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A review by solflo
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
pretty solid fantasy all around but it does fall into some questionable tropes though, especially when it comes to prophecy and descending from xyz important figure — sometimes to the extent that tension fell flat because i could already predict where things were going, especially with tané in the beginning —, which i think is a shame.
i also think the author kinda wrote herself into a corner with her monarchies. because like, heteronormativity and inheritance go hand in hand. there's this thousand year old unbroken line of queens and it's expected that they marry and bear children (they always have a single child, a daughter). so it's this worldbuidling where gay relationships are normalized and there's no homophobia which like. yeah i love to see it but it also feels a little disconnected from the rest of the worlbuilding, in a way. not to mention the lack of trans people, like i mean it doesn't always feel weird when a book is entirely cis but in this case it felt... conspicuous in a way. idk, it's a world that feels like it has no systemic inequalities and yet mirrors a world that does. does this make any sense?
the story is good and interesting but the world kinda falls apart under scrutiny, like she wanted to write fantasy replacing negative / "problematique" cliches of the genre but without fully thinking through how that would in turn affect the world. so yeah you take a patriarchy and flip it with the queendom, a millenia of (cis) women and... i don't know couldn't it cross your mind to also flip the "girl raised as a boy" trope while we're at it? i don't even think this would necessarily improve the narrative, the bereneths have this magical thing going on but... oh i don't know.
also the author says it's a "feminist st george and the dragon" and i literally do not see it at all (i'd even forgotten i'd read that little blurb). like absolutely nothing about this book feels catholic at all. the author is bri'ish innit? i'm so sure she's protestant.
i also think the author kinda wrote herself into a corner with her monarchies. because like, heteronormativity and inheritance go hand in hand. there's this thousand year old unbroken line of queens and it's expected that they marry and bear children (they always have a single child, a daughter). so it's this worldbuidling where gay relationships are normalized and there's no homophobia which like. yeah i love to see it but it also feels a little disconnected from the rest of the worlbuilding, in a way. not to mention the lack of trans people, like i mean it doesn't always feel weird when a book is entirely cis but in this case it felt... conspicuous in a way. idk, it's a world that feels like it has no systemic inequalities and yet mirrors a world that does. does this make any sense?
the story is good and interesting but the world kinda falls apart under scrutiny, like she wanted to write fantasy replacing negative / "problematique" cliches of the genre but without fully thinking through how that would in turn affect the world. so yeah you take a patriarchy and flip it with the queendom, a millenia of (cis) women and... i don't know couldn't it cross your mind to also flip the "girl raised as a boy" trope while we're at it? i don't even think this would necessarily improve the narrative, the bereneths have this magical thing going on but... oh i don't know.
also the author says it's a "feminist st george and the dragon" and i literally do not see it at all (i'd even forgotten i'd read that little blurb). like absolutely nothing about this book feels catholic at all. the author is bri'ish innit? i'm so sure she's protestant.