Review by brynn_books - The Priory of the Orange Tree

brynn_books 's review for:

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

4.5

adventurous emotional slow-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: Yes

I have a theory that you can’t have a proper, well-thought out fantasy book that’s a standalone. There’s just no way you can fit all of the worldbuilding and develop the characters in such a short amount of time. I really thought this would be the exception. I thought I would be writing this review with the notion of “this is how you do stand-alone fantasy.” Don’t get me wrong. This is one of the best fantasy books I’ve ever read. But does it work as a stand-alone? I have to say no. I think this world is too intricate and there are too many characters to fully grasp everything in one book. Yes, I know there are prequels but for the sake of this story, I needed more.

I want to bring up the different perspectives/characters. I don’t know if this is an unpopular opinion but I LOVE books with multiple povs (but only if every perspective holds equal weight). And, personally, I didn’t see the need for Loth and Niclays to have a perspective. Like we did learn interesting stuff during their chapters but I think those could have been revealed in a different way. I do love Loth as a character, but his perspective felt unnecessary compared to Ead and Tané. And on that note, Tané’s pov slightly disappointed me. Her whole story was built on her dream of being a dragon rider and then we barely spent any time with her dragon.

Also, I want to bring up the topic of romance. This book definitely isn’t a “romantasy” by any means but there is romance in it. The main romance we got felt kind of bland only bc we didn’t get enough time to fully appreciate them as a couple. I loved them as individual characters and I even loved them as a couple. But there were barely any scenes with them together before they were falling for each other and I just wish we had a little more time to fully develop their relationship in the way that they deserve.

I know it seems like I’m hating on this book. I genuinely loved it so much! This is possibly the best fantasy book I’ve ever read. And up until the 85% mark, I was ready to give this book five stars. The first 3/4 of the book was so intricate and was building up to this epic battle… but then the battle scene felt slightly underwhelming. Like it was over too soon. And I understand that the author was probably rushing to finish the story bc it was already super long which brings us back full circle with my point being that you can’t have a perfectly well-rounded fantasy book that’s a standalone.

Content Warnings