Scan barcode
A review by camigy
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
4.0
I was so scared to start this book bc I heard the world building was a little difficult to follow and honestly, I was scared I wasn't going to enjoy it and I would've bought this massive book for no real reason. But I ended up loving this book, I can see myself rereading it soon.
Things I liked:
- The world building is very detailed. Usually I don't enjoy world building, it seems overly descriptive and sometimes there are things I think I could have lived without, but not with this book. Samantha Shannon spent a lot of work creating a world where, not only do you get to discover new creatures and monsters, you also get to learn about their history and how different interpretations of it led to different religions and beliefs all around this world. I've never read a book with such detailed world building before, to the point where the author developed religions with their own rules, beliefs and practices. While it did take me some time to adjust and remember the details, I loved every second of it.
- The different narrators. This book follows 4 different narrators/perspectives and each of them comes from a different part of this world so they have different beliefs and customs so they view events and each other in such different ways and it was interesting to be in each of their minds and understand where they're all coming from.
- The dragons. I don't know what to say every scene with them won me over, it was just so interesting I love reading about fictional creatures.
Now, some stuff to keep in mind (NOT NECESSARILY BAD THINGS JUST NOT FOR EVERYONE):
- Because the story is told from the perspective of 4 different people, the beginning of the book is a little hard to follow. There are so many characters, places, stories to take in and remember that sometimes things might get mixed up.
- The world building is long. This is not a bad thing, I actually rather enjoyed the world building, I was very intrigued about all these different cultures, religions, ways to interpret the same history, learning about the difference between the dragons and the fire-breathers, while also getting to know the narrators and figuring out who they are and what they believe. <i> However, </i> it is long and a lot so the first 150-200 pages are difficult to get through because you're still learning and still getting to know the intricacies of this world, but I promise after these pages it's such a fast read I couldn't put it down.
- While I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed the story, the world and the characters, this is not a revolutionary tale. I think it's a story we've all heard before: a world with dragons, kings, queens, magic, etc. with the end goal being to defeat the bad dragon. This is the reason I didn't give it 5 stars because, yes, it was interesting, but I wouldn't say it's this amazing adventure, unheard of and surprising.
- *SPOILER* The ending or final battle felt so rushed to me. The entire book you hear about this evil fire-breather that is capable of massive destruction and he was so bad that he had to be trapped in an abyss in the middle of the ocean. They mention that it was hard to kill and incredibly powerful... and then they beat him in like, what? 20-something pages? I was so disappointed, I thought I was going to get to read about this war between humans and fire-breathers, but it was such a short battle, there was no real challenge other than getting close enough to the dragon (which they did easily) and then he is killed maybe 5 pages after he actually shows up.. come on.
Also I thought it was a little annoying that every single character survived this "war". Around page 300 the author kills off around 5 people almost in a row and I just thought it was going to be this ruthless book where you shouldn't get attached to anyone because they're going to be killed off, but no. Don't worry about that, get attached to whoever you want because they all magically survive such an awful, world-wide battle... I just thought it was a waste of a really cool ending because, yeah it's sad, but also realistic in a scenario like this one (as realistic as a fantasy book can get)
Things I liked:
- The world building is very detailed. Usually I don't enjoy world building, it seems overly descriptive and sometimes there are things I think I could have lived without, but not with this book. Samantha Shannon spent a lot of work creating a world where, not only do you get to discover new creatures and monsters, you also get to learn about their history and how different interpretations of it led to different religions and beliefs all around this world. I've never read a book with such detailed world building before, to the point where the author developed religions with their own rules, beliefs and practices. While it did take me some time to adjust and remember the details, I loved every second of it.
- The different narrators. This book follows 4 different narrators/perspectives and each of them comes from a different part of this world so they have different beliefs and customs so they view events and each other in such different ways and it was interesting to be in each of their minds and understand where they're all coming from.
- The dragons. I don't know what to say every scene with them won me over, it was just so interesting I love reading about fictional creatures.
Now, some stuff to keep in mind (NOT NECESSARILY BAD THINGS JUST NOT FOR EVERYONE):
- Because the story is told from the perspective of 4 different people, the beginning of the book is a little hard to follow. There are so many characters, places, stories to take in and remember that sometimes things might get mixed up.
- The world building is long. This is not a bad thing, I actually rather enjoyed the world building, I was very intrigued about all these different cultures, religions, ways to interpret the same history, learning about the difference between the dragons and the fire-breathers, while also getting to know the narrators and figuring out who they are and what they believe. <i> However, </i> it is long and a lot so the first 150-200 pages are difficult to get through because you're still learning and still getting to know the intricacies of this world, but I promise after these pages it's such a fast read I couldn't put it down.
- While I loved this book and thoroughly enjoyed the story, the world and the characters, this is not a revolutionary tale. I think it's a story we've all heard before: a world with dragons, kings, queens, magic, etc. with the end goal being to defeat the bad dragon. This is the reason I didn't give it 5 stars because, yes, it was interesting, but I wouldn't say it's this amazing adventure, unheard of and surprising.
- *SPOILER*
Also I thought it was a little annoying that every single character survived this "war". Around page 300 the author kills off around 5 people almost in a row and I just thought it was going to be this ruthless book where you shouldn't get attached to anyone because they're going to be killed off, but no. Don't worry about that, get attached to whoever you want because they all magically survive such an awful, world-wide battle... I just thought it was a waste of a really cool ending because, yeah it's sad, but also realistic in a scenario like this one (as realistic as a fantasy book can get)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Miscarriage, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Torture
Minor: Suicide