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chimichannika's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
2.75
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Incest, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, Vomit, Cultural appropriation, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Infidelity and Excrement
fanboyriot's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Addiction, Animal death, Bullying, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Outing, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Drug use, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Dementia
theirgracegrace's review against another edition
- 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
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
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Classism
Minor: Child death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Excrement, and Vomit
Illness, epidemic.caroluvr'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? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Infidelity, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol
liaandersson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
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!
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Religious bigotry
storykath's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Things I loved:
Dragons!! Good and evil dragons! Yes! Any story with dragons is going to capture my imagination, and I loved the variety of dragons and the characters' attitudes towards them, which felt real and engaging.
Multiple POVs: with this being such a long book with so many things happening, it was refreshing to cycle through multiple characters/locations/plots. This also meant that it took longer to feel like I had a good handle on all the moving parts in the novel, but it came together seamlessly enough as I went on.
Going along with that point, I found the pacing to be smooth and engaging. I've seen mixed reviews about the pacing of Priory, but it all felt natural to me. Of course the pace varied depending on what was happening, but it rarely felt out of control.
I have mixed feelings about:
The worldbuilding. Some aspects of the worldbuilding had wonderful nuance and ingenuity; I loved the concept of the dragonriders and the division of the East from the rest of the world. Other areas came across as more hastily put together. While kingdoms like Yscalin, the Erysr (really anything that wasn't Seiiki or Inys) are less relevant to the story, we only really learned surface-level details about them, and it often felt like they existed in service of the more central locations. The naming of places and characters was a mixed bag for me too - there are wonderfully unique names like Eadaz and Sabran alongside names like Margret and Arbella that jarred me with their similarity to real-world names. Additionally, the themes of politics and religion swung from 'insightful and nuanced and thought-provoking' to 'simplistic and rushed and unrealistic', although I will say that they fell into the former category more often.
On a similar worldbuilding note, the queer representation was a mixed bag, in my opinion. I was very much looking forward to reading a queer-inclusive fantasy, and we did get established M/M and F/F relationships. Minor spoilers ahead in my issues with these relationships.
The writing style itself. There was some absolutely beautiful prose in this novel, and I generally quite enjoyed the descriptions of architecture, nature, sensations, etc. At other times, especially in the description of emotions or characters, the writing felt clunky and tell-y (as opposed to show-y). I was immersed in the narrative one minute, and the next I was completely removed by a sentence or description that felt glaringly juvenile or simple. In a novel as long and complex as this one, there are a lot of opportunities for inconsistencies in character behaviour and writing style to come in and cause issues, and I feel that Priory fell victim to this at times.
Deaths for the purpose of other characters' development. I can understand that character death was inevitable in this novel, given the events of the story. However, many of the deaths of supporting characters felt like they occurred purely as a device to advance the plot or provide some kind of fuel for a main character.
Final thoughts
This is a beast of a book (approx. 16 hours of reading for me), and while it didn't meet all of my expectations, it was an accessible fantasy with an engaging premise, diverse characters, and a dynamic plot. I couldn't always totally lose myself in the story as a result of some of its shortcomings, but it's one that I would read again in order to pick up on more details and see more clearly how the strings of the narrative pull together.
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol
Minor: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Excrement, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Classism
strange_little_ranger's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Dementia, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
fiveredhens's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
"This Jannart—the man you loved,"
she said, looking him dead in the eye. "Do you think he would want you to give up, or carry on?"
"I don't want to carry on! Do you not understand? Does nobody in this world understand, damn you? ls no one else haunted?" A quiver of wrath entered his voice. "Everything I did—everything I was—everything I am, is because of him. He was someone before me. I am no one without him. I am tired of living without him at my side. He left me for that book and, by the Saint, I resent him for it. I resent him every minute of every day."
i liked the setting and characters but imo it was badly underedited and i didn't feel like the final battle had any stakes :( the characters had
Graphic: Miscarriage
Moderate: Alcoholism, Gore, Incest, Racism, Rape, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, and War
emmeline's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Confinement, Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Rape, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Incest, Infertility, Sexual content, Torture, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Pregnancy