A review by ailsaod
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

adventurous dark mysterious 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

5.0

 Overall I really enjoyed this book but it took me most of the time I had it on loan to get through the first 100 or so pages! This monster of a book is set in a world that is clearly based on our own in the 16th/17th century or so with the the world divided up into the East, West and South (the North exists too but barely features) and in particular the story focuses on the differences in these cultures' perceptions of dragons and the resulting ideological differences in their religions. This was not initially apparent though and the book opens in Orishima (an extremely clear parallel of the island of Dejima in Nagasaki and was the only place the Dutch and Portuguese were allowed to trade from during Japan's Edo period) and I was thrown off by the closeness.

I think this book's handling of the countries' different religions was very interesting as the historical setting means that tolerance of other cultures and beliefs is low and some of the religions share origins but oppose each other in other respects. I myself am very much an atheist but I found the religions Shannon had invented/adapted for this book very interesting (especially as they concerned dragons!) and the way it all tied into the main conflict of the book was very clever.

The descriptions in this book are frequent and extensive which is probably part of why its so long! I can see this becoming tiring for some people but I liked it despite not usually going for such a flowery writing style. There is a glossary for some of the invented/obscure terms at the end but I didn't realised until I had finished the book and I feel like you can generally understand from the context what is being meant. The number of characters, in one part in particular is enormous though and I could definitely see that putting people off as it was quite difficult to remember who some of the minor characters were after a few chapters from a different perspective!

While the descriptions are flowery and beautiful of the pleasant things they are also vivid for the less nice. There is a section fairly early in the book where in most of the points of view of the story characters die brutally and it hit me pretty hard. I would also warn anyone who has any problems with the topics of pregnancy and/or miscarriage to watch out as there is a part that concerns these topics heavily and I was extremely glad when it was over.

This book contains what is probably the best queer romance I have yet seen (not that that is much of a boast!). The main romance begins quietly and is very sweet and the couple of extremely vague sex scenes didn't have me cringing as every over sex scene I have read has. There is another romance seen purely through a character's reminiscences which was extremely sad and could technically be filed as an example of the dreaded 'bury your gays' trope but while I can't say I enjoyed it as it was very sad I do think it was a good addition to the overall story. The romance in this book actually enhances it rather than detracts and I feel like that is unusual in Fantasy where it often feels like the romance is slapped on top of a pre-existing plot.

Overall this book was great but I do wish we could have seen a bit more of the dragons and also the ending felt a bit like an easy way out. 
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