Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

110 reviews

fluffy_comet's review

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

lmfry's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Animal death, Medical content, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicide and Vomit

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

bionerdatgc's review

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? No

2.5

Content warnings first: the sapphic romance was touching in its buildup, culminating in a sex scene that was beautifully poetic and not graphic. However, sex and nudity scenes after that were very physically descriptive. The book had several f-bombs and a completely unnecessary c-word that jarred me out of the story. Miscarriage due to a violent (draconic) attack was graphic, as was the grief after the fact. And just in case you weren't convinced of a particular villain's villainy, it is revealed that they seduced their own adoptive child. Yuck.

On pacing: it was very slow to start, which is OK when weaving lots of storylines together. However, the story's first POV character actually gets the least amount of "screen" time - which in my opinion is a tragedy, because she and the Eastern dragons are the most interesting part of the story yet seem more like afterthoughts. Everything builds so slowly that when any action happens, it's over too fast and feels unfulfilling. The climax is awesome at least. I felt like it was paced just right, but there wasn't enough of it compared to the buildup.

I think this was a very well-conceived story, and it was woven together well in the amount of space it had. It lives up to the scale of epic fantasies. That said, I think it fell flat of its potential. Seriously, DRAGONS! Why have hundreds of pages of court intrigue on one side of the world when there are DRAGON RIDERS on the other side? And a convent of DRAGON SLAYERS down in the south? Flashbacks from Ead's childhood in the Priory would have added action to slower stretches and provided a much richer backdrop. And I really wish Tané had been given more time with her dragon. I would have loved to see them patrolling together instead of just talking, for instance. I would have loved to see the Sea Guard in action. So many things that could have been developed were overlooked in favor of court intrigue.

As a writer, I'm glad I read this book because I've learned a lot about my own preferences and style from it. However, I did not enjoy it enough to read it again.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infertility, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Blood, Dementia, Death of parent, and Outing

princessrory's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

5.0

“I would live alone for fifty years to have one day with you.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual content, Suicide, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Classism

Minor: Torture, Vomit, and Dementia

sarah_sedai_blueajah's review

adventurous challenging 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

Moderate: Pregnancy

Minor: Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism

filipa_maia's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

5.0

This book just made its way in to my all time favorites.

Despite the heavy world-building, the long list of characters, the very different settings that are described, this book is extremely easy to read. You can easily fall in love with these characters even though you are constantly aware of their flaws.

In the end I was so scared that my favorite characters were going to die that I didn't want to finish the book. That's how much I started to like these fictional people (and non-people too).

I can't wait to read more stories in this world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Gun violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Minor: Infidelity

shottel's review

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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement, Incest, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Dementia, Alcohol, and War

justgothenough's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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: Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Deportation, and Pandemic/Epidemic

fairyollie's review

adventurous inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

this is a stunning, beautiful novel. many main characters are queen, and a sapphic relationship is at the center, but they are not the driving focuses of the story. Priory starts off slowly, but the world built, history explored, and characters nurtured makes up for the slow pace. it's a beautifully-written, lyrical ode to motherhood, feminine power, politics, religion, culture, and history; Priory is complex and classic and quickly became one of my favorites. it was a great way to end 2023 and start 2024!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement and Suicidal thoughts