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inkandplasma 's review for:
The Priory of the Orange Tree
by Samantha Shannon
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Rating: 5 stars
The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon, was a 2019 release that I missed when it came out in February. I ended up picking it up solely because of an off-hand tweet of Shannon’s that I saw that said something to the effect of ‘I love dragons so much I wrote an 848 page book about them.’
I’ve been gushing a lot about this book, but honestly it was a really powerful read. As a whole piece, this novel is beautifully crafted, and despite being long as hell, it doesn’t drag at any point. I was gripped from the first word to the last, and I actually sulked when I hit the end and ran out of book. Not because the ending wasn’t just as good as the rest of the book but because I just wanted… more.
There are four narrating characters throughout the novel: Ead, Tané, Loth and Niclays. I’ll put my hands up and admit I found Loth to be boring, and Niclays to be irritating, but the information learned in their chapters was interesting enough that I forgave them those minor sins. Ead, Tané and Sabran on the other hand, I adored.
The world that Shannon created is rich and detailed, and creates beautiful conflicting regions with an interesting and realistic depiction of religious conflict. I particularly liked that there was evidence to support all of the legends, and it took a long time of weighing up the stories to decide what to believe in before evidence to disprove some of the legends started to appear. Every character had motivations that were fleshed out and influenced by the culture in which they were raised, giving a huge depth to the world and the people living in it. It felt like I’d known about this world for years, as intimately as I know my own.
Rating: 5 stars
The Priory of the Orange Tree, by Samantha Shannon, was a 2019 release that I missed when it came out in February. I ended up picking it up solely because of an off-hand tweet of Shannon’s that I saw that said something to the effect of ‘I love dragons so much I wrote an 848 page book about them.’
Sabran IV is the Queen of Inys, the ruling family for the last thousand years. She’s unwed, still, and her court are growing anxious as they wait for her to conceive a daughter to protect her Queendom from certain doom. It is her bloodline that keep her realm safe – while the Berethnet house sit on the throne of Inys, the Nameless One cannot rise again.
Ead Duryan is a lady-in-waiting in Inys’ court, but she’s much more than she seems. A mage from a secretive society that draw magic from a powerful orange grove blessed by an ancient ancestor, she is hidden in the court that would kill her as a heretic to protect Sabran from assassins that are intent on ending the Berethnet line once and for all.
Across the Abyss, Tané has been training to be a dragonrider since she was a child, but a moment of kindness towards an outsider risks ruining the future she’s always wanted.
The Nameless One is rising, and his wyrms along with him, and if the East and West can’t learn to make peace, then chaos will certainly rule.
I’ve been gushing a lot about this book, but honestly it was a really powerful read. As a whole piece, this novel is beautifully crafted, and despite being long as hell, it doesn’t drag at any point. I was gripped from the first word to the last, and I actually sulked when I hit the end and ran out of book. Not because the ending wasn’t just as good as the rest of the book but because I just wanted… more.
There are four narrating characters throughout the novel: Ead, Tané, Loth and Niclays. I’ll put my hands up and admit I found Loth to be boring, and Niclays to be irritating, but the information learned in their chapters was interesting enough that I forgave them those minor sins. Ead, Tané and Sabran on the other hand, I adored.
The world that Shannon created is rich and detailed, and creates beautiful conflicting regions with an interesting and realistic depiction of religious conflict. I particularly liked that there was evidence to support all of the legends, and it took a long time of weighing up the stories to decide what to believe in before evidence to disprove some of the legends started to appear. Every character had motivations that were fleshed out and influenced by the culture in which they were raised, giving a huge depth to the world and the people living in it. It felt like I’d known about this world for years, as intimately as I know my own.