Samantha Shannon

The Priory of the Orange Tree

Jamieson

I FINISHED THIS BIG OL' BOOK. My wrist is permanently sore and my back hurts from lifting this BUT it was WORTH IT for the epicness, the dragons,the friendships, the SHEER LESBIAN POWER contained within this book. 


  “She had not been human in that final hour. Just a paper lantern, thin and wind-torn, clinging to the flickering remnants of a soul. Yet when there was no more to climb, and she had looked up and seen nothing but the terrible beauty of the sky, she had found the strength to rise.” 


The Priory of the Orange Tree is so epic in scope and develops into such a complex, developed story it's hard to explain exactly what it is about without spoiling everything but here we go. Priory is set in a fantasy world split into the Eastern and Western countries. The Eastern Kingdoms are dragon lovers - they worship dragons as gods, and their most elite warriors ride dragons. The Western Countries hate dragons. The Queendom of Virtudom, the main country in the west, was built on the belief that the original heir of the Berethnet Line (The continuing line of Queens in Virtudom) Galian Berethnet, killed a dragon called The Nameless One a thousand years ago and so established the western lands free from the danger of the Draconic empire. While a Berethnet sits on the throne, The Nameless One can never return. 

But now, the dragons are stirring. The Draconic Army is rising and Sabran, the current queen of Berethnet, needs to have a daughter in order to keep the Nameless One at bay. To say much more would put you into the realm of spoilers but here is some tidbits - a forgotten history, a secret society, witches, magic and a quest to save the world. 


  “We may be small, and we may be young, but we will shake the world for our beliefs.” 


Lets talk about characters In total we follow four main characters

Ead Duryan ➢ A member of the Priory of the Orange Tree (a secret society of witches dedicated to slaying dragons) living in the court of Queen Sabran the Ninth in order to protect her from assassins and ensure the royal line of Berethnet doesn't end, opening the door for the Nameless One to return. I LOVE EAD SO MUCH. She plays so many roles in this book, but I adored her relationship with Sabran the most (lets go lesbians!! lets go!!!). I loved how she is challenged throughout this book & her character development, I loved that that she is ambitious, and I loved all the beautiful friendships she has. 

Lord Arteloth Beck ➢ Queen Sabran's best friend, Ead's best friend, and a member of the court. LOTH IS MY FAVOURITE I WOULD DIE FOR HIM. A true Good Boy (tm). He probably goes on the biggest journey in this book and he was SO much fun to follow. It was so refreshing to have a male character who has two (!!) female best friends and tries to fuck ... zero of them ! Anyway he is my mans I love him. 

Niclays Roos ➢ An alchemist from the West, banished to the east by Queen Sabran. He was a member of the court in his youth, secretly dating another man called Jannart who has since passed away. Now older, he is determined to return home to the west. Niclay's was a tricky character for me. I wasn't sure how to feel about him for ... the entire book. I ended up liking & feeling sorry for him but damn! he is definitely an interesting character though, and it was SO NICE to have an older gay character? His flashback scenes with Jannart made me soft. 

Tane Miduchi ➢ A dragon rider from the East who breaks the law in the first chapter by hiding an outsider from the west (Niclays). Tane was so much fun to follow because DRAGONS. Her relationship with her dragon was so sweet and reminded me of Eragon and Saphira which made me nostalgic. I liked that Tane was a bit reckless and impulsive, but she had so much development and all the reveals about her WERE WILD. 


  “My heart knows your song, as yours knows mine. And I will always come back to you.”


I loved how epic this book was. I haven't read a true, long, proper adult high fantasy in ages and I just LOVE THEM. And this one really reminded me why. The way the world just constantly expands and we get more and more information as it goes was GREAT. I love complications in fantasy revolving around time and information - like having to piece together information that has been lost to time and this book has A LOT of that which I loved. 

The world was excellent in this. Shannon did a great job of constructing all the different Queendoms and Kingdoms, and that isn't easy to do in an 800 page standalone when you also have to fit characters and plot in. I respect her a lot for writing an epic world and fantasy as a standalone because it aint easy!

THE FOCUS ON WOMEN WAS ALSO SO BEAUTIFUL. SO many women !! Powerful women !! evil women !! Legendary women !! warrior women !! Societies of women !! QUEENDOMS !! It was so, so freakin refreshing since so many high fantasies are dominated by men and male relationships and the worldbuilding relies on upholding patriarchal ideals (thats just a fact so don't @ me). But this book definitely tries to subvert common expectations and tropes of the genre and it was so NICE. I loved the female friendships and relationships and how every woman wasn't there to be Fucked like, wow it's a nice change of pace for high fantasy. 


  “Pity this house, for here we are cursed,”



Two of my major issues, the beginning and the end. This took me a hundred and fifty or so pages to get into. I think the beginning of quite confusing and there is too many characters and places and names thrown at you. It's hard to get your head around it all at first, and I didn't love that. 

The ending was also a bit of a letdown for me. The major battle went down in just a few chapters, and I kind of struggled with how it was written? I was really struggling to picture the fighting and what was Actually Happening. I also thought the big bads went down WAY too easily and it kind of cheapened all the build up. 

The Priory of the Orange Tree lived up to it's hype for me. Even though it wasn't a five star read for me, it was still really freakin great. I LOVED the middle section so much, and I definitely think I will come back to this to reread it sometime. I have heard there will be more books in this world, and I CANNOT. WAIT. Priory is a subversive fantasy that does a lot with it's 800 page count. I fell in love with the powerful characters, the epic worldbuilding and the relationships in this one. BIG LOVE, WE HAVE DECIDED TO STAN FOREVER.

  O LUME SCINDATĂ…
  UN REGAT FĂRĂ O 
  MOȘTENITOARE…
  UN DUȘMAN STRĂVECHI SE 
  TREZEȘTE…

  Casa Berethnet a condus Inysul vreme de o mie de ani. Încă necăsătorită, regina Sabran a IX-a trebuie să nască o fiică pentru a-și proteja tărâmul de la distrugere, însă asasinii se apropie tot mai mult de ușa ei.

  Ead Duryan este o paria la curte. Deși a ajuns în poziția de domnișoară de onoare, tânăra e în continuare loială unei societăți secrete de magi și rămâne în permanență cu ochii pe Sabran, protejând-o din umbră cu ajutorul harurilor sale ascunse.

  Dincolo de marea cea întunecată, Tané s-a antrenat toată viața pentru a deveni călăreață a dragonilor, însă e silită să facă o alegere care ar putea destrăma tot ce-a construit până acum.

  Între timp, Răsăritul și Apusul refuză să negocieze unul cu altul, în vreme ce forțele haosului se trezesc din somn.

The Priory of the Orange Tree

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