Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

296 reviews

mabechel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The pacing and focus of this book is weird and a little off putting. Some portions are really focused on the day to day and engaging. Other times, the writing is very sparse on the details, even during some important key events. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to this acceleration/deceleration of the pacing and it really gives the impression of losing focus. I feel like this would've been better as a more flushed out series than one gigantic book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and War

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Torture, Medical content, Dementia, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, and Sexual content

nanascorner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

My only problem is with the final battle but I found out that the author originally planned a much longer battle and was talked into shortening it by an editor. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Murder

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

dreadspawn's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

cumminsn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? Yes

5.0

What an incredible tale, where do I even begin? If you are a fantasy lover, this absolute beast of a novel has just about everything you could want: magic, corrupt courts and religions with a foundation of lies, shape shifting witches, pirates, adventure, romance, and of course, dragons! Also, the positive LGBT+ representation was very refreshing to read in this kind of high-fantasy setting.

It would be an understatement to say “this book is long.” It took me months to get through it, but it was worth it. There were sections that I was hoping to get through faster, mainly because by that point there were narratives that interested me more than others and I wanted to get back to them. But, I wouldn’t say there are things that happen that weren’t there for a reason. All of the branching plot points happening between the several different perspectives we see manage to come together very satisfyingly, despite how vastly different each individual’s story was. There are very intricate religious systems made here that tie in to both the magic, the dragons, and in with tales and legends of ancient figures whose importance grows as the story progresses. It was particularly intriguing to learn of our current character’s connections to some of these legendary figures, and what that means for the roles they can expect to fill.

The ending did a great job of wrapping up the current stories of these characters, though the final epic battle did feel slightly rushed compared to the build up it took to get there. Nonetheless, I was very invested in each character’s story, and was pleased to see that their endings, while satisfying, did have a few mysterious threads to them that work well as potential hooks for even more tales to be woven in the future. I’m so curious to see where my favorites go from here!

Samantha Shannon has truly created a very intriguing world with Priory of the Orange Tree and it really is worth reading all 800+ pages of it. I already have the prequel novel in my possession and look forward to diving back in for more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Violence, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, and War

av0universe's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful 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: Body horror, Death, Infertility, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Torture, Dementia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse and Religious bigotry

clovetra's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

i find this book so hard to rate. on one hand, this is probably the best fantasy book i’ve ever read, and i immediately want to read the prequel. on the other hand, i did find some issues with this. anyways im gonna break my thoughts down & maybe that’ll edge me into a decision:

- i loved ead. i would marry ead if she was real. i love her. her overall characterisation was sublime, and although her ending is bittersweet, it is overall good.

- sabran underwent one of the best arcs i’ve read. going from a mean, arrogant, stubborn women to a

forgiving, understanding and someone open and actively causing change

was amazing to read. her ending was perfect, as was her dialogue. no notes

- i found myself getting… bored at times with tané. i like her sure. but compared to ead’s main story, not as much happened here. her story only really felt as though it picked up like 65% into this book. which for a book that is 800 pages….. that’s too long

- loth was ok! like it was written well, but i didn’t grow beyond anything to just liking him, and found his story often to be a waste of time

- roos can go choke. i don’t care. i don’t even care if the intention was to have a main character so insufferable. i hated him & his chapters and i wish him pain and suffering even though he’s not even real.

i would say the overarching plot was so intriguing. it felt perfectly paced, and had plot twists galore. so much kept changing, so i was constantly on the edge of my seat. i saw a review saying this book rambled a lot and honestly, i disagree! this book absolutely needed the pages it did. it would not be as good of a book as it is. i mean yeah it could’ve been split into multiple books but i felt like it defo needed all its pages. 

but, it wasn’t perfect. for one, so much was going on all the time, meaning i would forget shit. like this is the first book ive actively had to note take just to grasp. that also ties in with the fact nothing is explained!!!! i mean obviously a lot is explained, but many crucial foundations to this story are not explained, and either thrown into the glossary & timeline. that is all fair & dandy, but i should not have to search ur book to remember who crucial characters are! sure if they’re random side character A ok u don’t need to explain them, but when you don’t explain what the fuck virtuedom even is, or the dukes court (i don’t even remember the name oh my god). like i still could not remember who was the duke spiritual, a crest, a goldenbirch, or combe. like please set some foundations. ur big bad should not be explained in the fucking glossary!!!!!!!!!!!! also come on not explaining simple things like what an ichneumon is. (edit: google is confusing me as to whether these are even real. but seriously what happened to death of the author. i should not have to consult anything BUT the text to know what’s going on imo).

that is the biggest “issue” imo holding this book back for me. it just expects you to be aware of how its world works. like yes should i have glanced at the glossary & timeline before beginning? yeah. did the glossary & timeline also have a shitload of spoilers? YEAH. like ??????

i very much did love this book, i would literally die for ead, sabran & tané, and wanted to cry when i realised i was done. but idk the lacklustre worldbuilding foundations were infuriating. goinng further with the worldbuilding e.g. the story of cleolind, the priory, etc. was great! the layers needed to build up to that though were…. lacking. 
edit: i lied even tho i said this book did flop in parts i actually don’t care because this book made me so emotional & it feels wrong not having this as a 5-star based on how much it made me feel

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Dementia

proudtobeabookaholic's review

adventurous challenging slow-paced

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

4.0

It's not easy to write a review for this kind of book, without it being a short story in itself, but I'll try to get the major points across. 

It took a while to get into the book because there's a LOT of names. Names of characters, places and titles. Fortunatly there's lists of characters and unfamiliar words at the end of the book to help against the confusion, but it also kind of throwed me off track to have to check them. However, there's four "storytellers". Ead Duryan, a mage from the Priory of the Orange Tree, sent to protect Queen Sabran in Inys. Lord Arteloth Beck, close friend of Sabran. Tané, who's trained her whole life to become a dragon rider. Niclays Roos, an anatomist and alchemist, banished from Inys by the queen. My favorites quickly became Ead and Tané, while Niclays mostly felt unnecessary. "Loth" growed on me throughout the book, but I give my love to the female protagonists this time! Even Sabran, who I found unnerving to start with, became a favorite!

Religion and faith play a big part in this book and, as in our own world, have a large impact on things. I'm not very fond of this, but it's an important part of the story. The book is long - too long - and some scenes could have been cut entirely. Some things get solved a bit too easy, while others drag on. I also expected to see more of the dragons, but overall I quite enjoyed myself while reading. 

I've spent almost 2 months in this world, doing a buddy read with a friend. It's been so much fun to talk about it every other week, and I feel like I got more out of the book this way. I do feel a bit empty now, to not spending anymore time with the characters, but at the same time I'm glad it's over!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual content

nic3's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

3.5

The world building and mythology in this book are immense. The different countries feel different and made sense. On the other hand the pacing of the various stories was inconsistent, with some areas laboured and others skimmed. Overall the plot was compelling, but there were some technical aspects that let it down. I would still recommend it to others however. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail