Reviews tagging 'Gore'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

152 reviews

a_novel_craving's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

nexusgoblin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

Beautifully written
Full of incredible lore
Three badass FMCs
Dragons

This is everything I want in a fantasy and more 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

dylly_russell's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Homophobia

fluffy_comet's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

What started out as a beautiful feminist reshaping of the classic sweeping fantasy novel got bogged down by too much worldbuilding (I cannot believe I'm saying this as a worldbuilding lover???) and too many characters. 130 characters in 800 pages? That's a new character every 6 pages. Absolutely bonkers. The characters were loveable and the ending bittersweet; but like many things in this book, the ending was dragged out a few chapters too long. Felt it truly for lost in the weeds towards the end - specially when the author suddenly relied on mantages for important fights, had a character make EXTREMELY SUDDEN mindset changes 3 times in a row within 3 pages, referred to a character (Tané) we've known from THE FIRST PAGE as a completely different word/name, and took way too long for the main conflict to pay off. I should not have 70 pages left and wonder when the fight they've been eluding to for the last 730 pages is going to start! Other than those (honestly large) issues, I did enjoy the book and grow to live the characters. Mostly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

kappafrog's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.25

What a great fantasy book! It had been a long time since I sunk my teeth into an epic fantasy book, and this was definitely worth it. I almost gave up on it early on because the formal-fantasy language was a bit irritating, and the opening chapters give you an onslaught of unfamiliar character and placenames. However, once I got into the story, it read really well.

There is a wide variety of characters here of different shades of moral greyness. At first I really didn't like Sabran, but she grew on me over time; and as the book went on, I felt more mixed about Ead. Tané grew on me some as the story went on too. All of the characters in the book, including the many queer and female characters, were complex and multi-layered. Loth, Margret and Chassar were the most consistently likable, while Roos was the hardest to like but still sympathetic at times. Even the disgusting Kalyba was not a one-dimensional villain. The Priory was not what I expected, and I loved the evocation of different landscapes and cultures with clear inspirations from our world. The book's length felt merited since there were a lot of different political, magical, and character aspects to explore. I felt like my investment in the story and its characters really paid off. Shannon is not afraid to kill her characters, so there were real stakes at every point in the book. The finale was epic and also gave us enough time to spend with each character in the aftermath of the climax.

All in all, this was a great re-introduction to epic fantasy for me. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys high fantasy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Medical content, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Child death

reeeeedmg_123's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Cursing, Torture, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Child death, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Vomit, and Pregnancy

lonelylooper's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Dementia, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Suicide, and Death of parent

emalderwood's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

This is hands down the best fantasy epic I've read in a long time. The story, the characters, the world-building, the prose... everything was beautifully executed and I'd rate it higher than 5 stars if I could. This is someone who is a master of their craft. The descriptions of new characters and places were detailed in a way that made you know them within a few sentences, without slowing the flow of the narrative or ever feeling too much. The metaphors and similes were fresh and artful and added to the immersion. And the story was like a whole series in one volume because it was written so beautifully that not a word was wasted. This one has earned its place on my shelf for a long time to come! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Death, Miscarriage, Blood, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gore, Infertility, Xenophobia, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

jesslinnea'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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Gore

kelisabeth's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring fast-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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic