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A review by lostlenore_
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
3.0
HONEST RATING: 2.5+
I spent a month reading this one and I got into multiple slumps because of it lol.
I'm going to share a very unpopular opinion now about a book that everyone loves because of its queer rep but it had such a poor execution and predictable plot points that I can just NOT be honest with myself.
Books with rep are such an important issue today and I love reading own and new voices because I fully support them. However, this one could have been shorter and it could have had more solid character arcs.
The book was completely plot-driven and the major plot points that Shannon spent almost 500 establishing were easily resolved in one or two pages. That's it. Then, you had to wait for another 250 pages to pass so that you can finally witness the epic battle which was short and uneventful.
We already knew where the story was going and what would happen next because the book was plot-driven thus uneventful and the characters never surprised--perhaps once or twice and that could be considered a plot twist even.
If you take "The Priory of the Orange Tree" as a whole you have an intriguing fantasy, yes. Looking into the technical aspects though you'll notice its poor execution. The writing is overshadowed by a dense plot that becomes tedious after hundreds of pages and the characters have the least arc transformation I've ever seen.
Writing a book comes from the soul. It's also a technicality that you have to practise a lot to master it (if you can ever do that.) Having rep in your book should be something ALL authors do. Let's not justify though poor worldbuilding and plot for what we'd like to see more often in literature.
I spent a month reading this one and I got into multiple slumps because of it lol.
I'm going to share a very unpopular opinion now about a book that everyone loves because of its queer rep but it had such a poor execution and predictable plot points that I can just NOT be honest with myself.
Books with rep are such an important issue today and I love reading own and new voices because I fully support them. However, this one could have been shorter and it could have had more solid character arcs.
The book was completely plot-driven and the major plot points that Shannon spent almost 500 establishing were easily resolved in one or two pages. That's it. Then, you had to wait for another 250 pages to pass so that you can finally witness the epic battle which was short and uneventful.
We already knew where the story was going and what would happen next because the book was plot-driven thus uneventful and the characters never surprised--perhaps once or twice and that could be considered a plot twist even.
If you take "The Priory of the Orange Tree" as a whole you have an intriguing fantasy, yes. Looking into the technical aspects though you'll notice its poor execution. The writing is overshadowed by a dense plot that becomes tedious after hundreds of pages and the characters have the least arc transformation I've ever seen.
Writing a book comes from the soul. It's also a technicality that you have to practise a lot to master it (if you can ever do that.) Having rep in your book should be something ALL authors do. Let's not justify though poor worldbuilding and plot for what we'd like to see more often in literature.