Reviews tagging 'Violence'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

380 reviews

lonelylooper's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Cursing, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Body horror, Gore, Grief, Infertility, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Dementia, Classism, Child death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Xenophobia, and Murder

Minor: Suicide, Incest, Death of parent, and Infidelity

emalderwood's review

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

5.0

This is hands down the best fantasy epic I've read in a long time. The story, the characters, the world-building, the prose... everything was beautifully executed and I'd rate it higher than 5 stars if I could. This is someone who is a master of their craft. The descriptions of new characters and places were detailed in a way that made you know them within a few sentences, without slowing the flow of the narrative or ever feeling too much. The metaphors and similes were fresh and artful and added to the immersion. And the story was like a whole series in one volume because it was written so beautifully that not a word was wasted. This one has earned its place on my shelf for a long time to come! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Miscarriage, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Blood

Minor: Pregnancy, Gore, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Grief, Dementia, Xenophobia, and Religious bigotry

lmfry's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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: Kidnapping, Violence, Grief, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Infertility, Alcohol, Classism, Confinement, Death, Dementia, War, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Medical content, Gaslighting, and Animal death

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

poisonivy's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Murder, War, Violence, Miscarriage, and Infertility

cursed10fold's review

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? Yes

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage and Violence

kelisabeth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Deportation, Infidelity, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Pregnancy, Racism, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Violence, War, Animal cruelty, Chronic illness, Infertility, Panic attacks/disorders, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder

pand_books's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Death, Murder, Miscarriage, and Blood

Moderate: Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Colonisation, and Grief

Minor: Incest and Pandemic/Epidemic

unfoundation's review

adventurous 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? Yes

3.75

This book started off so well. Shannon’s world building is excellent and there is great excitement and some really cool scenes as the plot begins to unfold. You do have a love/hate relationship with some characters which I like (Sabran, Roos). Ead’s storyline is probably the most interesting and entertaining. I even found myself mildly charmed by Loth despite how annoying he is at times. Tane is the only storyline that 100% fell flat to me the entire time. The book as a whole falls apart towards the end. Some of the “character development” and changes of heart come out of nowhere and seem more convenient for the plot rather than natural. Many events building towards the climax feel very convenient too and unrealistic given the beginning. It starts jumping around a lot more seemingly just to slot things into place for the big showdown. You lose the sense of tension from earlier in the story because you start to realise there is no chance of the heroes losing. In the end the reveal and battle with the big bad is disappointing and really brief. I would still recommend this book as the world building is an excellent example for fantasy and it has some interesting and original takes. A good introduction to fantasy, but there are stories that deliver the pay off better.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Infertility and Miscarriage

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, War, Violence, Death, and Blood

betweentheshelves'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? It's complicated

4.0

This is a beast of a book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! Lately I've been preferring to listen to longer fantasy books on audio, partly because it means I read them faster and partly because I feel more immersed in the world that way. Especially for adult fantasy.

The world building in this was so well done! There are so many details, but it doesn't feel like too much at once. I think this is helped by the fact that there is such a great core cast of characters that balances out the world building. And dragons. Because who doesn't like a book that has dragons in it??

All in all, I'm glad I finally picked this one up, and will have to pick up the prequel when I catch up with my other library audiobook holds.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Infertility, and Pregnancy

princessrory's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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

“I would live alone for fifty years to have one day with you.”

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Kidnapping, Infertility, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, War, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual content, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Incest, Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, and Suicide

Minor: Dementia, Vomit, and Torture