Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

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

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

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

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

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

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

t1namh's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Infertility

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Incest and Sexual assault

nop4ddlereads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Minor: Child death, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Mass/school shootings, and Death of parent

ellenisntcool's review against another edition

adventurous 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? No

1.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Miscarriage

Moderate: Incest and Sexual assault

schnaucl's review against another edition

• 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

4.0

I enjoyed it.

I thought the cultures were both interesting, although not necessarily well balanced. 

I'm not sure what the West got right, aside from the fact that Ascalon was the sword that could wound the Nameless One.  But they were wrong about the part of all the participants, their entire religion was based mostly on a lie, and they were wrong about the dragons of the East.

  But the world is clearly well thought out.

I also liked the characters, particularly Ead, Tane and Loth.  

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, and Vomit

mostlyvoidpartiallystars's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

Beautiful romances, heart rending tragedies, terrifying magic, political webs...this book has everything a good fantasy epic needs. 

This book doesn't shy away from death, treachery, or despair, but there is still room for the tension of love, hope, and even triumph. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Xenophobia, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

Minor: Infertility and Sexual assault

broro's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

teddyotso's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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

I was so intimidated by this book that I let it sit unopened on my shelf for six months. When I finally gathered the courage to read it and got past the fifty page mark, I couldn't put it down. The plot is beautifully woven, the characters are flawed and human, the writing and language is enchanting, honestly, I cant wait to read it again. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Violence

Moderate: Religious bigotry

Minor: Incest and Sexual assault

incest is between adopted mother and adopted son and is non-consensual

oliviafaye's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring lighthearted mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Medical content, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol