Reviews tagging 'Death'

Le Prieuré de l'Oranger by Samantha Shannon

449 reviews

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Body horror, Bullying, Xenophobia, Confinement, Dementia, Genocide, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Death, Torture, Violence, War, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Miscarriage, Animal death, Dysphoria, Murder, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

nineinchnails's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.75

i will definitely be rereading this at some point! partly because there was a lot of stuff i didn't fully understand but mostly because i enjoyed it so much. i don't think i've ever read such a rich, sprawling epic fantasy contained within one novel. the characters were complex and interesting but i wish we got a little more focus on tané and loth. they both felt less fleshed out to me than ead and roos. the only other thing that kinda bugged me was how rushed the ending felt in comparison to the rest of the book. i expected the final battle to be drawn out longer than it was so it felt almost anticlimactic but it was still tied up pretty neatly. my main priorities in fantasy are character development and worldbuilding and those elements were near perfect!!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War, Pregnancy, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Homophobia, Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, Classism, and Grief

Minor: Abandonment, Incest, and Death of parent

Pseudo incest

_ao_'s review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

My criteria for a 5 star book means it moves me to tears, so I can't give 5 stars to Priory of the Orange Tree. But it's sweeping and lore-rich, with a ton of bad-ass women leading and supporting the story. Give yourself some time to read this baby, and you'll find something to love about it. 

Also, I would have liked a tiny bit more in the way of an epilogue.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Xenophobia, Miscarriage, and Death

Minor: Infidelity, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Violence, Alcohol, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Infertility, Vomit, Animal death, and Pregnancy

rainydaycookies's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense 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? It's complicated

3.5

There was a slow start as the reader got to know the world and characters. I didn’t know how all the pieces fit together but once I started seeing the whole story I really enjoyed this book. Very heavy on descriptions of death, blood and guts. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Blood, Murder, Death, Violence, Torture, War, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Miscarriage

ginamiya's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Xenophobia, and War

Minor: Miscarriage

curlykristenk's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.0

Oft what a doozy of a book. I found it challenging to get into (800 pages is daunting) and confusing at first but once I accepted that I wouldn’t know every persons name or remember every place mentioned it was easier to let the plot and the book carry me along and it did well to remind me of stuff that was important which I loved. I looooved the characters and their intricacies and seeing them develop within the overarching plot. I did end up having to take notes on what happened within each other storyline and where we last saw them because the book jumps between storyline’s so much, once I did that I felt a lot better and was more in tune to what was going on. I loooved the twists and turns of this book I didn’t really ever guess what was going to happen. 

I loooooved the role of women in this book and the men being like helpful side characters

although Loths a feminist king and does so much he’s not the main ‘hero’ ya know? Love him tho.

Kit and Meg are fuckin angels too omg. 

I love the parallels between this book and the real world regarding misogyny.

Comb said that sabran failed her chief duty as queen by losing her baby. As if that’s a queen or rulers (or women’s) most important task. But misogynists believe that women’s only job is to be baby machines. And in cases of women being in positions of power, that babies overrule everything. And it’s her fault because of something she couldn’t control. And then Sabrán the fuckin QUEEN says “A woman is more than a womb to be seeded”.

Another fun parallel is the concept of balance of nature which I 100% believe in this world as well. 

My thoughts on the ending - ⚠️⚠️SPOILERS ⚠️⚠️

I also loved that all the religions were a little bit correct in their own way. Kinda cute of them. 

I kinda loooved the witch of the woods character. Slayed. 

👎 missing Margrets marriage 

I’m glad they didn’t give up their respective careers and paths but 10 years 😭😭💔💔 I wish their betrothal was more of a moment than her just saying have you heard of this thing… I totally love and get them following their own paths but oft it broke me. 

Tane??? Damp with blood? Huh? What a cliff hanger.  But I’m so glad nayimathun didn’t die. 

I love loth and margrets impending swap of responsibility and just both of their characters in general I love. 

Roos. What a roller coaster I felt for that man. I was sobbing at the end regardless. Aleidine is mother and queen for what she did and her attitude. EVEN WANTING TO SET NICKLAYS UP AGAIN. I CANT. 

I feel like the end went by really quick and got wrapped up really quickly. But I also like how it all played out anyways. I feel like the battle also could’ve been longer or had more go wrong but I’m also not complaining.  

I think the slow start and the fast wrap up is what doesn’t get it to a 5⭐️ for me but I loved it all the same.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Misogyny, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

srobs24's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Violence, War, Infertility, Miscarriage, and Pregnancy

a_novel_craving's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Miscarriage, Death, War, Addiction, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic, Grief, Infertility, Gore, Pregnancy, Blood, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

inlibrisveritas's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

5.0

Beautifully written
Full of incredible lore
Three badass FMCs
Dragons

This is everything I want in a fantasy and more 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Grief

mary_stormageddon's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

If, like me, the size of this book is the only thing keeping you from picking up this beauty, then let this be your sign to go for it anyway. I have never loved a fantasy book as much as I have loved this one!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Animal cruelty, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Pregnancy, and Violence

Minor: Incest