Reviews

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

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astrohannah's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

myownhaunting's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.75

rharriskay's review against another edition

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4.25

It is very very rare for epic fantasy to contain itself to a single novel, and for succeeding in doing that The Priory of the Orange Tree gets major points. The first half of the novel was fantastic, with many unique characters of differing but well realized backgrounds, origins, beliefs, drives, and cultures. Like any good epic fantasy work, there were a variety of well realized culture I really enjoyed, and the benefit of containing everything within a single novel is that nearly all elements of the world are revealed in a satisfying manner. I particularly enjoyed Ead's struggles to adapt at court and the alchemist Niclays' exile. The novel also contains a truly great slow burn romance from someone who normally is indifferent to these things.

However, I do think the confinement to a single novel does end up weakening the back half and ending, both of which were still satisfying but I felt could've been just a bit better. Some aspects of potential conflict, like language barriers, are very conveniently avoided in ways that didn't feel foreshadowed and the resolution to one major character's arc felt unsatisfactory in that the emotional climax seemed a bit limp after so much build up.

That being said, these are ultimately minor gripes and this is still a really great novel and an easy recommend

thelittlebook_bee's review against another edition

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4.0

4.25

So incredibly well written - scratched an itch I've had since Game of Thrones for a good fantasy epic.

But SO. FREAKING. LONG.

ajoh47's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

kristin_boren's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Oooooh baby I loved this thing. The length of it feels daunting but it is NOT A SLOG. There's so much character development and really top notch world building. I fucking loved this book.

Editing to note that this is high fantasy and if you do not like the formal language of classic high fantasy you probably won't like this. The language is very formal but the story is an absolute 10/10 for me. And also I eat that silly high fantasy language up.