Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

130 reviews

beforeviolets's review

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

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

Minor: Infidelity and Sexual content

ailsaod's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

 Overall I really enjoyed this book but it took me most of the time I had it on loan to get through the first 100 or so pages! This monster of a book is set in a world that is clearly based on our own in the 16th/17th century or so with the the world divided up into the East, West and South (the North exists too but barely features) and in particular the story focuses on the differences in these cultures' perceptions of dragons and the resulting ideological differences in their religions. This was not initially apparent though and the book opens in Orishima (an extremely clear parallel of the island of Dejima in Nagasaki and was the only place the Dutch and Portuguese were allowed to trade from during Japan's Edo period) and I was thrown off by the closeness.

I think this book's handling of the countries' different religions was very interesting as the historical setting means that tolerance of other cultures and beliefs is low and some of the religions share origins but oppose each other in other respects. I myself am very much an atheist but I found the religions Shannon had invented/adapted for this book very interesting (especially as they concerned dragons!) and the way it all tied into the main conflict of the book was very clever.

The descriptions in this book are frequent and extensive which is probably part of why its so long! I can see this becoming tiring for some people but I liked it despite not usually going for such a flowery writing style. There is a glossary for some of the invented/obscure terms at the end but I didn't realised until I had finished the book and I feel like you can generally understand from the context what is being meant. The number of characters, in one part in particular is enormous though and I could definitely see that putting people off as it was quite difficult to remember who some of the minor characters were after a few chapters from a different perspective!

While the descriptions are flowery and beautiful of the pleasant things they are also vivid for the less nice. There is a section fairly early in the book where in most of the points of view of the story characters die brutally and it hit me pretty hard. I would also warn anyone who has any problems with the topics of pregnancy and/or miscarriage to watch out as there is a part that concerns these topics heavily and I was extremely glad when it was over.

This book contains what is probably the best queer romance I have yet seen (not that that is much of a boast!). The main romance begins quietly and is very sweet and the couple of extremely vague sex scenes didn't have me cringing as every over sex scene I have read has. There is another romance seen purely through a character's reminiscences which was extremely sad and could technically be filed as an example of the dreaded 'bury your gays' trope but while I can't say I enjoyed it as it was very sad I do think it was a good addition to the overall story. The romance in this book actually enhances it rather than detracts and I feel like that is unusual in Fantasy where it often feels like the romance is slapped on top of a pre-existing plot.

Overall this book was great but I do wish we could have seen a bit more of the dragons and also the ending felt a bit like an easy way out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Pregnancy

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Religious bigotry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

anxiouspurpleelephant's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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

5.0

I LOVE THIS BOOK!! I thought I’d got bored of fantasy books as (I sometimes find) they all have a similar plot and they were starting to get a bit boring… which is why at first I wasn’t  sure if I would like this book (and the 800 pages slightly scared me) but omg it is so worth it. 

First of all can I just say that Ead and Sabran are just so amazing and cute I love them. I also love how amazingly the whole world was developed, but I’m super disappointed it isn’t a series because I feel like since the world is so built up soooo much more could be done with it. I also love Margaret and Tané. I need a water dragon in my life. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, and Grief

Minor: Alcoholism and Death of parent

thecourtofreading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious 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

4.75

"we may be young and we may be small, but we will shake the world with our beliefs."

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Violence

Moderate: Infertility, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Trafficking

lagiven's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

The detailed worldbuilding in Priory and the complex characters were easily my favorite parts and the reasons why I rated it so highly. Shannon balances a large cast and complicated subplots and connects them all in a way that's very satisfying. Additionally, I appreciated how Shannon doesn't use violence against women to  make her fantasy world "realistically grim" as other medieval era-high fantasy authors do. The fact that the two romance subplots are queer is also a positive. The only negative is that Priory starts off very slow as there's a lot of worldbuilding and plot set-up, so I didn't get hooked until almost halfway in. Medieval fantasy also isn't my favorite, so I admire how well written Priory is but don't absolutely love it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Infertility, Pregnancy, and Gaslighting

oliviafaye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring lighthearted 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

kthulu_cake's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, and Gore

lattefairies's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Minor: Alcoholism, Grief, and Abortion