Name: PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE.
Rating: 4.310237849017581 (967 reviews)
ISBN: 9781526648716

SAMANTHA. SHANNON

PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE.

Victoria Sutton

Victoria Justice

alexys <3

Jasmine Aviet

Syrina

You have not seen death, my Lord. You have only seen the mask we put on it.

Miranda Watson

Jordan

Just because something has always been done does not mean that it ought to be done. 

Sarah

“I would live alone for fifty years to have one day with you.”

Emma

Basil

Imzy

Laura Biggs

Ellie 

Samantha Shannon

THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'The new Game of Thrones' Stylist 'Puts Samantha Shannon in the same league as Robin Hobb and George R.R. Martin. Shannon is a master of dragons' Starburst 'Epic fantasy with added dragons. A blockbuster' Guardian, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy An enthralling, epic fantasy about a world on the brink of war with dragons - and the women who must lead the fight to save it. 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 to be a dragonrider since she was a child, 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.

THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER

The Priory of the Orange Tree

Plattypus

every bit of magnificent, the prose is beautiful so is the world, story and the relationship between the character, the deaths of certain characters did shock me, because i thought they'd play a more important role for the story but it goes to show how this world is unforgiving and ruthless.

M. Sosotris

Outstanding.

Fantasy, in recent years, has become a dark and gloomy thing wherein characters find strength within themselves after suffering tragedy after tragedy.

The beauty of this novel is in its optimism. Characters are still incredibly flawed, and they still face hardship, but the story sees them adapt, grow, and change, reconciling who they thought they should be with who they know they really are. Dragons, mages, royalty, prophecy, buried treasure, magical swords, this is optimistic fantasy at its best. 

Gorgeous world building, arresting characters, stunning descriptions, I greatly enjoyed this one.

And I highly recommend it.

One of the best fantasies I’ve ever read. Every time I reread it, I’m captivated again and again. 

I can’t wait for the novella to come out! 

Floofyflower

One of the best fantasies I’ve ever read. Every time I reread it, I’m captivated again and again. 

I can’t wait for the novella to come out! 

The New York Times bestselling "epic feminist fantasy perfect for fans of Game of Thrones" (Bustle). 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.

writing style and descriptiveness is beautiful. takes at least 10 years to get invested if Great Names and Castles and Lands throw you off. nice commentary on religion. dragons being the main villain is so.... compared to like. the mental battles occuring simultaneously. would not read the second book but worth reading for the women I think.

vindhya

the girls are reviving high fantasy and not making it abhorrent to read as a woman i love that for us 

ayan.

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 to be a dragonrider since she was a child, 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.

Priory of the Orange Tree

I think this book is fairly good. The world building is excellent and it doesn’t take too long to understand who is who and where the places all are (also thanks to the map at the start of the book). However, I don’t really understand why this is a standalone book. 4 narrators are far too much for a fantasy book this intricate: the constant change of POV was so frustrating at the start and there was no time to actually give some character to the protagonists: two of them remain flat during the whole journey, while the others two are a bit more rounded, but only because they were actually given more time to be understood by the reader. In fact, the more we get into the action, the less we read about the “east” characters, and that’s a shame, although I actually didn’t appreciate them that much.

The book didn’t feel rushed, but it’s a shame that the final battle lasted so little. I just read 800 pages for everything to end like this? It definitely could have been handled better, especially because there were so many things to be talked about!

I also didn’t particularly like how the author decided to write about dragons, but objectively I think it’s good to see another way of writing about them.

Kudos for the lesbian main couple tho!!! It was a pleasure to read :)

mirta <3

I think this book is fairly good. The world building is excellent and it doesn’t take too long to understand who is who and where the places all are (also thanks to the map at the start of the book). However, I don’t really understand why this is a standalone book. 4 narrators are far too much for a fantasy book this intricate: the constant change of POV was so frustrating at the start and there was no time to actually give some character to the protagonists: two of them remain flat during the whole journey, while the others two are a bit more rounded, but only because they were actually given more time to be understood by the reader. In fact, the more we get into the action, the less we read about the “east” characters, and that’s a shame, although I actually didn’t appreciate them that much.

The book didn’t feel rushed, but it’s a shame that the final battle lasted so little. I just read 800 pages for everything to end like this? It definitely could have been handled better, especially because there were so many things to be talked about!

I also didn’t particularly like how the author decided to write about dragons, but objectively I think it’s good to see another way of writing about them.

Kudos for the lesbian main couple tho!!! It was a pleasure to read :)

My friends...I was not made to read fantasy...

First of all, loved the world building and the writing, I feel like I could easily imagine what it looked like and that was sm fun

Second, my issues...i feel like the pacing was a bit all over the place, some things felt a bit too drawn out, while other things were too rushed and i wanted more. Additionally, I thought the characters felt a bit shallow, and I think I should've known more about them, and not just their skills, before page 600. Both of these are majorly influenced by me just not...being a fantasy reader...i am a loyal 200 page character driven book kinda girl...

ANYWAYS this was fun, and I do feel like i would enjoy it more on a reread! As if thats ever happening! 

it actually did not feel like 800 pages, they flew by, which tells me she did an overall good job (ignoring the times i wanted to rip apart the book bc it was taking so long)

coming back to say i am nothing but a liar and this book did nothing for me

Stas

My friends...I was not made to read fantasy...

First of all, loved the world building and the writing, I feel like I could easily imagine what it looked like and that was sm fun

Second, my issues...i feel like the pacing was a bit all over the place, some things felt a bit too drawn out, while other things were too rushed and i wanted more. Additionally, I thought the characters felt a bit shallow, and I think I should've known more about them, and not just their skills, before page 600. Both of these are majorly influenced by me just not...being a fantasy reader...i am a loyal 200 page character driven book kinda girl...

ANYWAYS this was fun, and I do feel like i would enjoy it more on a reread! As if thats ever happening! 

it actually did not feel like 800 pages, they flew by, which tells me she did an overall good job (ignoring the times i wanted to rip apart the book bc it was taking so long)

coming back to say i am nothing but a liar and this book did nothing for me

This was quite the immersive tale. Took a bit to sink into it, but when I did, I didn't want to leave

Annabella

i don't understand. it's probably my fault but i couldn't bring myself to care for the characters or the politics. the premise of a fantasy queer book had everything to get me hooked and yet i ended up not pushing through for it was a real struggle to get invested in the story. great writing though!

nahis

The beginning felt like watching season 1 of the Witcher - many characters, different timelines, different locations. It took me a bit to put the pieces together…EPIC world building. This is the best I’ve read so far, what an incredible world. I would love to see this made into a good TV show…HOWEVER, the climax/final battle was literally 30 pages, and it was ehh. 800 pages, just for the best part to last 2 second seems like All this hard work was too easy in the end….it look me a long time too read. The plot was like a rollercoaster. Everything seemed like it was going right, and then BAM something goes wrong and the characters had to start all over. Idk if I’ll read the prequel 🤷🏼‍♀️

i wish i connected with the characters and maybe this was split up a little. i also didn’t dread the final battle because i didn’t care that much. but sabran and ead have my heart!!!!

felicity hu

This changed my quintessence. Beautiful. The whole world building is amazing, and the relationships between the characters are so well explained, depicted. The end made me wonder a few things, but it was so good that I feel empty now that I finished it. Yes, it was THAT good. 

Romy

you really have to be a certain type of unlucky to be born as the eldest child

sacred cunt

Took me a long time to finish, because I took a few breaks, which wasn’t a great idea because it took me out of the groove of the story so I don’t feel that I got the full immersed experience of this story. The ending was a tad lackluster, but I assume that’s because there’s going to be a sequel and this wasn’t the final ending. The action scenes were written in a very specific style, one that for me lacked a bit of clarity. 

Lindsey Arenson

An enthralling, epic fantasy about a world on the brink of war with dragons - and the women who must lead the fight to save it.

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 to be a dragonrider since she was a child, 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...

Hanna Rybchynska

ghost girl in satin

This book had everything I ever wanted, yet it was boring, and I was disappointed.
I don't understand the hype. The characters were two-dimensional at best, the world-building could have been awesome but felt flat, the romances didn't do it for me because there was no alchemy (imo) between the characters (or maybe was it because I didn't enjoy the characters, so obviously I can't enjoy a romance involving them), and I wished this book could reconcile me with dragons (because most of the time, when I read a book with dragons I find them deeply boring, which is a shame because I LOVE the idea of dragons) but unfortunately, that was not it. 

The cover is gorgeous, though, and I liked the first fifty pages, so I will give it that.

THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'The new Game of Thrones' Stylist'Puts Samantha Shannon in the same league as Robin Hobb and George R.R. Martin. Shannon is a master of dragons' Starburst'Epic fantasy with added dragons. A blockbuster' Guardian, Best Science Fiction and Fantasy An enthralling, epic fantasy about a world on the brink of war with dragons - and the women who must lead the fight to save it.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 to be a dragonrider since she was a child, 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.

My new favorite book…Shannon makes 200 pages feel like 5. Though I’d find myself sitting and reflecting on not only the story but my own life often which lead to me taking a long time to finish. My only complaint is there’s not 5 more!!

Jas 🐸

maia

Megan

I finished reading this book about a week ago and I still absolutely cannot stop thinking about it. This book has absolutely everything I want, dragons, romance, lgbtq+ ships, adventure, good world-building (monumental, even) and I can’t wait to eventually re-read it. 

Read my full review here: https://meglovescliches.substack.com/...

Great writing but the story just felt sluggish and uninteresting.

Erik Horton

an amazing woman centered fantasy novel built over a super complex world. captivated me from beginning to end (finished it in one weekend) 

Daphne Li-Chen

Kayleigh Vermeij

Sandrin

Im beginning to realize that I just dont vibe with stories about dragons. It was painfully hard to read this one. The amount of descriptions and info dumps slowed down the pace of the story. All in all, overwhelming and boring.

PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE.

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