The Priory of the Orange Tree

It's been a long time since I dipped into the epic fantasy genre (I burned out on the meanderings of the Song of Ice and Fire after A Feast for Crows, and don't think I've been back since).

There is a lot to like about this book. It is epic, and it is fantasy, and the world-building is both rich and not beholden to the standard tropes of medieval (or even early modern/17th century-esque as this seems to be) societies. It's a world that doesn't have the typical misogyny or homophobia by which some authors announce the authenticity of their settings, and is better for it. Nothing about such things really adds realism to a setting, while realistic relationships between people certainly does.

The point of view characters are for the most part sympathetic and sometimes noble, though sometimes a little too much so.

While I welcome the overall positive tone, I think the balance has been missed, and it's here that we also see some of the real weaknesses in the story. Shannon has built a very rich world, but while some fantasy authors would trap you in it for seven books and force you to wallow in every tiny detail that they've invented, Shannon spends several hundred pages setting out the basic ideas of the world and beginning a number of threads of narrative, but then is in such a rush to tie them off in a single volume that she hops, skips, and jumps across geography and plot to get the job done. A wealth of mythology and background is dealt with in sudden exposition dumps to get characters up to speed and quests done without having to work for them.

Normally I'm wishing the author would stop dragging things out for eight books, here I was wishing she'd taken some time to break this into three, and develop the plot a little more. There are so many quests to get through and so little time to do so (because it's a standalone book), there is no real sense of risk or jeopardy in them. Things go really well most of the time, and the supposed injuries or danger never feel real - it all ends up feeling a little like a beautifully written (and it is beautifully written) Saturday morning cartoon for grown ups. The world feels deeper, but we're not given time to really take it in and appreciate it, despite how thick the thing is!

I won't get into the international politicking for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but this is again somewhere that could have had richness of narrative, but doubles down on the lightness.

All in all, Shannon's imagination and writing skills are on display, and to be admired, but the book is much less affecting and involving than it could or should be, I feel. Lightness like this for three or four hundred pages would be great, and I'd probably chew through a series of it. Eight hundred pages of it leaves things unsatisfying, and not terribly interested in returning to the world (there are other books set there, but not I think continuing this story).

A globe trotting fantasy epic that breaks many conventions. The world is a fuzzy mirror of our own during the late medieval period, but there seems to be little colonialism and a broad racial diversity among the elites. Women seem to hold high status positions, both political and martial, with little discrimination. Sexual preference seems to be well tolerated but there are still arranged marriages intended to establish strong lineages. Altogether these make for a fantasy world that can focus on the cultural differences between different parts of the world, and tells a grand story about people putting their prejudices and self interest aside to tackle a global existential threat, the sort of thing we can probably do with more of.
My critique is that lineage and class are not really treated with the same critique, relying on more traditional chosen one heritage tropes. There's some lip service towards disrupting this at the end of the book, but it's fundamental to the plot: the crisis is resolved due to the heritage of the protagonists as well as their actions, so it ultimately servers to reinforce the importance of lineage.
That said, this is still a great achievement and definitely worth a read, you could consider it as a shorter, better Song of Ice and Fire or a millennial Lord of The Rings.

Enjoyed the book but did find it slow in places. Lots of good elements here, including:
- interesting view of elemental type dragons (fire vs water), and different societies reacting very differently to dragons
- great, strong female characters - in fact this world's history seems to mainly revolve around female heroes and leaders
- good character growth for several of the main characters
- LGB friendly (no trans characters I noticed, though not against such a thing either, just not there). Gay and lesbian relationships taken for granted, as main characters

I wasn't as crazy about the likeability of the characters though - while I didn't hate any of them I also never really felt that I much liked any of them, I just didn't find them approachable for some reason. I probably liked Loth best but, while important, he's not one of the most central characters. It was also very LONG; there's a lot of detail and politics in there (reminded me a little of a Guy Gavriel Kay sweeping epic fantasy) but I feel it could have either been condensed a bit or written to flow more easily. Sometimes it's just as effective to sum up some details or let the reader guess them as to spell out every single detail. Jumping around between at least four different main characters was also a bit hard to keep straight, especially in the early book, although they did all cross paths in the end.

If you like dragons and politics and fantasy nations at war with magic forces and Guy Gavriel Kay style sweeping epics then you'll probably enjoy this! If you like a quick and captivating read with lots of action and not too many different points of view you may struggle with this one.