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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
THIS was what Fourth Wing should have been! Epic, intricate, dynamic and full of twists and turns with complex characters!
Despite it already being just over 800 pages long, I would have loved another 10, 50, 200 pages in this book simply to keep it from ending. "The Priory of the Orange Tree" is a standout novel that I would recommend to anyone who loves intricate, feminist, queer, and dragon-filled fantasy stories with plenty of adventure and delightful characters. I would compare it to "Eragon" and "Game of Thrones" for its sprawling world that discusses politics, religion, and again, dragons, over multiple (4) POVs, but at the same time please don't think this is another HBO-esque world of battling families or good VS evil- "Priory" is so much more than that! It's full of heart and hope, it looks at complicated characters who work to balance duty and want, and it's surprisingly accessible for an 800-page book, so don't let that daunt you. "Priory" is a gem of a book and I so hope Shannon returns to this world at some point it the future- I would love to see more!
I have seen this book being compared to Game of Thrones. Yes. If Game of Thrones was not inspired by a racist, homophobic, patriachal society. If Game of Thrones did not put female characters through severe sexual abuse. If Game of Thrones did not just kill people for the shock value. If Game of Thrones hada satisfying ending. In short: The Priory of the Orange Tree is Game of Thrones: If it was good. I know this is is not a review for GoT, but I just wanted this out of the way. Please do not compare this masterpiece to it, just because they are both high fantasy.
So what is this book? It's high fantasy, inspired by many different cultures, with very diverse and well thought out characters. But not only that: It also avoids many of the problems typical of this genre, that being sexism and homophobia. It's weird really, but when trying to set up the worldbuilding, too many authors come to the conclusion that women being treated as equals is too unrealistic - but dragons are fine. What's up with that?
Usually I'm not a fan of different POV's, because there is always that one person you don't care about. But not in this case. I really did enjoy all of the different perspectives and the author managed to always give more of exactly what i wanted. A+
The plot itself was fun and exciting enough to make me read 1100 pages. It moved forward at a steady, not to slow pace, had great build-up and resolutions. Were the mythological parts a bit predictable? Sure. But that's ok.
So yeah. If you have a few days, want to escape to a world without the Patriarchy, love dragons and women with swords and hate Game of Thrones with the same burning passion as I do: Read this book.
So what is this book? It's high fantasy, inspired by many different cultures, with very diverse and well thought out characters. But not only that: It also avoids many of the problems typical of this genre, that being sexism and homophobia. It's weird really, but when trying to set up the worldbuilding, too many authors come to the conclusion that women being treated as equals is too unrealistic - but dragons are fine. What's up with that?
Usually I'm not a fan of different POV's, because there is always that one person you don't care about. But not in this case. I really did enjoy all of the different perspectives and the author managed to always give more of exactly what i wanted. A+
The plot itself was fun and exciting enough to make me read 1100 pages. It moved forward at a steady, not to slow pace, had great build-up and resolutions. Were the mythological parts a bit predictable? Sure. But that's ok.
So yeah. If you have a few days, want to escape to a world without the Patriarchy, love dragons and women with swords and hate Game of Thrones with the same burning passion as I do: Read this book.
adventurous
challenging
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I cannot believe I waited this long to read it. Holy SMOKES this book is good. It's High Fantasy written by someone who doesn't hate women. And how refreshing! I loved every part (except Niclays' part, he can die in a ditch for all I care) and I can't wait to discuss it with my bookclub!
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:
Complicated
Tl;dr: 3.5 stars, this one has a long windup but does eventually tie into a fun, satisfying fantasy novel by the end. I am confused about what an orange is now, though.
Whew, this book. The Priory of the Orange Tree is actually a lot of fun; it's not going to win any lit awards but it's a blast, and it has dragons, court intrigue, magic, pirates, and gays. On the face of it, this novel is everything I ever wanted, and it does deliver on its premise... eventually.
I warn you now: it takes a long, LONG time to get going. The exposition in this novel is longer than most full length books and still somehow feels rushed. For something like 500 pages I was unimpressed and a little frustrated. It switches between four perspective characters and for most of it I really only cared about 2 of them; there are few interesting character relationships or meaningful points of development for a very long time. However, once you GET to the payoff it is worth it; all of the seemingly random threads Shannon throws at you for 500 straight pages do eventually come together. The time she's spent seemingly doing nothing with her characters builds a decent foundation for a lot of really fun moments near the end, and during her incredibly high stakes climax I found that I had, somehow, actually become invested in the characters (I don't know when that happened, because I spent most of the book screaming at several of them).
On an only mildly related note, Shannon and I have a very different idea of what fruit constitutes the titular Orange; I am curious to hear from any British folks about what the heck fruit this is, because here in the States, we peel oranges and DO NOT BITE DIRECTLY INTO THEM WHAT THE HECK???
Whew, this book. The Priory of the Orange Tree is actually a lot of fun; it's not going to win any lit awards but it's a blast, and it has dragons, court intrigue, magic, pirates, and gays. On the face of it, this novel is everything I ever wanted, and it does deliver on its premise... eventually.
I warn you now: it takes a long, LONG time to get going. The exposition in this novel is longer than most full length books and still somehow feels rushed. For something like 500 pages I was unimpressed and a little frustrated. It switches between four perspective characters and for most of it I really only cared about 2 of them; there are few interesting character relationships or meaningful points of development for a very long time. However, once you GET to the payoff it is worth it; all of the seemingly random threads Shannon throws at you for 500 straight pages do eventually come together. The time she's spent seemingly doing nothing with her characters builds a decent foundation for a lot of really fun moments near the end, and during her incredibly high stakes climax I found that I had, somehow, actually become invested in the characters (I don't know when that happened, because I spent most of the book screaming at several of them).
On an only mildly related note, Shannon and I have a very different idea of what fruit constitutes the titular Orange; I am curious to hear from any British folks about what the heck fruit this is, because here in the States, we peel oranges and DO NOT BITE DIRECTLY INTO THEM WHAT THE HECK???
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
This book was really good!! I was pretty scared at first, given how long it was (plus I was reading a physical copy, so I could see how thick the book was). However, it was 100% worth it. The first ~250 pages were pretty hard to get through. I had to slow down and power through all the worldbuilding, and throughout the first part of the book, I was pretty confused. But once I got through the initial worldbuilding dump, I was sucked in. The plot was engaging and interesting and full of twists and turns. Sometimes I had to force myself to slow down and focus because I was speeding through it and missing stuff. The writing was also great. Overall, I would say that while it may seem scary, reading this book is worth it. Once you get through the initial worldbuilding, it’s pretty smooth sailing.