Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - The Priory of the Orange Tree

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

28 reviews

fatherprozac's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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

I really enjoyed this book's female characters and the lack of homophobia, racism in relation to skin color, and blatant misogyny (other than that toward Sabran) in the world. It feels very socially modern and so it managed to capture me in a way that many other fantasy books haven't. Overall, a great story. I do wish that

Tane's part of the story had been bigger, I found myself frustrated at the clear focus on the West's side of the narrative. I also wish we had seen more of Nayimathun--even the book itself points out how often she and Tane are separated. I also despised the long chapters surrounding Niclays as I personally found him extremely unlikeable--which may have been the point, but they were a chore nonetheless. Finally, the climax of actually fighting the Nameless One was a bit disappointing for me, pretty anticlimactic.

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muriel_r's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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froyobaggns's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring reflective tense 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? Yes

4.5

it is a whole fantasy series crammed into one novel. it was very enjoyable, and its comparisons of religion and heresy were an interesting look at what we face in the real world. it was a beautifully woven tale. there were some moments where things happened very easily for characters, but overall i thought it was great

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nila's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.0

Really loved the style of Shannon's writing. This was a great stand-alone fantasy (I really hope there's no sequel). I LOVED the different character arcs and the richness of the world-building. However, I do wish there was a better balance between the build-up and the actual reveals of key moments in the story. I felt there was soooo much build-up, but when it came to the actual reveals themselves, it was over in a few pages (for example Tané's final battle to become a rider)

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liaandersson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-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

Where to begin?..

This could quite well be the best fantasy that I have ever read. There are tons of aspects which I adored and it is easier, for both you and I, if I take it in order.

Religion: Virtudom and the South have religions stemming from the same historical people, the differences being how these people are portrayed and what their acknowledged accomplishments were. These religious differences put a strain to the fragile relationship between the South and Virtudom. I think this is a terrific analogy of how for example, the real world has countries fighting over which is the one true religion, when the truth is there is no single right one. All of them are right, if they are right for a certain individual. I hope you will understand my sentiment once you have read it, I have a hard time conveying the message through writing.

Mislabeling: There are several instances where foreigners (in relation to the ethnic group discussed) call certain groups by derogatory terms or even slurs. It is, in my opinion, a well-executed representation of modern slurs as well as the misgendering of queer people. The reoccurring scenario where one 'foreign' individual calls another by a negative slur/term, which is then corrected as if someone was misgendered.

Queer: There is plenty of LGB representation among the main cast, as well as scattered information about historical figures and secondary characters. Still, there are no canon trans characters, even though I imagine some of them to be such. Other than the L, G AND B there is not much representation to see in regards of ace/aro, polyamory, intersex, trans and so on.

History: I loved how the history of the fictional world was incorporated as storytellings between characters, and other creative solutions. It took me a hundred pages or so to connect the dots between all the historical people and their relevance, but a bit of switching from the index back to the story here and there eventually solved all of those problems. It was all very much worth it before I even got halfway through the book.

Worldbuildning: Shannon managed to incorporate western, eastern and African fantasy. I loved to see how they all interacted with each other and enhanced one another. I don't believe I can have much to say about whether it was well represented or not, but I do hope it was done as best as could be.

A fair warning that this book, at least in my opinion, is more driven by the characters than by the plot. Due to this, I have heard the common opinion that the ending of the book is quite abrupt, while I think it is quite satisfactory, from the perspective of the character's developmental arcs.

Have a fun read!

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