The Priory of the Orange Tree

eBook, 880 pages

English language

Published Feb. 25, 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

ISBN:
978-1-63557-028-1
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4 stars (93 reviews)

A world divided. A queendom without an heir. An ancient enemy awakens.

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep.

8 editions

Lots to like here, but ultimately not as good as I wanted, and had hoped.

3 stars

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 …

Many nice ideas

3 stars

Many interesting ideas and some strong leading female characters, but the plot felt contrived at times or needlessly confusing, with inconsistencies (like distance and travel time), and some parts of the worldbuilding felt too simplistic -- also I wasn't too impressed with the quests for magic objects. Edit : also worth mentionning is that in the 800 pages, there really isn't much happening at the Priory of the title.

A great book and (hopefully) more to come

5 stars

This is the first book from Samantha Shannon I have read, and I have really liked it. The overall story is very good, the characters are very interesting and the worldbuilding has many layers (as it should).

I like how each chapter starts by having a geographical distinction, which helps situate the different characters in the map. It also cements the differences between each region and the lore.

Another important topic of the book is the rupture with other fantasy novels in the importance of the women in the plot (which is good) and the prominence of queer characters in it (which is also good).

I am looking forward to more works from the same author and I imagine that I will be reading them as soon as I know that they are released.

Review of 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Full disclaimer: I started reading The Priory of the Orange Tree without knowing what it was about, so I didn't have high expectations for the sapphic love story, since I didn't know there was one.

On the contrary, I enjoyed a fantasy novel with a love story, which at the same time didn't make it the be all end all of the novel, but instead based decisions on somewhat realistic political needs. I'm probably either a cynic or just sated on all the love is all you need type of stories.

I didn't fully get the magic system, and I would appreciate if the sequel delved into that a bit more. I'll probably also look at the prequel for more world buildung on that front.

Although high fantasy isn't really among my favourite genres anymore, I really enjoyed the global viewpoint and all the different cultures in Shannon's novel. I …

Review of 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

There's nothing to be said about this that others haven't said better, but I want to add by 2 cents anyway.

Yes, this book is fantastic and absolutely worth the hype. While it is basically a world building textbook, I think the characters and their dynamic relationships take the cake as the best part of the story. I loved how all of the characters were well fleshed out and felt extremely real and complex. For just about all of them, there was at least one point during the book where you wanted to shake them by the shoulders and ask them what the hell they are thinking, and one point where you want to hold them and reassure them.

I thought there was great representation for the most part here, but I was a bit bummed to see that the only gay male characters in the book were either dead …

Fantastic standalone fantasy

5 stars

I’ve long been intrigued by Samantha Shannon’s ‘Bone Season’ series, but couldn’t quite bring myself to start such a long, as-yet-unfinished saga without at least getting a sense for whether I liked the author’s style. Shannon publishing a standalone fantasy novel seemed like a good opportunity to find out.

Initially I got bogged down a bit by the intricate world-building and high number of characters in this book, but once I adjusted, I was hooked. Ended up devouring the rest in short order and loving it. Truly epic standalone fantasy novels seem rare these days; finding one I enjoy this much is a gift.

Review of 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I FINISHED. Wow. That was challenging. Haha. I’m rounding down to 3 stars from what is probably 3.5 because the ending is odd. I’m not sure this should have been a standalone. There’s too much story and the ending happens FAST. It’s also very much a plot book. I’m not sure how much any of the characters change. They go through a lot, and there are some adjusting of basic beliefs, but I’m not sure there’s really much a shift. The mythology here is really fun though. And I LOVE that it’s all women pushing the narrative forward, and who played very large parts in the establishing mythologies. In the end, though, that’s all the book really cares about: plot and mythology. It goes a little farther than that, but not enough for me. I’ll probably recommend it at some point but there’s a lot of books I’d recommend before …

Review of 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

It felt like it started slow, in part from switching from four character perspectives. Three of those are key, two are important, and one feels most like the main character.

I enjoyed the mix of dragons and duality at play in the story, and characters forced to consider their view of the world. Pacing is a little weird a times.

But I liked it and I recommend it.

Review of 'The Priory of the Orange Tree' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

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 …

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Subjects

  • Fantasy
  • Magic
  • Dragons
  • Assassins
  • Fiction

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