Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

28 reviews

sea_sea's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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? Yes

5.0

This book is absolutely amazing! It’s like Lord of The Rings, just with more dragons, the gays and queens.  I seriously recommend this book to anyone who reads! Samatha Shannon literally transports you into the book. The words just vanish while you watch Ead, Sabran, Tané and Loth fight their own battles, that slowly merge into one. A song that I think describes the way this book feels is Cosmic Love by Florence + the Machine. I could go on about this book for FOREVER, I strongly recommend it!!!!! >o< 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Incest, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.75

The size may look daunting at first, but the depth and wealth of this book is beyond that of many series, much less individual books. Priory is an epic fantasy that stretches across a world divided by their love or and hatred for dragons. In the West, a handmaiden to a queen protects her from a plot while nursing hidden secrets of her own, and a young man is sent on a dangerous mission to an enemy land. In the East, a young woman trains to be the next dragon rider of her people and an old alchemist in exile seeks eternal life in a foreign land. The story travels the length and breadth of the world, culminating in an epic battle to determine the fate of the world. My only gripe with this amazing book was that certain plotlines were solved a bit too quickly and handily in order to get to those end chapters, and everyone seems to be able to speak each other's language with very little explanation. Absolutely cinematic-quality descriptions, heart-wrenching moments, surprise reversals and twists of fate make this a book for every fantasy lover out there. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Hate crime, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Islamophobia, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Homophobia, Excrement, Vomit, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Incest, Cannibalism, and Abandonment

willontheinternet's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

The world-building, the character development, the imagery and the detail were all phenomenal in this book. Sure, sometimes it's slow and I question if it had to be 800 pages, but I enjoyed reading this in three days.

Looking forward to the next book in the series whenever it comes out. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Torture, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infertility, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

themelleh's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.5

It took me a while to read this because I was moving and hit a slump. Also the first half is pretty much world building and setting up the second half. But then I have been voracious and determined to clear the books in my still reading pile and I’ve manage to hack away at this over the last two weeks.

I was so invested to the point where my hand gripping my hair and audible gasps had my partner asking if I was okay (I was not). 

Very much looking forward to the next one. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Emotional abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Racism, Violence, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Confinement, Torture, Blood, Pregnancy, Abandonment, and War

goldenpumpkin's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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? No

4.25

An excellent adventure with an interesting cast of characters. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

americiumam's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Xenophobia, Grief, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism

Minor: Genocide, Gun violence, Incest, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

sophie42's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Misogyny, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Abandonment, and Colonisation

anxieteaandbiscuits12's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Alcohol

misterwisp's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.0

 Yes. It's long and epic in scope, but it all happens in one book so you won't have to feel obliged to commit to a series or wait for the next one to be written. It looks like a prequel is coming out, but this one is complete unto itself. It's long but keeps up the pace and there were no particularly slow or dry sections. 
For me strengths include how the plot twists unexpectedly at times and doesn't feel like it follows a standard formula. Characters having to see past their religion to meet the needs of the moment was also done in a compelling way. There are familiar aspects to the world building but it's still done thoroughly and well and helps the escapism aspect of it all. It feel like a world. 
Characters change and end at a different place then they started. The ending is satisfying. There are cool dragons. It's good! If you like fantasy you'll find something to enjoy. 
There is a bit of a romance subplot that felt genuine. If that's not of interest know that it doesn't take over the story or become the main focus at any point. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Violence, and Grief

Minor: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Abandonment, and War

the sexual content part is fairly graphic, but just a little over a page in length.

the animal cruelty is that a dragon has a tooth, some scales and blood forcibly removed against it's will while it's chained up. It's mentioned as being about to occur but happens "off page" and is not specifically described

bel017's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

The ending is good. I feel that's critical when reading such a chonker of a book. 
The story is told from the viewpoint of four different characters, which were woven together well - I was never confused as to whose viewpoint I was reading. I did get confused in some of the historical plot and side plots, but it's a huge cast of characters, with two different sides giving the same characters different names, and some having the same or similar names. The confusion didn't diminish my enjoyment though. I enjoyed it so much that, even though I literally just finished it I am very tempted to just turn back to the beginning and start all over again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Confinement, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Dementia, and Abandonment