Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Il priorato dell'albero delle arance by Samantha Shannon

62 reviews

fanboyriot's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

3.5

Read For:

Dragons

Slow Burn

Fantasy Map

Sapphic Romance

High Fantasy (but make it queer)

I definitely have some mixed feelings about this book.  I wanted to love it but it fell more flat for me than anything else.  It was just kinda meh.  It wasn’t bad but I also just didn’t fall into the hype about it either.  I was a bit bored at times, honestly.

While the worldbuilding/setting was done really well the characters overall just lacked personality.  I found myself confused as to who was who for more than half of the book, which might be more of a me thing than anything else, but even then I just didn't really care for any of them.  I am much more of a character person than a world-building person.

Then there were some chapters that just dragged out, and while in the beginning, it was fine.  It's high fantasy and that's expected to get to know the world and everything but it was no better by the last chapter.

However, I didn’t totally hate this book either.  I really liked how the Queen was the one running things.  It was super nice to read a high fantasy without it being majorly sexist or borderline creepy.  Plus it had some queer relationships as well, a sapphic relationship being the main hype of the book besides the dragons.  And lastly the dragons, I loved how they were written into the story, how they interacted with their riders, and the bond they shared.

Overall, if you're a fan of high fantasy and want to see some queer rep within the book then I recommend this to you.  However, if you’re more like me, where contemporary books have taken over your tbr, then I probably wouldn't recommend it to you.

POV: Switching, Third Person

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

Rep: Queer MCs, Queer SCs, Sapphic (main), Achillean (side), Aspec MC

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Death, Infertility, Child death, Confinement, Religious bigotry, Medical content, Violence, Murder, Grief, Gore, Death of parent, Torture, Sexual content, War, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Genocide, Bullying, Outing, Alcohol, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, Domestic abuse, Classism, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Incest, Infidelity, Addiction, and Gaslighting

Minor: Dementia, Sexual assault, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, Rape, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, and Sexism

luciferin's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Infertility, Death, War, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Miscarriage

Moderate: Mental illness, Torture, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Infidelity, and Incest

cameronreads's review against another edition

5.0

I don’t know how this book managed to surpass my expectations but it did by leaps and bounds. A perfect world, magic system, writing style, structure, and cast of characters. I was convinced I’d be saying it was too long, but if anything it could have been longer - I would spend forever in this incredible world with these life like characters. Loved this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Blood, Cursing, Death, Gore, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Dementia, Kidnapping, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Fire/Fire injury, Confinement, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Addiction, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, and Torture

maddalynmoon's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional 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

Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Classism, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Torture, War, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Pandemic/Epidemic, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Infertility, and Infidelity

guessgreenleaf's review against another edition

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, War, and Grief

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Murder, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual content, Suicide, Mental illness, Death of parent, Blood, and Alcoholism

takarakei'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? Yes

4.5

• EPIC fantasy
• sapphic slow burn
• dragons
• fate/destiny
• battle against 'evil'

I honestly highly recommend reading A Day of Fallen Night first if you haven't. I believe SS recommends that you try and it does make ADOFN a bit of an uphill struggle with all the world building, but it pays off when you get to TPOTOT and you're just breezing on through (well... it's easier at least)!

My biggest critique of this book is the Niclays POV - I just did not care enough about him as a character and I felt his was the weakest POV and that side of the story could have been told differently. Also slight pacing issues as the end feels a bit rushed and doesn't match the pace of the rest of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Miscarriage, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Infertility, Confinement, and Murder

Minor: Gun violence, Alcoholism, War, Infidelity, Pandemic/Epidemic, Lesbophobia, and Mental illness

saltytart's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Infertility, Gaslighting, Confinement, Body horror, Pregnancy, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death, War, Miscarriage, Medical trauma, and Violence

Moderate: Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, Outing, and Infidelity

Minor: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Trafficking, and Torture

joensign's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, War, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Miscarriage, Infertility, Religious bigotry, and Death

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Kidnapping, Incest, Infidelity, Torture, Pregnancy, Confinement, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Classism and Blood

atalea's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Death

Moderate: Confinement, Grief, Infertility, Pregnancy, War, Xenophobia, and Miscarriage

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Pandemic/Epidemic, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Infidelity, and Torture

emliza's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Hate crime

Moderate: Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Abandonment, War, Torture, Infidelity, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Death, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Death of parent, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Incest