Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

15 reviews

skylarkindareads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Trafficking, War, and Xenophobia

dancers_and_dragons's review

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

An epic of a book where the very balance of the world is changing, Priory of the Orange Tree tells the story of several main characters whose fates are intertwined. Samantha Shannon does a masterful job of weaving threads that are joined to others later, forming a wide tapestry of fantasy kingdoms and powers who realize the flaws in their morality, and that nothing is truly black and white. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Death, Colonisation, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Terminal illness, War, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Fantasy Racism that is explored and challenged, fantasy religious bigotry that is explored and challenged, brief and non-graphic sexual content description in two scenes, with fade to black elsewhere

bluejay21's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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

Once I finished this book I was sad because no other book is this book and I wanted to read this exact book again, but different, y'know?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Blood, Death, Murder, and Terminal illness

oliviafaye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring lighthearted 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Violence

baexlee's review

adventurous mysterious 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

This one took me a while longer than it probably should have because life got in the way but wow did that give me the chance to really savor this book. Samantha Shannon creates a vibrant world that is easy to slip away into for hours at a time. I read this book as a buddy read with a friend so I had a lot of comments and thoughts along the way and in turn decided to annotate. My annotation system included 5 colors for the following subjects - interesting/notable plot point, beautiful prose, good line, questions, romance. 

There is so much packed into this novel that I almost cannot remember where I can begin now that I am at the end, it's a journey driven by the character through and through. Well paced and beautifully tied together in the end it was a pleasure to read and absolutely blew me away. 

From the moment we meet the main characters they each tell us who they are through their actions, Ead by killing the mercenary that was outside Sabran's bedchambers, Tané by putting her ambition above the protocol and Susa's safety and allowing her to take Sulyard to Roos, ultimately kicking off the chain of events for everyone involved. 

I loved Ead and Sabran's relationship, damn me for saying I wanted to see more of it explored on page. I had an entire annotation flag for it and it was one of the most used flags. (9 if you were wondering) But I would still love to see more of them exploring what it means for them and their places of power, especially at the end when Sabran is suggesting stepping away from the throne in a few years.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Miscarriage, Death, and Blood

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Religious bigotry, Terminal illness, and Violence