Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

130 reviews

lesllyyy12's review against another edition

adventurous challenging tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent

livs_reading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

this is the second time I've read this story and I've fallen in love with it all over again. each storyline and character grows throughout the book. Great book + Dragons!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Grief, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

bluebellwoods's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

4.75

I really enjoyed reading this book over time. I'm not someone who has read a massive amount of fantasy and this book was still really engaging for me- it takes a little while to get into the book but once you get into the plot more it is a really immersive book. 

There is a range of characters in very different settings. Throughout I kept finding that I wanted to read more of each individuals storyline, but then when it switched to one of the other characters I thought the exact same thing but with a completely different storyline. In the end, it does come together. 

The book is fairly long- it does feel long as well- personally, I enjoyed this as there was room for the plot to fully play out and go through lots of different settings, moments and developments. 

I would recommend this book entirely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infertility, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

genny's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.5

This book put me into a reading slump. An 800+ page book should be anything but boring, but that's what this was. 😬 As a queer woman of color, I really wanted to like this. I enjoyed the setup and was sure it'd end up as a 4 or 5-star read, but alas...

The worldbuilding was good, easy to wrap your head around. I love descriptions of locales, food, travel...but come on, there are limits! The characters were constantly hopping from one place to another, like the author just wanted to showcase every bit of the world map. So much filler. It was also funny how people would suddenly sit down and tell tales. I get that there aren't many ways to give historical background without straight-up info-dumping, but it's a little jarring when they go "hold the plot, it's fairytale time!". Even a villain paused in action to lay out the Evil Plan. 😅 Also, how many times did one of the protagonists pass out at the end of a chapter, only to wake up in a nice, safe bed the next? Too many times, I tell ya.

The characters serve to advance the plot while barely developing personalities. I know many readers hated Niclays, but I liked him way more than the others! At least he was honest about his selfishness, lol, and his ending made me emotional. Gotta defend the old dude. Ead and Sabran had some nice moments but their romance bloomed (and changed Ead's perspective) too quickly to be convincing. I did like the side characters: Truyde, Laya, Melaugo, etc.

I'm bitter about Truyde dying only for our protagonists to eventually realize that she was right all along.

It's just...this book spent so much time setting up the climax, only for the big battle to be over and done with in a couple of pages. It was laughably easy.

Despite all the worry about how other nations may not want to help, everyone was surprisingly amenable. The Nameless One is supposedly this gigantic monster that breathes fire, but Ead was able to get close enough to stab him in the heart...it wasn't even described how! She just did it like it was nothing!

It was only a grim determination to finish this behemoth that kept me reading. Perhaps if it was more polished I would've liked it more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, Infertility, Rape, Suicide, and Torture

No mention of real-world religions, but people are hostile towards those with a different faith from their own. Sabran has depression, though the book doesn't show her POV so we only know of this from Ead's narration. Two characters committed suicide (off-page). There are sex scenes but the descriptions aren't that explicit (no mentions of genitalia, etc.). Because of a violent attack, a character has a miscarriage and becomes infertile. Incest, rape: a woman adopted a boy; when he was older, she tricked him into thinking she was someone else so he would have sex with her.

beckycarter97's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism and Miscarriage

Minor: Sexual content

ridesthesun's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

4.0

So many beautiful characters in this one. A grand epic tale. The world building was beautiful, and very immersive. I think that what prevents this book from being a 5 for me, is that the world building (and to an extent, the plot that is tied so closely with the world building) is SO vast that it becomes unwieldy. There are hints and paths laid that are never pursued. Significant history/historical persons that are described but never quite followed through on. It's a gorgeous story, wonderful characters and mythology, but the only thing that holds it back is the intricate development that leads to a strange sort of underdevelopment at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Miscarriage, and Violence

Moderate: Death of parent

hanarama's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.0

This was on my tbr for forever. All I knew going into it was that it was Sapphic and it had dragons. I really loved this read. 

It reminded me so much of the classic fantasies, such as Tolkien. Slow moving, a world steeped in magic and history. Shannon's world building feels very deep and even after 800+ pages it feels like there is a lot left to explore. 

Though there are 4 PoV characters, the emotional heart of this story is Ead and Queen Sabran. Their slow-burn romance and devotion to each other carries much of the book. 

I docked the book a star though because I felt like the plot was at times too slow and at others there was little exploration where things could have been built up more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Dementia, and Pregnancy

harrownova's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Medical content, and Medical trauma

troisha's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Gore, Infertility, Sexual content, Torture, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Drug use, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, and Dementia

emmeline's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Rape, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Incest, Infertility, Sexual content, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Pregnancy