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

My only problem is with the final battle but I found out that the author originally planned a much longer battle and was talked into shortening it by an editor.

Content Warnings

dreadspawn's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

av0universe's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful tense 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? Yes

4.75

Content Warnings

clovetra's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging 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

i find this book so hard to rate. on one hand, this is probably the best fantasy book i’ve ever read, and i immediately want to read the prequel. on the other hand, i did find some issues with this. anyways im gonna break my thoughts down & maybe that’ll edge me into a decision:

- i loved ead. i would marry ead if she was real. i love her. her overall characterisation was sublime, and although her ending is bittersweet, it is overall good.

- sabran underwent one of the best arcs i’ve read. going from a mean, arrogant, stubborn women to a

forgiving, understanding and someone open and actively causing change

was amazing to read. her ending was perfect, as was her dialogue. no notes

- i found myself getting… bored at times with tané. i like her sure. but compared to ead’s main story, not as much happened here. her story only really felt as though it picked up like 65% into this book. which for a book that is 800 pages….. that’s too long

- loth was ok! like it was written well, but i didn’t grow beyond anything to just liking him, and found his story often to be a waste of time

- roos can go choke. i don’t care. i don’t even care if the intention was to have a main character so insufferable. i hated him & his chapters and i wish him pain and suffering even though he’s not even real.

i would say the overarching plot was so intriguing. it felt perfectly paced, and had plot twists galore. so much kept changing, so i was constantly on the edge of my seat. i saw a review saying this book rambled a lot and honestly, i disagree! this book absolutely needed the pages it did. it would not be as good of a book as it is. i mean yeah it could’ve been split into multiple books but i felt like it defo needed all its pages.

but, it wasn’t perfect. for one, so much was going on all the time, meaning i would forget shit. like this is the first book ive actively had to note take just to grasp. that also ties in with the fact nothing is explained!!!! i mean obviously a lot is explained, but many crucial foundations to this story are not explained, and either thrown into the glossary & timeline. that is all fair & dandy, but i should not have to search ur book to remember who crucial characters are! sure if they’re random side character A ok u don’t need to explain them, but when you don’t explain what the fuck virtuedom even is, or the dukes court (i don’t even remember the name oh my god). like i still could not remember who was the duke spiritual, a crest, a goldenbirch, or combe. like please set some foundations. ur big bad should not be explained in the fucking glossary!!!!!!!!!!!! also come on not explaining simple things like what an ichneumon is. (edit: google is confusing me as to whether these are even real. but seriously what happened to death of the author. i should not have to consult anything BUT the text to know what’s going on imo).

that is the biggest “issue” imo holding this book back for me. it just expects you to be aware of how its world works. like yes should i have glanced at the glossary & timeline before beginning? yeah. did the glossary & timeline also have a shitload of spoilers? YEAH. like ??????

i very much did love this book, i would literally die for ead, sabran & tané, and wanted to cry when i realised i was done. but idk the lacklustre worldbuilding foundations were infuriating. goinng further with the worldbuilding e.g. the story of cleolind, the priory, etc. was great! the layers needed to build up to that though were…. lacking.
edit: i lied even tho i said this book did flop in parts i actually don’t care because this book made me so emotional & it feels wrong not having this as a 5-star based on how much it made me feel

Content Warnings

nic3's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

3.5

The world building and mythology in this book are immense. The different countries feel different and made sense. On the other hand the pacing of the various stories was inconsistent, with some areas laboured and others skimmed. Overall the plot was compelling, but there were some technical aspects that let it down. I would still recommend it to others however.

Content Warnings

iammmartina_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional slow-paced

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

3.5

Content Warnings

More...