Charlotte

We may be small, and we may be young, but we will shake the world for our beliefs

I normally start off my reviews with just one quote but this book is filled with so many that I may indulge in a few more within the rest of my review. Priory of the orange tree is an epic fantasy, something I think a lot of readers fail to realise when picking up this book causing them to expect something it is not. But for me, it was exactly what I expected it to be. I fell in love with long plotted high fantasy books as a kid and this book did not fail to meet those expectations.

When history fails to shed light on the truth, myth creates its own.

Love and fear do strange things to our soul

I do not sleep because I am not only afraid of the monsters at my door, but also of the monsters my own mind can conjure. The ones that live within

No woman should be made to fear that she was not enough

Be silent and learn something

This book really wasn't for me. I did enjoy the writing but I found myself bored with a lot of the story. I enjoyed the bit about Chiron but the entire war felt empty and vague

I'm not a fan of Patroclus and Achilles relationship because Achilles treats him so poorly. Once again a Greek hero plagued by his own hubris. Poor Patroclus never deserved what happened to him, that's what I'm sad about

“Life in isolation is a death sentance”

This book both filled me with joy and absolutely terrified me. The whole chapter with the space rats.... nope, never want to experience that ever. My favourite place as definitely Aecor, maybe because it was the longest chapter but I really enjoyed it

The characters were really cool and I wish we got to know them better. I loved each of their different personalities and they worked well to balance each other out. The whole space system/technology was really well thoughts out

Turns out I own “A long way to a small, angry, planet” so I will be reading that at some point as it seems (?) to be part of a series. Either way I love Becky's writing style in both this and her Monk and Robot series and while they are vasty different they are both enjoyable and a great read :)

“Sometimes I hate people. This is probably very bad for my mental health.”

Somehow, once again, Alice Oseman has managed to put thoughts and feelings into words and tell a story. I feel like a lot of people would 100% relate to this book, I know I definitely did. I'm struggling to put into words how I liked this book as it has kind of left me with a sort of empty feeling.

I'll start by saying I absolutely love Michael and Tori's interactions. They really helped each other in the end, they fit together like a puzzle piece. This book has definitely made me want to read the heartstopper books because I want more of Charlie who is the most precious soul in the entire universe.

This book is not for everyone. I highly recommend reading the content warnings at https://aliceoseman.com/extras/content-warnings/ before you read any of her work, because it really does get intense, especially if you find yourself relating to the characters. Regardless, I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read more of her work.