Reviews tagging 'Xenophobia'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

122 reviews

cj13's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, and Classism

mscalls's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

fairyollie's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring 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? It's complicated

4.75

this is a stunning, beautiful novel. many main characters are queen, and a sapphic relationship is at the center, but they are not the driving focuses of the story. Priory starts off slowly, but the world built, history explored, and characters nurtured makes up for the slow pace. it's a beautifully-written, lyrical ode to motherhood, feminine power, politics, religion, culture, and history; Priory is complex and classic and quickly became one of my favorites. it was a great way to end 2023 and start 2024!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement and Suicidal thoughts

tvdlinkcd's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Injury/Injury detail

imds's review against another edition

• 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? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

biobeetle's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and War

Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, Xenophobia, and Pregnancy

crystalunvrs's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Miscarriage, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

volsungreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Infertility, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abortion

jodean's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Moderate: Infertility, Misogyny, Sexism, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and War

Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, and Infidelity

hannahpings's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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? No

3.75

i grappled with the rating on this one a little bit, because in terms of likability and recommendation, this book is a solid four to five stars: i loved it! i was engaged the whole time! i dragged my feet finishing it because i was sad it's over! i still am!

at the same time though, for me it's cursed with having been a good book that also could have been better. overall, priory's pacing is good––it comes out swinging and still manages a good amount exposition, the action is well-timed, it's engaging every step of the way––but there are significant gaps and skips throughout, and especially so in the final third. journeys that once took immense narrative tolls and lasted close to 40 pages are reduced to quotidian, one-sentence tasks that seem to exist only because not mentioning them would render the plot unadvanceable. characters make choices that, while you can see how they might make sense given the adequate development, are complete opposites of their intentions up until that point without the text taking the time or putting in the work to achieve that development. things that are given immense weight and word counts early on are not held to the same standard later and are treated like whims, if they're acknowledged at all. (the story's climax is overly convenient too, but it was an emotionally satisfying one, even if a little more mess was to be desired.)

samantha shannon has created a worthy fantasy epic; it's a wold i don't want to leave, a necessary addition to the genre, and one both accessible (even for folks who don't like fantasy or who may be revisiting it for the first time in years) and that made me excited to have to flip to the map or appendices every few pages. all the same, it's hard not to feel that by the end of the book, shannon was ready to be done with it, and glossed over chunks of the narrative accordingly. priory is a story and scope worthy of three, 300–400-page books, and it's hard to understand why it wasn't given the adequate time to breathe and grow into itself.

ultimately though, that's not my decision, and in the end i'm still happy with what we got: something relatively well-written, intercultural and anti-hegemonic, compelling and whose characters it's impossible not to root for, and to whose world i can't wait to return.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Suicide, Torture, Trafficking, and Death of parent

incest/rape:

one character adopts and raises a baby boy as her own, acting as and ultimately becoming his mother. when he gets older, she decides she is interested in him both romantically and sexually, pursues him, and he rejects her advances, telling her he would never consent to either. she is a shapeshifter, and takes on the appearance of the woman in whom he is interested. under the impression that she is someone else, he begins a sexual relationship with her, they marry, and she has a child. she then reveals her true identity to him.

if you would like to know the characters, they are

kalyba and galian

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