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dreadspawn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol
cumminsn's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
What an incredible tale, where do I even begin? If you are a fantasy lover, this absolute beast of a novel has just about everything you could want: magic, corrupt courts and religions with a foundation of lies, shape shifting witches, pirates, adventure, romance, and of course, dragons! Also, the positive LGBT+ representation was very refreshing to read in this kind of high-fantasy setting.
It would be an understatement to say “this book is long.” It took me months to get through it, but it was worth it. There were sections that I was hoping to get through faster, mainly because by that point there were narratives that interested me more than others and I wanted to get back to them. But, I wouldn’t say there are things that happen that weren’t there for a reason. All of the branching plot points happening between the several different perspectives we see manage to come together very satisfyingly, despite how vastly different each individual’s story was. There are very intricate religious systems made here that tie in to both the magic, the dragons, and in with tales and legends of ancient figures whose importance grows as the story progresses. It was particularly intriguing to learn of our current character’s connections to some of these legendary figures, and what that means for the roles they can expect to fill.
The ending did a great job of wrapping up the current stories of these characters, though the final epic battle did feel slightly rushed compared to the build up it took to get there. Nonetheless, I was very invested in each character’s story, and was pleased to see that their endings, while satisfying, did have a few mysterious threads to them that work well as potential hooks for even more tales to be woven in the future. I’m so curious to see where my favorites go from here!
Samantha Shannon has truly created a very intriguing world with Priory of the Orange Tree and it really is worth reading all 800+ pages of it. I already have the prequel novel in my possession and look forward to diving back in for more!
It would be an understatement to say “this book is long.” It took me months to get through it, but it was worth it. There were sections that I was hoping to get through faster, mainly because by that point there were narratives that interested me more than others and I wanted to get back to them. But, I wouldn’t say there are things that happen that weren’t there for a reason. All of the branching plot points happening between the several different perspectives we see manage to come together very satisfyingly, despite how vastly different each individual’s story was. There are very intricate religious systems made here that tie in to both the magic, the dragons, and in with tales and legends of ancient figures whose importance grows as the story progresses. It was particularly intriguing to learn of our current character’s connections to some of these legendary figures, and what that means for the roles they can expect to fill.
The ending did a great job of wrapping up the current stories of these characters, though the final epic battle did feel slightly rushed compared to the build up it took to get there. Nonetheless, I was very invested in each character’s story, and was pleased to see that their endings, while satisfying, did have a few mysterious threads to them that work well as potential hooks for even more tales to be woven in the future. I’m so curious to see where my favorites go from here!
Samantha Shannon has truly created a very intriguing world with Priory of the Orange Tree and it really is worth reading all 800+ pages of it. I already have the prequel novel in my possession and look forward to diving back in for more!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Violence, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol
thebankofbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, and War
a_novi's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
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? No
4.0
Good young adult friendly fantasy. It can be hard to follow at times because it does follow many different characters and their own storylines for most of the book. If you liked game of thrones I would recommend giving this book a try.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
proudtobeabookaholic's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
It's not easy to write a review for this kind of book, without it being a short story in itself, but I'll try to get the major points across.
It took a while to get into the book because there's a LOT of names. Names of characters, places and titles. Fortunatly there's lists of characters and unfamiliar words at the end of the book to help against the confusion, but it also kind of throwed me off track to have to check them. However, there's four "storytellers". Ead Duryan, a mage from the Priory of the Orange Tree, sent to protect Queen Sabran in Inys. Lord Arteloth Beck, close friend of Sabran. Tané, who's trained her whole life to become a dragon rider. Niclays Roos, an anatomist and alchemist, banished from Inys by the queen. My favorites quickly became Ead and Tané, while Niclays mostly felt unnecessary. "Loth" growed on me throughout the book, but I give my love to the female protagonists this time! Even Sabran, who I found unnerving to start with, became a favorite!
Religion and faith play a big part in this book and, as in our own world, have a large impact on things. I'm not very fond of this, but it's an important part of the story. The book is long - too long - and some scenes could have been cut entirely. Some things get solved a bit too easy, while others drag on. I also expected to see more of the dragons, but overall I quite enjoyed myself while reading.
I've spent almost 2 months in this world, doing a buddy read with a friend. It's been so much fun to talk about it every other week, and I feel like I got more out of the book this way. I do feel a bit empty now, to not spending anymore time with the characters, but at the same time I'm glad it's over!
It took a while to get into the book because there's a LOT of names. Names of characters, places and titles. Fortunatly there's lists of characters and unfamiliar words at the end of the book to help against the confusion, but it also kind of throwed me off track to have to check them. However, there's four "storytellers". Ead Duryan, a mage from the Priory of the Orange Tree, sent to protect Queen Sabran in Inys. Lord Arteloth Beck, close friend of Sabran. Tané, who's trained her whole life to become a dragon rider. Niclays Roos, an anatomist and alchemist, banished from Inys by the queen. My favorites quickly became Ead and Tané, while Niclays mostly felt unnecessary. "Loth" growed on me throughout the book, but I give my love to the female protagonists this time! Even Sabran, who I found unnerving to start with, became a favorite!
Religion and faith play a big part in this book and, as in our own world, have a large impact on things. I'm not very fond of this, but it's an important part of the story. The book is long - too long - and some scenes could have been cut entirely. Some things get solved a bit too easy, while others drag on. I also expected to see more of the dragons, but overall I quite enjoyed myself while reading.
I've spent almost 2 months in this world, doing a buddy read with a friend. It's been so much fun to talk about it every other week, and I feel like I got more out of the book this way. I do feel a bit empty now, to not spending anymore time with the characters, but at the same time I'm glad it's over!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Moderate: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
Minor: Sexual content
addssubract's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
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? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and War
Moderate: Cursing
meghan_w's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
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? Yes
4.5
What a perfect book to finish as Pride month begins! I did not plan this, but it is just perfect. At a whopping 848 pages/26 hours in audio this book is not for the faint of heart. I previously DNF’d it because I didn’t have the attention span for its length. So glad I came back to it because I loved it! Sabran and Ead are my two favorite characters with so much character growth. There’s magic, adventure, love, heartbreak, and best of all DRAGONS. 🐉
My struggle with high fantasy is keeping track of characters, but the author is amazing and has a glossary of characters and definitions in the back. 👏🏻
My struggle with high fantasy is keeping track of characters, but the author is amazing and has a glossary of characters and definitions in the back. 👏🏻
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, Violence, Grief, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
seastheday's review against another edition
adventurous
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
3.5
This book is NOT for the feint of heart. You must be willing to wade through almost 200 pages of world-building since there are 4 main characters. There are 2 maps, a glossary of terms & a glossary of people from the east/west/south. This may be a popular BookTok book, but make no mistake- it is HIGH fantasy with romance dappled in here and there. And since this is a standalone as well, most of the things you learn only will apply to ONE book. A tome of a book, yes, but still just one. Also, I have beef with everyone who was like “it has dragons!!” The dragons are barely in it until almost page 740. There is a lot of politicking, speaking of, and debating dragons. But for the actual dragons I expected… barely anything. The idea of them spurred different plot lines on here and there. But was the dragon present and being bad ass? NO. I was really disappointed on that front. You mostly spend your time with a mopey queen, a jerk of a fake grandfather, a mage clouded by love to actually do what she should & a ghost of a dragon rider who doesn’t have a dragon most of the time.
I think it was a cool concept. I definitely enjoyed that it was normalized in the society for queens to rule, the line of succession was only based on eldest & not gender, race wasn’t an issue it was merely regional (it wouldn’t be so regional if the plague didn’t exist), & there were sapphic storylines.
All in all, I liked this book. It was interesting. Near the 650pg mark, I did wish it was over. I didn’t find myself WANTING to pick it up. I wanted to READ and that’s a huge difference for me. I didn’t give up because I felt like it had to be worth it in the end. I don’t think it was. The entire book mounted to this huge end battle and it wasn’t amazing or unbelievable. It was predictable and nothing shocking occurred.
I think it was a cool concept. I definitely enjoyed that it was normalized in the society for queens to rule, the line of succession was only based on eldest & not gender, race wasn’t an issue it was merely regional (it wouldn’t be so regional if the plague didn’t exist), & there were sapphic storylines.
All in all, I liked this book. It was interesting. Near the 650pg mark, I did wish it was over. I didn’t find myself WANTING to pick it up. I wanted to READ and that’s a huge difference for me. I didn’t give up because I felt like it had to be worth it in the end. I don’t think it was. The entire book mounted to this huge end battle and it wasn’t amazing or unbelievable. It was predictable and nothing shocking occurred.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Trafficking, Grief, Pregnancy, and Classism
Moderate: Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Incest and Death of parent
berrytart's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
4.0
i really like this book, the mix of western and eastern dragons was an amazing idea!
Sabran did annoy me for quite a while but she grew on me!
i will be getting the prequel, i absolutely love the world-building in this book
Sabran did annoy me for quite a while but she grew on me!
i will be getting the prequel, i absolutely love the world-building in this book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Torture, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent
electrachet's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.75
I loved this story and would definitely recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in high fantasy. The length may seem daunting at first, but I read the first half of the book in less than a day and I'm usually a slower reader. There's so much world building to really keep you engaged! However, there were a few details that keep me from giving the book 5 stars. I wish we had a tiny bit more in the way of an epilogue. Niclays Roos was also an unnecessary character in some ways and The Nameless One had very little overall participation in the book. I felt the overall "villain" (or villains) driving the plot were underdeveloped. I also wish we got to experience more of Tané's story. I felt her POV was abandoned in the middle in favor of Ead, Sabran, & Loth's stories but she was still a compelling character I wanted to get to know better. I ultimately think the confinement of the story to a single book does weaken the overall narrative. This would have been better as a duology or even a trilogy, but maybe I just wanted to spend more time with the characters in the beautifully rich world that they live in. :')
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, War, and Classism
Minor: Death of parent