Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

61 reviews

strange_little_ranger's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Miscarriage, and Violence

Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Bullying, Death, Death of parent, Dementia, Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical content, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Racism, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, War, and Vomit

anneroza's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny 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? Yes

5.0

A+ worldbuilding. Amazing characters. Wonderful story. One of my new favorite books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, Xenophobia, War, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Mental illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Child death, Incest, Racism, Medical content, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, Infidelity, Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Incest, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Torture

offbrandclubsoda's review against another edition

adventurous reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

I really wanted to love this book - Sapphic high fantasy that’s not YA sounded like my dream. 
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the book, but I didn’t fall in love with it. 
The world building and character development were well done and the political story was intriguing. 
My biggest complaint is that the book should have been split up into a series. It was super long and it felt like so many different things happened that would have been better absorbed over more than one book.
I was hoping for a bit more spice, given that it is not YA but alas.

I quite enjoyed the morally grey development of

Niclays

Spice level: 🌶🌶/5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Incest, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Minor: Homophobia, Pregnancy, and Sexual content

drachenreiter's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? N/A

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infertility, Kidnapping, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Religious bigotry, War, and Confinement

Moderate: Child death, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Sexual content

Minor: Alcoholism and Alcohol

broro's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Sexual assault

dancers_and_dragons's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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

An epic of a book where the very balance of the world is changing, Priory of the Orange Tree tells the story of several main characters whose fates are intertwined. Samantha Shannon does a masterful job of weaving threads that are joined to others later, forming a wide tapestry of fantasy kingdoms and powers who realize the flaws in their morality, and that nothing is truly black and white. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Death, Colonisation, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Dementia, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, Terminal illness, War, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Gaslighting, Suicide attempt, Sexual content, and Pregnancy

Fantasy Racism that is explored and challenged, fantasy religious bigotry that is explored and challenged, brief and non-graphic sexual content description in two scenes, with fade to black elsewhere

omarickman's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Miscarriage, Death of parent, Murder, Grief, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Death, and Pregnancy

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Blood, and Cursing

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

deereadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.5

4.5/5 Stars. 

The Priory of the Orange Tree checks off all the boxes that a High Fantasy book should cross off. There is great historical backstories, complex characters, an amazingly descriptive new world, and interestingly combined politics. This book has probably been one of the most entertaining books I have read this year, however, the ending of the story, along with a few other minor details didn’t make this the 5 star read I was expecting. 

First off, the main villain of the story. Called the Nameless One. I was pretty underwhelmed with the battle that took place, and I was expecting more of this creature that has been looking for a return for so long. It almost seemed as if gathering information was more difficult than the actual exertion of battle to the death combat with a ridiculously large wyrm. Either way, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with this final battle. 

Now, the ending. I definitely felt like Tané was underused. I felt as if she could have contributed more to the overall story, and I was disappointed to not see more of her. Also Niclays… I don’t know where to start with him without giving any spoilers, but I’m very indifferent about his character overall. 

Thirdly, abrupt ending to the battle? Like, the battle is over, and then all of a sudden they are back in their homelands again. I didn’t really think that this story ended in the way that it should have. But I don’t really want to get into spoiler grounds. 

There are many positive things about this book that I loved as well. The sapphic relationship that was included as a minor sub plot was really nice, and I liked to see the character growth from those characters. I loved the world as well. I liked how each of the kingdoms had their own systems, and the divide between the West and East was very interesting. 

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to High Fantasy lovers like myself 🥰

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infertility, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Minor: Alcohol

nefariousbee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.5

it takes some time to get into - one, it's 800 pages and that's kind of intimidating, two, it's high fantasy and the story building can be quite overwhelming, three, it takes at least 150 pages, maybe 200, when you start enjoying yourself because until then you were too confused by everything. but it's so worth it. if you like fantasy, and dragons, and royalty setting, and fight scenes, pirates, fleshed out and complicated characters, morally grey characters... you will like it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Confinement, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Infertility

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Religious bigotry

Minor: Alcohol, Animal death, Infidelity, Incest, and Violence