The Priory of the Orange Tree

by

eBook, 880 pages

English language

Published Feb. 26, 2019 by Bloomsbury Publishing USA.

ISBN:
978-1-63557-028-1
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4 stars (4 reviews)

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.

6 editions

reviewed The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Great work of fantasy - highly recommended

5 stars

This book is often compared to "Lord of the Rings". I think that's somewhat misleading because while there are some superficial parallels it's very different. While LotR is an attempt to create a modern saga, Priory of the Orange Tree is a modern take on high fantasy. It has something in common with LotR: I devoured it in the span of a week, just like when I first read LotR. The world-building is tremendous and must have required years. The book has everything: knights, royalty, pirates, dragons, vikings and witches and takes place in several distant places at once. I also liked the author's depiction of the various religions and how none of them had the complete answer. The characters are flawed but in a realistic way - good people in odd places who have to overcome prejudices and preconceptions. The scope of the tales is epic and even though …

reviewed The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Many nice ideas

3 stars

Many interesting ideas and some strong leading female characters, but the plot felt contrived at times or needlessly confusing, with inconsistencies (like distance and travel time), and some parts of the worldbuilding felt too simplistic -- also I wasn't too impressed with the quests for magic objects. Edit : also worth mentionning is that in the 800 pages, there really isn't much happening at the Priory of the title.

reviewed Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

A great book and (hopefully) more to come

5 stars

This is the first book from Samantha Shannon I have read, and I have really liked it. The overall story is very good, the characters are very interesting and the worldbuilding has many layers (as it should).

I like how each chapter starts by having a geographical distinction, which helps situate the different characters in the map. It also cements the differences between each region and the lore.

Another important topic of the book is the rupture with other fantasy novels in the importance of the women in the plot (which is good) and the prominence of queer characters in it (which is also good).

I am looking forward to more works from the same author and I imagine that I will be reading them as soon as I know that they are released.

Subjects

  • Fantasy fiction.
  • Magic -- Fiction.
  • Dragons -- Fiction.
  • Assassins -- Fiction.
  • Imaginary places -- Fiction.