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A review by oxfordcommas91
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Wow, this book is a behemoth, but one of the few books I've read that deserves its length! It truly was an epic adventure akin to Game of Thrones. It has everything - palace intrigue, politics/diplomacy between kingdoms, dragons, assassins, and magic. What makes this book so unique is the women-forward cast, a place where women get to be heroines instead of damsels to just move the plot forward for the men. There are complex, woven plotlines with great history and world building. It stands up to some of the best fantasy books out there!
Strongly recommend this for female fantasy readers once you've gone through all the romantasy books. It's a good next step from a series like Throne of Glass. While I wouldn't say this is a romatasy by any stretch, it is a fantasy with a romance plotline so it still scratches that itch if you're willing to really invest in it!
The only downside is that there are a lot of characters - a ton of names, places, and dragons - to remember. I kept a running glossary in a phone note only to find that there was an actual glossary in the back of the book. Use that and it will be immensely helpful. The few hundred pages were a bit slow as we learned the history and current culture of the kingdoms and people in them, but the build up was worth the pay-off for me on this one!
I'm on the fence as to whether or not I will read the prequel (mostly because prequels aren't really my thing), but I'd take a sequel to this one any day!
Strongly recommend this for female fantasy readers once you've gone through all the romantasy books. It's a good next step from a series like Throne of Glass. While I wouldn't say this is a romatasy by any stretch, it is a fantasy with a romance plotline so it still scratches that itch if you're willing to really invest in it!
The only downside is that there are a lot of characters - a ton of names, places, and dragons - to remember. I kept a running glossary in a phone note only to find that there was an actual glossary in the back of the book. Use that and it will be immensely helpful. The few hundred pages were a bit slow as we learned the history and current culture of the kingdoms and people in them, but the build up was worth the pay-off for me on this one!
I'm on the fence as to whether or not I will read the prequel (mostly because prequels aren't really my thing), but I'd take a sequel to this one any day!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Infertility, Miscarriage, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Pregnancy, War
Moderate: Confinement, Sexual content, Torture, Death of parent