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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
4.4/5 stars - This was so close to being a 5 star book. I felt overwhelmed by the 800+ pages, but it went by pretty quickly and the world-building was done well.
I finished the massive epic tale and I am proud of myself for not being distracted by other books in the time(good sign right?) Firstly move aside Game of thrones, here is your match. Secondly let me tell you- stories like this is why I love fantasy. I was often made fun of for being a fantasy buff because sadly half the world thinks it’s just winged folks waving their wands(still good) but this my friends is something you NEED to pickup if you like:
- Dragons
-Mythical beasts
-Warrior queens
- Witches
-Badass women
-Intriguing magic system
-pirates
-folklore
-sword fights
-people riding winged beasts
-Epic wars
So as you see it has fair share of everything your unquenched fantasy soul needs. I love me a badass women who are level headed and this tale has many of them.
Certain highs of the book soured so high that I literally heard some kind of background score in my head. The tale and narration are as rich but unfortunately falls a little flat in the climax for all the buildup, it also has a lot of information crammed in like back stories of all the characters which we won’t be able to remember anyways
- Dragons
-Mythical beasts
-Warrior queens
- Witches
-Badass women
-Intriguing magic system
-pirates
-folklore
-sword fights
-people riding winged beasts
-Epic wars
So as you see it has fair share of everything your unquenched fantasy soul needs. I love me a badass women who are level headed and this tale has many of them.
Certain highs of the book soured so high that I literally heard some kind of background score in my head. The tale and narration are as rich but unfortunately falls a little flat in the climax for all the buildup, it also has a lot of information crammed in like back stories of all the characters which we won’t be able to remember anyways
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
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is an epic fantasy book. Samantha Shannon's first foray in to fantasy at that. As a consequence it is tropey, but is that not what we expect from an epic fantasy?
Shannon defies fantasy norms by having the main cast of characters as women and LGBTQ folk. However, their womanhood and their LGBTQ status are never a source of conflict in the book. This world allows for women to just be in charge, be strong, be flawed and that is just accepted. As are non-straight relationships. Interestingly, this universe still seems to have an issue with Male/Female close friendship- which is used as a plot device- but the author never writes it as anything more than close friendship. Nobody is pining or secrely plotting to sleep with their opposite sex best friend, it's refreshing.
I actually picked up another fantasy book immediately after finishing this and promptly DNF'd because of the badly done ambiguous M/F friendship- the usual she's maybe or maybe not in to him, he's secretly in to her and wants to marry her, they are introduced as "best friends". yuck.
So Samantha Shannon has ruined me, I guess.
Priory is a multiple perspective story but I will acknowledge that the narrative heavily favours Ead, there was a point that I was questioning what the purpose of Tane and of Roos was. There were some sections that were introduced and moved past quite quickly- Tane's dragon rider trials are an example of this. However, we clearly know that Tane makes it as a dragonrider so I don't think drawing this out would have added to the story either. The book is alreayd 830 pages long and I don't think any of that is really wasted time.
The world is built really well, everyone gets to go on adventures- nobody is just a pointless NPC. And Shannon writes in such a way that you care about all of her characters. I did sometimes think that challenges were being made too easy but I found sometimes that it may (or may not!) be a ruse.
I gave this 5 stars because holding anyones interest for 830 pages is no easy feat, much harder when it comes to my ADHD ass.
Yet I found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading, and I was easily able to get through 100 pages in a sitting without counting when the chapter was going to end or forcing myself to read a certain number of pages. It took me approximately 3 weeks to make it all the way through Priory but I found the further I got in to the story, the more I wanted to sit down and read.
I loved the storyline between Ead and Sabran and that both were complex and flawed characters. I love that Ead's red flag behaviours were acknowledged instead of glossed over for the sake of a romance subplot. I love that we got our loose ends tied up after the final battle, not just for the people who had become the main characters but for supporting stars and even for one or two people who has passed away or had been passing characters much earlier in the story.
I will absolutely read anything else Shannon sets in this world, I will miss Ead and Sabran and hope that one day we get another book after the events of this one, with the same cast. I bought the second book halfway through reading this one because I knew I was in love with both the world and with Shannon's writing.
If more of Tane's adventures ever get written I would also read those. A lot of room has been left to explore both other geographical areas and events during this time setting as well as there being room to explore the lore (which happens in book two I gather) and even the future after the time Priory is set in.
As you would expect, there is a map at the front of the book, but a little unexpectedly there is both a glossary at the back and a list of characters with brief reminders of their lore (without spoilers, in case you read it first or review it part way through).
Finally, PotOT has it all- Dragons, magic, multiple queendoms, more dragons, alchemy, lesbians and pirates!
A warning though, this is an adult fantasy, despite what some reviews say. There is death, on page gore, torture and open door romance, at a spice level probably 3 out of 5. Nothing BDSM, abusive or unhinged but I wouldn't be letting anyone under 17ish be reading this, it certainly is not YA, even though it lacks the pretentious and flowery language often found in adult epic fantasy.
Shannon defies fantasy norms by having the main cast of characters as women and LGBTQ folk. However, their womanhood and their LGBTQ status are never a source of conflict in the book. This world allows for women to just be in charge, be strong, be flawed and that is just accepted. As are non-straight relationships. Interestingly, this universe still seems to have an issue with Male/Female close friendship- which is used as a plot device- but the author never writes it as anything more than close friendship. Nobody is pining or secrely plotting to sleep with their opposite sex best friend, it's refreshing.
I actually picked up another fantasy book immediately after finishing this and promptly DNF'd because of the badly done ambiguous M/F friendship- the usual she's maybe or maybe not in to him, he's secretly in to her and wants to marry her, they are introduced as "best friends". yuck.
So Samantha Shannon has ruined me, I guess.
Priory is a multiple perspective story but I will acknowledge that the narrative heavily favours Ead, there was a point that I was questioning what the purpose of Tane and of Roos was. There were some sections that were introduced and moved past quite quickly- Tane's dragon rider trials are an example of this. However, we clearly know that Tane makes it as a dragonrider so I don't think drawing this out would have added to the story either. The book is alreayd 830 pages long and I don't think any of that is really wasted time.
The world is built really well, everyone gets to go on adventures- nobody is just a pointless NPC. And Shannon writes in such a way that you care about all of her characters. I did sometimes think that challenges were being made too easy but I found sometimes that it may (or may not!) be a ruse.
I gave this 5 stars because holding anyones interest for 830 pages is no easy feat, much harder when it comes to my ADHD ass.
Yet I found myself thinking about the characters when I wasn't reading, and I was easily able to get through 100 pages in a sitting without counting when the chapter was going to end or forcing myself to read a certain number of pages. It took me approximately 3 weeks to make it all the way through Priory but I found the further I got in to the story, the more I wanted to sit down and read.
I loved the storyline between Ead and Sabran and that both were complex and flawed characters. I love that Ead's red flag behaviours were acknowledged instead of glossed over for the sake of a romance subplot. I love that we got our loose ends tied up after the final battle, not just for the people who had become the main characters but for supporting stars and even for one or two people who has passed away or had been passing characters much earlier in the story.
I will absolutely read anything else Shannon sets in this world, I will miss Ead and Sabran and hope that one day we get another book after the events of this one, with the same cast. I bought the second book halfway through reading this one because I knew I was in love with both the world and with Shannon's writing.
If more of Tane's adventures ever get written I would also read those. A lot of room has been left to explore both other geographical areas and events during this time setting as well as there being room to explore the lore (which happens in book two I gather) and even the future after the time Priory is set in.
As you would expect, there is a map at the front of the book, but a little unexpectedly there is both a glossary at the back and a list of characters with brief reminders of their lore (without spoilers, in case you read it first or review it part way through).
Finally, PotOT has it all- Dragons, magic, multiple queendoms, more dragons, alchemy, lesbians and pirates!
A warning though, this is an adult fantasy, despite what some reviews say. There is death, on page gore, torture and open door romance, at a spice level probably 3 out of 5. Nothing BDSM, abusive or unhinged but I wouldn't be letting anyone under 17ish be reading this, it certainly is not YA, even though it lacks the pretentious and flowery language often found in adult epic fantasy.
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
ahhh its a pretty long read and got me slumpy a couple times but overall I quite liked it
there was so much world building which I absolutely loved, Shannon built such a cool world which was pretty complex and made it so much more interesting once you got into it.
I liked how there were characters scattered on different sides of the world and the story slowly brought them closer together, which was pretty satisfying and made the end a lot more interesting.
the way that this book was written honestly made me unsure of what was ultimately going to happen next (some twist were obviously quite foreseeable but I didn't know how the book would end lol)I actually wasn't sure if all the 'storytellers' (pov people) were gonna make it, especially niclays (not gonna lie I was really hoping he would die for like the whole second half of the book lol) and during the battle with the nameless one I wasn't even sure if tane and ead would both make it out 👀
the ending was pretty satisfying, though there were some ends that didn't quite seem to get tied off, for example Niclays' whole 'im not actually gonna murder sabran and now i'll try to be a good person' character change seemed so random and just left me with like a feeling that he's just lost his mind and I don't trust him lol. also the whole thing with loth's dad who last we saw him still thinks he's dead, and there was nothing mentioned to resolve that so that was a bit weird as well lol.
overall, pretty good book, and I'll be reading the prequels sometime soon!
there was so much world building which I absolutely loved, Shannon built such a cool world which was pretty complex and made it so much more interesting once you got into it.
I liked how there were characters scattered on different sides of the world and the story slowly brought them closer together, which was pretty satisfying and made the end a lot more interesting.
the way that this book was written honestly made me unsure of what was ultimately going to happen next (some twist were obviously quite foreseeable but I didn't know how the book would end lol)
the ending was pretty satisfying, though there were some ends that didn't quite seem to get tied off, for example Niclays' whole 'im not actually gonna murder sabran and now i'll try to be a good person' character change seemed so random and just left me with like a feeling that he's just lost his mind and I don't trust him lol. also the whole thing with loth's dad who last we saw him still thinks he's dead, and there was nothing mentioned to resolve that so that was a bit weird as well lol.
overall, pretty good book, and I'll be reading the prequels sometime soon!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, War, Deportation
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic
Minor: Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Alcohol
a big fat book that dives into a lot of problems that exist in our world too, but though epic fantasy, its what's to be expected lol
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Moderate: Miscarriage
I devoured this behemoth in like a week. It was kind of crazy idk I would read the hardcopy version and then the ebook and then the hardcopy version and then my sectionmates would tease me for lugging around a book bigger than my head and even reading it during our rest time. You can kind of tell that it was a Slay-Z.
Overall, here’s my feedback. The worldbuilding is crazy. It is so well done it is honestly disgusting. It’s like whoa a religious founding myth here, names of different ethnicities sounding new while being reminiscent of real world cultures (apparently Shannon worked with some sort of linguist?), really delightful descriptions of food, etc. Sure, I agree with that commenter about the semi failed feminist thread that comes with making Sabran a woman, but like, wtv, lol. I don’t actually care that much.
I must also commend Shannon on jumping between so many different perspectives without really breaking a sweat. She brings us from nation to nation, swarming us with a host of characters, all of whom we eventually get to know reasonably well, which is quite the feat. Of course, a lot of the characters feel like mere wisps of people and not fully fleshed out individuals, but that’s just what you do when you’re already pushing 800 pages. I also noted the very deftly handled characterisation of that one asian emperor, considering the strength of his voice. The emotional attachment you form to characters you barely know — possibly by tapping into familiar archetypes of some sort — is really impressive, especially when they’ve never said a word.
Of course, I do have my gripes. Firstly, the switching of POV in a scene is a pet peeve of mine that I really do dislike, so seeing it employed throughout the novel was… something. Ex machina was liberally applied, which by itself isn’t too horrific, but the tensions that were set up all seemed to be resolved rather neatly and quickly, which is not always fun to see. That being said, I do feel that the novel resembles more of a sweeping epic than a story that really values logical resolutions. Emotional threads are oftentimes more important that plot threads and I can completely understand why Shannon would focus more on the former than the latter.
Also, I was once again humiliated by my scant vocabulary, which is really the way to my heart.
And the love story was hella slay like it was so good I was going all
Overall, here’s my feedback. The worldbuilding is crazy. It is so well done it is honestly disgusting. It’s like whoa a religious founding myth here, names of different ethnicities sounding new while being reminiscent of real world cultures (apparently Shannon worked with some sort of linguist?), really delightful descriptions of food, etc. Sure, I agree with that commenter about the semi failed feminist thread that comes with making Sabran a woman, but like, wtv, lol. I don’t actually care that much.
I must also commend Shannon on jumping between so many different perspectives without really breaking a sweat. She brings us from nation to nation, swarming us with a host of characters, all of whom we eventually get to know reasonably well, which is quite the feat. Of course, a lot of the characters feel like mere wisps of people and not fully fleshed out individuals, but that’s just what you do when you’re already pushing 800 pages. I also noted the very deftly handled characterisation of that one asian emperor, considering the strength of his voice. The emotional attachment you form to characters you barely know — possibly by tapping into familiar archetypes of some sort — is really impressive, especially when they’ve never said a word.
Of course, I do have my gripes. Firstly, the switching of POV in a scene is a pet peeve of mine that I really do dislike, so seeing it employed throughout the novel was… something. Ex machina was liberally applied, which by itself isn’t too horrific, but the tensions that were set up all seemed to be resolved rather neatly and quickly, which is not always fun to see. That being said, I do feel that the novel resembles more of a sweeping epic than a story that really values logical resolutions. Emotional threads are oftentimes more important that plot threads and I can completely understand why Shannon would focus more on the former than the latter.
Also, I was once again humiliated by my scant vocabulary, which is really the way to my heart.
And the love story was hella slay like it was so good I was going all
oh my god this is so worth the 800 pages…. brilliant brilliant character-driven epic fantasy w such intricately woven perspectives & of course: dragons!!!! i’m so in love with samantha shannon’s luscious prose and fierce characters, set against the backdrop of a world on the precipice of peril; a world full of nations with their own convoluted perspectives of myth, religion, language. everything is just incredible!!! the sheer scope of worldbuilding is impressive despite being character-driven, and the pacing’s always breakneck—also hello, SABRAN AND EAD????? “am i a greater fool to want you still?” “no more a fool than i, to love you as i do” OKAY???? MAYBE ROMANCE IS REAL BUT ONLY FOR THESE 2 AAAAAJNDBSNDNKS
anyway priory very good my fav part is when ead. no thoughts only eadaz du zala uq-nara 5/5 <3
anyway priory very good my fav part is when ead. no thoughts only eadaz du zala uq-nara 5/5 <3
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I did enjoy this book, there were times where I was super into it and ready 100 pages in a day but then there were big sections I really struggled to read more that 10 at a time. Is that a reflection of the book or my own moods I am unsure but an observation. I was going to give it a 4 but I found the last 100 pages to be a bit lacklustre