Reviews tagging 'Pregnancy'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

323 reviews

oxfordcommas91's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Wow, this book is a behemoth, but one of the few books I've read that deserves its length! It truly was an epic adventure akin to Game of Thrones. It has everything - palace intrigue, politics/diplomacy between kingdoms, dragons, assassins, and magic. What makes this book so unique is the women-forward cast, a place where women get to be heroines instead of damsels to just move the plot forward for the men. There are complex, woven plotlines with great history and world building. It stands up to some of the best fantasy books out there!
Strongly recommend this for female fantasy readers once you've gone through all the romantasy books. It's a good next step from a series like Throne of Glass. While I wouldn't say this is a romatasy by any stretch, it is a fantasy with a romance plotline so it still scratches that itch if you're willing to really invest in it!
The only downside is that there are a lot of characters - a ton of names, places, and dragons - to remember. I kept a running glossary in a phone note only to find that there was an actual glossary in the back of the book. Use that and it will be immensely helpful. The few hundred pages were a bit slow as we learned the history and current culture of the kingdoms and people in them, but the build up was worth the pay-off for me on this one! 
I'm on the fence as to whether or not I will read the prequel (mostly because prequels aren't really my thing), but I'd take a sequel to this one any day! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and War

Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Torture, and Death of parent

madisonstarkov's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Cursing, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical content, Grief, and Pregnancy

Minor: Sexual content and Fire/Fire injury

indigo_fox's review

adventurous challenging 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? No

4.25

I didn't fall in love with this book immediately but I'm glad I stuck it out. It took a few (I think 3 or 4) chapters to get into the groove of this book. Once I started to learn more about the world things started to get interesting. The author does a great job with worldbuilding. I love the inclusion of myths, stories, traditions, and food. The food part especially speaks to me since it is such a huge part of culture. Its neat to see the staples of each section of the world. 

The characters were great. Their personalities stood out in a way that gave them life. There was a range of personalities too, which seemed very realistic in a group of randos banding together to defeat a great evil. 

I love the way this story is structured. It takes on various POVs and it is fun to see how everything connects in the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Miscarriage, and Death of parent

_melrosereads's review against another edition

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

3.0

So first of all kudos to the author, this book would have absolutely been a labour of love to put together. 

This book tried really hard to break out from alot of stereotypes typical in high fantasy and overall it was successful. 
For starters the villain is the dragons themselves - also know as Wyrms - interesting concept, never read a book from that perspective before. 

LGBTQIA representation is in this book but really this is a story of love and the complex relationships of past lovers,
Present lovers, future lovers, and love between friends. 

I enjoyed this book but Im sad to say I didn’t love it. I question if it had been a duology I would have enjoyed it more? 

Also whilst I loved Ead, I found it really hard to see what was so great about Sabran - I just didn’t connect with her so much. I think if I did that would have been higher rating from me personally.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Outing, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

periodblood's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I'm extremely relieved to have read this book and finish it. It's wonderfully written and contains many elements I value while reading. I really love many of the characters and love the reflection of their personality. One of my greatest joys is learning about the history and customs of the worlds I read, which is greatly reflected in this book. 

Ead and Sabran's relationship has become deeply engraved in my mind and I will forever love them. They're greatly represented.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Cursing, Infertility, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest and Sexual content

saskiahill's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Sexual content

goldenrodgirl's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

I listened to the audiobook for a lot of this and I do not recommend it. The narrator tries to give everyone a voice but many of the characters end up with odd accents like a southern drawl 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Addiction and Alcohol

vikart'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? It's complicated

5.0

"The Priory of the Orange Tree" by Samantha Shannon is, overall, an amazing high fantasy book that can be really easy to get through as long as you are paying attention and not rushing through it. The book itself comes with two maps that show you all of the kingdoms that come into play during the book, and it's not too difficult to orientate yourself through them. At the back of the book, there is a list of all the characters, in case you ever get confused as to who is who, and a glossary for all of the new magical words (priory being one of them.)

I found this book to have very good writing, and overall enjoyed it thoroughly. Although it's not a comedy book, I would say there were a few moments that made me laugh. As well as a few moments of surprise.

Overall, this is a good book for anybody who enjoys dragons, high fantasy, other worlds and their religions etc.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Violence

Moderate: Infertility, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

thea_elise's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? It's complicated

4.0

This is the largest book I’ve ever read, so now I’m quite proud of myself for finishing it:)

I liked the multiple povs, and my favorite one was Tané’s. At times I found myself irritated over it suddenly switching over to another, but I do understand that it’s an attempt at making the story as linear as possible. 

I was a bit hard to get interested and invested in the story, and at time I struggled to keep my focus.  But that does not mean that it was a boring book. Not at all. I think it was the most complex book I have any remembrance of. The world building was stunning and at time a bit overwhelming, I often found myself wanting to learn more and more, but that just the history nerd in me. 

I mostly listen to the audiobook and  the narrator gave both the story the characters a bit more dept. One of the few narrators I’ve heard, whose voice did not irritate me, but more catch my attention. 

I did not like the inconclusive ending, mostly because it’s no talk of a second book (as far as I’ve heard), but I do look forward to reading the prequel:)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Torture, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Dementia, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

latida94's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

Moderate: Death, Incest, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail