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reubenalbatross 's review for:
The Priory of the Orange Tree
by Samantha Shannon
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book is EVERYTHING that modern fantasy needs. I feel like it has breathed a new life into fantasy, and hopefully many more authors will follow suit. It is so amazingly diverse, in both skin colour and sexuality, and it’s also a beautifully feminist work. Men and women are true equals, holding the same amount of power and responsibility. And thank the Saint that this means there's no “I'd never hurt a woman” trope, because that is starting to really piss me off in fantasy. If a woman has chosen to fight, YOU CAN HURT HER.
I thought the world was beautifully rich and had real depth to it. Every single aspect was completely realised and I felt fully immersed in the world.
I really enjoyed every character's view point, and thought their stories meshed together wonderfully.
However, I didn't think this was a perfect book. My main complaint is that I didn't enjoy the ending as much as I was expecting. The whole book was building up to a huge battle, and it lasted for 2 pages. 2 PAGES in an 800-page book. It felt completely rushed, and the stakes never felt that high - probably because no major characters die in the second half of the book. If there had been a little more oomph to the ending, this would have been a 5-star book for me.
I thought Tane's ending was completely bewildering. I feel like it was meant to symbolise something, but it just felt really off and unexplained for a standalone book. I like open endings when you can speculate on the future, but Tane's ending was just so out of the blue and too random to be able to properly speculate on anything. If there was a sequel coming it would make sense, but I know one isn't planned so I thought it was a very odd choice.
My other gripe is that occasionally there would be a physical description of an event (like an escape or fight) that made zero logical sense. I'm a very visual reader, and at these points I could not for the life of me try to picture what Shannon was describing. It was like she'd been interrupted mid-description and accidentally missed out a couple of lines. Two events like this really stood out to me, and completely took me out of the story.
Overall, despite the above points, I really enjoyed this novel. It is everything I want modern fantasy to be, and I am very much looking forward to reading the prequel.
I thought the world was beautifully rich and had real depth to it. Every single aspect was completely realised and I felt fully immersed in the world.
I really enjoyed every character's view point, and thought their stories meshed together wonderfully.
However, I didn't think this was a perfect book. My main complaint is that I didn't enjoy the ending as much as I was expecting. The whole book was building up to a huge battle, and it lasted for 2 pages. 2 PAGES in an 800-page book. It felt completely rushed, and the stakes never felt that high - probably because no major characters die in the second half of the book. If there had been a little more oomph to the ending, this would have been a 5-star book for me.
I thought Tane's ending was completely bewildering. I feel like it was meant to symbolise something, but it just felt really off and unexplained for a standalone book. I like open endings when you can speculate on the future, but Tane's ending was just so out of the blue and too random to be able to properly speculate on anything. If there was a sequel coming it would make sense, but I know one isn't planned so I thought it was a very odd choice.
My other gripe is that occasionally there would be a physical description of an event (like an escape or fight) that made zero logical sense. I'm a very visual reader, and at these points I could not for the life of me try to picture what Shannon was describing. It was like she'd been interrupted mid-description and accidentally missed out a couple of lines. Two events like this really stood out to me, and completely took me out of the story.
Overall, despite the above points, I really enjoyed this novel. It is everything I want modern fantasy to be, and I am very much looking forward to reading the prequel.