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A review by chroniclesofabookmum
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
5.0
“We may be small, and we may be young, but we will shake the world for our beliefs.”
"When you hold a weapon you become a faceless ghost. You give nothing away"
A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door.
Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.
Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.
Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep
Anybody know a dragon that is looking for a best friend?
THIS BOOK WAS EVERYTHING I HOPED FOR. I dedicated a whole week of my life to this book, and it was worth every single second of it. I don't tend to fat shame my books however this book is HUGE, it is intimidating but as soon as you begin to read you will realise that this book is worth every single page it is written on. I admit I was worried about reading 800 pages worth of book in one go, but I quickly began to realise that I would read another 800 pages of these characters in this world in a heartbeat.
Firstly, this book is about dragons. DRAGONS. Lots of dragons. They talk. TALKING DRAGONS. What is there not to love about this? I managed to get to page 10 before I met my first talking dragon and from that moment I fell in love with the book. The description that Samantha Shannon puts into this book really makes the dragon experience phenomenal, you can picture each dragon, good and bad, it is just perfect.
I absolutely fell in love with some of the characters from this book and Shannon really does take her time to build the characters in a way that the reader can feel a connection to them. The LGBTQ+ element within this book is so vivid and raw, it just adds to the brilliance of this book. I am fully on board with the ship in this book also, I MEAN YES YES YES. I would love to read more of that it was just magical. Shannon writes about so many strong and independent women and I love that. I find in fantasy novels its really easy to write about the hero male character who saves the female but not this time. The feminist representation in this book is amazing, WE HAVE A QUEENDOM, not a Kingdom a QUEENDOM and I am down for that!
The world-building element of this book was also fantastic. It is literally never-ending throughout the book, Shannon's descriptive language kept me immersed into the world throughout and literally had my attention through the whole 800 pages. There is a glossary and character list at the back which I think is priceless with this book. With such a long and complex book it is impossible to remember who everybody is and what certain words mean, with the glossary and character list you are able to look back and refresh your memory throughout the book. This was such a brilliant tool that I used constantly throughout the book, I feel like it gave me a better experience and a better overall understanding of the plot, world and characters.
I am the first to admit that I am not strong on politics, in fact I'm not afraid to admit that it bores me to tears. There is politics in this book but it literally sucked me right in. The court drama in this was fantastic and I loved reading every single second of it. It was not too complex in this sense so it made it really easy for the reader to follow.
This story is told in different views or different characters. When I read books with that format I always find that I dislike certain POVs and tend to switch off when it comes to them. However, I did not experience this with The Priory of the Orange Tree. I was hooked on each and every one of the POVs and I was just left wanting more and more.
No book is perfect and the only criticism I have is the climax that lead to deaths of certain characters (not a spoiler, of course people are going to die, what is the fun if they all live happily ever after?) and the ending felt a little bit rushed and it did leave me wanting more. Not necessarily sure that this is even a criticism but that is the best you are getting out of me because if you haven't guessed already I BLOODY LOVE THIS BOOK.
Honestly, I reiterate the point I made at the start of this review, if anyone knows a dragon that is looking for a best friend, ya girl is right here ... waiting. I have two cats I'm willing to trade, and a fiancé?
Bravo Samantha Shannon! Bravo.
"When you hold a weapon you become a faceless ghost. You give nothing away"
A world divided.
A queendom without an heir.
An ancient enemy awakens.
The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction—but assassins are getting closer to her door.
Ead Duryan is an outsider at court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.
Across the dark sea, Tané has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.
Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos are rising from their sleep
Anybody know a dragon that is looking for a best friend?
THIS BOOK WAS EVERYTHING I HOPED FOR. I dedicated a whole week of my life to this book, and it was worth every single second of it. I don't tend to fat shame my books however this book is HUGE, it is intimidating but as soon as you begin to read you will realise that this book is worth every single page it is written on. I admit I was worried about reading 800 pages worth of book in one go, but I quickly began to realise that I would read another 800 pages of these characters in this world in a heartbeat.
Firstly, this book is about dragons. DRAGONS. Lots of dragons. They talk. TALKING DRAGONS. What is there not to love about this? I managed to get to page 10 before I met my first talking dragon and from that moment I fell in love with the book. The description that Samantha Shannon puts into this book really makes the dragon experience phenomenal, you can picture each dragon, good and bad, it is just perfect.
I absolutely fell in love with some of the characters from this book and Shannon really does take her time to build the characters in a way that the reader can feel a connection to them. The LGBTQ+ element within this book is so vivid and raw, it just adds to the brilliance of this book. I am fully on board with the ship in this book also, I MEAN YES YES YES. I would love to read more of that it was just magical. Shannon writes about so many strong and independent women and I love that. I find in fantasy novels its really easy to write about the hero male character who saves the female but not this time. The feminist representation in this book is amazing, WE HAVE A QUEENDOM, not a Kingdom a QUEENDOM and I am down for that!
The world-building element of this book was also fantastic. It is literally never-ending throughout the book, Shannon's descriptive language kept me immersed into the world throughout and literally had my attention through the whole 800 pages. There is a glossary and character list at the back which I think is priceless with this book. With such a long and complex book it is impossible to remember who everybody is and what certain words mean, with the glossary and character list you are able to look back and refresh your memory throughout the book. This was such a brilliant tool that I used constantly throughout the book, I feel like it gave me a better experience and a better overall understanding of the plot, world and characters.
I am the first to admit that I am not strong on politics, in fact I'm not afraid to admit that it bores me to tears. There is politics in this book but it literally sucked me right in. The court drama in this was fantastic and I loved reading every single second of it. It was not too complex in this sense so it made it really easy for the reader to follow.
This story is told in different views or different characters. When I read books with that format I always find that I dislike certain POVs and tend to switch off when it comes to them. However, I did not experience this with The Priory of the Orange Tree. I was hooked on each and every one of the POVs and I was just left wanting more and more.
No book is perfect and the only criticism I have is the climax that lead to deaths of certain characters (not a spoiler, of course people are going to die, what is the fun if they all live happily ever after?) and the ending felt a little bit rushed and it did leave me wanting more. Not necessarily sure that this is even a criticism but that is the best you are getting out of me because if you haven't guessed already I BLOODY LOVE THIS BOOK.
Honestly, I reiterate the point I made at the start of this review, if anyone knows a dragon that is looking for a best friend, ya girl is right here ... waiting. I have two cats I'm willing to trade, and a fiancé?
Bravo Samantha Shannon! Bravo.