Reviews with content warning for Torture - The Priory of the Orange Tree

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The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

138 reviews

erenreads12's review

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense slow-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? Yes

4.75

Absolutely phenomenald a feat of fantasy writing. The only thing I'd change would have been for the ending to be slightly more fleshed out, but in terms of plot, worldbuilding, diversity/representatio and character development, I cannot fault it. Shannon makes 800 pages rush by and totally absorbs the reader into this world and the lives of these wonderful characters.

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anxiouspurpleelephant's review

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adventurous funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

I LOVE THIS BOOK!! I thought I’d got bored of fantasy books as (I sometimes find) they all have a similar plot and they were starting to get a bit boring… which is why at first I wasn’t sure if I would like this book (and the 800 pages slightly scared me) but omg it is so worth it.

First of all can I just say that Ead and Sabran are just so amazing and cute I love them. I also love how amazingly the whole world was developed, but I’m super disappointed it isn’t a series because I feel like since the world is so built up soooo much more could be done with it. I also love Margaret and Tané. I need a water dragon in my life.

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hahahaha's review

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adventurous challenging inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Someone said Priory of the Orange Tree felt like a feminist Lord of the Rings, and I think this is a pretty solid introduction to the book. I watched the LOTR movies, but I couldn't bring myself to read the books and further immerse myself into that universe because the cast was so obviously and unnecessarily male-dominated. Priory, however, has a substantial female cast, many of whom occupy positions of power. I enjoyed seeing a world with little to no prejudices against different genders and sexualities. I also loved the that Shannon incorporated diverse cultures into the story. I had fun identifying different foods, customs, etc. of communities that Shannon had been inspired by when writing this book. I also enjoyed learning about the religions and political systems in Priory. Clearly a lot of thought and research had gone into building this world.

The plot is riveting—plenty of plot twists, action, and an exciting sapphic romance (that doesn't fetishize the characters or make their sexualities the only part of their personalities!). I know many think Priory is slow-paced, but that only really applies to the beginning when all the world-building occurs. I found myself going through the book fairly quickly (though this may be because I had set a goal to finish it on my week-long vacation). The 800-something pages aren't as daunting as you may think once the book picks up pace.

But I would say that Priory is much more plot-driven than character-driven. I found it difficult to get attached to most of the characters, who, besides the narrators, felt a little two-dimensional. The character deaths didn't hit me as hard as they probably should have. But even as someone who is more of a character person than a plot person, I still thoroughly enjoyed Priory. The plot more than compensates for shortcomings in the characters so it's definitely worth a read :)

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genny's review

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adventurous slow-paced

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

2.5

This book put me into a reading slump. An 800+ page book should be anything but boring, but that's what this was. 😬 As a queer woman of color, I really wanted to like this. I enjoyed the setup and was sure it'd end up as a 4 or 5-star read, but alas...

The worldbuilding was good, easy to wrap your head around. I love descriptions of locales, food, travel...but come on, there are limits! The characters were constantly hopping from one place to another, like the author just wanted to showcase every bit of the world map. So much filler. It was also funny how people would suddenly sit down and tell tales. I get that there aren't many ways to give historical background without straight-up info-dumping, but it's a little jarring when they go "hold the plot, it's fairytale time!". Even a villain paused in action to lay out the Evil Plan. 😅 Also, how many times did one of the protagonists pass out at the end of a chapter, only to wake up in a nice, safe bed the next? Too many times, I tell ya.

The characters serve to advance the plot while barely developing personalities. I know many readers hated Niclays, but I liked him way more than the others! At least he was honest about his selfishness, lol, and his ending made me emotional. Gotta defend the old dude. Ead and Sabran had some nice moments but their romance bloomed (and changed Ead's perspective) too quickly to be convincing. I did like the side characters: Truyde, Laya, Melaugo, etc.

I'm bitter about Truyde dying only for our protagonists to eventually realize that she was right all along.

It's just...this book spent so much time setting up the climax, only for the big battle to be over and done with in a couple of pages. It was laughably easy.

Despite all the worry about how other nations may not want to help, everyone was surprisingly amenable. The Nameless One is supposedly this gigantic monster that breathes fire, but Ead was able to get close enough to stab him in the heart...it wasn't even described how! She just did it like it was nothing!

It was only a grim determination to finish this behemoth that kept me reading. Perhaps if it was more polished I would've liked it more.

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