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thewildmageslibrary's review
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
5.0
WHY did it take me so long to read this? Oh right, 848 pages. First off, I would die for Eadaz. Secondly, the sapphic relationship in Priory makes me happy cry. And third, I love the extensive cast of characters! The worldbuilding was fantastic (check out the author's tumblr!) and the pacing - just perfect. I would have happily read another 800 pages. Oh, and ace rep!!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Miscarriage, Torture, and Xenophobia
Minor: Death of parent
goldengirlbookclub's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, and Murder
cosypuck's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, and Murder
melsmagicalreads's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, and Torture
pawanithereader's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
How do you review a 830 page book that took your breath away? That's right, you don't. You just sing songs in it's praise.
Priory of the Orange Tree is one of the best multi-plot books I've read and I absolutely loved how every plot was connected and how beautifully it all came together in the end.
The entire politics and just the manner of how a queendom works is very well captured.
This book such incredibly written complex characters. I loved the strong female characters. How the characters react to different situations or how well do they manage their responsibilities is very realistic. I went from hating Sabran Berethnet to loving her and I there is no other character that I love and hate at the same time as I love and hate Niclays Roos.
This book contains a mixture of different myths and folklore and in my opinion, it does justice to them. The world building was incredible. I can say it was almost flawless. The differences between the East, West, South and North, magic working with nature, if was all so beautiful.
I also loved the diversity in the book but the best thing was the wlw and the mlm relationships. They were absolutely beautiful.
But Priory is not a book for the faint hearted. A lot of things that you don't want to happen will happen, characters you love will die and you will be introduced to a lot of gruesome subjects.
The book is definitely worth a read. Even though is a giant, you will not feel overwhelmed nor will you be bored while reading it.
Priory of the Orange Tree is one of the best multi-plot books I've read and I absolutely loved how every plot was connected and how beautifully it all came together in the end.
The entire politics and just the manner of how a queendom works is very well captured.
This book such incredibly written complex characters. I loved the strong female characters. How the characters react to different situations or how well do they manage their responsibilities is very realistic. I went from hating Sabran Berethnet to loving her and I there is no other character that I love and hate at the same time as I love and hate Niclays Roos.
This book contains a mixture of different myths and folklore and in my opinion, it does justice to them. The world building was incredible. I can say it was almost flawless. The differences between the East, West, South and North, magic working with nature, if was all so beautiful.
I also loved the diversity in the book but the best thing was the wlw and the mlm relationships. They were absolutely beautiful.
But Priory is not a book for the faint hearted. A lot of things that you don't want to happen will happen, characters you love will die and you will be introduced to a lot of gruesome subjects.
The book is definitely worth a read. Even though is a giant, you will not feel overwhelmed nor will you be bored while reading it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Infertility, and Panic attacks/disorders
astropova's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was absolutely phenomenal. I don't know how to put into words how much I loved it, but I will give it a try. In my opinion, it is easily on par with Lord of the Rings (which I also adore very much) and shines with its many captivating female characters, an aspect in which LotR is sorely lacking. And based on my experience, Priory is what the Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones series wishes it could be.
I loved exploring the world through the adventures of our POV characters and seeing the world through their eyes and their biases. And I loved watching as many of those biases were extinguished as their stories began to intertwine. I thought that the descriptions and development of the characters was one of the strongest things about this book. And all of the twists and turns and revelations in the storyline were so great! My single gripe is that I felt like if we had seen and connected more with Kalyba, then *~*certain events*~* may have been more impactful. As it was, it felt like her later appearances fell a little flat and felt like missed opportunities.
I also thought that the pacing was spot-on. In such a long book, it would be easy to feel like you're slogging through it and not much is going on, but Shannon somehow avoids that entirely. She masterfully splices together the different storylines, knowing exactly where to break them off and how to start the next scene to keep you captivated. It was SO HARD to put this book down and it's been a while since I read a book I could say that about. I didn't notice how quickly the pages flew by until, alas, it was over.
The setting and world-building were super cool! I loved how different each of the nations were, yet fit together believably into one cohesive world. I really wish we got to see more of the West and South, since the bulk of the time spent there was in Inys. The brief foray into wyvern-occupied Yscalin and the limited view of the journeys South left me wanting more. I feel like there is so much more to tell about Mentendon. We meet the people of Hroth for like 5 seconds, but they seem pretty cool! I want to KNOW what lies beyond the Gate of Ungulus!
At the same time, I feel like Shannon has masterfully pulled off the herculean effort of feeding you *just* enough tastes of this massive and complex world to teach you exactly what you need to know and when you need to know it, without feeling like an overwhelming info-dump. Often you are learning about new places when the characters are also experiencing them for the first time, so you feel like you're right there adventuring along with them.
In conclusion, I really hope Shannon continues to write in this universe because I would so eagerly devour more!
I loved exploring the world through the adventures of our POV characters and seeing the world through their eyes and their biases. And I loved watching as many of those biases were extinguished as their stories began to intertwine. I thought that the descriptions and development of the characters was one of the strongest things about this book. And all of the twists and turns and revelations in the storyline were so great! My single gripe is that I felt like if we had seen and connected more with Kalyba, then *~*certain events*~* may have been more impactful. As it was, it felt like her later appearances fell a little flat and felt like missed opportunities.
I also thought that the pacing was spot-on. In such a long book, it would be easy to feel like you're slogging through it and not much is going on, but Shannon somehow avoids that entirely. She masterfully splices together the different storylines, knowing exactly where to break them off and how to start the next scene to keep you captivated. It was SO HARD to put this book down and it's been a while since I read a book I could say that about. I didn't notice how quickly the pages flew by until, alas, it was over.
The setting and world-building were super cool! I loved how different each of the nations were, yet fit together believably into one cohesive world. I really wish we got to see more of the West and South, since the bulk of the time spent there was in Inys. The brief foray into wyvern-occupied Yscalin and the limited view of the journeys South left me wanting more. I feel like there is so much more to tell about Mentendon. We meet the people of Hroth for like 5 seconds, but they seem pretty cool! I want to KNOW what lies beyond the Gate of Ungulus!
At the same time, I feel like Shannon has masterfully pulled off the herculean effort of feeding you *just* enough tastes of this massive and complex world to teach you exactly what you need to know and when you need to know it, without feeling like an overwhelming info-dump. Often you are learning about new places when the characters are also experiencing them for the first time, so you feel like you're right there adventuring along with them.
In conclusion, I really hope Shannon continues to write in this universe because I would so eagerly devour more!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Miscarriage, Xenophobia, and Dementia
Minor: Incest, Infidelity, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Torture
goblingirlreads's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I feel like I have lived the last month inside this book. According to Storygraph it took me 27 days to read when normally I get through 3-6 books in a month but I LOVED sinking that much time into a fantasy epic. This book had pretty much everything I could want in an epic fantasy - characters that were layered, complex, and amazing to follow, a layered and rich history/world for the characters to learn about as the story went on, a magic system that was unique and badass, a romance subplot that made me swoon, epic fight sequences, pirates, dragons, queens, witches, assassins, and more! This book is advertised as "feminist fantasy" which is something that both excites me (I am a feminist) and makes me wary (not everyone who identifies as feminist is intersectional). In this case, this meant that the many, many of the main characters in this story were women who had power and agency. And there wasn't a ton of time spent on gender rules/roles in the world which was nice. That's just not the norm in a lot of fantasy epics and it felt refreshing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, and Grief