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The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

131 reviews

radioactiv's review

adventurous

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

I really enjoyed this but feel like a talented editor could have made this book truly shine. There are just a few things, particularly towards the end, that just don’t click into place and leave me wanting something more. All that build up and the second-to-last enemy seemed so much bigger and more relevant than the last one.

Despite 800 pages where disparate storylines slowly coalesce, parts just don’t mesh well.

One issue at the end: Noos’s seemingly out-of-nowhere decision not to attack Ead. He goes on this long spiel about alchemical balance and life to justify it, but it just doesn’t feel in character. And when he finds out about Truyde’s death he just… kind of accepts it?

Before that even, we have the extremely unlikely

agreement between all the non-dragon controlled world leaders to ally to defeat the Nameless One, despite Seiiki’s isolationist policies, Inys historically considering several countries damned, etc. All that comes together almost seamlessly with minimal time…

I enjoyed a lot of the world-building, particularly the two different interpretations of the same historic events by two different religious traditions, a la the Abrahamic religions.

It’s a long book and I finished it in under 2 weeks, despite a reading slump throughout the pandemic. I truly enjoyed it.

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snipinfool's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The first half was a slog for me. The second half was much better. I appreciated the glossary in the back of the characters and who they were. Sometimes it can be hard to keep the major and minor players straight in the beginning of a new world. I think I resonated the most with Tane.

I am glad she found her redemption in the end.

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bettysbookishworld's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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kaabtik's review

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

A behemoth of a book, The Priory of the Orange Tree really set expectations high from the get-go. While it was enjoyable, many parts fell flat to me and ended up being okay rather than extraordinary.

For starters, the story has four narrators, whose different backgrounds and views all tie together to give the reader a view of the expansive land. That's already a lot but in fantasy, especially of this intricacy, it is to be expected. However, despite having four POVs, most of the story revolves around the comings and goings of the West. Ead's POV is definitely the cornerstone of the book and it shows. The author writes the subtleties of court drama well, and really amps up the slow burn romance. That is the author's strength and I commend her for it. But, the story is supposed to have four POVs — four voices, four stories. The POVs set in the West is colorful and full of drama yet those set in the East — dragonriders! trials and tribulations of coming of age! DRAGON RIDERS!!! — became boring. Boring in the sense where a lot of the important events are mentioned to have happened already, and the audience is left connecting dots. Which is okay if it serves the story, but there is little character development (at least for Tane) that happens on-screen before they have to rendezvous with the Westerners at the great confrontation scenes. This was especially disappointing to me as I was looking forward to the Easterners' POV and saw that the two chapters that Tane was the main POV had the same opening lines "The water trials passed by" twice, but with a slightly different description — "like a long dream" in page 136 and "like a haze" in page 175. I don't know if it was the author's intention but it felt careless (to some extent lazy) to Tane's POV, despite her having (in my opinion) one of the more action-packed POVs of the four.

That being said, I didn't really care for the characters as much as I expected. In theory, Niclays was someone I would've hung on to, what with his background, his banishment, and his morally grey narrative. Again, he is a victim of the lack of exposure, and what little time we spend reading about him to give him his much needed character development, feels like a filler for when there is nothing going on in the West.

I did really enjoy the romance between Ead and Sabran. They weren't kidding when they said this was slow burn. A couple hundred pages in and there's barely any embers and I was truly invested with their relationship. Ead and Sabran have a lot of really good lines on their own but even more so together and for that I pushed through reading the rest of the book.

The Unceasing Emperor of the East was a really minor character that was in the very end of the book but honestly I was hooked on his every word. He was similar to Sabran in many ways yet his background of being in the East and having a ~~fucking~~ EMPIRIAL DRAGON to consult was just !!!!!

Overall, I feel as though more than a third of the book is a lot of intricate world building that many don't end up being really that important in the end. It was unnecessarily thick for the conclusion to be a very classic confrontation show of unity. And yes, much of my disappointment was the lack of Eastern dragons. It shows, I know but it was probably the most interesting part of it all

also the fact that Tane was a dragonrider, dragon-heart, the sole survivor of a fire in her village, had the twin gem embedded in her side, having the blood and the face of Neporo

and she has barely any screentime.

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liaandersson's review

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adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

Where to begin?..

This could quite well be the best fantasy that I have ever read. There are tons of aspects which I adored and it is easier, for both you and I, if I take it in order.

Religion: Virtudom and the South have religions stemming from the same historical people, the differences being how these people are portrayed and what their acknowledged accomplishments were. These religious differences put a strain to the fragile relationship between the South and Virtudom. I think this is a terrific analogy of how for example, the real world has countries fighting over which is the one true religion, when the truth is there is no single right one. All of them are right, if they are right for a certain individual. I hope you will understand my sentiment once you have read it, I have a hard time conveying the message through writing.

Mislabeling: There are several instances where foreigners (in relation to the ethnic group discussed) call certain groups by derogatory terms or even slurs. It is, in my opinion, a well-executed representation of modern slurs as well as the misgendering of queer people. The reoccurring scenario where one 'foreign' individual calls another by a negative slur/term, which is then corrected as if someone was misgendered.

Queer: There is plenty of LGB representation among the main cast, as well as scattered information about historical figures and secondary characters. Still, there are no canon trans characters, even though I imagine some of them to be such. Other than the L, G AND B there is not much representation to see in regards of ace/aro, polyamory, intersex, trans and so on.

History: I loved how the history of the fictional world was incorporated as storytellings between characters, and other creative solutions. It took me a hundred pages or so to connect the dots between all the historical people and their relevance, but a bit of switching from the index back to the story here and there eventually solved all of those problems. It was all very much worth it before I even got halfway through the book.

Worldbuildning: Shannon managed to incorporate western, eastern and African fantasy. I loved to see how they all interacted with each other and enhanced one another. I don't believe I can have much to say about whether it was well represented or not, but I do hope it was done as best as could be.

A fair warning that this book, at least in my opinion, is more driven by the characters than by the plot. Due to this, I have heard the common opinion that the ending of the book is quite abrupt, while I think it is quite satisfactory, from the perspective of the character's developmental arcs.

Have a fun read!

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thewordsdevourer's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

3.5 stars, in an extraordinary--albeit unfortunate--case of 'it's not u, it's me.' the priory of the orange tree is a technically remarkable epic fantasy that deserves all the praises it's gotten, but also one that i regrettably lack any personal chemistry or sparks w/, and yes it hurts me to admit that.

never have i read a story so vast in scope, detailed in its lore & legends, steeped in religion. additionally, it's imaginative and fresh, and manages to expertly weave all its scattered narratives tgt (sidenote: this book actually reminds me of the poppy war in its worldbuilding, historical inspo, and fire vs water magic). unfortunately, i think its vast scope's a double-edged sword. bc of its sheer range, we constantly jump around from one location and narrative to another; coupling this lack of prolonged focus w/ the (understandable) 3rd person pov, no character--even the main ones--is explored deep enough for my liking, and ultimately i dont feel any real connection w/ them. this affects my enjoyment--or rather my experience of the book: i couldnt fully immerse myself in the book, despite all the adventures, new lands, dragons, escapes, and court intrigue. it was like i was watching it all happen from a detached distance, and didnt rly feel anything no matter what's happening, despite all the countless times the main characters were imperiled. and that's...not fun bc i highly value emotional connection and evocation in my books. another quabble, although a minor one, is the ultimate dragon-wyrm showdown, where i felt like the power imbalance didnt make sense: the wyrms could breathe fire while the dragons could only fly, and for the dragons to be at a disadvantage during the battle even tho they were water creatures literally fighting in the damn ocean???

honestly, this book's rly good. i particularly enjoyed the thought-provoking exploration of religious differences, themes of open-mindedness and duty, many morally gray characters (not loth tho, thats why i have a soft spot for him), worldbuilding, and feminist msg. it's also prolly the first book w/ pet-human bond trope that melts my hard heart. unfortunately, it didnt rly click w/ me, and the lack of emotional connection--that frustrating absence of some spark, a lil sth--makes this a rly-good-but-not-yet-great read.

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