Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

31 reviews

rensreading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

i have no idea where to start!! my brain feels like its scattered all over but one thing i can say with full certainty is that: this is one of the best high fantasy stories out there, hands down.

the plot? exquisite! the characters? phenomenal! the progression of relationships? flawless! all the twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat!

i think my favorite character would have to be tané. we didn’t get as much of her story as we did the others, true. but she spoke to my soul. a hidden past, seemingly abandoned by her birth parents and taken in by the temple (i’m like 80% sure it was a temple anyway) to learn and train to one day become a rider, having a dragon choose her and call her kin, claiming she has the heart of a dragon all while battling an insurmountable amount of guilt for lives she’s put in danger due to her own ambition. ughhhh i just loved her. i can’t explain it right. just know she’s marvelous and i wish only happy things for her from here on out.

i also love that all the queerness was so casual. the only issue anybody had with queer couples were due to blood heirs and classism. that’s it. so refreshing for two people of the same gender to be together and no one has an issue with it for the mere sake of it. especially in fantasy! you would assume since its all made-up, homophobia wouldn’t be a thing many fantasy stories subscribe to but you would be wrong. i also love that ace and aro also had rep in this. lost of people call this a sapphic fantasy, but that feels like a discredit to all the other queer identities represented in this book.

this is a tome, plain and simple. don’t let its size intimidate you though! once the story has you, its not gonna let go until you’ve read all 800+ pages it has for you. you’ll love it. but if you have trouble reading longer books, divide the book up by parts! it helped me immensely!

and when people say the story really starts to pick up at page 250, they truly were not lying.

5 stars (:

[edited 6/29]

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Murder, Religious bigotry, Torture, War, Confinement, Gore, Alcohol, Blood, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Violence, Cursing, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Pregnancy, Gun violence, Infertility, and Incest

Minor: Colonisation, Gaslighting, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts

concerning the incest: a character raises a child as her own then ends up falling in love with the child once they are grown. they are, fortunately, not blood related.

angstifies'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? Yes

5.0

if i could give it more than 5 stars i absolutely would, this is easily one of the best books i’ve ever read.

this book was amazing from page one to the very last one, it can seem intimidating because of the number of pages but it’s really not. the pacing is great, the world, religions, dragons and magic in here are all very intriguing and unique, and all the stories in the 4 POVs are soo good, i was never even slightly bored.

i really didn’t expect to love all these characters as much as i did but wow. every one of them was so well crafted, even the side characters always felt real and distinct and i absolutely adored that. my favorite has to be Niclays, i always like a good morally flawed character and his arc was fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Infertility, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Body horror, War, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, and Alcohol

ate_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Murder, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Death, Infertility, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Cursing, Death of parent, Gun violence, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts

ging090803's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I started this book during my finals. Wasnt a great idea. It took more than a month to read... I am now broken. This book is incredible. The worldbuilding around it is insane. At some point, it seemed a little bit too long but i still appreciated it. Well, I freaking loved it. I recommand it for everyone who is into high fantasy. 
It might seem complicated to understand (and it is), but the story is worth to read. The characters are amazing. The past is well written which explained everything during the present. 
Anyway, 5 freaking stars. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, War, Sexual content, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Miscarriage, and Blood

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Pregnancy, Alcoholism, Infertility, Murder, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Grief

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, and Religious bigotry

quinn24's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death of parent, Medical content, Miscarriage, Classism, Murder, Alcoholism, Terminal illness, Gun violence, and Kidnapping

Minor: Infertility, Sexual content, and Dementia

thecasualbooknerd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

A beautifully crafted and masterfully executed story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Blood, Gun violence, Violence, and Miscarriage

Minor: Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, and Alcoholism

claudiamacpherson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective 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

I finished this book weeks ago and I still don’t even know what to say because I loved it so much. <i>The Priory of the Orange Tree</i> is rich high fantasy and uses so many tropes and ideas common to the genre and yet somehow still feels totally unique. The worldbuilding is intricate, but because it is based in real European, Middle Eastern, and Asian folklore (and because the writing is amazing), it was never confusing (Frank Herbert, take notes!). The combination of sweeping worldbuilding, legends and folklore, and the slowest of slow burn romances pretty much hit all my favorite things to read about. I loved every single character (except Roos. He was annoying) and wanted the best for them (yeah, even Roos. He still sucks though).

Happy ending meter (no specific spoilers, just the general vibe of the ending):

Happy! Though I did feel that a few things were left unresolved—here’s hoping Shannon writes a sequel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, Medical trauma, Miscarriage, Murder, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, War, and Xenophobia

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gun violence, and Vomit

kfox's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infertility, Mental illness, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Infidelity, and Pregnancy

beforeviolets's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

5.0

There's promise in tales that are yet to be spoken.

I wish I could put into words just how much I loved this book, but I don't think I'll be able to. I have been craving so much sapphic adult high fantasy this year and, as most people are, was nervous to crack into this beast of a book. But the only disappointing thing about this book was that it had to end.

The prose constantly rendered me speechless, the world-building was just an absolute marvel to experience, the characters were so multi-faceted and compelling and perfectly rounded out the story.

This is the blueprint.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, War, Violence, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Genocide, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Blood, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Medical content, and Confinement

Minor: Sexual content and Infidelity

li_reading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Chronic illness, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Blood, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal death, Torture, Religious bigotry, Kidnapping, Infidelity, Addiction, Dementia, and Abandonment

Minor: Incest, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Sexual content, Medical content, Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Cursing, and Confinement