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A review by manureads
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
5.0
I absolutely loved this book and it is definitely one of my favourite fantasies of the year. I had a lot of fun reading it. The plot was fast paced and with a good dose of suspense and twists and all the individual threads came together beautifully in the end. Personally, I also appreciated how the story didn’t get bogged down by the underlying political tension: the different rulers agree quite quickly, when faced with the evidence, to work together against a common threat . Would it be this easy in real life? Probably not. Do I care? Not really. It allowed to the plot to keep moving and I think it can easily be justified by their fear of the nameless one which is very much the common thread between all of these cultures.
The characters and their relationship were diverse and fascinating. I loved watching the relationship between Ead and Sabran develop, I loved being on the fence about Nicolas and I could empathise with Tané’s desires and fear. I especially loved the theme of sacrifice that was present in some shape for all of the characters. It wasn’t the overused “sacrificing your own life”, which can be compelling, but that yes, is way overused and often done rushed or lazily in a lot of recent stories, in my opinion. Rather, the characters all had to leave behind an ideal, a belief, a privilege or a career/ position that they had worked for all their life, in order to do what they believed to be right. That struggle made for compelling character growth and provided with a great source of tension.
Lastly, I loved the world building. Each culture was unique, with their own stories, customs and way of life which. There was an incredible amount of detail and yet, there was no exposition dump or pointless description. Everything contributed to the story in some ways and we were gradually introduced to all of the elements in a way that felt very organic.
Priory is a high fantasy like I love them: it had dragons, rich world building, fascinating characters and a plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat.
The characters and their relationship were diverse and fascinating. I loved watching the relationship between Ead and Sabran develop, I loved being on the fence about Nicolas and I could empathise with Tané’s desires and fear. I especially loved the theme of sacrifice that was present in some shape for all of the characters. It wasn’t the overused “sacrificing your own life”, which can be compelling, but that yes, is way overused and often done rushed or lazily in a lot of recent stories, in my opinion. Rather, the characters all had to leave behind an ideal, a belief, a privilege or a career/ position that they had worked for all their life, in order to do what they believed to be right. That struggle made for compelling character growth and provided with a great source of tension.
Lastly, I loved the world building. Each culture was unique, with their own stories, customs and way of life which. There was an incredible amount of detail and yet, there was no exposition dump or pointless description. Everything contributed to the story in some ways and we were gradually introduced to all of the elements in a way that felt very organic.
Priory is a high fantasy like I love them: it had dragons, rich world building, fascinating characters and a plot that keeps you on the edge of your seat.