Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

52 reviews

hannahpings's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

3.75

i grappled with the rating on this one a little bit, because in terms of likability and recommendation, this book is a solid four to five stars: i loved it! i was engaged the whole time! i dragged my feet finishing it because i was sad it's over! i still am!

at the same time though, for me it's cursed with having been a good book that also could have been better. overall, priory's pacing is good––it comes out swinging and still manages a good amount exposition, the action is well-timed, it's engaging every step of the way––but there are significant gaps and skips throughout, and especially so in the final third. journeys that once took immense narrative tolls and lasted close to 40 pages are reduced to quotidian, one-sentence tasks that seem to exist only because not mentioning them would render the plot unadvanceable. characters make choices that, while you can see how they might make sense given the adequate development, are complete opposites of their intentions up until that point without the text taking the time or putting in the work to achieve that development. things that are given immense weight and word counts early on are not held to the same standard later and are treated like whims, if they're acknowledged at all. (the story's climax is overly convenient too, but it was an emotionally satisfying one, even if a little more mess was to be desired.)

samantha shannon has created a worthy fantasy epic; it's a wold i don't want to leave, a necessary addition to the genre, and one both accessible (even for folks who don't like fantasy or who may be revisiting it for the first time in years) and that made me excited to have to flip to the map or appendices every few pages. all the same, it's hard not to feel that by the end of the book, shannon was ready to be done with it, and glossed over chunks of the narrative accordingly. priory is a story and scope worthy of three, 300–400-page books, and it's hard to understand why it wasn't given the adequate time to breathe and grow into itself.

ultimately though, that's not my decision, and in the end i'm still happy with what we got: something relatively well-written, intercultural and anti-hegemonic, compelling and whose characters it's impossible not to root for, and to whose world i can't wait to return.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Death of parent

incest/rape:

one character adopts and raises a baby boy as her own, acting as and ultimately becoming his mother. when he gets older, she decides she is interested in him both romantically and sexually, pursues him, and he rejects her advances, telling her he would never consent to either. she is a shapeshifter, and takes on the appearance of the woman in whom he is interested. under the impression that she is someone else, he begins a sexual relationship with her, they marry, and she has a child. she then reveals her true identity to him.

if you would like to know the characters, they are

kalyba and galian

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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

ssmylie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

5.0

“I do not sleep because I am not only afraid of the monsters at my door, but also of the monsters my own mind can conjure. The ones that live within.”

This was easily a 5 star read for me. I highly recommend it.

I haven’t read a high fantasy novel in a while. I’ve been scared to invest time into their lengthy stories and juggle the demands of my personal life. But, when I started to read Samantha Shannon’s “Priory of the Orange Tree”, I knew that I had to sit down with this book for about a month to get to the end of this book. And that’s what I did. Throughout the month of June, I was captivated by Shannon’s world with strong, young, talented women characters and their allies who are fighting against sexism, ageism, and past traditions to end the greatest evil in the world “The Nameless One.” Also, they are doing this in a world that was divided by their ancestors. So, they were going through A LOT. I was really into the world building, how the stories shaked out, and the ending had me in a chokehold the whole time but I’m glad it ended well!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, and War

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

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

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

radio_02's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.75

I absolutely love the book and I honestly think I'll never find something quite like it
The characters were charming and memorable as small or as big their role was
It's a 4.75 just because it's not really my type of book and its really out of my comfort zone, it didn't really have the element to make it a 5⭐ book, but I woul recommend it to whoever would be willing to read it

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Miscarriage

Minor: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Death of parent

nurseamandarose's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

omnisyncd's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicide, Xenophobia, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Torture

thiskelsey's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Classism

Moderate: Dementia and War

theemeraldflame's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

2.25

Did not live up to expectations. Not a bad story by any stretch, but I didn’t find it an enjoyable one either. From a longtime lover of epic fantasy, this one was… fine. A decent mix of Arthurian legend and Eastern Asian myth, but fairly predictable all the way through. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage and Xenophobia

Moderate: Gore, Infertility, Suicide, and Vomit

Minor: Addiction and Blood

talonsontypewriters's review

adventurous emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Excrement, and Vomit

Illness, epidemic.