Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

299 reviews

gabbyeleene's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Infertility and Pregnancy

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

fierygecko's review against another edition

adventurous 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

3.75

This book has an interesting take on the water-fire dragon dichotomy and I really enjoyed the world building behind the magic system. However the names of all the countries and people mentioned in the book without explanation made me feel like I didn’t understand the world building at all at times. Given the fact that I felt like I was waiting 600 pages for the action to finally happen, I think I would have enjoyed this book more if it was a series of shorter ones. Regardless, I did like this book and will consider reading the prequel to learn more about this world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and War

Minor: Homophobia and Incest

weewillow's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Religious bigotry

mabechel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

The pacing and focus of this book is weird and a little off putting. Some portions are really focused on the day to day and engaging. Other times, the writing is very sparse on the details, even during some important key events. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to this acceleration/deceleration of the pacing and it really gives the impression of losing focus. I feel like this would've been better as a more flushed out series than one gigantic book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Grief, Religious bigotry, and War

eni_iilorak's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Torture, Medical content, Dementia, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, and Sexual content

nanascorner's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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? Yes

5.0

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. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry and Murder

Moderate: Infertility, Miscarriage, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

dreadspawn's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Alcoholism, Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Death of parent, and Alcohol

cumminsn's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

What an incredible tale, where do I even begin? If you are a fantasy lover, this absolute beast of a novel has just about everything you could want: magic, corrupt courts and religions with a foundation of lies, shape shifting witches, pirates, adventure, romance, and of course, dragons! Also, the positive LGBT+ representation was very refreshing to read in this kind of high-fantasy setting.

It would be an understatement to say “this book is long.” It took me months to get through it, but it was worth it. There were sections that I was hoping to get through faster, mainly because by that point there were narratives that interested me more than others and I wanted to get back to them. But, I wouldn’t say there are things that happen that weren’t there for a reason. All of the branching plot points happening between the several different perspectives we see manage to come together very satisfyingly, despite how vastly different each individual’s story was. There are very intricate religious systems made here that tie in to both the magic, the dragons, and in with tales and legends of ancient figures whose importance grows as the story progresses. It was particularly intriguing to learn of our current character’s connections to some of these legendary figures, and what that means for the roles they can expect to fill.

The ending did a great job of wrapping up the current stories of these characters, though the final epic battle did feel slightly rushed compared to the build up it took to get there. Nonetheless, I was very invested in each character’s story, and was pleased to see that their endings, while satisfying, did have a few mysterious threads to them that work well as potential hooks for even more tales to be woven in the future. I’m so curious to see where my favorites go from here!

Samantha Shannon has truly created a very intriguing world with Priory of the Orange Tree and it really is worth reading all 800+ pages of it. I already have the prequel novel in my possession and look forward to diving back in for more!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Miscarriage, Violence, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Alcohol

thebankofbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Genocide, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, and War

av0universe's review against another edition

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Infertility, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Torture, Dementia, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

Minor: Child abuse and Religious bigotry