Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

22 reviews

dalek_caan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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 loved this book so much. I wasn't sure what to expect with how much hype it got, but I'm so glad I went in not knowing what to expect. For a book this big, the fact that it kept me engaged the whole way through is amazing. It was so worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Incest, Infertility, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Homophobia and Lesbophobia

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

seastheday's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense slow-paced

• 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? No

3.5

This book is NOT for the feint of heart. You must be willing to wade through almost 200 pages of world-building since there are 4 main characters. There are 2 maps, a glossary of terms & a glossary of people from the east/west/south. This may be a popular BookTok book, but make no mistake- it is HIGH fantasy with romance dappled in here and there. And since this is a standalone as well, most of the things you learn only will apply to ONE book. A tome of a book, yes, but still just one. Also, I have beef with everyone who was like “it has dragons!!” The dragons are barely in it until almost page 740. There is a lot of politicking, speaking of, and debating dragons. But for the actual dragons I expected… barely anything. The idea of them spurred different plot lines on here and there. But was the dragon present and being bad ass? NO. I was really disappointed on that front. You mostly spend your time with a mopey queen, a jerk of a fake grandfather, a mage clouded by love to actually do what she should & a ghost of a dragon rider who doesn’t have a dragon most of the time. 
I think it was a cool concept. I definitely enjoyed that it was normalized in the society for queens to rule, the line of succession was only based on eldest & not gender, race wasn’t an issue it was merely regional (it wouldn’t be so regional if the plague didn’t exist), & there were sapphic storylines.
All in all, I liked this book. It was interesting. Near the 650pg mark,  I did wish it was over. I didn’t find myself WANTING to pick it up. I wanted to READ and that’s a huge difference for me. I didn’t give up  because I felt like it had to be worth it in the end. I don’t think it was. The entire book mounted to this huge end battle and it wasn’t amazing or unbelievable. It was predictable and nothing shocking occurred.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, Trafficking, Grief, Pregnancy, and Classism

Moderate: Kidnapping, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Incest and Death of parent

princessrory's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful 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? No

5.0

“I would live alone for fifty years to have one day with you.”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Confinement, Homophobia, Incest, Sexual content, Suicide, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Classism

Minor: Torture, Vomit, and Dementia

snackattackisback69's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.5

The rich world building and character development of this story were phenomenal. The multiple POVs and the shorter chapters made the story flow and made the length of the book much more digestible. The sapphic romance in this book was also incredible. My one issue is the finale of book felt a little anticlimactic due to how short it was in comparison to the large build up throughout the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous 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

4.5

• EPIC fantasy
• sapphic slow burn
• dragons
• fate/destiny
• battle against 'evil'

I honestly highly recommend reading A Day of Fallen Night first if you haven't. I believe SS recommends that you try and it does make ADOFN a bit of an uphill struggle with all the world building, but it pays off when you get to TPOTOT and you're just breezing on through (well... it's easier at least)!

My biggest critique of this book is the Niclays POV - I just did not care enough about him as a character and I felt his was the weakest POV and that side of the story could have been told differently. Also slight pacing issues as the end feels a bit rushed and doesn't match the pace of the rest of the book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Infertility, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcoholism, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, War, and Pandemic/Epidemic

questionable_reader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Infidelity, Outing, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Torture, Trafficking, and Lesbophobia

marjoleinvanderspoel's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

Aaaahhhh screaming, crying, etc.

Just such perfect fantasy, great worldbuilding and fantastic pacing throughout. The development of the mystery felt really natural and the twists were unexpected but never random. All the characters felt very real and acted according to their own motivations. Only wish the ending would have been more grand and epic to befit the build-up, it did end up feeling a little rushed, or too neat somehow. Still, what a ride.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Miscarriage, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Incest

charlee92's review against another edition

adventurous medium-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? No

2.5

 whew. I did it. I'm not a stranger to long books but this one is not very digestible. I understand a lot of world building needs to be done, but with 4 different plots happening alongside each other having this being broken into 2 books would have been better.

So much time was wasted on the building and fluff parts that it felt almost all of the big parts were to short, too quick. the climax just immediately tanks, if it even really builds all the way to the climax.

I saw another reviewer say inelegant and I feel that is perfect to describe this.

the dragons were cool, I like the characters. it just felt like a slog because of the length vs plot struggle.  I thought about giving it a 3 but then I was like I am not sure I would really recommend this.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gore, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Murder, Lesbophobia, and War

doodeedoda's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Violence, Xenophobia, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Blood and Grief

Minor: Animal death, Cursing, Homophobia, Incest, Medical content, Dementia, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail