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

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

This was incredible! Lives up to all the hype, a masterclass in high fantasy without being boring or too derivative, should have read it sooner (it’s been on my shelf for like… 2 years teehee). I love when dragons can be bad or morally grey. They speak and have agendas and aren’t just a noble steed or a mindless beast to slay- sign me tf up!!!

The world-building is robust, but never delves so deeply that you’re completely awash in names and places- the world of this series is wide, but the chapter names and narrators tether you to known points to help you reorient when they move. I did flip back to the map a lot, but i kind of liked that i was invested enough to do so. 

The characters (excuse the trite saying) leap off the page - Eadaz my beloved!!! Loth the friendliest imperiled man in Inys!! Sabran the beleaguered queen… chefs kiss. my one qualm with characterization in this book is Tané, or rather lack thereof. Ead, Loth, Roos, and even Sabran (non-narrator) are bursting with personhood— they have grief, friends, loves, enemies, we know when they like or dislike food/clothing, we see their big and their small and their silly. Tané in comparison seems muted, almost incomplete. One could argue this is because of her immense survivors guilt and self-harm via pushing herself to fit every mold given to her, but after a point it just felt like Shannon couldn’t nail her “voice” as well everyone else. Or maybe just ran out of steam? Tané’s “enemy” only lasts as long as her trials do, her few relationships are fridged or cease to exist past a certain page, and her portions of the story often reveal little about her beyond consuming guilt or bursts of action. She is 70% a window into culture of the East, 10% battle/weapon/dragon describer, 20% fleshed-out person. Her personality shines through a bit towards the end of the book, but there were about 600 pages where I was like “are we going to learn anything about Tané or just use her as a vessel for more world building?” That being said, Tané was still a great piece of the giant puzzle Shannon was putting together in this book, so i can allow a blip in chardev

The commentary on religion and history-making, how they intertwine and impact society, how people fade into myths - SCRUMPTIOUS. i love fantasy that goes at institutions (especially religious ones) and their power over the masses - there is no Great Good, just various people from different factions trying to make the planet livable while their governing bodies distract and sometimes actively block them from doing what needs to be done 

Overall, this was an incredible book, and i see now why Shannon felt there were more stories to tell in this universe, so far mostly as prequels. I don’t necessarily *need* a sequel as i found the ending to be a very good resting point in what is clearly a living, ongoing saga, but i would love to see what Shannon produces with some of these characters in the future. Loth on a bestie world tour? Ead learning to lead? Sabran’s eventual retirement? Gimme whatever you got (except Roos content. Fuck him. I hope he eats shit on a cobblestone.)

Purchasing A Day of Fallen Night after work today, but might pause on reading it to do away with the library books lurking behind me 
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