The Priory of the Orange Tree

So. Dragons. No, really, without even knowing much about the books, the one thing that made me pre-order it was the fact that there were queendoms and there were dragons. I was sold. Then the reviews started pouring in and I was a bit intimidated by them because everyone seemed to love this one and rarely did anyone have anything truly bad to say about it. I finally started the book with these fears in my mind and I needn’t have. I really needn’t have. There’s something about the writing, quick moving plots and multiple narratives throughout the book that really helped me love it. It’s very clear as you read along that Shannon had her canon done to a T. There wasn’t a lot left to wonder about and there weren’t a lot of glaringly obvious plot holes scattered in the book and with a book this size, I was very worried about that. Especially considering the fact that this is a standalone. So, let’s dive into this one. Let’s go with dragons first because let’s be honest, a lot of the people probably put it on tbr just for the dragons. There’s such a good variety of dragons and what constitutes as a dragon. The different regions having different and polarizing opinions of said creatures. With east and west having such vastly different outlooks (with a somewhat valid reason), it was absolutely amazing to read and learn more about them as the pages flew by. World-building. If you know me at all, you know I am weak for world-building in a fantasy novel/ series. So, I was very worried about it with this one because how much of it can you really stuff into one novel? Well, on this front, Samantha Shannon absolutely floored me. With people of different faiths, different geography and different traditions and lore, Priory still managed to make me feel very much as if I was living all of those and that was victory for the author, I think. It is so hard to make up a whole new world with its societies and religions and traditions and even though she doesn’t go too deep into them, there’s still enough to make me feel satisfied about it. Pacing and plot! With a book that is almost 900 pages, I did wonder about the pace and the plot meeting that golden ratio. And admittedly, the first 150 pages do take a bit of a time but once you cross that, it all settles into a nice pace that is easy and exciting at the same time because things don’t stop happening in the book. It is also a multi-perspective so you are reading things that happening in multiple parts of the world with such distinct characters. That’s always a plus for me, multi-perspective when done right can be phenomenal and here, it is. Characters! Gosh. Okay, so, first of all, I am trying to contain myself here because this one is already too long a review but I just have to talk about the characters. From Ead, who’s from the south and has tried to climb her way to become Queen Sabran’s close friends and learning something about herself as well as the queen to Sabran who has such a heavy legacy to carry on, who’s caustic and remote and cold but also insecure and in need of love. From Tane, a commoner who becomes a dragon rider but who’s one action could bring about her downfall to Loth who’s such a dear friend of Queen Sabran and who has had to face far more than his station in the court might have hinted at. Then there’s Roos, who’s absolutely not likeable but at the same time, he’s suffered enough in life to warrant some pity. He sometimes tries to be better but almost always the results end in disasters. Relationships. This book has some of the best friendships I have seen in a while. They are not perfect but they are solid, they just are. There’s sisterhood that is almost enviable if I am being honest because these women, while they do have their own ambitions, they try to raise each other up and that was so good to read about. Then there’s the opposite sex friendships which are just that, friendships. I am afraid that I haven’t read enough books where opposite sex friendships are pure friendships so when I do stumble into them, I am just absolutely in love with them. There’s also a really touching lgbt romance in there as well which feels so organic and natural that I was almost surprised by it. Overall, I would like to say that this is entirely enjoyable and immersive book and frankly, I couldn’t have expected anything better. I do have a couple of things I was bothered by. I wanted more Tane POV and I wish there was more expanded to cover the north as well. But those are tiny complaints compared to the rest of the positive points and frankly, if you are at all a fantasy fan, or someone who’d love to see some badass women being badass or if you wanna read about friendships and relationships in general then this is the book for you. Don’t be intimidated by the size, the pace of the book takes care of the fear.

The Priory of the Orange Tree is a skilfully plotted high fantasy with a perfect dose of magic and dragons. I highly recommend it to everybody who loves fantasy. Please do not get intimidated by the size (that's what she said) of the book. This book is for women, about women. Oh how I love everything about this book. The representation of women and queer is outstanding and well written. The world building is complicated, immersive and utterly convincing. The characters are deftly drawn, flawed, beautiful, multi-faceted and completely engrossing. The story is set in a world divided between two factions, East and West. The East is dominated by the fire-breathing dragons who are seen as protectors, while the West is ruled by a Queendom. The book follows several characters, including a dragon rider, a young queen, a scholar, and a spy, as they navigate political intrigues, ancient prophecies, and the threat of an apocalyptic war. The Priory itself is an ancient and secretive order of female mages dedicated to protecting the world from the return of dragons. They have a rich history and possess powerful knowledge and magical abilities. The oranges in the title symbolize the magic associated with the Eastern dragons, and the orange tree represents the sacred tree under which the Eastern dragon riders were said to be born. To my girls and gays, go read this book. It is for you.

I usually love stories with dragons. This book had one on the cover and a good rating here, and without further ado, I purchased the book. It was a good read, even if muddy in parts. So the good things for me, in no particular order: 1. Dragons & Wyverns 2. The women : The rulers, the warriors, the dragon riders, the dragon slayers, the mages, there are strong women through out. Interestingly enough, women are not put on a pedestal here, we see that many traitorous machinations originate from women too. P.s : The queen is a character I felt nothing for as we started out, but her character arc is very well done. 3. Absolute normalcy of queer relationships throughout the book settings. People of the upper echelons of society may not join in "companionship" because of their social status but their same sex relationship is not a taboo. 4. Love & Romance : While the setting and backgrounds are romantic in ways, the narrative is not needlessly peppered with hidden looks of longing and visions of heaving bosoms.There is plenty of love in the book but it's not only of the amorous kind. It's also love towards family, motherland, country, people, traditions & beliefs. What I did not like were the descriptions. Introductory descriptions are important, that's how we have the image of the person. The main characters should be described well, or at least memorably. While the clothes were described well, I struggled to put a face to many characters. Maybe it's that I unwittingly skimmed it, but I did not notice Ead's description nor Tane's. I first noticed Ead's description maybe half the book in, which is very late. The eastern dragons were also not described well. Other than a curt mention regarding the number of toes and a point of wings nothing was mentioned. Nayimathun gets a slightly better description, but it feels half done. I also would have liked a description of what about be considered an average wyverns in general, but in all fairness the Wyverns and their genetic inter-breeds were described a little more. I also did not enjoy the final war scene. It was a little confusing (Who peeled away the scale from no name? Was it Tane or Nayimathum with the broken sword?) While I am glad this is a stand alone book, I would have happily read this book divided into three with more details about the characters and more information about the creatures & mythology involved. I feel like this is a prequel to something big planned for this universe, as there too many loose ends and too many unexplained phenomena. This felt like reading the hobbit, ignoring the sheer size of this book of course, which makes me wonder if there is an equivalent to LOTR coming up?

I found this book while browsing through Instagram. There was a lot of posts about it and so much of praise. I knew that I had to read the book. It was the best decision I made.Samantha Shannon weaves a world of fantasy, magic and dragons, that makes for a very compelling read. The story follows a great number of characters across various parts of the globe, mainly referred to based on the directions of North, South, East and West. Each direction has it's own set of countries, rulers and stories. The author weaves them all together slowly, unraveling parts of the mystery and introducing us to many people.As the story progresses, the reader has no choice but to keep going on. It is so well written, that the reader can imagine the scenes with ease. This helps to connect with the people and their surroundings. The story is filled with intrigue, mystery, love and magic. There is also some betrayal, a lot of hope, a strong sense of duty and bonds that grows among people from being united against a common enemy. The story follows the lives of Ead, Sabran and Tané. Each have their own stories, their own secrets and a big role to play in this narrative. In addition, we have a lot of supporting characters who play pivotal roles in shaping the happenings in the story. The characters are strong and well crafted making it easy for the reader to connect with them and understand them. Each of the characters are tested when their faith comes into question, as well as when they are forced to take decisions that would change the course of their lives forever. This has been very beautifully depicted and the companionship between some of the characters is heart-warming. I absolutely loved this book and the journey I took with the characters as they navigated their lives and finally moved towards the fight with an ancient enemy. I strongly recommend this book to all the readers out there! This is worth the read!

Idk why the seller is so low rates. The book came in amazing condition. I can't wait to start the book!

❝When the heart grows too full, it overflows. And mine, inevitably, overflows onto a page.❞ I am not gonna lie, I feel very proud of myself for finishing this mammoth of a book!! I have been wanting to read this book ever since I heard of it, cause it felt epic, amazing and something I would enjoy. I am a little disappointed for it being a 3-star read for me. Now don't get me wrong, I still think it is a good book overall, but it's not just worth my time. I tend to actually like a slow-paced book because, we can know more about the world, characters, and lore. I feel like slow-paced books have a lot more potential than fast-paced ones because we spend more time understanding the characters, exploring the crooks and nooks of the world, and learning about the lore and whatnot. But I don't feel like I got it in this almost 810-page novel which is a big disappointment!!! Things I liked - interesting lore representation of different genders and diversity female in power easy to understand writing style Here are my few problems with the book - One-dimensional characters - There is absolutely 0 character exploration in this book. In the end, I still felt like I don't know anything more about these characters than I did at the beginning which is a huge letdown for me since I am a character reader. Not enough world exploration - This world that Shanon has built is very interesting, you could feel it is Epic in scope from the beginning and I don't think we got enough exploration of it which is a shame!! Every time a character has to travel around the world for some quest, I got excited thinking that we would explore the world, but NO!!!!! We are either being told that they've completed the journey or some fictional creature will come, swoop them right up, and drop them at their destination. 😒 High stakes, no consequences - You could feel that the stakes are high from the beginning of the book, but there are hardly any character deaths/consequences at the end. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of deaths in this book, but the reader hardly knows anything about these character's to actually connect to them and mourn them. And the few characters who we spend a long time with are still safe and sound. This is a huge letdown for me, if the stakes are high, the consequences should be bad as well!! Ending - After reading around 750 pages about an epic villain who could destroy the world within the blink of an eye, as a reader, it is reasonable to expect an epic battle. But all we got is around a 20-page description where the protagonists destroy the villain within a blink of an eye!! After finishing that ending, I sat still for a long time rethinking my decision and disappointed in myself for wasting my time reading this book. Writing style - I said that this is one of the things I kind of liked about this book, and now I also put it on the cons list. Let me explain, the writing is good until it's not. After around halfway through the book, I felt the story and writing style kind of got repetitive, we keep reading about the same folklore again and again and again. It kind of felt boring after some time. If Ms. Shannon has spent some time exploring the characters instead of telling us the same story multiple times, it would've been wonderful! Overall, I still feel like it is a good book. But I feel like it is over-hyped than it needs to be. If only this book is shorter, I would've recommended it to others to give it a try.

This book had everything. Dragons and magic systems. Different povs made the story even more interesting.

Priory of the orange tree What to say about this book when already everyone out there is praising this book. I am afraid that is it only me who felt that this book is okayish. And it is developed intentionally to be so fat where tye story could have been told like about 500 or 600 pages. The cover is undoubtedly a gorgeous one, and anyone can fall in love with it. What it takes to be a book nerd, a fat book , a book with gorgeous cover and specs ( this thing I don't have) but this book haves almost every element of a good Fantasy, but just a thing which I think could have been better is the storytelling. The narration is really nice, the details and everything is narrated with a great deal of clarity, but the way characters are introduced is little bit perplexing. I was so excited for this book that I started reading it the day I received keeping my all other books aside. But the start was not up to my expectations. Yes as the story proceeds the interest develops but for that you need to keep patience. Bloomsbury publisher is the one well known for it's fantasy books, and everyone was waiting eagerly for this book. Alas! I don't have the theme poster and bookmark but I like the book. It is like a good artwork on my table, like a show piece. The problem with this book is that re reading will take efforts and it isn't a story which I would love to re read. I don't know about game of thrones ( song of ice and fire which I say soif) so can't compare the whole series but yes to compare with what I read I recommend soif for readers who have the courage to read the whole series ( and afford it) and for those who can't, yes it is a gold book so don't worry and enjoy it. It was fun book to read. Though I don't witness so great things, and I will have to say that expectations from this book somewhere formed a little "not so liking" thing. So if you are reading it, don't expect from it and read. Happy reading

“That is the problem with stories, child. The truth in them cannot be weighed.” As a stand-alone, epic fantasy novel this is fairly unique amongst book markets at the moment. Moreover, it follows three female protagonists with interesting and complex narratives that are woven together with intriguing world building and, of course, dragons. The primary narrative thread follows Sabran Berethnet, a queen of a matriarchal nation who needs to marry and have a child, because the continuation of her bloodline that keeps a monstrous dragon trapped beneath the earth. A secondary thread follows her maid, Ead Duryran, a spy with strange powers who was sent to ensure Sabran’s safety in an unstable time. And finally, Tané, who, on the other side of the world, has just completed her training and initiation into a corps of dragon riders. 🐉The narrative itself is not revolutionary, clearly the large dragon and his horde comes back and can only be killed with the Macguffin at a certain time and place. Additionally, I have to say I didn’t enjoy the main romantic plot line. It felt somewhat forced, and the two characters progressed too quickly from not knowing each other to being intimate. In fact, I found the secondary reminiscent romance, of Niclays Roos and his long dead lover was far more interesting, and actually impacted the storyline and the motivations of his character. However, the romantic plot line is very minor in the grand scheme of things and doesn’t really ruin the enjoyment of this book. The real strength of this novel is the world-building. The way the world is created, the mythos, the creatures and the cultural differences between places actually make an impact on the narrative. There is no world-building for world-buildings sake. The first aspect of this world building that I love is the dragons. As a fantasy enthusiast I have seen a lot of dragons, and this novel had all of them. There are two broad types: the mainly western idea of a dragon which is scaly, monstrous, dangerous and can’t be reasoned with, and the more eastern idea which is wise, powerful, helpful on occasion and mysterious. Of course there are dragons that fit between these, Smaug being an obvious choice, but even he falls more under the western than eastern idea. In The Priory of the Orange Tree one of the main narrative themes is cultural difference/similarity; the idea that we all have similar ideas and mythos and emotions, but are separated by invisible lines of culture and geography. Shannon then weaves this idea explicitly into the dragons, distinctly separating west and east with the types of dragons that they encounter in the wild. The east worship their dragons because they are wise, they help them and they can ride them and they provide magic and security. Those in the west despise dragons because the ‘wyverns’ that they come across are destructive and deadly. The west hates the east for being ‘dragon-lovers’, not knowing that the dragons there are distinctly different beings. There is a deep cultural divide over this misunderstanding. It is a nice touch. Not only does it make sense narratively, but it means the dragons can be made more interesting and textured. Too often there is only one type or even just one dragon, and you don’t get the sense that they are a real aspect of the world. There are no dragons for dragons sake in this book and if you love the big fire breathing ones or the wise, parental ones there are dragons for you in this book. The next aspect I love is the magic system. Now, I could talk about soft and hard magic systems until the cows come home, but all I shall say is that hard magic systems have clearly defined rules, limits and consequences to the practice of magic (see The Magicians, Fullmetal Alchemist and The Name of the Wind), soft magic systems are a bit more lose weave and much more mysterious, you are never really sure what someone is capable of (Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones). Shannon utilises a soft magic system really well. While there are no hard and fast rules to the magic she introduces into the plot and it is never explained what the real capabilities of the magic is, you are still aware of the consequences of its use, as she establishes that those who practice must replenish it by eating from a specific orange tree. Shannon uses the traits of a soft magic system really well, creating intrigue and a fascination/wonder over its use. The characters, and therefore you, discover more and more about this magic system as the narrative moves forward in a fairly organic manner. Through this process we discover that this magic system follows Shannon’s thematic system of the duality in the world, as there are two types of dragons and two connected founding myths, there are two types of magic. It makes the world feel very… concise and thematically coherant. This brings me to the aspect of this novel that excited me the most; the discourse on mythos, storytelling and the importance on the way a story is told. Essentially, the main plot points and aspects of world building centers around a founding myth of Sabran’s nation. They believe a hero killed the dragon with a sword and married the princess. The south believe that the ‘princess’ killed the dragon and never married the ‘hero’ and he went away in shame. This discord creates a rift between the two places and creates a lot of the tension in the world. This founding myth also creates the identity of the two places. Those who believe the woman is the hero focus on her magic and skill. Those who believe in the male hero have founded their system of state on his bloodline, and their religion on his code of ethics. The founding myth is relevant to not just the world building but also the plot. As the discrepancies in this myth are slowly uncovered and revealed it gives them the tools to defeat the ‘big evil’. It is important to know and understand fully. Where many fantasy books allow the myths to take up a lot of the story for no narrative gain, Shannon manages to weave it into the plot seamlessly, and make it integral to the novel as a whole. Basically, I liked this book! I think it is a really nice riff on some typical fantasy tropes while using some others to their full extent and really enjoying them. There were some iffy bits in the sub plots and some characterisation but overall it really impressed me and is thoroughly enjoyable even to those for whom fantasy isn’t a key genre.

Haven't read yet but looks great, good price for a book so big. They could make the real cover more interesting though, not just blue

I totally recommend this book, the book in fact is really pretty and the cover is really cool, and i really liked that it has a timeline, a map, a character list and a glossary so you can understand the book

This book is fantastic, and it came in great condition. If you love Game of Thrones-esque worldbuilding, you will love this book. The author takes the reader on a broad journey across a socially-complex world full of fascinating and unique characters whose POV's we get to explore. Might just be one of my favorite books!

Ce livre est long (800p) mais il vaut le coup ! Le world-buidling est génial. L'histoire est prenante. Et les personnages sont tous attachants malgrés qu'ils ne soient pas parfait. Ce livre est profondément féministe et contient des représentations lgbt (romance principale : couple f/f, personnage mlm qui a perdu l'amour de sa vie) Je recommande à 100%