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pbeeandj's review
- 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
Graphic: War, Murder, Religious bigotry, Death, Miscarriage, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Alcoholism, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Kidnapping, and Injury/Injury detail
cameronreads's review against another edition
5.0
Graphic: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Addiction, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Torture
joensign's review
- 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
Graphic: Violence, War, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Infertility, Religious bigotry, and Death
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Incest, Infidelity, Torture, Pregnancy, Confinement, and Animal cruelty
Minor: Classism and Blood
lifeofchrstnlvly's review against another edition
- 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
Just because something has always been done does not mean that it ought to be done.
I should not have been intimidated by the thickness of this book because it was an easy read. Samantha Shannon has the power to let you be engrossed with the story.
Once you get past parts one and two, you will be rewarded with a story full of adventures. It is a high fantasy, high stakes book. You will encounter characters you will fall in love with (with the length of this book, rest assured you will fall in love with at least one). You will encounter characters that you will loathe. However, since it's a long book, be prepared to be heartbroken because anything can happen - including the death of the characters you love.
I want to share my thoughts about 2 of the main criticisms I read/watched about this book.
First, people criticize the ending because they feel it was rushed. However, the battle scene was never the book's main point. Instead, the journey of the characters was. It was all about the journey, the adventures of the characters, and how they needed to be molded before the war. While it was very plot-driven, the book was prolonged because of how fleshed out the characters were. If they didn't go through everything they went through, we would never understand why the characters were compelled to think about what they thought. Also, in hindsight, battle scenes are quick. You don't need 5 long chapters to describe who fought who and who died and survived because battles are fast, so I understood why the war was fast-paced.
Secondly, some say that when the characters faced the questions of their faith, it's like they quickly gave in and abandoned their beliefs. However, some people fail to recognize the age-old saying, "Seeing is believing." The characters saw what was against their beliefs, causing them to change their thoughts. It was not just hearsay; they saw it with their own eyes.
The Priory of the Orange Tree is about finding and being yourself. It is about friendship and found family. It is about politics and morality. It is so jam-packed that when you find yourself zoning out for 3 sentences, you must reread them because you probably missed a lot.
Yes, it is more than 800 pages, but I wanted more. I could read 800 pages more if it meant I could still live in their world.
Graphic: Death, Blood, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, and War
theirgracegrace's review
- 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
4.75
Graphic: Infertility, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death of parent, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Islamophobia, Religious bigotry, War, Xenophobia, Classism, and Confinement
Moderate: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Vomit, and Excrement
Minor: Cannibalism, Incest, and Abandonment
singalana's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
My main gripe about this book was the pacing. Sometimes scenes that feel important to the plot are written like: blink and you'll miss it, and then there are pages after pages of something trivial. It got a lot worse towards the end: 500 pages of barely nothing happening, and then everything happens all at once.
The villains in this book could have been interesting, but we barely see some of them (the king of Yscalin for example), the others (e.g. Kalyba) are too busy doing monologues, and the Biggest and Baddest Villain of them all and the reason why all of this is happening is defeated just like that. We barely even get a description of it!
The ending was so confusing and over so quickly that I think that the author must have realised that she had written 500 pages already and hadn’t resolved anything. And in the end, everything got resolved so easily, the POV characters instinctively knew what to do, the evil was defeated and everyone lived happily ever after. What a disappointment.
Minor: Infidelity, Mental illness, War, Alcohol, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Death, Infertility, Violence, Body horror, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Deportation, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Blood, and Kidnapping
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, War, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Blood
Moderate: Classism, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Animal death, Drug use, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Infertility, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Misogyny, Miscarriage, Sexism, Confinement, Torture, Medical content, and Sexual content
Minor: Incest, Child death, Pedophilia, Suicide, Excrement, Self harm, Vomit, Rape, Domestic abuse, and Infidelity
Illness, epidemic.katharina90's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Eventually I did enjoy the story and I appreciated the diversity in characters which is so often lacking in fantasy novels authored by white folks.
The book reads pretty young (almost but not quite YA) and the writing wasn't always my cup of tea. Some issues with pacing, and both plot and characters could have been more complex given the 800+ page count.
Moderate: Sexual content, Miscarriage, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Death, War, Kidnapping, and Torture
lisa_m's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Well like I said, it starts off quite slow and because of that it took me way longer to read it than I thought it would. I was interested in the world & characters, but still the book was a bit exhausting to read for the first 100-200 pages.
I absolutely understand why people would dnf this book, because there is so much information and worldbuilding and also there are 4 different POVs of people that do not have anything to do with each other (yet). You really have to be attentive while reading as well, because otherwise you will just loose the plot and interest in reading it at all.
Still I'm very glad I pulled through because this book is so amazing!! I don't think I have ever read a book with such excellent world building. There are so many storys in this universe that could be told and I'm honestly hoping that Samantha Shannon will write them all. I definitely would read them!
A backstory for Tané & Susa, or a story about Eadaz's upbringing in the Priory would be so fun to read about. The full love story between young Jannard & Nicklays I would definitly read. Even a sequel about Loth & Morgan and how they figure everything out, or about Eadaz's new life. And one of the storys that would interest me the most would be a backstory of The Unceasing Emperor & the Sea Maiden (I have my own suspicions of who she is, but I would love to read the full story!)
Anyways, I feel like this book is the introduction. It is the main story that has all the fighting and stuff. Now I just want to know more about the whole world! I honestly think that is a great compliment to the author, since I have just read 800 pages, for me to still want more says a lot.
I am definitely interested in reading Samantha Shannons other works now as well. :) I just hope they will be a bit easier to get into.
The writing in this book is also really good. I tabbed so many quotes and just great parts throughout. I would love to read a book of legends or something along those lines about the different parts of this world. I think Shannons writing would fit that very well, and also it would be super interesting to read (especially because I love myths and legends).
Another amazing thing about this book are the different themes handled in this book. I think I would have to reread it, to actually understand everything that is in here, but basically it's about faith and about alienation. About othering people you don't understand. And about teamwork and helping each other, about finding together to fight towords a common goal. It's about overcoming prejudices and while acnoledging the reasons for their existance. It's a book about change, and how it can be a good thing. This book is so unique and unlike I've ever read.
I would definitely recommend this book, but if you plan on reading it, don't expect a light read and know what you're in for. I do think it's worth it (it was for me), but in the end every reader has to decide that for themselves.
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Dementia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, Violence, War, Classism, Infertility, Infidelity, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Sexual content
wackly93's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
4.0
Graphic: Torture, Fire/Fire injury, Medical content, Death, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Blood, Sexual content, War, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Suicide