Review by orionmerlin - The Priory of the Orange Tree

orionmerlin 's review for:

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

3.75

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Characters - 8/10

This story serves up a banquet of characters, but one dish definitely outshines the rest. Ead Duryan, the badass secret mage posing as a lady-in-waiting, clearly steals the spotlight – she’s compelling, capable, and basically carries the entire plot on her enchantingly strong shoulders. It’s awesome to have such a formidable heroine, but it also leaves others with only scraps of the story’s spotlight. Sabran, the queen Ead is sworn to protect, intrigued me with her blend of fragility and ferocity (impressive given we only see her through others’ eyes). By contrast, Tané – the aspiring dragonrider from the East – often felt like she was off in her own separate story that the main plot forgot about. Lord Loth, for his part, might as well have been a very noble homing pigeon for all the message-delivering he did on his quests. Even Niclays Roos, the disgraced alchemist, while entertaining as the resident grump, often seemed to exist mainly to show that not every POV thread can shine. The relationships between these characters are decent – I bought into their alliances and frictions – but the central romance sparks a bit suddenly. I adored the cast in theory and loved several of them in practice, yet I wish all the key players had been given the same level of depth and development.

Atmosphere / Setting - 9/10

The world of Priory is as lush as a tropical garden and as perilous as a dragon’s lair. Samantha Shannon’s worldbuilding is massively detailed and genuinely immersive – you can practically smell the sea salt in the Eastern islands and feel the sacred dust of ancient Western temples. The setting hits all the right epic-fantasy notes, from a matriarchal queendom steeped in religious lore to dragon-riding warrior schools, and it absolutely suits the grand tone of the story. I loved that the dragons here are not just glorified flying taxis ferrying heroes around, but ancient beings with their own significance and personality. The flip side of all this richness is that sometimes I felt like I was thumbing through a history textbook rather than a novel. Huge chunks of myth and lore get dumped on you whenever a character recalls some legend, which can be a bit overwhelming and bog the story down at times. Also, the fascinating Eastern setting tends to disappear for large stretches of the narrative, which left me craving more of it. Still, when the book isn’t drowning you in backstory, its atmosphere is mesmerizing and transportive – a place you enjoy getting lost in.

Writing Style - 7.5/10

Shannon’s prose often strikes a fine balance between grand and accessible. There are moments of real beauty in the writing – poetic turns of phrase that made me pause and savor them. The style generally fits the epic scope, feeling like a modern take on classic high-fantasy narration without veering into overwrought territory. However, there are stretches where the writing becomes long-winded and overstuffed with description, as if the author couldn’t resist describing every brocade on every sleeve in excruciating detail. This kind of prolixity might test your patience if you prefer leaner storytelling. The dialogue, too, can get a bit stiff and formal; I half-expected a “verily” or “thou” to slip out in some conversations. On the whole, the prose is competent and occasionally lovely, but it wasn’t the main reason I kept turning pages.

Plot - 6.5/10

The plot of Priory is the very definition of a slow burn that eventually explodes into a sprint – though not quite in the way I’d hoped. The story juggles multiple perspectives and a tangle of subplots (political schemes, ancient prophecies, dragon lore), which is ambitious and initially engaging. However, the pacing is all over the place. The first half moves at a glacial crawl – I spent hundreds of pages on court intrigue and historical backstory, waiting for something to happen. Then, almost without warning, the final act kicks into overdrive and everything is wrapped up in a mad rush. It feels like we go from a leisurely worldbuilding stroll to a frantic endgame boss fight in the blink of an eye. Major confrontations and twists that should have been epic and hard-earned end up feeling a bit convenient or underwhelming because they’re crammed into so little space. The hyped ancient enemy finally awakens... only to be dispatched so swiftly that it barely has time to loom as a real threat. Don’t get me wrong, there are some satisfying moments and revelations along the way – a few political gambits pay off, and certain character decisions did make me cheer – but overall the story could have used a more even keel (or even an extra book in a series) to let its big moments truly land.

Intrigue - 7/10

Did Priory hold my attention? For the most part, yes – but it was a bumpy ride. At its best, the book had me completely absorbed: I was dying to see how the disparate storylines would intersect and whether the ancient prophecy would play out in some clever way. Certain chapters are packed with tension or excitement (dragon-riding trials! assassination plots! forbidden magic!), and during those I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. But then there are the lulls: stretches of dense lore exposition or political chatter where my mind started to wander and I caught myself checking how many pages were left in the chapter. My interest definitely waxed and waned along with the pacing. On the emotional side, I was invested in a few characters’ fates (and I was absolutely rooting for the central romance to get its happy ending), which helped pull me through the slower sections. Intellectually, I enjoyed piecing together the world’s mythology and the centuries-old rift between East and West – at least until the info-dumps began to feel like homework. By the time the final showdown arrived, I was still curious to see how things wrapped up, but some of the earlier suspense had fizzled, so the climax wasn’t quite as white-knuckle as it could have been.

Logic / Relationships - 7/10

In a tale of dragons and magic, you expect a little hand-waving, but Priory generally plays fair with its own rules – mostly. The world’s internal logic makes sense for the most part; its mythology and magic systems are explained in detail and stay pretty consistent throughout. However, the plot occasionally leans on convenience rather than airtight logic. Characters seem to zip across the map at improbable speeds, and key artifacts or information have a habit of falling into the right hands at exactly the right time, defusing challenges a bit too neatly. When it comes to relationships, the book is admirably full of them – friendships, rivalries, family bonds, and a central sapphic romance – but not all of these feel equally earned. I loved seeing a romantic relationship between two women take center stage, yet the way it ignites feels a tad contrived, almost like the narrative shipped them before the characters truly did. Their chemistry eventually won me over, but I wanted more organic development leading up to the big love confession. Similarly, the strong loyalties between characters (like Ead’s sworn duty or Loth’s steadfast friendship) are clear, but they sometimes lack nuance or evolution due to the limited page time spent on them. And speaking of things working out too easily, Ead’s near-invincibility is one of the story’s bigger hand-waves – she rarely makes a wrong move or faces a consequence she can’t magic her way out of, which undercuts the tension at times. These niggles aside, the relationships and world mechanics hold together well enough to keep you believing in the story when it counts.

Enjoyment - 8/10

For all its flaws, I genuinely had a good time with this book. It’s a big, unruly, lovable beast of a fantasy novel, and it gave me plenty to chew on. I came in with high hopes (a feminist dragon epic with a gorgeous cover – yes, please) and while it didn’t quite become an all-time favorite, it met most of my expectations. I was swept up in the grand scale of it all – the political intrigue, the clashing religions, the dragon lore and magical secrets – and I have to applaud the author for her ambition and the inclusivity of her vision. The diversity and unabashedly queer, feminist perspective imbued in this world makes it feel fresh and important in a genre that sometimes defaults to the same old tropes. Even when I found myself rolling my eyes at the pacing or skimming a bloated description, I was still fundamentally enjoying the ride. By the end, I felt more appreciative than aggravated: the climactic moments were satisfying enough, and the journey offered plenty of memorable highlights along the way. It’s the kind of book where the whole is greater than the sum of its wobbly parts – and I’d rather spend time in a flawed but fascinating world like this than read a perfectly formulaic safe bet any day.

Content Warnings