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wiseturtlebear 's review for:
The Priory of the Orange Tree
by Samantha Shannon
"I would live alone for fifty years to have one day with you."
Comprehensive worldbuilding, complex and morally-grey characters, and a cathartic level of fantasy aside, this book reminded me what love is. The kind shared between lovers, friends, and family. Love that doesn't ebb away in the natural passing of time. This book gave me such an intense feeling of yearning that no piece of literature ever has before.
I actually ended up reading this book twice, back-to-back, just so that I could immerse myself in the first reading and then pick up on all the details and foreshadowing in the second. I'll start the second novel, A Day of Fallen Night, right after I post this.
This series will be my new obsession until the very last book is written -- which I hope is at least a decade away.
EDIT 20/3/2023:
I decided to make a more lengthy review of this book because I felt like the previously brief one wasn't enough. I've already burned through about 40% of the second novel and it inspired me to write this.
The novel follows the journeys of four characters: Ead, Loth, Tane, and Niclays. Each of these characters live in different regions and experience different conflicts that end up becoming interwoven towards the end of the novel. These characters have their own insights and perspectives about the world events and politics. For example, there is a stark contrast between the way that Ead and Niclays views the Queen of Inys, Sabran. And when it comes to religion, Loth and Ead have fundamentally opposing views and often butt heads. I appreciate Shannon's worldbuilding and the settings that she's cultivated within this series because of how real it feels. No one character is correct in their beliefs; the truth is more complex and no character has a monopoly on it.
I loved each of the kingdoms explored in this book. I loved Inys, and the concept of a queendom descended from a saint that slew the world's greatest evil. I love the tidbits of "sign of the sword" to ward off evil, "Ascalon" as an homage to Arthur Pendragon's famous sword "Excalibur", I loved the concept of Duke Spirituals and the Six Virtues. I loved the East as a whole, both Seiiki and the Empire of the Twelve Lakes. The juxtaposition between the eastern dragons versus the "fire-breathers" was pleasantly unexpected because I haven't seen these two conflicting ideas of dragons being incorporated in a fantasy book before. The illegal trade of dragonflesh being controlled by an empire of pirates was captivating to read about, especially considering dragons as revered as gods in the East. And I loved all of the fables and myths that seemed to pour out of the East. I also loved the South, both Lasia and the Ersyr. The concept of the royal house in Lasia being connected to the Berethnet bloodline through Cleolind Onjenyu was fantastic inclusion of religious sects within this world. And the concept of the priory of mages dedicated to "the Mother" and the orange tree (in addition to the hawthorn and mulberry trees) was so interesting to read about.
All in all, I loved how these distinct regions were not disparate from each other, but rather seemed to feed off and bleed into each other.
As for the characters.
My god, if I could eat this book without causing myself physical harm I would. There wasn't a single character that I disliked in this book... eventually. I certainly despised Niclays to begin with. I viewed him as a bitter man who causes more problems than he needed to. However, I do acknowledge the point of his character and I can appreciate the perspective he gave as a main character. He was sacrilegious, rarely took people seriously or cared about other people's wellbeing, was obsessed with continuing his late lover's legacy and the elixir of life, and his tortured soul. I, too, am a hopeless-romantic, pining gay.
Ead and Sabran. I'm lumping these two together because I love them and they should never be separated (why, Shannon, why?). Their slow-burn romance was one of my favourites in literature. The secrecy, Ead's mission to protect Sabran becoming a genuine passion that rivals her lifelong desire to climb the ranks in the priory, Sabran trusting Ead and finding inner strength that is seperate from her connection with her bloodline -- I want to eat this book. The line "Ten years and not one sunrise more" destroyed me. After feeling the doom stemming from the line "one thousand years he will be held and not one sunrise more", reading this similar line but in a much gentler, loving context hit hard. Ugh, I miss them.
I didn't expect to like Loth as much as I did. He was pious to a fault, stubborn and tactless at times, but he certainly had his heart in the right place. His love for his family and friends, particularly Ead and his sister Margaret, was heartwarming. I could appreciate him questioning his faith while trying to embody the six virtues.
As for Tane, my sweet girl. Her growing into the "Ghost of Vane Hall" as an avatar of vengeance that protects dragonkind was so captivating. Her being a descendant of Neporo, the jewel sown into her side, her love for Nayimathun -- everything about her was captivating. The scene of her breaking down in front of Nayimathun and begging for forgiveness, only to be treated with kindness and told that she has a "dragon's heart" felt like a victory.
Finally, the themes were simple yet resonating so well with me. The way the novel challenged the sexist notion of queens being used as wombs and then being discarded once the heir to the throne was born hurt. "She would go from being the sun of her court to the shadow behind a child." Sabran losing her will to live when she became barren hurt, because it was so clear that people (and especially her) tied her worth to her ability to provide an heir. When Sabran eventually challenged the very concept of being "barren", saying "that one makes me sound like a field stripped of its crop. A waste with nothing left to give," I smiled from ear to ear. And I loved the sisterhood of the priory, and how gender didn't constrain characters in this novel (I'm sick to death of sexist traditions being included in the fantasy genre for so-called realism).
Like in my original, brief review, I repeat that this book made me love love again. In all shapes and forms: romantic, familial and platonic. Love in this book felt earnest, passionate and healing. People were able to heal and grow because of love, both current and past. Niclays only grew as a person to honour the memory of Jannart. Sabran learned to appreciate her individual strength and character because of her loved ones, especially Ead. And the love between Margaret and Lintley had me kicking my teeth and giggling as I read their interactions.
As a lesbian, this book felt gorgeously queer to me. There was a wide exclusion of queer characters, aroace characters, and I never felt a lick of hostility or homophobia as I read through it. I felt safe and seen while reading this book. I rarely get the chance to dive into a fantast novel without worrying about homophobia, so this was a sweet respite from that. I loved Ead and Sabran's relationship, and I learned to appreciate the love between Niclays and Jannart (nothing against gay men, Niclays just annoyed me a lot at first). Tane might be my favourite character after Sabran and her being aroace made a lot of sense during my reread.
The fantasy elements were wonderful. The subversion of the damsel in distress trope, in which the princess was the one to slay the great evil and not the knight in shining armour, was a thrilling touch. Also, the idea that the wicked witch was the one to forge the famous, magic sword using advanced magic was just the cherry on top. This novel's magic system, the siden and sterren stemming from earthly and ethereal sources respectively, was a fresh take for me. I adored the concept of magic requiring a balance, and how the Tablet of Rumelabar hinted at that need for balance. I loved the dichotomy between eastern and western dragons. I loved Kalyba, the plot-twists that came with her, and her broken outlook on life as a whole. Everything felt so exciting to read about.
I think it's quite clear from this rant that I loved this book to pieces. In fact, this book has actually pulled me out of a decade on infrequent reading and I believe it's reignited my passion for the fantasy genre. For that, I happily gave this book five stars. I highly recommend this book, and can't wait for more entries in this series.