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mightymegan25's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Grief, Pregnancy, and War
brynalexa's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
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? No
5.0
I didn’t know a book SO long could be SO fast-paced. I was in love with the characters from the start and got my heart broken and put back together countless times. I love the depth of the history in names of people/places and how the author demonstrates changes in people, places, culture, and languages over time. I love a book with gay characters in which the trauma has nothing to do with their sexuality. The interview at the end of the audiobook was definitely with the listen.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Infertility and Cannibalism
abiofpellinor's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and War
questingnotcoasting's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
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? No
5.0
The Priory Of The Orange Tree is one of my favourite books so I had extremely high expectations for this and I was very pleased to find it lived up to them. I enjoyed this just as much as Priory, possibly more. I did make the mistake of starting it while I was tired and it took me several days to really get into it but after that I didn't want to stop. I was excited to return to this world and get to know the new characters, all of whom I ended up loving. The way their plots weave together was very satisfying and I also enjoyed seeing how motherhood was a strong theme throughout. It was also fascinating to see the connections between the two books and consider what it would be like to read this one first.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
aileron's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
1.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Child death, Suicide, and Cannibalism
gladiolus17's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? Yes
4.5
Ahhhhh!!!! I cannot possibly put together all my thoughts in coherent sentences, so I will just ramble in bullet points.
Loved loved loved this book. Just as much as I did Priory.
Loved loved loved this book. Just as much as I did Priory.
- Soooo steeped in POV. The metaphors and descriptions are all filtered through the character’s lens. Even if you didn’t have a character name in the text, you would still know whose POV it would be.
- Amazing, poetic language. I learned so many cool words from this book.
- The way bodies were described were so gentle and beautiful. Aging is not a terrible thing, and is described so tenderly.
- The poetry!!!! I loved that nod to Japanese waka and tanka poems.
- The food!!! So specific and delicious.
- The family dynamics!!!! Complex and nuanced.
- Bardholt!!! I loved him as a father, just as much as Glorian does.
The pacing picks up after the midpoint. The first half is all world building and reaction, while the latter half is the characters taking what they learned and fighting the bad guys.
As much as I loved this book to death, I do think the side characters were its weakness. Many of the side characters were very developed, not to discount that, but some named characters didn’t have a huge impact on the plot, so when they died, it felt hard to sympathize with them.
That being said, this book is a treasure and is still wonderful despite the weaknesses.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Pregnancy, and War
erinoco's review against another edition
adventurous
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Pregnancy, and War
Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, and Sexual content
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
quinnyquinnquinn'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? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Sexual content, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Animal death, Suicide, and Kidnapping
vampire_burrito's review against another edition
adventurous
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy and War
frantically's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? No
3.5
Such a well written and rich book, if a bit slow in pacing.
I'm probably in the minority here, in that I read this prequel before "Priory". It was available on my audiobook app and as Shannon said you could read it as a standalone, I did.
This is a world that is on levels with the ones created by classic High Fantasy authors like Tolkien or GRRM and you can tell so much love and thought was poured into this.
My main issue with this book is how long it takes for anything to happen. You either have to listen or read for a really long time before shit really starts to go down and I don't think I would've continued if I had been reading.
I loved how everything started to come together in the end and how we saw more and more outsider perspectives on our main characters. I especially loved Glorian's story and how carefully Inez (and also the Priory!) flipped modern gender roles and how that was handled.
There is an added interview with the author at the end and it was so fascinating to see her thoughts and how well she knew this world she'd created — there's so much potential!
It was hard to get into this book and the whole universe but now I'm more than ready to dive into "Priory" and hopefully won't have to get through much more world building 😅
I'm probably in the minority here, in that I read this prequel before "Priory". It was available on my audiobook app and as Shannon said you could read it as a standalone, I did.
This is a world that is on levels with the ones created by classic High Fantasy authors like Tolkien or GRRM and you can tell so much love and thought was poured into this.
My main issue with this book is how long it takes for anything to happen. You either have to listen or read for a really long time before shit really starts to go down and I don't think I would've continued if I had been reading.
I loved how everything started to come together in the end and how we saw more and more outsider perspectives on our main characters. I especially loved Glorian's story and how carefully Inez (and also the Priory!) flipped modern gender roles and how that was handled.
There is an added interview with the author at the end and it was so fascinating to see her thoughts and how well she knew this world she'd created — there's so much potential!
It was hard to get into this book and the whole universe but now I'm more than ready to dive into "Priory" and hopefully won't have to get through much more world building 😅
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Violence, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
Minor: Child death