the world and characters were built simultaneously--I have seen may reviews stating this book is character driven world building and as someone who is NOT a fan of that, I did not feel this book was.

However, the crescendo of the big moments, the moments that the world building led us to felt lack luster in comparison to the detail and gripping moments that drove us to the "big moment" It honestly pales in comparison to the characters and the world I hardly remember it--in fact I remember thinking "we went through all of that, for that?"

The loose themes of catholicism and colonization (I say loose only to keep those who disagree) put it a smirk on my face as some of the most absurd thoughts and judgements are easily discernible in our collective past and present. Overall, I enjoyed it and will read the prequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Homophobia, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Violence, Infertility, Death, and Child death

catherinedsharp's review

adventurous emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book was incredible! After buying it with hardly any exposition, I adored it. Not only is the cover beautiful but the writing too and I highly recommend to anyone who loves pirates, dragons, queendoms, adventures and more!

Although I placed this book as medium paced, the length of this book can be a little off putting and the density/complexity of the story can sometimes slow reading and understanding. Despite this though, the story is a fantastical adventure of many different characters who all link together in one plot line, although there seems to a very limited link at the beginning.

Additionally this book is slightly LGBTQIA*+ which is lovely! The representation is well written although it is a slow burn, and it is not the main focal point of the story, so I wouldn’t go into the story just for that.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book and, although it was a long text, I found it enjoyable throughout and didn’t want to stop reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Death, Grief, Homophobia, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Animal death, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Lesbophobia, Violence, and Miscarriage

nila's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Really loved the style of Shannon's writing. This was a great stand-alone fantasy (I really hope there's no sequel). I LOVED the different character arcs and the richness of the world-building. However, I do wish there was a better balance between the build-up and the actual reveals of key moments in the story. I felt there was soooo much build-up, but when it came to the actual reveals themselves, it was over in a few pages (for example Tané's final battle to become a rider) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Homophobia, Sexual content, War, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Addiction, Classism, Death of parent, Genocide, Murder, Religious bigotry, Incest, and Pregnancy

rtaire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Death of parent, Infertility, Violence, Xenophobia, War, Child death, Gore, Pregnancy, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Miscarriage, Murder, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Mental illness

solarel's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

This book was creative while also being comfortable in its tropes. The characters felt like good friends, and the adventure! Wow what an epic adventure. 

Some of the plot decisions felt a bit hollow, as I saw some symbolism that wasn’t meant to be there, I suppose. But I can’t fault it for not following the thread I predicted. 

Lastly, for an epic fantasy like this, you would expect it to be dense and laborious to follow, but I found it very easy to digest. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Torture, Infertility, Murder, Miscarriage, and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Sexual content, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Homophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty

If you consider dragons as animals, there is some cruelty.