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princessrory's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Medical content, Kidnapping, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Colonisation
sophiesmallhands's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death and Religious bigotry
Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Classism
bitter_critter'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Grief, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Death of parent, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Kidnapping
beautifulpaxielreads's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
The worldbuilding is intricate down to the tiniest detail, and the care that Samantha Shannon took is evident on every single page. I can't imagine what the research process was like for this, but, as with The Priory of the Orange Tree, I can say that it must have been exhaustive (and no doubt exhausting too). I am in awe of the scale of it. Belief, politics, geography, history - it's all here and all believable.
The plotting is also immaculate. The way Shannon has created her POV characters and how she has crafted every twist and turn of the plot to bring them together and apart is masterful. I will say that at times the characters felt more like pieces in the elaborate chess match that was Shannon's plot, rather than fully fleshed-out human beings.
There are four characters - dubbed "storytellers" in Shannon's extensive notes and glossaries - whose points of view we see. Tunuva, a middle-aged sister at the Priory of the Orange Tree, Glorian, the adolescent heir to a fabled queendom, Wulf, a young man sworn to a Northern King, and Dumai, a twenty-seven-year-old apostle at an ancient mountain temple.
Of all of them, the ones I liked best were probably Tunuva, Glorian and Wulf. Dumai I couldn't really warm to, although she was very interesting as a character.
Speaking of characters, this novel has a huge cast - I appreciated the index at the back, which I found an excellent way of keeping track of the characters and their relationships with one another and their worlds. I did feel that some of the smaller characters got lost in the bigness of it all. Of the secondary characters, I probably appreciated Nikeya most. And Canthe (
Aside from feminine agency and power (similarly dominant in Priory), the themes of environmentalism, religion, and belief also come through very strongly. The overarching plot point of the novel is analogous to world events of the last few years (
LGBTQIA+ representation is done well throughout. There are trans and non-binary folk in the large cast of characters, and a range of different sexualities among minor and major characters also. Within the world Shannon has created, this gender and sexual diversity is normalised, which is refreshing to read about. Although this is an imagined world in terms of ethnicity there is still a range of skin tones from white to dark-skinned, which I know many will appreciate.
Although it has its flaws, this was overall a satisfying and highly enjoyable read.
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Violence, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gore, Sexual content, and Alcohol
Minor: Vomit
Strong scenes depicting supernaturally inflicted violence (iefairyollie'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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Forced institutionalization, Religious bigotry, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Torture, and Stalking
the_reading_wren'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
5.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Child death and Forced institutionalization
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Confinement, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Excrement, Medical content, Cannibalism, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, and Classism
hailstorm3812'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? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Xenophobia and War
Moderate: Animal death, Misogyny, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
meganpbell'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? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gore, Medical content, and Grief
bashsbooks'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
5.0
A short list of things I liked about this book:
- Always amuses me that Shannon not only made Fantasy Catholicism but also made it canonically false.
- Addition of nonbinary rep - including nonbinary titles! I love the terms Mastress and Lade.
- Addition of other trans rep - there are at least two trans men & just like the gay relationships, no one bats an eye at them.
- Thrit, I am emotionally invested in this secondary character, he is the best.
- Gay-on-gay-on-gay violence at one of the climaxes
where all the narrators run into each other.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cursing, Infidelity, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, and Colonisation
Minor: Mental illness, Suicide, and Cannibalism
mals_reads'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? Yes
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, and War
Moderate: Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Animal death