Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

274 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

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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! 

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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

tousledtreasure's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.5

I hoped I could rate it higher, but even though the story gets executed so very well in the first 650 pages and aside from the amazing premise and interesting characters, the later 150 move way to fast along. The first parts get drawn out so long, that you expect the story to have a similar well build finish, but in this case there was more focus laid on the world building than the resolution.

I believed it to be way too convenient, that the Emperor of the empire of the twelve lakes just was in the mood for change to set himself above a ban for outsiders, that was executed for years to the point where those who wash ashore get executed due to their foreign origin. Or that Tané who all throughout the book was wary of change and those of the West, who despised her gods, flew to the West just like that. Some plot points would've needed more time to get resolved. I'm surprised to say it, but I wish the book was longer.

But on the positive, I really enjoyed the Authors worldbuilding and will read her other books in this series. I'm very impressed with her ability to control such a large cast and portray the characters without watering them down. 
Overall this story is great but not perfect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and War

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Incest, Grief, Alcoholism, and Classism

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

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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

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

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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

rlfrick's review

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Incest, Pregnancy, and Grief

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

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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

bionerdatgc's review

slow-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

2.5

Content warnings first: the sapphic romance was touching in its buildup, culminating in a sex scene that was beautifully poetic and not graphic. However, sex and nudity scenes after that were very physically descriptive. The book had several f-bombs and a completely unnecessary c-word that jarred me out of the story. Miscarriage due to a violent (draconic) attack was graphic, as was the grief after the fact. And just in case you weren't convinced of a particular villain's villainy, it is revealed that they seduced their own adoptive child. Yuck.

On pacing: it was very slow to start, which is OK when weaving lots of storylines together. However, the story's first POV character actually gets the least amount of "screen" time - which in my opinion is a tragedy, because she and the Eastern dragons are the most interesting part of the story yet seem more like afterthoughts. Everything builds so slowly that when any action happens, it's over too fast and feels unfulfilling. The climax is awesome at least. I felt like it was paced just right, but there wasn't enough of it compared to the buildup.

I think this was a very well-conceived story, and it was woven together well in the amount of space it had. It lives up to the scale of epic fantasies. That said, I think it fell flat of its potential. Seriously, DRAGONS! Why have hundreds of pages of court intrigue on one side of the world when there are DRAGON RIDERS on the other side? And a convent of DRAGON SLAYERS down in the south? Flashbacks from Ead's childhood in the Priory would have added action to slower stretches and provided a much richer backdrop. And I really wish Tané had been given more time with her dragon. I would have loved to see them patrolling together instead of just talking, for instance. I would have loved to see the Sea Guard in action. So many things that could have been developed were overlooked in favor of court intrigue.

As a writer, I'm glad I read this book because I've learned a lot about my own preferences and style from it. However, I did not enjoy it enough to read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Miscarriage, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Medical content, Murder, Infertility, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Death, Confinement, Outing, Dementia, Death of parent, Blood, and Gore

shellbow's review

adventurous emotional slow-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, War, Infertility, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Infertility, and Pregnancy