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liaandersson's review
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!
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!
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
thewordsdevourer's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
3.5 stars, in an extraordinary--albeit unfortunate--case of 'it's not u, it's me.' the priory of the orange tree is a technically remarkable epic fantasy that deserves all the praises it's gotten, but also one that i regrettably lack any personal chemistry or sparks w/, and yes it hurts me to admit that.
never have i read a story so vast in scope, detailed in its lore & legends, steeped in religion. additionally, it's imaginative and fresh, and manages to expertly weave all its scattered narratives tgt (sidenote: this book actually reminds me of the poppy war in its worldbuilding, historical inspo, and fire vs water magic). unfortunately, i think its vast scope's a double-edged sword. bc of its sheer range, we constantly jump around from one location and narrative to another; coupling this lack of prolonged focus w/ the (understandable) 3rd person pov, no character--even the main ones--is explored deep enough for my liking, and ultimately i dont feel any real connection w/ them. this affects my enjoyment--or rather my experience of the book: i couldnt fully immerse myself in the book, despite all the adventures, new lands, dragons, escapes, and court intrigue. it was like i was watching it all happen from a detached distance, and didnt rly feel anything no matter what's happening, despite all the countless times the main characters were imperiled. and that's...not fun bc i highly value emotional connection and evocation in my books. another quabble, although a minor one, is the ultimate dragon-wyrm showdown, where i felt like the power imbalance didnt make sense: the wyrms could breathe fire while the dragons could only fly, and for the dragons to be at a disadvantage during the battle even tho they were water creatures literally fighting in the damn ocean???
honestly, this book's rly good. i particularly enjoyed the thought-provoking exploration of religious differences, themes of open-mindedness and duty, many morally gray characters (not loth tho, thats why i have a soft spot for him), worldbuilding, and feminist msg. it's also prolly the first book w/ pet-human bond trope that melts my hard heart. unfortunately, it didnt rly click w/ me, and the lack of emotional connection--that frustrating absence of some spark, a lil sth--makes this a rly-good-but-not-yet-great read.
never have i read a story so vast in scope, detailed in its lore & legends, steeped in religion. additionally, it's imaginative and fresh, and manages to expertly weave all its scattered narratives tgt (sidenote: this book actually reminds me of the poppy war in its worldbuilding, historical inspo, and fire vs water magic). unfortunately, i think its vast scope's a double-edged sword. bc of its sheer range, we constantly jump around from one location and narrative to another; coupling this lack of prolonged focus w/ the (understandable) 3rd person pov, no character--even the main ones--is explored deep enough for my liking, and ultimately i dont feel any real connection w/ them. this affects my enjoyment--or rather my experience of the book: i couldnt fully immerse myself in the book, despite all the adventures, new lands, dragons, escapes, and court intrigue. it was like i was watching it all happen from a detached distance, and didnt rly feel anything no matter what's happening, despite all the countless times the main characters were imperiled. and that's...not fun bc i highly value emotional connection and evocation in my books. another quabble, although a minor one, is the ultimate dragon-wyrm showdown, where i felt like the power imbalance didnt make sense: the wyrms could breathe fire while the dragons could only fly, and for the dragons to be at a disadvantage during the battle even tho they were water creatures literally fighting in the damn ocean???
honestly, this book's rly good. i particularly enjoyed the thought-provoking exploration of religious differences, themes of open-mindedness and duty, many morally gray characters (not loth tho, thats why i have a soft spot for him), worldbuilding, and feminist msg. it's also prolly the first book w/ pet-human bond trope that melts my hard heart. unfortunately, it didnt rly click w/ me, and the lack of emotional connection--that frustrating absence of some spark, a lil sth--makes this a rly-good-but-not-yet-great read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Xenophobia, and War
Moderate: Biphobia, Chronic illness, Confinement, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Lesbophobia
Minor: Death of parent
maddiereadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, and Blood
Moderate: Miscarriage
Minor: Sexual content
sulinde's review
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual content, Violence, and War
Moderate: Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, and Medical trauma
Minor: Torture and Suicide attempt
josie9's review against another edition
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child abuse and Cursing
nagem's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, and Xenophobia
Minor: Mental illness and Torture
cemeterygay's review
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
5.0
I adored this book so deeply and cannot recommend this fantasy book enough, especially for those looking for a good fantasy with a sapphic romance subplot.
Before I go into raving about what I liked I have some minor critiques of the book. The map(s)? included in this book were virtually useless. It was so hard to see how the map connected and where locations actually were. I did not look at that map once after the first chapter and learned to be okay with only roughly understanding where people and countries were located. There was also a pretty heavy imbalance for the East chapters between how often we're reading about Tane and how often we are reading Niclays. I think there needed to be a bit less Niclays and a decent bit more of Tane. Not only is Niclays one of the more obnoxious characters in this book but his sections sometimes just don't add much to the story and I would heavily preferred to learn more about Tane's time either working as a dragon rider or her time on the island after her fall from grace . I also wish there was just a bit more time spent in the East in the book because it felt very sparse at times. Major spoilers for the end of the book for my last critique Why was it necessary that Kalyba saw Galian as both a son and eventually a lover? This could have easily been written in a different way but all I'm left thinking is why would you do this.
I liked virtually every other element of this book. The writing style of this novel is wonderful and vivid and flowery in just the right way. The world Samantha Shannon builds is interesting, fairly well-developed, and has so much intrigue that I'd honestly love to see more stories set in this world. I love how varied the relationships are between humans and dragons are across not just different characters and different dragons but across entire cultures and countries. I adored how Samantha Shannon tackled how religion and mythology not only vary across societies but how those societies can utilize them and change them to create propaganda. I think this goes hand in hand with themes of religious conquest and religious superiority beautifully. A massive commonality across each character's story is the presence of concepts like guilt and grief and how they push characters to either stagnate or grow and how that plays with concepts of free will and obligation and is just amazingly well-handled.
I loved the romance in this book and I think the amount of romance in this book is well-balanced and is pretty seamlessly integrated into the main plot. With the exception of Niclays, I adored each character we get to read from the perspective of and I found that each character added a needed perspective to the story. Each plot is really interesting and blends together very well. You quickly understand why you're reading about each character.
I really liked the pacing of the book and I really enjoyed the way the plot developed across the book. While I wish there was a bit more resolution with the end of the book, I did enjoy the way everyone's stories and the overall plot resolved.
It is a bit of a dense fantasy book but after you get through the first like 40 pages, you're able to quickly able to orient yourself in the world and you are able to be quickly hooked into the plot.
This is one of my favorite fantasy reads of the year.
Before I go into raving about what I liked I have some minor critiques of the book. The map(s)? included in this book were virtually useless. It was so hard to see how the map connected and where locations actually were. I did not look at that map once after the first chapter and learned to be okay with only roughly understanding where people and countries were located. There was also a pretty heavy imbalance for the East chapters between how often we're reading about Tane and how often we are reading Niclays. I think there needed to be a bit less Niclays and a decent bit more of Tane. Not only is Niclays one of the more obnoxious characters in this book but his sections sometimes just don't add much to the story and I would heavily preferred to learn more about Tane's time
I liked virtually every other element of this book. The writing style of this novel is wonderful and vivid and flowery in just the right way. The world Samantha Shannon builds is interesting, fairly well-developed, and has so much intrigue that I'd honestly love to see more stories set in this world. I love how varied the relationships are between humans and dragons are across not just different characters and different dragons but across entire cultures and countries. I adored how Samantha Shannon tackled how religion and mythology not only vary across societies but how those societies can utilize them and change them to create propaganda. I think this goes hand in hand with themes of religious conquest and religious superiority beautifully. A massive commonality across each character's story is the presence of concepts like guilt and grief and how they push characters to either stagnate or grow and how that plays with concepts of free will and obligation and is just amazingly well-handled.
I loved the romance in this book and I think the amount of romance in this book is well-balanced and is pretty seamlessly integrated into the main plot. With the exception of Niclays, I adored each character we get to read from the perspective of and I found that each character added a needed perspective to the story. Each plot is really interesting and blends together very well. You quickly understand why you're reading about each character.
I really liked the pacing of the book and I really enjoyed the way the plot developed across the book. While I wish there was a bit more resolution with the end of the book, I did enjoy the way everyone's stories and the overall plot resolved.
It is a bit of a dense fantasy book but after you get through the first like 40 pages, you're able to quickly able to orient yourself in the world and you are able to be quickly hooked into the plot.
This is one of my favorite fantasy reads of the year.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Minor: Suicide
CW: Graphic (Religious war, Death of a partner, Death of a friend, Corpses, Depression), Moderate (death of both parents)ameliacollins's review
adventurous
emotional
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
5.0
This book is Lord of the Rings with gender and racial equality, queer representation, and dragons. So, in my opinon, it is a world building, magical masterpiece that sees its characters as deeply flawed but growing individuals that act in ways that humans would act.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Pregnancy
Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicide, Torture, Dementia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy
sunbathingturtle's review
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Too fucking long. No chemistry between characters. Major character deaths left and right just used as plot points.
This book is mainly world building. And I will say, the world is interesting. But not sure it’s worth pushing through hundreds of pages for. Especially because the ending is quite anticlimactic.
This would likely make a great tv series (with actors who can create the chemistry lacking in the book). But the novel itself was—in my opinion—disappointing.
This book is mainly world building. And I will say, the world is interesting. But not sure it’s worth pushing through hundreds of pages for. Especially because the ending is quite anticlimactic.
This would likely make a great tv series (with actors who can create the chemistry lacking in the book). But the novel itself was—in my opinion—disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Torture
camigy's review against another edition
4.0
I was so scared to start this book bc I heard the world building was a little difficult to follow and honestly, I was scared I wasn't going to enjoy it and I would've bought this massive book for no real reason. But I ended up loving this book, I can see myself rereading it soon.
Things I liked:
- The world building is very detailed. Usually I don't enjoy world building, it seems overly descriptive and sometimes there are things I think I could have lived without, but not with this book. Samantha Shannon spent a lot of work creating a world where, not only do you get to discover new creatures and monsters, you also get to learn about their history and how different interpretations of it led to different religions and beliefs all around this world. I've never read a book with such detailed world building before, to the point where the author developed religions with their own rules, beliefs and practices. While it did take me some time to adjust and remember the details, I loved every second of it.
- The different narrators. This book follows 4 different narrators/perspectives and each of them comes from a different part of this world so they have different beliefs and customs so they view events and each other in such different ways and it was interesting to be in each of their minds and understand where they're all coming from.
- The dragons. I don't know what to say every scene with them won me over, it was just so interesting I love reading about fictional creatures.
Now, some stuff to keep in mind (NOT NECESSARILY BAD THINGS JUST NOT FOR EVERYONE):
- Because the story is told from the perspective of 4 different people, the beginning of the book is a little hard to follow. There are so many characters, places, stories to take in and remember that sometimes things might get mixed up.
- The world building is long. This is not a bad thing, I actually rather enjoyed the world building, I was very intrigued about all these different cultures, religions, ways to interpret the same history, learning about the difference between the dragons and the fire-breathers, while also getting to know the narrators and figuring out who they are and what they believe. <i> However, </i> it is long and a lot so the first 150-200 pages are difficult to get through because you're still learning and still getting to know the intricacies of this world, but I promise after these pages it's such a fast read I couldn't put it down.
- While I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed the story, the world and the characters, this is not a revolutionary tale. I think it's a story we've all heard before: a world with dragons, kings, queens, magic, etc. with the end goal being to defeat the bad dragon. This is the reason I didn't give it 5 stars because, yes, it was interesting, but I wouldn't say it's this amazing adventure, unheard of and surprising.
- *SPOILER* The ending or final battle felt so rushed to me. The entire book you hear about this evil fire-breather that is capable of massive destruction and he was so bad that he had to be trapped in an abyss in the middle of the ocean. They mention that it was hard to kill and incredibly powerful... and then they beat him in like, what? 20-something pages? I was so disappointed, I thought I was going to get to read about this war between humans and fire-breathers, but it was such a short battle, there was no real challenge other than getting close enough to the dragon (which they did easily) and then he is killed maybe 5 pages after he actually shows up.. come on.
Also I thought it was a little annoying that every single character survived this "war". Around page 300 the author kills off around 5 people almost in a row and I just thought it was going to be this ruthless book where you shouldn't get attached to anyone because they're going to be killed off, but no. Don't worry about that, get attached to whoever you want because they all magically survive such an awful, world-wide battle... I just thought it was a waste of a really cool ending because, yeah it's sad, but also realistic in a scenario like this one (as realistic as a fantasy book can get)
Things I liked:
- The world building is very detailed. Usually I don't enjoy world building, it seems overly descriptive and sometimes there are things I think I could have lived without, but not with this book. Samantha Shannon spent a lot of work creating a world where, not only do you get to discover new creatures and monsters, you also get to learn about their history and how different interpretations of it led to different religions and beliefs all around this world. I've never read a book with such detailed world building before, to the point where the author developed religions with their own rules, beliefs and practices. While it did take me some time to adjust and remember the details, I loved every second of it.
- The different narrators. This book follows 4 different narrators/perspectives and each of them comes from a different part of this world so they have different beliefs and customs so they view events and each other in such different ways and it was interesting to be in each of their minds and understand where they're all coming from.
- The dragons. I don't know what to say every scene with them won me over, it was just so interesting I love reading about fictional creatures.
Now, some stuff to keep in mind (NOT NECESSARILY BAD THINGS JUST NOT FOR EVERYONE):
- Because the story is told from the perspective of 4 different people, the beginning of the book is a little hard to follow. There are so many characters, places, stories to take in and remember that sometimes things might get mixed up.
- The world building is long. This is not a bad thing, I actually rather enjoyed the world building, I was very intrigued about all these different cultures, religions, ways to interpret the same history, learning about the difference between the dragons and the fire-breathers, while also getting to know the narrators and figuring out who they are and what they believe. <i> However, </i> it is long and a lot so the first 150-200 pages are difficult to get through because you're still learning and still getting to know the intricacies of this world, but I promise after these pages it's such a fast read I couldn't put it down.
- While I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed the story, the world and the characters, this is not a revolutionary tale. I think it's a story we've all heard before: a world with dragons, kings, queens, magic, etc. with the end goal being to defeat the bad dragon. This is the reason I didn't give it 5 stars because, yes, it was interesting, but I wouldn't say it's this amazing adventure, unheard of and surprising.
- *SPOILER*
Also I thought it was a little annoying that every single character survived this "war". Around page 300 the author kills off around 5 people almost in a row and I just thought it was going to be this ruthless book where you shouldn't get attached to anyone because they're going to be killed off, but no. Don't worry about that, get attached to whoever you want because they all magically survive such an awful, world-wide battle... I just thought it was a waste of a really cool ending because, yeah it's sad, but also realistic in a scenario like this one (as realistic as a fantasy book can get)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Suicide