Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

59 reviews

smithreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Blood, War, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Infertility, Medical content, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Addiction, Homophobia, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Gun violence, Torture, and Infidelity

anxieteaandbiscuits12's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, War, Blood, Violence, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Infertility

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, and Suicidal thoughts

bel017's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

The ending is good. I feel that's critical when reading such a chonker of a book. 
The story is told from the viewpoint of four different characters, which were woven together well - I was never confused as to whose viewpoint I was reading. I did get confused in some of the historical plot and side plots, but it's a huge cast of characters, with two different sides giving the same characters different names, and some having the same or similar names. The confusion didn't diminish my enjoyment though. I enjoyed it so much that, even though I literally just finished it I am very tempted to just turn back to the beginning and start all over again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Death

Moderate: Violence, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, War, Trafficking, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Xenophobia

Minor: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Abandonment, Incest, Infertility, Dementia, Gore, and Emotional abuse

caroluvr's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Stalking, Death of parent, Classism, Kidnapping, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, War, Infertility, Body horror, Bullying, Genocide, Misogyny, Murder, Suicide, Blood, Death, Gore, Pregnancy, Torture, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, Gaslighting, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Violence, Animal death, Excrement, Grief, and Incest

Moderate: Trafficking, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Infidelity, Addiction, Alcohol, and Alcoholism

fatherprozac's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

I really enjoyed this book's female characters and the lack of homophobia, racism in relation to skin color, and blatant misogyny (other than that toward Sabran) in the world. It feels very socially modern and so it managed to capture me in a way that many other fantasy books haven't. Overall, a great story. I do wish that

Tane's part of the story had been bigger, I found myself frustrated at the clear focus on the West's side of the narrative. I also wish we had seen more of Nayimathun--even the book itself points out how often she and Tane are separated.  I also despised the long chapters surrounding Niclays as I personally found him extremely unlikeable--which may have been the point, but they were a chore nonetheless. Finally, the climax of actually fighting the Nameless One was a bit disappointing for me, pretty anticlimactic.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Murder, Xenophobia, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, and Kidnapping

muriel_r's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Violence, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Xenophobia, Abandonment, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Infertility, and Torture

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

froyobaggns's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective tense 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

4.5

it is a whole fantasy series crammed into one novel. it was very enjoyable, and its comparisons of religion and heresy were an interesting look at what we face in the real world. it was a beautifully woven tale. there were some moments where things happened very easily for characters, but overall i thought it was great 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, War, Death, Xenophobia, Violence, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Alcohol, Death, Infertility, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Abandonment, and Child death

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