Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

130 reviews

multiplyoctopi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

katrinarose's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.5

It took me a long long time to get into this book, and for me it only picked up around 40% in. This is a long way to get through in an 800 page book. However, I am happy I pushed through because I enjoyed the story. The history and folklore of this world was detailed,  interesting, and very relevant to the plot. The character development was well done and progressed naturally. Most of the main characters were likeable but also had their flaws. I do think there were some overdone fantasy tropes that made it a bit predictable at times, but I also appreciated reading a traditional fantasy without the sexism/homophobia. Overall I do think it was a good book, I just can’t rate it too highly because of how slow the first half was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lanid's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

perleerose's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.25

The world building is great, though some of it is taken word for word from our own world, namely Seikki and how it reflects a period where Japan closed its borders to the whole world except the Dutch and they were only allowed onto one island. Knowing this makes the world building a little less amazing, but all art is drawn from some sort of inspiration. People talked this book up as some great queer rep but it honestly felt lacking to me. I was expecting more obvious and proud rep I guess. The characters don’t really change at all in the book which was disappointing

The biggest change was a couple of them momentarily questioning their faith but that’s it

Also the entire plot is resolved in the span of about 60 pages at the end, which is awfully rushed obviously. The book was at best mid.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Dementia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Murder

bel017's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

The ending is good. I feel that's critical when reading such a chonker of a book. 
The story is told from the viewpoint of four different characters, which were woven together well - I was never confused as to whose viewpoint I was reading. I did get confused in some of the historical plot and side plots, but it's a huge cast of characters, with two different sides giving the same characters different names, and some having the same or similar names. The confusion didn't diminish my enjoyment though. I enjoyed it so much that, even though I literally just finished it I am very tempted to just turn back to the beginning and start all over again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Confinement, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Dementia, and Abandonment

caroluvr's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol

hamstringy's review

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

This was written by someone who knows history and narratives, and it really shows. Shannon does such a good job revealing history as the plot moves, and the way knowledge of the past is pieced together obscures and shapes the paths the characters take is incredible. She’s built such a rich  world with characters who are complex and diverse in appearance and personality. Plus, dragons!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content

fatherprozac's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

I really enjoyed this book's female characters and the lack of homophobia, racism in relation to skin color, and blatant misogyny (other than that toward Sabran) in the world. It feels very socially modern and so it managed to capture me in a way that many other fantasy books haven't. Overall, a great story. I do wish that

Tane's part of the story had been bigger, I found myself frustrated at the clear focus on the West's side of the narrative. I also wish we had seen more of Nayimathun--even the book itself points out how often she and Tane are separated.  I also despised the long chapters surrounding Niclays as I personally found him extremely unlikeable--which may have been the point, but they were a chore nonetheless. Finally, the climax of actually fighting the Nameless One was a bit disappointing for me, pretty anticlimactic.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Kidnapping, Abandonment, and Alcohol

abbyschalupa's review against another edition

adventurous challenging slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

angstifies's review against another edition

adventurous 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? Yes

5.0

if i could give it more than 5 stars i absolutely would, this is easily one of the best books i’ve ever read.

this book was amazing from page one to the very last one, it can seem intimidating because of the number of pages but it’s really not. the pacing is great, the world, religions, dragons and magic in here are all very intriguing and unique, and all the stories in the 4 POVs are soo good, i was never even slightly bored.

i really didn’t expect to love all these characters as much as i did but wow. every one of them was so well crafted, even the side characters always felt real and distinct and i absolutely adored that. my favorite has to be Niclays, i always like a good morally flawed character and his arc was fantastic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Body horror, Infertility, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Self harm, and Alcohol