A review by acebooknerd_07
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Breaths in, there is so much to talk about this book so let's go... 

WORLD BUILDING: 
Okay the first thing I want to talk about is world building in this book. This was my very first high fantasy I have read till now and I still understood the world building well enough is a proof enough that it can be read by anyone. There is a significant amount of world building and I pretty much liked it. 

PLOT: 
This is one of the tastiest thing about this book there is so much intrigue, drama, politics, power struggle, thrill and adventure as well. Plot of the book took some time to grow on me but when it did, it became pretty hard for me to keep the book down. There were times when my jaw dropped on the floor because of some plot twists but there were also time when I was under whelmed as well because there were some points in the book where there was such a high build up but execution fell flat to me, but there is one thing about this books which was done exceptionally well was the romance between the two main main characters. It was so refreshing to see romance between two grown adult women who have their own fears, insecurities, principles. Best thing about the book was that romance didn’t overpower the plot rather it complemented it well and that was the best part about the book for me. 
 
CHARACTERS: 
This book is written in a multiple POV so there is more than one central character in the book which makes it even more interesting to see how these characters will come together and how they are all connected to one another. What I can say about the priory is that it’s heart lies with it’s characters, who are flawed, have their own insecurities and ambitions which makes them very much real and at times relatable as well. The only issue I had with this book was there were lots of characters in the book and not all of them got enough time for them to shine when book is already 800 pages long. My most favorite character from the book was hands down “Nayimathun” I love her so much and the dynamic between “ Tané and Nayimathun” was my favorite. After “Nayimathun” I loved “Eadaz uq-Nāra” for obvious reasons because she made me question whether I want to be her or be with her. I also liked the character development of “Sabran IX”. In starting of the book I didn’t fancy her much but by the end of the book I started liking her for more than one reasons. But the best written and most complex characters of this book were “Niclays Roos” and “Kalyba” they were the most interesting characters in the book. I could neither hate them nor love them, they were one of the best and most complex characters in the book and honestly they made the book so much interesting for me. 

WILL I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK:
We already know the answer, but let’s put it out out there YES I will recommend this book because what’s there to not recommend? It has love, drama, politics, adventure, magic, dragons some good plot and interesting characters and their dynamic. This book is not perfect but it’s still worth giving a time in my humble opinion. 

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